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[Event "GameKnot Blitz, http://gameknot.com/"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.05.21"] [Round "-"] [White "notker"] [Black "damalfi"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 d5 2. e5 Bf5 3. d4 e6 4. Bd3 Bg6 5. Bxg6 hxg6 { By accepting the exchange,white gives me a semi open king column. It can be useful. } 6. Nf3 c5 { Freely,since no lsb is in white's army. } 7. Nc3 Qb6 8. O-O Nc6 9. Be3 { Here,the normal Nh6 would have been the best, but I fall into a naive, beginnertrick, and I went... } 9... Qxb2 10. Qd2 { Very smartly, white closes my queen!I still can retreat to b6, but I wanted to demostrate it had a purpose,but I failed to it. } 10... b6 { I think I have escape route in a3, so I justdidn't worry. } 11. a3 { Wonderful. White has 'lost' two tempos in preparatorymoves, and I failed to see its potential, and now my queen is lost. } 11... Na5 { Very well, let's try to get the most of the situation. } 12. Rfb1 Nc4 { Here, I lose a piece and not a queen for a rook. } 13. Qd3 { White, againsmartly, is not in a hurry, and just waits. } 13... Nxe5 { I have to fight, otherwisethe game would have no meaning at all. } 14. Nxe5 c4 { The knight sac wasin order to to this. } 15. Qd2 Qxb1+ { At least, I have a very solid pawn'schain very well defended, and harly touchable by white's pawns. } 16. Nxb1 { White better take with this move or Bxa3. I lost my queen in the morefavourable circumstances. } 16... Bd6 17. Nc3 { White's penetration is a techniquematter, but I want him to demostrate it. } 17... a6 18. Na4 Rb8 19. c3 { ? Thislimits white's own movements. } 19... Nf6 20. Qe2 Rh5 { This kind of theats BxN,followed by Rxe5, pinning the bishop... matbe not much, but I have to dosomething. } 21. Nc6 Rb7 { It is hard to contain those two knights, butit is also true that it is difficult to take the better advantage of them.Nevertheless, I had Bxh2+. After Jf1 (or I can stale the game unless whitegoes QxR), after the retreat of the dsb mate is threatened, so white mustlose a tempo defending it and not attacking. Still, I considered that thecheck wasn't the right path. I was wrong. } 22. g3 Kd7 23. Nb4 { Ok, I losethe a pawn here, but again, I have to create countergame somehow, or thegame will be meaningless. So I decided to sac material! } 23... Rb8 24. Nxa6 Rbh8 25. h4 Ne4 { Preparing for g5. } 26. Nxb6+ Ke7 { ?! ...and not Kc6... becauseafter Rb1, white would become really dangerous. } 27. Kg2 { Defending g3. } 27... g5 28. Rh1 { Very smart again. } 28... gxh4 { I have no much choice. } 29. Rxh4 Rxh4 30. gxh4 Rxh4 31. Kg1 { White just want to be calm. I have no resources,now. } 31... Kf8 { Getting the king away from checks... } 32. Nd7+ Ke8 { But fallinginto the temptation of theat the knight with my king. } 33. Ne5 Nxc3 { Niceoutpost, but two white pawns were still 'hanging'. } 34. Qb2 { This is verydangerous. } 34... Bxe5 { I sensed that with the knight over there, it would havebeen mate in a few. } 35. dxe5 Ne4 { This does not any better. } 36. Nc7+ Kd7 37. Qb7 { I calculated that it was not so easy for white to find themate combination (it was not for me), so I had time for a last thing. } 37... Rg4+ 38. Kf1 Kd8 { I want to play the c pawn to promotion! But I can't allowNxd5++. } 39. Qb8+ Kd7 40. Ne8 { Note that there is still no mate. But thebishop doesn't have to be playing. } 40... c3 { After Bb6, Black is dead, butI have to go for... fear. } 41. Nd6 { Mate in two. NxN, exN, and mate intwo again. So no use. } 41... Nd2+ 42. Bxd2 cxd2 { Now I have mate in one. } 43. Qb7+ Kd8 44. Qc8+ Ke7 45. Qe8# { Well, just for one tempo... not that bad,being a queen under! } 1-0

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.10.01"] [Round "-"] [White "acemsiran"] [Black "francisbaron08"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1770"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1757"] 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 { transposing into the exchange variation } 3... exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 c6 7. O-O Bd6 8. Bg5 O-O 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. Ne5 Bxe2 11. Rxe2 Qc7 12. Nf3 Rfe8 13. Qd3 h6 14. Bh4 Nh5 { a little jockeyinghere, trying to get something going } 15. Bg3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Nf6 17. Rae1 Rxe2 18. Rxe2 b5 { played with a view toward driving the knight away andposting the black knight on e4. } 19. b3 b4 20. Nd1 Ne4 21. Ne5 a5 22. Kh2 { a tactical error which loses a pawn. black's plan was to play up his'a' pawn opening the file. } 22... Bxe5 23. dxe5 Qxe5 24. Kg1 Qa1 { this infilitrationdoesn't work out so it was probably best to go to f6 immediately. } 25. Kh2 Qf6 26. f3 Nd6 27. Ne3 h5 { necessary as Ng4 was threatened by white. } 28. g4 Qe5+ { here the idea of setting up a pin on the 'e' file hit me. } 29. Kg1 Re8 30. gxh5 Nf5 { 30 ... d4 is foiled by 31 f4! } 31. Kf2 Ng3 32. Rd2 Nxh5 { here another possibility was 32 ... c5 which occured to me onthe next move. 33 c3 looks forced for white. then 33 ... bxc3 34 Re1guarding his back rank. now 33 ... c5 is menaced as well as ... Nf4. } 33. Rd1 Qg3+ 34. Kf1 { forced. } 34... Nf4 35. Qd2 Re5 36. c4 { overlooking themain threat but on 36 Qf2 Qh2 is hard to deal with. } 36... Rh5 { for if 37 Kg1d4! 38 Ng4 d3! puts white away. } 0-1

[Event "Boden-Kieseritsky Bishop Gambit Opening M34"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.05.17"] [Round "-"] [White "Chessknave"] [Black "Computer - FA020"] [Result "1-0"] { I evaluated this game independent of any computer analysis, then followupby using Hiarcs9 full analysis, from which I pick out any relavent or enlighteninganalysis and add it, noting the source. This was a friendly chess gameof me vs computer at the local Arabica coffee shop. } 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 { TodayI try for the first time a Bishop Opening after reading a little aboutthe Boden-Kieseritsky Bishop Opening, which of the various flavors of thisopening appeals to my style of play. } 2... Nf6 3. Nf3 { Offering the e4 pawnis part of this gambit opening. Interestingly, Hiarcs9 calls this a Petroff,which admittedly it does resemble, but I know it from books as a Boden-KieseritskyBishop Opening, and that is my strategical concept. } 3... Nxe4 4. Nc3 { Continuingthe opening by offering an exchange of knights. } 4... Nxc3 5. dxc3 { Last moveof this opening AFAIK, where the d pawn captures so to enable lines forthe queen and bishop. } 5... Nc6 { In a game I reviewed recently the best movesuggested was ...f6, but the text move seems reasonable to me because Icould not envision a good conclusion to an immediate bishop sacrifice atf7, or any other immediate problems as a result of this move. } 6. Qd5 { !? Playing the gambit with maximum adventure! } 6... Qe7 { Prevents mate, andis the best move, not (6...Qf6 ?? Bg5 !) losing the queen. } 7. O-O { Activatesthe rook, safeties the king. } 7... d6 { A good move which activates a bishopwhich will be used against the queen. } 8. a4 { I presume ...0-0-0, andso push for an attack here. Not so worried about a bishop exchange, andthere is a small threat to b7 which can be plied. } 8... Be6 { Hiarcs9 considersthis postion a little better for black, and maybe so, but the game is notstatic and fluctuations will change the landscape. So ultimately it willbe a matter of the best applied strategy. } 9. Qb5 { ?! At best a threatof an attack, but the queen is still tied to the bishop and so no tacticswill prevail. } 9... O-O-O { ?! Seems like BxB is better to remove some buildingthreats. Hiarcs9 offers some alternate suggestions, but none improve theposition dramatically. } 10. Be2 { Keeping the bishop in play. } 10... d5 { Takingcontrol of the center and opens a queen line. Enables ...Qc5. } 11. a5 { !? Continuing with the attacking plan. Not so worried about ...Qc5, canplay Qa4 if necessary. } 11... Kb8 { ?? Giving up tempo, probably due to (12.a6)with threat of mate at b7, but better is (11...a6) which stops the pawnand the immediate mate threat. Hiarcs9 supports my analysis, we both givethe same evaluation. } 12. a6 { ! Creating a cascade of threats, not allof which will be countered well. I give this move a strong rating becauseof the potential that is developed by it. Here Hiarcs9 considers the positionto shift slightly in favor of white. } 12... Bc8 { Forced becuase of mate threat,or loss of knight. } 13. axb7 { This seems the best option because it cracksthe castle, forces a pin on a piece, keeps black from obtaining a developingmove. } 13... Bxb7 { Staring at this postion I know I am a pawn down, in a slightlyakward attacking position, have a consideration of preventing ...Qc5, andneed to close on the king sucessfully while activating more pieces intothe attack. } 14. b4 { ! Prevents ...Qc5, to limit supporting pieces forthe king. Keeping the queen out is priority since it is the most activepiece for black and has the most opportunity to thwart my plans for conquest. } 14... e4 { ?! Better would be d4! to threaten Qxb4 after eliminating the c3pawn. The text move creates an attack on the knight, but it does not improvethe position for black really. Hiarcs9 evaluates this as slightly betterfor black, but I know different because I will now route the knight toa very useful attacking position at a5. } 15. Nd2 { With the idea of bringingthe knight to a5. } 15... Qf6 { Simply attacking a weak point, with hopes of forcinga positional concession by white to compensate. } 16. Nb3 { ! Sacrificinga pawn for the greater good of the attack! Hiarcs9 evaluates as slightlybetter for white, but this knight is integral to ripping open the positionand enabling a good attack on the king. Any sacrifice that offers goodcompensation should get a good rating. The compensation follows a few moveslater. } 16... Qxc3 17. Na5 { After exchanges black suffers from positional weaknesseswhich are exploited in the attack. } 17... Nxa5 18. Qxa5 { Hiarcs9 gives no changeof rating, still a little better for white, but white has all the positionaltrumps and black can not prevent the incursion on the king position. } 18... Qxb4 { ?! Does not seem to be a great move, perhaps made to keep the queennearest the action. I like (18...Bxb4) better because it enables tied rooks.Hiarcs9 considers this move a blunder, but I think that a little strongor shortsighted because when the ensuing postions are evaluated it is notedthat controlling a4 is good for black. } 19. Qxa7+ { Here Hiarcs9 showswhite as winning, which is true, but mate is not possible just yet. } 19... Kc8 20. Bg4+ { To force a material concession. } 20... Rd7 21. Bxd7+ { Forcing a positionalconcession by bringing the king out into the open and taking support awayfrom the b7 bishop. Hiarcs9 suggests 21.Be3, which is nice and leads toall kinds of complications for black, who does not fare well in any ofthem. I however did not consider the move in depth and so the text moveis played. Alternative variation: 21. Be3 c5 22. Bf4 Kd8 23. Qb8+ Ke7 24.Qe5+ Kd8 25. Bxd7 Kxd7 26. Qc7+ Ke6 27. Ra7 e3 28. Rxb7 exf2+ 29. Kxf2(29. Rxf2 Qe1+ 30. Rf1) 29... Qd4+ 30. Kg3 Qc3+ 31. Kg4 h5+ 32. Kh4 Be7+33. Bg5 Bxg5+ 34. Kxg5 } 21... Kxd7 22. Ba3 { ! Hitting hard to force the queeninto a lesser position. } 22... Qb5 { ?! Trying to prevent Qa4+, but the positionis not a good one for the queen. Hiarcs9 considers this a blunder, andthat may be true. Black attempts to prevent Qa4 check, but suffers forit. } 23. Rfb1 { ! Proving the weakness of the queen on b5. A strong movewhich kicks the queen, leaving the bishop undefended. } 23... Qc4 { Still tryingto prevent Qa4+. } 24. Rxb7 { Qxb7 was also possible, but my intuition,if there is such a thing for us non grandmasters, seemed to point me tothis move. } 24... Bxa3 { Black in a positional conundrum sacrifices materialin an attempt to stave off mate by activating the rook. } 25. Rxa3 { Thismove appeals more than Qxa3 because the queen is participating in the threatat c7, and because this move has no detractors like immediate back rankmate. } 25... Qxc2 { Threatens mate in one. } 26. h3 { ! Refutes mate without losingpositionally active pieces. } 26... Rc8 { Trying to hold the position. } 27. Rab3 { ! Frees the queen for operations, epecially Qa4+ which is now possible. } 27... Qc1+ { Desperation. } 28. Kh2 Kd8 { Avoids Qa4+, The king is in dangerof check and this move prevents it. Hiarcs9 considers it a blunder, andoffers ...Ke6, which seems an interesting move. } 29. Qd4 { ! A positionallyactive placement which offers all kinds of good attacks. A strong centralizedqueen. } 29... Qg5 { Protects d5 and g7 from the queen attack. } 30. R3b5 { ! ThreatensRxd5+ to gain the queen with check. } 30... c6 { Forced, because of the checkand queen grab threat. } 31. Qb6+ { Forcing concessions no matter the choiceof blocking or moving the king. } 31... Rc7 { ?? Loses fast, better is ...Ke8,but even that will not save the game for black. } 32. Qxc7+ Ke8 33. Qxf7+ { Much better than (33.Rb8+) because that is blocked by (33...Qd8). } 33... Kd8 34. Rb8# { Finishing with a linear mate, but Qd7# was also possible. I playedthis opening better than I thought I would. I like the positional playand opportunities for theatrical tactics in this opening. A won game becauseof some weak choices by black and some reasonably clever positional andtactical play on my part. } 1-0

[Event "37th GK tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "11-Jul-07"] [Round "-"] [White "ashmal29"] [Black "kotick"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1724"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1572"] 1. d4 { In this game my opponent played the Benko gambit. I'm not familiarwith this opening at all so I was just pretty much winging it from move6 on. } 1... Nf6 2. c4 { I thought that my opponent would go for the Queen'sIndian (2...e6 3. Nf3 b6) or the Nimzo-Indian (2....e6 3. Nc3 Bb4) consideringthey are the most common openings on Gameknot in the Queen pawn game withNf6. Instead they went for the Benko gambit and caught me completely offguard. } 2... c5 3. d5 b5 { And here we have the Benko Gambit. I don't reallyknow this opening very well so I decided to accept it and then just tryto make the best moves since I am already out of the book. } 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 { The Benko accepted. Now I have to find a way to developthe f1 bishop. That is the biggest problem for white in the Benko gambit. Fianchettoing (sp?) on g2 doesn't look that good because of the pawn ond5, but I opted for it anyway. The other option is to play Nc3 followedby e4. Then after the capture on f1 (Bxf1) my castling privileges aregone and I would have to castle manually with g3 and Kg2. I don't likethe idea of g2 without my light-squared bishop to cover the holes. SoI went for the awkward fianchetto. } 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. g3 { I waiteda few moves to develop my bishop because I wanted to see what my opponentwas going to do. Besides it's better to develop your knights before yourbishops. Now that I see that he can't take advantage of my kingside weaknessesright away I try to get my king out of the center before it opens up. } 8... g6 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1 { I wanted to play e4, but it was pinnedto my f1 rook. Now I'm free to play e4. } 11... Ng4 { I don't understand thisor any of the next few knight moves. If anyone knows of any benefit tothis or the next 2 or 3 black moves, please tell me. This is the downfallof black I believe } 12. Bd2 { I wanted to get my queen behind my bishopso I can play Bh6. This was the only square where my opponent couldn'timmediately harrass my bishop. } 12... Nge5 { Again, I'm dumbfounded...... } 13. Qc1 { As planned, to create a major kingside weakness for my opponent. Now I can't play e4 as I planned because Nd3 would really make me lookstupid. } 13... Nc4 { ?? } 14. Bh6 Bxh6 15. Qxh6 Nxb2 { Why go pawn hunting whenI'm breathing down the king's neck? } 16. Ng5 { Now I threaten mate withQxh7# } 16... Nf6 { The only way to stop mate. } 17. Nce4 { But now there's nothingblack can do and he resigned. If black plays anything other Nxe4, I'llplay Nxf6 , followed by mate on h7. } 1-0

[Event "GameKnot Blitz, http://gameknot.com/"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.01.20"] [Round "-"] [White "epicuro (2435)"] [Black "meer81 (1709)"] [Result "0-1"] { This is, by far, my greatest achievement in chess ever. I managed todefeat a player ranked 2435, I'm ranked 1714. He launched a great matingattack, I managed to do a superb defense, and when he failed, I took thelead and inverted the game, by the means of some tactical sacrifice I managedto exploit his poor king's safety... It was a Blitz game, but then again,in his profile, this guy says he only play's Blitz games... And it wasincremental, neither of us had time troubles... So this has been a greatachievement for me. I wanted to share it. } 1. d4 { He opens with Queen'spawn. } 1... e6 { I play e6, with the idea to play Nimzo-Indian defense. } 2. c4 { Follows with the seizure of center. } 2... Nf6 { Nimzo-indian defense continues. } 3. Nf3 { Develops kingside's knight. } 3... Bb4+ { I develop my Bishop with a checkto propose Bishop exchanging, Knight pinning, or to force him to lift upa pawn. The real intentions behind my move is to make way for early kingsidecastle. } 4. Bd2 { He says it's gonna be Bishop's exchange. } 4... Bxd2+ { I gofor it, with a check. } 5. Nbxd2 { He recaptures. } 5... O-O { And then I castle.I'm ready to go ballistic now. } 6. e4 { He totally wants to control thecenter. } 6... c6 { I lift up c pawn to prepare d5. When I do, we'll know if itis going to be a very closed position or a very open one... My guessesat this moment are it's going to be a closed one, coz he's more likelyto play e5 to challenge my knight. } 7. Bd3 { He prepares his castling bydeveloping his kingside bishop. } 7... d5 { I do my move. I am expecting him toplay e5 so the position will become closed in the center. } 8. e5 { So hedoes, he couldn't miss the chance to advance a pawn while also challengingmy knight. } 8... Nfd7 { Not many good places for my knight, so I retract it tod7. The idea is to reinforce f6, coz I'm planning to play f5 at some pointto disrupt his potential attack on my weak h7 position. If he capturesen-passant with e-pawn, then capturing with Nxf6 will reinforce h7. } 9. O-O { He castles. } 9... h6 { I decide I'll lift up a little my h pawn to preventhis knight from going to g5, while also making worthless a battery attackwith his bishop and queen on my h7 position. } 10. c5 { He decides he's gonnakeep totally closed the center. } 10... f5 { I do my move, if he captures en-passant,I'll develop my knight and will have myself an open controlled file. Ifhe doesn't, I'll totally disable any diagonal attacks on my h7 position.If he wants to break it, he'll have to use his castle g pawn. } 11. a3 { Hedidn't capture en-passant, so I have a good closed position. He plays a3,my guesses at this point is he's planning to keep a good pawns structureand see if it will be totally closed in this side of the board too, orif it will become open. } 11... b5 { I play b5. The idea is, either we both keepa good pawn structure in that side too, or I'll use a-pawn to capture en-passantand get myself an open a-file. } 12. b4 { He decides not to open the positionyet, but to reinforce his pawn's structure. } 12... a5 { But I know I must leavean open file so, either he captures now, or I will capture right after. } 13. bxa5 { He does capture. } 13... Qxa5 { I recapture with the queen. } 14. Nb3 { He challenges my queen with his knight. } 14... Qc7 { I retract her to c7, hehas done what I needed her for, so now she can be placed here. I'm planningto get her active later on b or a files. } 15. Nh4 { Of course, nothing preventshis knight from playing Nh4 anymore, so he does. He now starts his siegeon the g6 spot. } 15... Rf7 { I know I have to make a good defense in both g7 andg6, so I start by reinforcing g7 with my rock. } 16. Be2 { He doesn't likeit, of course, he plays now Be2 to bring him to h5. } 16... Nf8 { My rock has afree passage to get safely to e7, so I play Nf8 to reinforce g6 and tolure his bishop to h5. His knight in h4 will make difficult a direct attackfrom his queen on e7, so my rock will be safe there for a while. Also,in doing this, I'm giving my bishop a chance to get to e8, and after that,my b knight to d7. At that point, I will have a very good defended position. } 17. Bh5 { Of course, he plays what I was expecting him to. Challenging myrock and also pressing more the g6 position. } 17... Re7 { So, I put my rock safelyinto e7. I keep defending the g7 position. } 18. Nc1 { His knight can ofcourse make more damage at f4 to press the g6 point and to defend his h5bishop. So he'll move it there through c1 and d3/e2. } 18... Bd7 { Time to getmy bishop to the action point. I move it to d7 first. } 19. Ne2 { His knightcontinues his journey to f4. } 19... Be8 { I challenge his bishop while also reinforcingg6. I know at this point g6 is going to be the pivot for his attack. Eitherhe takes the bishop or he will take a chance to reinforce the bishop andcontinue his siege with Nf4. } 20. Nf4 { He does reinforce the bishop. } 20... Nbd7 { And this is one of the 3 best moves in the game for me. I will need atsome point get use my f knight to attack his knight at g6, by then, he'llprobably have mating chances with his queen in g file, so I'll need immediateback-up in g6 and h7 by replacing my f8 knight with the d7 one. This willsave my ass in 2 ocassions later on. } 21. a4 { He decides he's gonna bringhis queen into action by forcing me to do a capture or to pass my pawn. } 21... b4 { I decide I'll pass the pawn. This little pawn will be useful lateron. } 22. Qb3 { He plays a double attack, first, he challenges my passedpawn, and second, he challenges to take his queen to g file, where hisfull brute force attack will take place. } 22... Qa5 { I take my queen to a5, todefend my b-pawn and keep his a-pawn from advancing any further. } 23. Qg3 { Queen to g file... He's about to infiltrate my position by sieging fromg6. 4 attackers, 2 defenders... Not looking any good for me. } 23... Bxh5 { Butthen I play Bxh5... This is the second one of the best moves I played inthis game. In a single move, I decreased the unbalanced 4 attackers / 2defenders position to 2 attackers / 1 defender. He just lost the bishop.If he's going to keep the siege on g6 nevertheless, I'll just use the bishophe didn't capture to do yet another capture for myself, so I'd lose controlof g6, but he'd have lost a whole piece in a failed attack. He can't affordthat of course, And besides he needs to place a knight in h5 to exploitthe pinned g-pawn with Nf6+ and do severe mating threats in h7. So, hemust capture the bishop with the knight. } 24. Nxh5 { He does capture. Nowall he has to do is playing safely the sequence Qg6, Nf6+, Qh7#. But myknight is still on his way. At least, that's the plan. } 24... Rb8 { There's nothingI can do but waiting for him to start the exchanges in g6, so I take thischance to make my b pawn a yet greater threat by following the principle'Rocks belong behind passed pawns'. } 25. Ng6 { Showtime... he begins hismating plan. There's 2 ways to deflect his plans. One is passive, movingmy rock to f7 to get her off knight's range, waiting him to capture myknight and recapturing with my other knight, but then I leave myself opento possible sacrifices on his side with his h knight to weaken up my alreadyweak castle position, which probably will become real nasty once he takeshis rocks to h3 or g3. No, there's a safer way to neutralize the attack.I must capture the knight. } 25... Nxg6 { So I capture the knight. My calculationssay he will recapture with queen, no check, no threats on any other ofmy hanging pieces, so I'll have a free time to bring my d-knight to f8again. Making unprofitable his playing Nf6+, coz after I play Kh8, bothhis queen and knight will be en-prise, there is no more a mating chancein h7, and he'd have to retract his queen, losing the knight. } 26. Qxg6 { He captures the knight. He's one move away from mating me (well, 2. butsince 1 is a check (Nf6+), it's a forced variation, so I use to view themas a single move). } 26... Nf8 { And by playing this I both challenge his queen,and avoid mate in h7. He must retreat. } 27. Qg3 { So he does. } 27... b3 { I getmy pawn one square closer to promotion. } 28. Nf6+ { He plays Nf6+. I thinkhe was expecting me to play Kf7, so in a distraction, I'd fail to Nf5,Qxf7+, Qxh6. But well, there's only a move that will get me rid of hisstubborn siege while also unpinning my g pawn to put his knight en-prise,Kh8. } 28... Kh8 { So I play Kh8. Now, his knight is en-prise. } 29. Nh5 { He retreats. } 29... b2 { My pawn is now a serious threat that must be dealt with. } 30. Rab1 { He now has to stop my pawn. He does so with his a-rock. } 30... Qxa4 { I takethe free pawn and challenge his d-pawn. } 31. Qc3 { He defends d-pawn andattacks my passed pawn. } 31... Qb4 { I defend my pawn and threat him with queen'sexchange. } 32. Qe3 { Of course he won't have it. He can't afford fightingthis position with no queen. He retracts her to a place where he defendshis d-pawn. } 32... Reb7 { I reinforce the passed pawn. } 33. Nf4 { He must now usehis knight to deal with my passed pawn, ideally for him by forking it andmy queen with Nd3. } 33... Qb3 { I prevent the fork and challenge his Queen. } 34. Nd3 { He challenges my pawn and prevents queen's exchange. } 34... Qc3 { I playQc3 with the idea of playing Rb3 and ganging up against the pinned knight. } 35. h4 { I don't see how h4 helps here. But that's what he played. My guesseswere he would try to send all his castle to open my king's position andstart some major threat there. } 35... Rb3 { I play Rb3, his knight is now en-prise. } 36. Rfd1 { He defends it. } 36... Qc2 { I play Qc2, with the idea of playing Qxd1right after. If he is stubborn about not exchanging his queen, he'll haveto lose both rocks instead. } 37. f3 { He plays f3... He failed to properlykeep me from exchanging my queen and passed pawn for both of his rocks. } 37... Qxd1+ { I do the exchange... My passed pawn was under too much pressureanyways, I'd lose the chance to do bigger things if I just backed him upall I could, and he'd end up winning it. Better do something to removemore pieces in the game and leaving myself a better position. His kingis very far from being safe, so, once I've dealt with his rocks, I'll standa better chance. } 38. Rxd1 { Recaptures... } 38... b1=Q { I promote to queen. } 39. Rxb1 { He captures. } 39... Rxb1+ { I recapture with check and material advantage,for two rocks are worth more than 1 queen in material terms. } 40. Kf2 { Hemoves his king to f2, trying to lure me to move one of my rocks to checkhim at b2. I'm not falling for it of course. } 40... R1b3 { Instead, I pin hisknight. } 41. g4 { He needs to distroy whatever defense is left in my castle. } 41... fxg4 { I capture. } 42. fxg4 { He recaptures. } 42... Ra3 { I play Ra3 to have flexibilityto play Ra2+ or R8b3. } 43. g5 { He wants to go for all. } 43... Ra2+ { Check. } 44. Kg3 { Moves his king to g3... Moving him to the first rank would force himto deal with yet greater threats given my rock's position. } 44... hxg5 { I ensuremy last stand doesn't get disrupted. } 45. Qxg5 { He captures with Queen,to make her space to check me at h5. } 45... Rb3 { I absolutely pin the undefendedknight. } 46. Qh5+ { Check! } 46... Kg8 { And that's the end of his checking. Nomore checks available once I take my king to g8. } 47. Qd1 { He has to defendhis pawn and attack my rock at the same time. } 47... Raa3 { I just prepare totake the knight for free. His king is too far to help. Besides, both hisking and queen are in the line of fire... He must move his king if he wantsto lose his knight only. } 48. h5 { h5... he totally ignored my coming royalfork. } 48... Rxd3+ { Fork! } 49. Qxd3 { Has to capture or lose the queen to nothing. } 49... Rxd3+ { Recapture. Material advantage of 8. Positional advantage also willlet me promote d-pawn effortlessly (By playing Rxd4, Re4, Nd7, Rxe5, d4,d3, d2, d1=Q). He won't endure 15 more moves. So, he resigns. } 0-1

[Event "OTB Chess Game-My Last OTB Annotation?"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "September 20,2013"] [Round "-"] [White "Joe"] [Black "Tom"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1800 USCF"] [WhiteElo "1218 ELO"] { As mentioned in my last annotation, after my victory against Jack Stockel,I got to play against. And, this was that game. In this particular game,I made one mistake that lost, but despite the blunder, I played unusuallywell, according to my opponent. Looking at it, I agree with his assessment. In fact, it was far better then most of my games. Unlike some of thosepoor games, which we all know about, I'd say that this was my best gamein a long while, given how far I got. In addition, Tom did not play southof his rating, at all. In fact, his rating is the equivalent to Jack'srating. But, the difference is that he's actually stronger because Tomdoes not have any trouble in his vision. So, he can clearly see everythingthat happens and is paying attention. I mean, once in a while, he'll misssomething, but that's typical for even GM's as Mr. Stockel once explained,and GM Natalia Pogonina revealed in an article. Now, in past annotationsI mentioned about Tom and have played a few games against this opponent. But, unlike with Ted and Jack Stockel, this is the first time I get toannotate my game against. However, as we will see later on, although it'snot my last annotation, this will probably be the last time that I annotatean OTB game, unless I can remember all of the positions. My last sentencewill be explained better, in the end. } 1. e4 { So, I start off with theKing's Pawn Opening. } 1... d5 { And, this is how he responds. Like the MasterMater (id=easy19 after coming, 'back with a vengeance'), Tom decides toplay the Scandinavian defense. Now, I rarely come across this position,but I am used to it. That's because I have played against the Scandinavianthree times before, and this will be my fourth. Not to mention that Isaw a video about that before ever playing against it. } 2. Nc3 { ? Now,I should have taken with 2.exd5, which is actually the main line to thisvariation. But, I decided to try something different because tactical_abyssimplied that I should try for different things, as opposed to, play somethingthat people are too used to. So, I figured that I was taking Tom out ofhis comfort, but that is just about to backfire. Instead of exchanging,I decided to prevent him from taking with this move. As we will see lateron, this is a mistake that I will regret. } 2... d4 { And, this is how. Whileblack doesn't take, instead he attacks my N. I must find an outpost, andthere are not a lot of options, despite how optimistic I try to be. } 3. Na4 { At first, I thought that this was the only option, and I certainlydon't like it because my is on the rim, so as Jack will say later on, itis, 'out of play'. As it turns out, I miscalculated, and now that I look,I have all of the options that I didn't think I had. Better was 3.Nb5 or3.Nd5, forgetting that he cannot play 3.Qxd5. Now, the reason for thismiscalculation was because I was very slightly out of it and thought thathis Q was on, say d7. Now, that I look at it, I could and ought to haveleft my N on the homepage by moving to the b for d files. } 3... e5 { If I wasliving in the past, before I was this good, I would not know why blackmoved here. But, from experience and a video by GM Susan Polgar, whereshe was actually teaching chess students, I figured out that this is adeveloping move. And, this position, Tom is doing an excellent job incontrolling the center since this move opens a line for his DSB. } 4. Nf3 { Recognizing one problem associated with 2.Nc3, I decide to do some, althoughnot complete, correction with this move. Now, although I am threateningto win a pawn, that's not my main intention. But, that will happen lateron. My main intention, in this position, is to put pressure on the e filewith this move, so that Tom feels pressured. Sooner or later, we willsee how this unfolds. So, although not immediately, I accomplished mygoal and then some. } 4... b5 { ? In the meantime, he decides to attack my N onthe rim. } 5. Bxb5+ { But, that does not bother me because I take it withthis check. What white did not realize or might have forgotten is thathis LSB is not on the d file. So, I don't lose anything with this move. Instead, I wind up with a pawn ahead. And, despite losing, when the gameis over Tom will mention to Jack and I that winning this pawn is just oneof the many things that makes this game extremely good. } 5... c6 { Not surprisingly,however, is the fact that he gets out of this by attacking my B. Thisis the kind of thing that I expect from higher rated opponents. I think,however, that this is where I got bad habits of attacking material forthe thrill it. That's because it's the kind of thing that I see GM's do,so although Jack likes when I study things that GM's analyze, it's importantfor me to be aware as a couple of coaches told me, that I should not trysome of the really fancy stuff that Masters Grandmasters do immediately. First, I should focus on becoming even stronger, and then I can startstudying it. It's just like when I had to figure out my main weaknessand needed a lot of coaching, before I could start coaching and mentoringmyself. } 6. Bc4 { So, this is where I retreat, eyeing f7. And, no I amnot attempting a mate in one, as you might think. Instead, I am just tryingto find a good outpost for my LSB. That's because my only other move was6.Bd3. However, this move is best because retreating to the d file willlater on force me to waste tempii, if I want to control the center. Sooneror later, my plan is to advance my other center pawn and open up lines. This will allow me to get another piece out, contest the center, and completedevelopment so that when everything is developed, I can get my Q out. Blocking the d file will prevent two of the things that I just outlined. } 6... Bd6 { This move, however, is ok and does not contest the center becauseof where his d pawn is positioned. That's because he was able to advanceit two squares, as opposed to, one. Having said that, this is why 2.Nc3?was a mistake. Best was to simply follow the main line and exchange. } 7. O-O { In the meantime, however, I was still going to castle, one wayor another. } 7... Ba6 { I understand that Tom wanted to continue with development,which is why he moved his LSB. However, I do not know why he wants toexchange, instead of play something like ...Bb7 or ...Be6. In fact, ifI were black, I would not dare to trade bishops because I am behind. Now,with this move, I will take advantage of him by capturing. Since I'm ahead,even exchanges will benefit my position, and I will not hesitate to takeadvantage of my opportunities. } 8. Bxa6 Nxa6 9. d3 { As mentioned earlier,my d pawn can only advance one square, since black already played ...d4. } 9... Ne7 { Meanwhile, black is going to continue with his development. } 10. Nh4 { While I was a little spacey, I think I went a little too far withthis move. I was kind of focused on a cheapo tactic, which I never shouldhave been. But, I was also focused on something which was more likelyto and actually did occur. Like usual, I got a little hyperfocused onwinning his g pawn. And, I kind of was not paying attention to the factthat he can do something, but there's more to this then meets the eye. In other words, there was a little more to getting somewhat spacey andnot paying complete attention, which I will explain towards the end, andit says a lot about this title. But, on the other hand, I kept in mindthat if I couldn't win a pawn, I would be able to exchange his DSB formy N. The reason being is that I'm still ahead, so even if he were todefend, I would have absolutely nothing to lose with this move. In fact,it would give me another advantage. } 10... Ng6 { ?! So, he responds by attackingmy N that's on the rim. } 11. Nf5 { But, I am not bothered by that. Instead,I feel like he just wasted time because I decide to attack his g pawn. But, as thereaper1 asked me in a couple of previous annotations, did youthink that your opponent would allow you to take. At the time, I wouldhave said no, but I assumed that black has messed up in some way and, henceforth,had no way around, which would mean that the threat would not be so easyto spot. However, I missed just one thing that my opponent could do aboutthis. Normally, I don't make moves like this, but believe it or not, inOTB this kind of thing used to be a little more common the internet chess. But, as noted earlier, I am not completely with it. So, although I'mnot sleepy, I kind of have to, 'wake up and smell the coffee', as theysay. } 11... O-O { Unlike in a previous game, while my opponent cannot attack myN, in this position, my move was somewhat pointless as he now protectsby castling. Still, this reaction means that there's not as much to getupset about with my last move. Having your opponent defend by castlingdoes not put you at a real disadvantage, if you're already castled. When,he counter attacks, then it's a different story, and you've got problems. However, this time, black will have something else to think about, nowthat he has kept his g7 pawn. I will exchange his DSB for my f5 N. Notonly am I ahead, but I'm getting rid of his strong bishop. And, with thatin mind, I am beginning to get more and more confident as time goes on. But, of course, I am not going to underestimate him. } 12. Nxd6 Qxd6 13. Bd2 { Now, that all is said and done, I take advantage of the opportunityto get my last minor piece out. Of course, black now has a slight leadin development, given that he is completed developed. But, once my Q out,then we'll be equal again. } 13... Nc7 { In this position, Tom moved here totake his N back on the homepage. } 14. c3 { ?! At this point, Tom takes amini break, and my coach said, 'Your Knight is misplaced. Be, careful,it is in danger.' This is the first time where I have mixed feelings aboutit. In other words, I agree but also disagree with Jack, at the same time. It's not in immediate, but should he ever enable himself to play ...Qa6it will be. First, I looked to see if anything was in immediate dangerbefore fussing over the N. When I determined that it wasn't, then I wouldcome up with a plan to defend my piece. Normally, I don't make a big dealabout stuff like this, but as we all know, it's important to think stepsahead, and not just move by move. This is a perfect example. Before,I realized that there were other places for my N, I told my coach thatI had to place my N on the rim to defend it, and that there was no wayaround it. Now, that I think about it, however, there were other optionsthat I did not see. Of course, when I played Na4, I actually felt likeI was in a different time zone, but only at that moment. And, that's prettybizarre because I did not feel this way in my game against Jack. But,it was as though I flew from the West Coast right to the East coast. And,there is a 3 hour time difference from opposite coasts. So, even thoughthe game started at like 11:00 am, it temporarly felt like 8:00 a.m., inmy body. Now, that I'm in a later phase I'm beginning to get back to normaland am starting to feel like my normal self again. However, things willnot be completely normal, until the end. Mr. Stockel, said that I hada very good move that I could make which would protect my N. But, he wasn'tgoing to tell me the move since I was in a middle of a game against Tom. Although, it's OTB and not rated, having a different person tell you theright move, even your coach, is like cheating. Of course, I found themove, and this is it. Because I am counting and relying on an exchange.After which, his d pawn will not hang in this spot, and so my N will beperfectly safe on the c file. Of course, that is exchange is not goingto happen, so this move is not going to help. So, I will have to comeup with a different plan. } 14... c5 { After this move, I don't exchange, becauseafter Tom retakes he'll still have a pawn on d4 which will prevent me frombringing my N on c3. In fact, even if he hadn't played ...c5 that wouldhave happened which is why 14.c3?! was pointless. } 15. c4 { So, I, insteaddecide to play this. Why? Because in these types of positions, I havesee games where strong players advance their pawns one square, like this,as opposed to, making a capture. And, this kind of thing has given theman advantage. } 15... Ne6 { This time, I don't know why black played this. } 16. b3 { But, at least, I finally found the right move to bring my N safelyback on the homepage. I will, however, wait until later because this moveaccomplishes something else which is that my N is now protected. And,that was also one of my goals, since Jack told me that my Knight was indanger. } 16... Ngf4 { In this position, black attempts to win back a pawn. But,I am not going to allow him to take on d3. } 17. Qf3 { And, because of thatI am also now completely developed. So, I just gained back an advantagethat I didn't have. In addition, this is one reason why I decided to holdoff on putting my N back to the homepage. Since it's not in danger oranything else like that, perhaps the only principle which I generally ignoreis that a N on the rim is grim. Although some GM's like Susan Polgar tellyou that developing in the wrong spot can be worse then not developing. And, she does take her N off the homepage, as an example, I don't seewhere it makes much of a difference, unless my piece is in immediate danger. However, if I were still a beginner, then it absolutely would matter,as I would try to just stick with all the basics. Over time, you learnthat one does not have to make a big deal about everything regarding GeneralOpenings. Otherwise, that's the equivalent to hyperfocusing. } 17... Rac8 { Thisis where I start forgetting which rook was moved. But, this move makesa lot more sense to me. So, he brings his rook over, which you generallysee, after being completely developed. This, however, makes much moresense Rfc8. The reason being is that when both your Rooks are connectedlike this, it's not a good idea to bring your rook on the same color asthe other rook, as I have learned from Mr. Stockel. } 18. Rae1 { Having saidall of that, I also bring rook my over, but on a different color, as well. } 18... Ng5 { ?! So, black decides to attack my Q. I don't know why because I feelthat it doesn't accomplish anything } 19. Qg4 { Therefore, like my game againstJack, I decide to counterattack, in order to punish black for his attack. } 19... Qf6 { I thought that my last move was enough to intimidate black, so thathe would retreat. However, I missed something important. As it turns,out Tom can and does defend his N with this move, instead so that he hasnothing to worry about. However, since I'm still ahead, this move doesnot stop me from exchanging his N for my B. The only problem, that I didn'trealize, is that the exchange involves my dominant. Now, at the time,I had trouble determining a strong from a weak bishop. But, as it turnsout, this was my dominant bishop. } 20. Bxf4 Qxf4 { Not surprisingly, hetakes back with the Q, as opposed to his e pawn. And, this is a bettermove. However, I will force another exchange, as opposed to retreatingmy Q. } 21. Qxf4 exf4 22. Nb2 { Since all is said and done, now I bring myN back to its homepage, since I'm ready to do so. This implies, that therewas absolutely no rush because what I outlined earlier. } 22... Ne6 { In thisposition, I think that Tom is a little too worried about his a pawn. Imean, he will protect soon, but it's not in danger. But, I understandthat he thinks it will be in danger in several moves, but why? Although,I am ahead, I'm not threatening to take it anytime soon. } 23. f3 { So, Idecide to advance another pawn. Now, that we're near an endgame, there'sno danger in putting a whole around the K because pretty soon my King willbecome a powerful weapon. } 23... Nc7 { ?! He protects, afterall, but as noteda move earlier, it's not anywhere in danger. So, that's why I view andmarked this move as pointless. It's simply because I don't believe thatthis is pointless and does not accomplish anything. } 24. a3 { ?? At thispoint, I am trying to figure out a way to get a passed pawn. But, afterthe game, Tom told me that he thinks this move is the losing blunder andmy decisive mistake which is why I marked with two question marks. Onereason is that he will now win back a pawn, after ...Rb8. Now, of course,I'm not crazy about 24.a4, in this position due to tactical reasons. But,what I found out was that a4, actually would have been a lot worse thenI thought. In fact, that move would have lost very quickly. This, move,however, does not seal my fate as quickly, but luck will run out when wereach the endgame. That's because of what he's going to do in the nextfew moves. Pretty soon, his N will swarm in on the a file, and it willlead to a loss of material. Therefore, I will wind up behind, as opposedto, ahead, believe it or not. } 24... a5 { ! At this point, black decides to advance. At first, did not know what it this would accomplish because I didn'tthink that it could promote. But, I will find out otherwise, later on. } 25. a4 { At this point, I am just trying to stop him from getting apassed pawn. But, come to think of it, it's too little too late becausethat, by definition, is a passed pawn, as we will see shortly. } 25... Rb8 { !This move automatically wins back a pawn, as noted earlier. } 26. Nd1 { Withoutany way to defend b3, I decide to move my N, knowing that it will be indanger, right after he takes. } 26... Rxb3 27. Nf2 { But, I want to keep it ona square where development is complete. In other words, had it been lefton d2, that would undo some of my development, which I don't want. } 27... Rfb8 { This is a very common and dangerous move. At this point, black decidedto double his Rooks like this. We usually see strong players do that,and in the past, Jack Stockel taught me that this is generally a good ideato do this because doubled rooks can pose as immediate threats. For example,a long time ago, Jack Stockel defeated, despite the fact that I was a Qahead, he managed to deliver mate with doubled rooks, similar to this. } 28. g3 { Since material is even, I still see no harm in trying to forcean exchange. } 28... Ne6 { ?! At first, I wasn't sure why he played this, but asecond look shows he actually wants to win a free pawn. And, it appearsthat once he plays ...Ng5, that will be feasible. But, I am not goingto allow, so this move was pointless. Instead, I am going to exchangein order to avoid losing material. } 29. gxf4 Nxf4 30. Rd1 { Recognizingthat my d pawn is in danger, this is the very move that protects it. Inother words, any other move loses my P. } 30... f6 { Since this is an endgame,it's now appropriate to activate the King. That's because in an endgame,the K becomes a powerful, the equivalent to, at least, a piece from whatI've heard. } 31. Rd2 { I miscalculated. In this position, I thought thatmy d pawn was in danger. That's because I thought that I sensed a forkafter, 31...Ne2+, but as it turns out, that check would not be anythingto worry about. } 31... R8b4 { At this point, however, black makes a go for it. Now, I don't if Tom played this or R3b4, but I think that he moved hisrook on the eighth because I seem to recall the R's being bundled up likethis (right on top of one another). Either way, however, it doesn't matterbecause the result is still the same and in the exact same way. My a Ris now attacked, so there is something to think about, this time. } 32. Ra1 { Therefore, I have to protect a4. } 32... Rb1+ { So, he decides to place mein check, at all. But, this time, I realize that it's not serious, soI am bothered by it, as I will force an exchange. } 33. Rxb1 Rxb1+ { And,I also don't mind being check any more now, then I did earlier. } 34. Nd1 { I also could have gotten out of this with 24.Rd1 and exchanged with24...Rxd1, 25.Nxd1. But, for some reason I like this move better. Eitherway, it does not prevent white from losing a pawn. Therefore, I will actuallyend up a pawn behind because after the exchange, black would have beenable to take ...Nxd3. As Tom later told me when I talking about the losingmove, either way, a pawn is gone, in this position. } 34... Ra1 { The reason whyI can't protect a4 is that I cannot play 35.Nb2 because my N is directlypinned to the K. In addition, I cannot defend with 35.Ra2??, or I'll losematerial worth much more, in this position. } 35. Kf2 { Without any way todefend my pawn, I decide to activate my K, in an attempt to use it as aweapon. In addition, this gets rid of my absolute pin. } 35... Rxa4 36. Nb2 { Becauseof his last move, without much to lose, I decide to intimidate black, withthis move. And, I was thinking in terms of trying to pull a swindle, giventhat I'm now a pawn behind. However, this plan is not going to work. } 36... Rb4 { !! At first, I wasn't sure why he moved there and actually viewedthis move as ?!. That's because there's no point in trying to attack apiece, knowing that you can't win it. However, this is way more this thenmeets the eye, and Tom wouldn't make a move just attack like this, unlesshe knew that it would win something. Although black extremely well, thiswas, by far his best move. As we will see later on, this move will threatena pawn promotion and ultimately lead to my downfall. And, that's why thismove is extraordinarily brilliant. } 37. Kg3 { Knowing that he can't take,I moved here, but more then to simply attack his N. It's because now,I'm starting to execute my plans of using my K as a weapon. } 37... g5 { At thesame time, however, black realizes that his N is attacked, so he takesaction with this move. } 38. h4 { At this point, I want to force an exchange. Normally, it's a bad idea to exchange when you're behind, so why do itat all? Well, if 38...gxh4, I can make my K more powerful by retakingwith 39.Kxh4, and that was the part of the same plan, that I had notedearlier. However, black is not going to allow that. } 38... h6 { Instead, he counteractswith this move, making 38.h4. } 39. Kg4 { However, I am still going to bebring my K out. And, now I originally felt that I had an advantage dueto the opposition. But, that is not the case here. } 39... Kf7 { Instead, blackgets out of it by activating his K. } 40. Rh2 { Although there's not muchto worry, aside from the fact that he's ahead, I decide to give my h4 pawnextra protection with this move. While it was not in danger, a few monthsago, Jack Stockel told me to count your number of pieces and pawns andcompare them to the amount that your opponent has. This is what he meansby that. For example, up until a move earlier, none of us would have lostanything, if he played something like ...gxh5. That's because we bothhave a pawn to make the recapture. But, now I have an extra piece to takeback, so if he decided to play that, I would simply respond with Rxh4,and this would actually win two pawns, as opposed to one, so I would instead,be the same as I was before (a pawn ahead). } 40... Kg6 { Of course, my opponentis not going to retake. Instead, he plays this to achieve the opposition,like I attempted to do before. } 41. Kg3 { With his last move, this is forcedanything else would allow black to mate in one with ...h5#. } 41... a4 { Like wesaw earlier in the game, this is the same pawn that he is trying to promotewith. The only problem is that his R is there, making it very difficultto prevent his promotion. That's because black is preventing me from takinghis pawn, which is what made 36...Rb4!! extraordinarily brilliant. } 42. Nd1 { Because I now know how close he is to promoting, I try to preventthat with this move, as it does prevent him from playing ...a2. However,this is only the beginning of white's problem, as we are about to findout. } 42... Nxd3 { First, he wins another free pawn, putting me further behind. And, things are about to take an ugly turn. } 43. Rd2 { After taking, Inow decide to resort to extreme aggression, and the reason being is thatI now realize that I'm losing. So, now I decide to attack his N just forthe thrill of it. I won't do this kind of thing, unless I am well awarethat I'm clearly losing, as in this case. When you're in trouble likethis, there is nothing to lose by becoming super aggressive. As black-cat-hameletcommented in a previous annotation, 'The only time playing badly wouldever be of any use is if you are losing anyway and try a strategy you knowcan fail in the hope that your opponent falls for the trap.' This is aperfect example. Who knows? Not in this game, but sometimes getting thisaggressive in a desperate situation can help you to pull a swindle, asI have done before. For me, at least it shows that I'm not afraid or readyto resign. It's pretty much contradictory of when I was a beginner andresigned prematurely. Well, I learned from that , so I don't do it anymore. But, this is one of the main that turned that weakness into a strength,believe it or not (the ability to pull swindles). And, this is prettymuch why Jack Stockel says, 'Don't give up right away.' } 43... Nf4 { As expected,he retreats. So, even if can't be aggression, I have to come up with adifferent, fi I have any hope of staying in the game. } 44. Ra2 { And thisis the plan. I figured that, at the very least, black would lose someof his winning advantage. In one respect, I thought that I just outsmartedhim and diffused the situation with this move, but that is not the case. Sure, it prevents him from promoting, which is what he wanted. But, heis now going to win another pawn, and there is no way around it. I missedthat, but even if I hadn't, I certainly would have moved here, anyway,due to extenuating circumstances that I just mentioned. If I didn't hewould certainly promote, and I didn't want to allow it. However, thisposition is hopeless for white, no matter what I do and how much optimismI have. } 44... Rxc4 45. Rb2 { At this point, I just lost all of my optimism. Therefore, knowing the situation cannot get anyworse, I just make a randombecause there I have nothing better to do anyway. } 45... Rc2 { I thought thatthis position was surely deadlost for white with no way around it becauseI looked at either having to retreat my N or allowing him to promote. Therefore, I resigned. A second look, however, shows that I actually couldhave pulled a swindle and wound up like 3 points ahead, after 46.Rxc2. So, resignation was probably premature. Now, the only problem is thatwe could not continue our game because Tom had to leave about 5 minutesafterwards. So, you have to ask yourself why Tom played this then? Maybethe game was really lost because it looked like my opponent had a planand, therefore. So, it's possible that there would be good reason forsacrificing a major piece, in this position, IDK. But, what it all comesdown to is the moral. Are you ready? After the game, Tom told me thatit is generally not a good idea to record the game. The reason being isthat you spend at least 50% of your time writing down the game. That'sat least half the time that you spend on the actual. Therefore, you windup losing time and being forced to rush, which I have noticed. Now, youreally need that time to concentrate on your games. After he told me that,I said that the reason I record is to make an annotation because as a coupleof commentators mentioned and I noticed, there's pretty much no point inannotating a game, if you don't remember what was actually played. Then,my opponent said, that the only time it's necessary to record a game, isif you're in a tourney. And, the reason being is that part of the tournamentrules state that if you're competing in a match, you have to record thepositions. In which case, then it's worth annotating, since you're obligatedto write things down anyway. And, he could also see me annotating computergames since the positions are right there, with nothing to write aboutor record. But, that's no need in an informal game like this. The onlyother time it might be worth annotating is, if one can just remember thepositions and was played, without writing it down. But, Tom advised menot to try and memorize it like that. In addition, Jack recommended thatI follow his advise because he's a strong player, and I absolutely agreewith my coach. And, that's because concentrating on the actual game isfar more important then worrying about what's needed to make the annotation. I also noticed something else that I didn't before. Remember what I saidin the beginning and early in the annotation, where for the first timein a very long while, I went for cheapo tactics and cheap shots and itfelt like I was in a different time zone? Well, as it turns out, writingthe positions took away a lot of my energy away and really made me feeltired due to the length and difficulty of this game. That's why althoughthis was such a great game, I wasn't completely with the program and madesome beginner mistakes. It was almost as though I forgot the basics, whenthat didn't really happen. } 0-1

[Event "Carden ArmsvChester6,ChesterLeague"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "08/10/12"] [Round "-"] [White "Clive Tickell"] [Black "CharlesHiggie"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "ECF162"] [TimeControl "35 in 1hour15mins"] [WhiteElo "EFC144"] 1. e4 { This game was the second home game of my new team 'Carden Arms'.As you will see, I was very lucky to get a draw against a player ratedlower than me. Part of the problem nay have been that my best player droppedout in the afternoon, so I had spent the hour or so before the match desperatelytrying to get an extra player. I also had a technical problem with my clock- more about that later! } 1... c5 { So I reply with my usual, the Sicilian Defence } 2. f4 { Nowadays this is slightly unusual, but perfectly playable. The GrandPrix attack. In the 1970s this was one of the most common replies to theSicilian. } 2... d5 { This move is the main reason why it is no longer so popular. } 3. e5 { This is probably not best, releasing the tension too early. Nc3or taking the pawn on d5 are more common and better. Nf3 is an interestinggambit, much in vogue at the moment, but I don't think it is really anygood. } 3... Bf5 { So I develop. I plan to go into a sort of advanced variationof the French defence, where my white squared bishop, instead of beinginactive behind my pawn chain on c8 or d7 is active outside my pawn chain. } 4. Nf3 { So he does the logical developing move. } 4... e6 { And I continue withmy plan. } 5. Be2 { He develops. } 5... Nc6 { And I do the logical developing move. } 6. O-O { He castles. In the Gameknot database of over-the-board games, thereare 2 games. a6 led to a win for white in Dubansky, Bohuslav (2165) vs.Sabol, Marian (2310) and h5 led to a win for black in Sulejmanova, Ava(2241) vs. Gordon, Viktoria (2149). I was looking at this position, andthinking really both my Bf8 and Ng8 want to go to e7. What about playingc4, allowing my Bf8 to go to c5 with check, then Ng8 can go to e7. } 6... c4 { This has been played in a Gameknot mach before, woolfighter (1562) vs.doktorn (1781), which continued 7. d4 cxd3 e.p. 8. cxd3 Bc5+ 9. Kh1 Nge710. Nc3 O-O 11. b3 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 13. Bb2 Rc8 14. Na4 Bxb2 15. Nxb2b5 16. d4 Qb6 17. Qd2 Rc2 18. Qe3 Rxb2 19. g4 Be4+ 20. Kg1 Rc8 21. f5 Rcc222. f6 Rxe2 and white resigns. } 7. d4 { As in woolfighter (1562) vs.doktorn (1781), } 7... cxd3 { I want the c5 square for my Bf8 } 8. Bxd3 { Thisis probably an improvement on woolfighter (1562) vs. doktorn (1781), } 8... Bc5+ { So I throw in the check } 9. Kh1 { King moves } 9... Nh6 { Now I was dreamingof Ng4 threatening Nf2 picking up the exchange. } 10. Nc3 { He develops. } 10... a6 { I stop his knight coming to b5 } 11. Ne2 { I presume is idea was to playc3 and put a knight on d4. } 11... Ng4 { This is a blunder. I was thinking thathe can't take my bishop on f5 as I reply with Nf with check. Of course,after doing the move I realised that that 12. Bxf5 Nf2+ 13. Rxf2 Bxf2 14.Bd3 and white has bishop and knight for rook, and a clear advantage. Itwas at this point, after I played Ng4, I pressed my clock and realisedthat my clock had not stopped and was ticking away alongside his. I hadto drive a couple of miles back to Malpas to borrow a friend's clock. } 12. Bxf5 { So he just takes } 12... exf5 { I take back } 13. Ned4 { He continueswith his plan. } 13... Qb6 { I hit his knight. } 14. c3 { He protects it. } 14... O-O-O { I castle queen-side. I thought that I have positional weaknesses. My dpawn is isolated, my f pawns are doubled. My only chance is to go for atactical melee, where positional factors are less important. What is yourview dear reader? } 15. h3 { He hits my knight } 15... h5 { Instead of retreating,I try this. Of course, if he takes the knight, I take back with the h pawnand he loses his Nf3. Unfortunately he doesn't have to take. } 16. b4 { Hethrows up his queen-side pawns, which is usually the best course of actionif players have castled on opposite sides. } 16... Be7 { So I retreat my bishop. } 17. a4 { He advances again } 17... f6 { I hit his centre. } 18. a5 { He hits my queen. } 18... Qa7 { Queen retreats } 19. Nxc6 { He takes my knight, also hitting Qa7 andRd8. } 19... bxc6 { So I take back. } 20. Nd4 { He blocks the a7-g1 diagonal again } 20... fxe5 { I take his central pawn } 21. Nxc6 { He takes. } 21... Qf2 { This is what Ihad been planning the last few moves. I was hoping he would let me playQg3 at some stage, such as 22. Nxd8 Qg3 23. hxg4 hxg4+ 24. Kg1 Rh2, heprotects g2 and then I play Qh4 followed by Ra1 mate. The big questionis, 'Is Qf2 actually sound?' Your comments would be appreciated! } 22. Nxe7+ { He takes my bishop with check. Now King to b7 or d7 allows Qxd5 with checkand Kc7 allows Nxd5 with check, so I try the one remaining square. } 22... Kb8 { Now Nxf5 prevents Qg3, but black has R(d)-f8 (the other rook is neededon the h file), and after say 23. Nxf5 Rdf8 24. Ba3 Rxf5 25. Rxf2 Nxf2+26. Kg1 Nxd1 27. Rxd1 Rxf4 28. Rxd5 black has a slight material advantage.He wisely tries something else. } 23. Nc6+ { He throws in a check } 23... Kc7 { The king comes up. If now 24. Nxd8 Qg3 25. hxg4 hxg4+ 26. Kg1 Rh2 followedby Qh4 and Rh1 mate. So he does something else. } 24. Rxf2 { He takes. } 24... Nxf2+ { I take back } 25. Kg1 { King comes across } 25... Nxd1 { I take his queen. } 26. Nxd8 { He takes my rook. } 26... Rxd8 { I take his knight. } 27. fxe5 { He takesmy pawn. } 27... Nxc3 { I take his - and remarkably material is even! } 28. Bb2 { He hits my knight. I was thinking here of Ne2 check, followed by Nf4 andNd6, firmly blockading his passed pawn on e5. This may well have been betterthan what I played. } 28... Ne4 { I thought it was nice and centrally placed here. } 29. Bd4 { He centralises his bishop, with a little threat of Bb6 check winningthe exchange. Rc8 is probably my best move, I make another mistake. } 29... Kd7 { I am hoping to play Rc8 } 30. Rc1 { But now I find Rc8 is met by e6 checkwhich wins for white. } 30... g5 { So I move a pawn up } 31. Bb6 { He hits my rook.I still can't play Rc8 } 31... Re8 { So I hit his pawn. } 32. Rc7+ { He throws ina check } 32... Ke6 { This is forced } 33. Bd4 { He protects his pawn. } 33... Ra8 { I playedthis and offered a draw, which I was delighted when he accepted. Whitenow has an edge, but can white win? If so what is his winning plan? Yourcomments would be welcome! Many thanks for reading, please rate my annotation.Until next time, dear reader! } 1/2-1/2

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "24-Apr-08"] [Round "-"] [White "rogerp3"] [Black "kedrowss"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1524"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1556"] 1. d4 { qp opening } 1... d5 2. Nf3 { to colle system } 2... e6 3. c4 Nf6 { transitioningto queen's gambit decline catalan } 4. e3 { he transposes to Tarrasch } 4... c6 { i push for semi-slav, stonewall variation } 5. b3 Ne4 6. Bd3 f5 7. Ne5 Qh4 8. O-O Bd6 9. f3 Bxe5 10. dxe5 Nc5 11. cxd5 Nxd3 12. Qxd3 cxd5 13. Qb5+ Nd7 14. Ba3 a6 15. Qb4 Nxe5 { i boneheadedly missed the queen exchangeoffered on 15, leaving him to take mine freely and me to resign } 16. Qxh4 1-0

[Event "Wizard Chess-Indirect Training Game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "12/29/15"] [Round "-"] [White "Joe"] [Black "Computer"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1356"] { This was another interesting game between me and the computer, at thehardest level. After the second game that I annotated, which was the firsttime playing as black on the most challenging level, I had an analysisposition with reversion. He said that I needed to calculate further intothe variations. And, charleshiggie implied the same thing because Charlessaid how delighted he was that I was calculating accurately. That lessonis important because failing to do so became the costly blunder, in thisparticular game. So, how did it all go down? } 1. d4 { It's the first timethat I've opened with the QPO against the computer. In the past, it wasalways 1.e4, as you typically see with me, but I wanted to try somethingdifferent. What I really have in mind is the Colle's System, since I didwell against Bert, in our WTW game. However, I'm not sure how the computerwill respond. } 1... d5 { Once they play this, however, I go into the Colle System. } 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 Nf6 4. b3 Ne4 5. Bb2 { And, now, it becomes Franketort (Ibelieve it's called) which is what I was taught by GM Susan. } 5... Bd6 6. Bd3 { Unlike the last game, I will waste no time in developing my pieces afterthe final blunder then. The idea is, as usual, 'Know your Principles.' So, don't deviate, unless you must, especially against this kind of opposition. } 6... O-O { With that being said, the opponent decides to get it's monarch tosafety. } 7. O-O { So do I. } 7... Qf6 { Mobilizing the Queen before the rest ofthe pieces. Not sure why, but the computer can deviate with the kind ofopposition I'm against. Plus, the other idea is, 'Don't Trust your opponent.' } 8. Nbd2 { Which is why I play this, as the idea is getting ready for anexchange and strengthening my Knight. } 8... Nxd2 9. Qxd2 { The only reason Idecided to recapture with the Queen is because I thought that taking withthe Knight would leave my f file weak. } 9... Nc6 { Well, in general, it's nota good idea to block the c file in QPO. But, with stronger players, youfigure out why and what makes them play things different. What are theirplans. At first, this appeared to be a waste of time, so I quickly thoughtabout it and realized that he might have a threat. } 10. e4 { Therefore,what concerned me was the possibility of 10...Nb4, followed by 11...c5,as after exchanging pawns, it seemed that black might have a nasty threat. What I figured would happen, in the long term is that the opponent wouldfigure out how to take my N off of f3, and then bring the Queen to theh file. That would be proceeded with that pawn exchange and, sooner orlater, having h2 become a target which might become difficult to driveoff a threat. Now, the idea was trying to think, at least 10 moves inadvance with possible variations, affiliated with them. So, I played thisto prevent that chance. When that happens, I also keep this exchange inmind and know that what I'm picturing won't become a reality. } 10... dxe4 11. Bxe4 Bd7 { Completing their development, whilst, connecting both Rooks. } 12. d5 { ? The idea here is to exchange pawns and pieces with this discoveredattack against the Queen. I analyzed the next few moves, but made oneoversight in my analysis, as now, I wind up a pawn down. I'm not surewhat the best move was, but just about, anything was better then this. } 12... Qxb2 13. dxc6 Bxc6 14. Ng5 { I wasn't trying to win anything, as it mightappear. If that were so, it'd be too easy, but the idea is just makingit difficult so that the computer really has to think. What came to mindwas 14...g6, after which, I'd kick the Queen. But, this is the cornerstoneof where I stop calculating through the variations which is starting totake it's toll. So, it begins with them exchanging bishops. By the looksof it, it's almost even, but we're far from that, as black has won my muchstronger bishop for his weaker one. It reminds of that sodium attack fromtactical-abyss, in which he won. That's because I'm slowly winding upin a lot of trouble. Better was to retreat my Be4. However, I think thatbest was 14.Rfb1, and after retreating the Queen, I'd gain tempo, after15.Be4, since black would've been under siege. } 14... Bxe4 15. Nxe4 Rad8 { Atfirst, I thought that this was pointless. But, once black played, I foundout, otherwise. They're preparing a nasty discovered attack on my Queenwhich will turn out to be devastating. } 16. Rfb1 { ?? Overlooking that andstill viewing 15.Rad8! as pointless, I played this in an attempt to gaintempo. This is also where I, completely stopped playing through variations. In doing so, I overlooked a ton of moves. In fact, knowing just how muchtrouble I'm in becomes a reality now, as opposed to, later, starting withtheir next move. } 16... Bxh2+ 17. Kxh2 { ?? As you might expect, I did not lookat any possiblities. I was pretty confident, though, that, 'To take isa mistake' due to studying similar positions. But, in this case, I thoughtthat I did not have a good move left. In other words, I felt that therewas nothing better or anything else to lose. If for example, I had played17.Kf1 (which was my second instinct), black would play 17...Rxd2. So,the inference is that I'd lose my Queen, one way or another. This kindof thing happens without analyze the board (which is why Wizard Chess isgood practice, as that doesn't exist.) But, had white been more carefuland played through a little more, I would've seen 18.Nxd2. Despite losingthe Queen, I'd get a Rook, as compensation. At which point, resignationwould not be an option, yet. But, by taking, as opposed to, calculating,that Queen is free, as we're about to see. } 17... Qe5+ 18. f4 { This is whereI start calculating again, believe it or not. But, it's a very small amountwhich is too little too late. If 18.Kh3, or 18.Kh1, black play 18...Rxd2. However, I overlooked the Knight, until the move was played. What firstcame to mind was 18...Qxe4, and then 19...Rxd2. However, my Queen couldstill get out. But, their next move did not come into calculation, afterwhich, I'm doomed. I figured that he'd get the Queen for free. } 18... Qh5+ { Which is why I resigned by pressing escape button. However, I still could'vegotten the Rook. However, this is where I realized that there was nothingelse to learn. Just like with my game against reversion, when there wasnothing else to learn, I also threw in the flag. But, the moral of thisstory is to calculate through all variations, carefully. Failing to doso for, even, one or two moves can lead to disaster, as we saw here. } 1-0

[Event "Tiago vs Aleksey Glazyrin 2011"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.04.01"] [Round "-"] [White "tomfc"] [Black "alex_krasnovodsk"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1485"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1202"] 1. e4 { it was classic start! } 1... e5 { i did also move my King's pawn ahead,i wanted to battle for the middle of the desk } 2. Bc4 { he moved his bishop!he also wants the middle! } 2... Nf6 { i attack his King's pawn } 3. d3 { now hedefends his King's pawn by moving Queen's forward } 3... Bc5 { i develop my blackbishop } 4. Bg5 { he attacks my knight, that was expected } 4... h6 { i want hisbishop to get my knight } 5. Bxf6 { he does } 5... Qxf6 { know i develop my queen,and the next move can be the last one } 6. f3 { but no, he is not a childi can win with such an easy checkmate, so, the game continues... } 6... d6 { ihave my white bishop still not developed, moving the queens spawn to d6i defend the King's spawn and open a way for my white bishop } 7. Nc3 { well,he also developing } 7... Bg4 { what's there? free bishop, the game is goingto end if gets my bishop } 8. Nd5 { well, attacking my queen, and then imistake, next move ( K5d:c7) can turn things arround } 8... Qd8 { i know i canlose my bishop now, but it's better than losing my queen or rook } 9. Ne3 { but here i think was his first mistake, he had to take my bishop, hadn'the? } 9... Be6 { i want to change our bishops now, after my 'f' spawn shifts to'e' diagonal, i can attack e4, the battle for the middle continues... } 10. Bxe6 { yes, he does everything i want, that's great! } 10... fxe6 { i get hisbishop } 11. Nc4 { now if i move my queen spawn forward he gets my 'e5' spawnfor free } 11... Nc6 { so, i defend it } 12. c3 { he wants his queen to take partin the battle (Qd1-a4) } 12... O-O { i make that move vain } 13. Nh3 { well, whatwas that? actually i didn't understand that move } 13... Qh4+ { but i did startattack, the battle for the middle sucks } 14. Ke2 { yes, he had to move hisking, if he cross my queen's way with the 'g' spawn, i get his knight,if he cross my queen's way with the knight, the game will be over, nextmove Qh4:f2# } 14... g5 { i don't want his (f) spawn to be there, so i move my'g' spawn ahead } 15. Qe1 { he knows that this condition is bad for him,he says let's exchange our queens, i answer no! } 15... Qh5 { i go back,that wasonly one move that i can left my queen alive } 16. Qg3 { here he makes myspawn absolutely useful, he just paralyze it } 16... d5 { i leave my 'e5' spawn } 17. Nxe5 { and he has it! that's what i wanted } 17... Bd6 { now i control hisknight's movements } 18. d4 { and he also do not give up! } 18... b5 { no one couldget the middle, but the right wing, is now the best area i can use forattacking the middle } 19. Kd3 { well, he wants to move his 'f' pawn, buthe couldn't do it before because of his kings position, now he can do it } 19... b4 { i don't like that 'c' pawn, i want it to be out of the middle } 20. exd5 { he gets my queen's spawn, not a bad move, but... } 20... exd5 { i understoodthat now i have a little advantage, next move i begin my attack, of course,if he lets me } 21. f4 { i know i can not get his spawn, now, but i did expectedthis move } 21... g4 { so i reply by moving my spawn ahead to attack his knight } 22. Nf2 { he runs away, but at the same time attacks my spawn } 22... Bxe5 { nowi sacrifice my bishop to get more advantage } 23. fxe5 { he still doing everythingi want, he gets it } 23... Qf5+ { now my attack does begin } 24. Ke2 { really cleaver,defending knight and the second line } 24... h5 { i double my 'g' spawns defense } 25. Rhf1 { that's was mistake i think, now i can continue my attack } 25... Qc2+ { Check! } 26. Ke3 { again mistake, i think it could be better to move onfirst line } 26... bxc3 { Together to victory! } 27. bxc3 { A great mistake! FATALMISTAKE!!! } 27... Qxc3+ { Check, Sir! } 28. Ke2 { i think it would be better ifhe close down my queen with his knight, but ... } 28... Nxd4+ { now,no way backfrom this position, Check! } 29. Kd1 Qc2+ 30. Ke1 Qe2# { CHECKMATE! we couldand this game in a just 30 moves, it was interesting game, which made methink a lot! } 0-1

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.03.05"] [Round "-"] [White "unohuim"] [Black "fidelibus"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1224"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1331"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 { knights before bishops... except i really want to keepthis bishop on this diagonal, and black's knight on a5 ruins it. } 2... Qf6 { hmm } 3. Nf3 Bc5 { f2 is a serious target } 4. Qe2 Nh6 { not certain what the planis here for black } 5. h3 { ..but i don't want Ng4 } 5... Nc6 6. a3 { trying thisout.. nice preventative move for Nb4 } 6... Nd4 { this knight has to go } 7. Nxd4 exd4 8. d3 { i like this move. black's bishop is going no where, and f7is still a viable attacking point } 8... O-O 9. Qh5 { i feel that this is a goodsquare for my queen. any thoughts? attacking the bishop, and a g6 blunderallows Qxh6. plus, nice parking spot until f7 is ready to go } 9... d6 10. Bxh6 { open up the kings protection } 10... gxh6 { i think this will be the weak pointfor black moving forward } 11. Nd2 Be6 12. O-O-O { taunting black's queenfor a free pawn... i would love it to open up on the f file. } 12... Bxc4 13. Nxc4 Qxf2 14. Qxh6 { if Qxg2, Rg1 and pin the queen. also, i can move Qg5!and fork the bishop, but need that pawn on d6 gone } 14... Qg3 15. h4 f5 16. e5 { i don't want black's rook active, so keeping that pawn on f5 on the ffile is key. also Qe6! is a good place, but I need black's queen off thatdiagonal because it's protecting the e5 and d6 squares which i intend touse. } 16... dxe5 17. Rh3 Qxg2 { black is now in trouble } 18. Qe6+ Rf7 19. Nxe5 { i would black to take my rook } 19... Rf8 20. Nxf7 Rxf7 21. Rhh1 Qf2 22. Rhg1+ Kf8 23. Rde1 Re7 { now it's a matting pattern from here on in. } 24. Qc8+ Kf7 25. Qg8+ Kf6 26. Qh8+ Kf7 27. Rg7+ Kf6 28. Rg2+ Kf7 29. Rxe7+ Kxe7 30. Qxh7+ Ke8 31. Rxf2 { i couldn't find a matting pattern, so i chooseto take material.. black resigns here. any feedback would be appreciated. } 1-0

[Event "Blitz game 5 + 10"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "eric2jin"] [Black "mike6803"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "Black"] [TimeControl "5 + 10 blitz"] [WhiteElo "White"] { Blitz. Tried the queen s gambit } 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 { Accepted } 3. e4 b5 { Not going down so fast } 4. Na3 c6 5. d5 a6 { Big pawn wall } 6. b3 c3 7. Qc2 b4 8. Nc4 cxd5 9. exd5 Qxd5 10. Bd3 { -2 right now } 10... e5 { ? } 11. Be4 Qb5 12. Bxa8 Nc6 13. Bxc6+ Qxc6 14. Nxe5 Qe6 15. Nf3 Bd6 16. Bf4 f6 17. O-O Ne7 { !? } 18. Nc4 { ? } 18... Bxf4 19. Nd4 Qf7 20. g3 Bc7 21. Rfe1 O-O 22. Qe2 Ng6 23. Ne6 Bxe6 24. Qxe6 Qxe6 25. Rxe6 Ne5 26. Nxe5 fxe5 27. Rxa6 Re8 28. Ra7 Bb6 29. Rb7 { Winning by 2 } 29... Re6 30. Rd1 { Threatening mate once thebishop moves } 30... Rf6 31. g4 Bxf2+ 32. Kg2 Bd4 33. Rxb4 Rf2+ 34. Kg3 Rxa2 35. Rf1 h6 { Not done yet } 36. Kh4 Rd2 { ?? } 37. Kh5 Rxh2+ 38. Kg6 { ! } 38... Ba7 39. Rc4 Rf2 { One final try... } 40. Rc8+ Rf8 41. Rfxf8# { I win actually he resignedbut whatever } 1-0

[Event "French Defence"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "22-Sep-07"] [Round "-"] [White "mybookrunsdeep"] [Black "richard_pitts"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1916"] [TimeControl "5d+2d, 7d max"] [WhiteElo "2059"] 1. e4 { This game features an interesting positional battle in the modernFrench Classical. I'm not an e4 player and I haven't played 1...e6 sincediscovering the Sicilian, however, I can't resist playing in a French tournament. The positions are always interesting, with plenty of play for both sides. As usual, I won't annotate the basic opening moves, which should be commonknowledge. } 1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 { This seems likea good place to start the annotation. Instead of 5. f4 leading to theSteinitz, this move betokens the modern treatment of the Classical. Theidea is for White to create a 'super-center' with c3, f4, and Nf3. Inthese positions, the standard break at ...f6 is not so good as it leavesBlack with a terminally weakened pawn structure. This is a fact whichdetermines this game, even though we leave book very early. Anand hasplayed this several times with great effect. For some truly amazing games,check out Anand-Shirov, 2000 and Anand-Morozevich, 2000. } 5... c5 { The typicalFrench counter strike. } 6. c3 cxd4 { Releasing the tension doesn't helpblack. 6...Nc6 is better, followed by 7. f4 and either 7...b5, or 7...Qb6,increasing the pressure on d4 in standard French fashion. } 7. cxd4 f6 { Black is clearly a little nervous about the White center, but a captureon e5 after 8. f4 only solidifies the position in White's favor. Piecedevelopment seems more prudent at this stage, in particular, ...Nc6 and...Qb6, with the standard queenside play. } 8. f4 { Reinforcing the center. } 8... fxe5 9. fxe5 { White comes out of the opening with a clear static advantage. } 9... Nc6 10. Nf3 Bb4+ 11. Nc3 { This is not so typical of a defense. Better might be 11. Bd2 Qb6; 12. Bxb4 Qxb4 ; 13. Qd2, with advantage toWhite. } 11... O-O 12. Be3 { My pieces are centrally posted and my center isstrong. My short term plan is to deploy the Bishop to d3, castle and liftthe queen to connect the rooks. Not exactly rocket science, but you cansee how the mass exchange strategy employed by Black has left him in apassive situation. } 12... Nb6 { Clearing the way for the light-squared bishopto possibly transfer to the kingside with ...Bd7-e8-h5 is pretty common. Also, the b6-knight can come to c4, which will pretty much force me toexchange my light-squared bishop to keep Black's activity under control. } 13. Bd3 { Taking aim at the Kingside in the event the Black knight choosesnot to sink into c4. The White queen can move to c2 to pressure the Blackkingside and provoke a weakness on the light-squares with either ...h6,or an h-pawn push if Black plays ...g6, also keeping in mind possible sacrificeson g6. } 13... Nc4 { I wasn't really excited about Bg5 followed by ...Qb6, anddecided to chop the knight with... } 14. Bxc4 { No need to allow complications. By exchanging the knight from c4, I keep the position simple and advantageousfor the White pieces. Black gets the d5-square for his pieces, but I getthe e4-square for my knight after I castle, as a bishop capture on c3 wouldonly strengthen my center and then Nd2-e4 would come anyway. Black alsohas an isolated pawn on e6, which will be a problem later. This captureseems like a good example of choosing to use superior technique over complications. } 14... dxc4 15. O-O { Releasing the pin and preparing Ne4. } 15... Ne7 { Logical play fromBlack, who seeks to exploit the new d5-outpost square. } 16. Qe2 { Clearingthe back rank to link the rooks, vacating d1 for a rook and attacking thec-pawn. The queen also keeps an eye on the kingside here in case too manyof Black's pieces head for the queenside. } 16... Nd5 { Hitting the knight twice,however, I decided to set a positional trap for my opponent. } 17. Nd2 { Thisprepares to route the d2-knight to e4. My reasoning is that the open b-filewill only benefit the White pieces, as Black wants to use the b6-squarefor his queen and the c-file for the rooks. As the Black c-pawn is hanging,I wasn't worried about 17...Bxc3; 18. bxc3 Nxc3; 19. Qxc4 Nd5; 20. Rb1with quite a bit of pressure on the queenside and a nice outpost on d6for the knight after Ne4-d6. I also wasn't concerned with 17...Nxc3; 18.bxc3 Bxc3; 19. Rxf8 Qxf8; 20. Rf1 Qe7; 21. Qxc4, when Black's Weaknessesare more prominent and White has control of both of the open files. } 17... Bd7 { Probably a wise choice, Black is seeking piece activity (a dynamic imbalance)to offset his space and pawn structure disadvantage (a static imbalance). } 18. Rxf8+ { I thought about Nde4, however, this move gives me some initiative. Notice how Black does not have this luxury on move 17, as his Queen isnot off the back rank and cannot challenge the f-file after 17...Rxf1;18. Rxf1, with the initiative and maintaining the static plusses in theposition. } 18... Qxf8 19. Rf1 Qe7 20. Nce4 { After the previous forcedsequence of moves, I decided against my previous plan of Nde4 and optedfor this move. My reasoning was that if Black was ever going to exchangethe d5-knight, I would rather have him take the crappy e3-bishop than oneof my good knights. Again, a bishop swap for a knight is only good forWhite. } 20... b5 { Expanding on the queenside and safe guarding the pawn. Takingthe pawn was never a consideration. With black having the two bishops,I was trying to keep the position as closed as possible. Black would havehad ample compensation for the pawn. } 21. a3 { Not just kicking the bishop,but trying to erect some kind of dark-square influence on the queenside. Especially c5 and d6! } 21... Ba5 22. Bg5 { Forcing the queen back and preventinga swap of Rooks on the f-file. } 22... Qe8 23. Nc5 { 23. Nd6 Qb8; 24. Qf3 Qf8!and I wasn't so sure that White was accomplishing anything. } 23... Bc6 { Not sureabout this move. I wasn't really interested in taking the bishop. } 24. Nde4 h6 { This is makes the situation go from bad to worse. } 25. Bxh6 { The bishop is off limits after 26. Qg4 Kh8; 27. Nxe6 Qe7; 28. Rf6!! Blackcan resign. } 25... Qg6 { 26. Bxg7 is a threat. } 26. Bc1 { I considered 26. Bxg7followed by 27. Rf3, but it seemed like Black was getting too much. } 26... Bb6 { Maybe ...Rf8 or even ...Bd8 in view of... } 27. h4 { Black doesn't haveany pieces to harass my king. } 27... Bxc5 28. Nxc5 Ne7 29. h5 Qe8 30. Nxe6 { Here Black resigned as he had enough. Thanks to my opponent. } 1-0

[Event "avalanche at mini-tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "10-Oct-08"] [Round "-"] [White "kaiman"] [Black "stnbraten"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1345"] [TimeControl "3d+1d, 5d max"] [WhiteElo "1184"] 1. Nf3 { i played this game at a mini tournament where i was about to regainrating after severe timeout losses. out of an unorthodox reti opening developedthe biggest avalanche i ever experienced in chess. also note that (despitea handful of bishop moves) all blacks pieces only move towards ONE direction^^ } 1... g6 { yeah, why not try something new (speaking for myself only) } 2. d4 Nf6 3. d5 { this brave scout seems to loose contact with his own forces.(this move makes the diagonal for my fianchettoed bishop even juicier) } 3... Bg7 4. Qd3 d6 5. e4 Na6 { black's working the flanks while white does somestaging in the center } 6. Bd2 Nc5 { oh my, the infantry ddidnt get enoughsupport and with blacks cavalry in sight, white's officer in command leavesthe poor men on prey } 7. Qc4 Nfxe4 8. Bd3 { the first brawl in the centerdraws white's attention away from its army's flank... } 8... Bxb2 { with severeconsequences! white's artillery gets captured! } 9. Bxe4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 { ...but black's cavalry gets routed and completely annihilated in melee } 10... Bxa1 11. c3 Bf5 12. Qd4 f6 13. O-O c5 14. Qc4 Qb6 15. Na3 Bb2 16. Qb5+ Qxb5 17. Nxb5 Kd7 18. c4 Bd3 19. Rd1 Bxc4 20. Nc3 Bxc3 21. Bxc3 Bxa2 22. Nd2 Bxd5 { now here: due to the uncoordinated movement of white, blavck's officerssucceeded in routing allready half of white's forces. none of blacks pawnyet was in combat they're all rested and fresh... and they just put onbajonettes and will march the enemy off the field! watch! } 23. h4 h5 24. Nf3 Bc6 25. Ne1 b5 26. g3 b4 27. Bd2 a5 28. Nc2 Ba4 29. Rc1 Bxc2 { furthersimplification. i know that i could have played it more straight but iwas so stunned by this pawns i just wanted to let them have fun. (thatsthe least we can do for our pawns. give them a reason to enjoy theirselvesevery once in a while. too often they get sacrificed, left alone treatedas if they were not worth a dime) } 30. Rxc2 e5 31. Kg2 Kc6 { yeah this issurfing a wave! } 32. f4 e4 33. Kf2 f5 34. Ke3 d5 35. Ke2 d4 36. Kf2 { ofcourse i could have played e3... } 36... Kd5 37. Ke2 { or here, d3 would be crushingof course... but i decided to toy } 37... c4 38. Ra2 c3 39. Bc1 Kc4 40. Rxa5 { ok,my opponent resinged here, and i want to apologize that i showed no respectby toying around. although its not often you get such strong story tellingsituations on the board. and its clearly not every day that you have your8 pawns and just march the opponent over and dont have to fear a thing.ofcourse id loved to play it down to the 1st rank but chess is a 2playergame, if its not for any reason, its about to be over. like here ^^ } 0-1

[Event "Could do better?"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.06.10"] [Round "-"] [White "kththth"] [Black "elwoos"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1557"] [TimeControl "10 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1559"] 1. e4 { This was a random challenge and my opponents rating was very closeto mine. I have annotated it in the hope that more skilful players cansuggest more efficient ways that it could have come to a conclusion } 1... e5 2. c4 Nc6 3. a3 { Kings Pawn game, I don't know this variant at all butI am already looking at the hole at d4 } 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Bc5 { Strengthening thecentre, I am also expecting white to castle on the kingside so I want mydsb on the a7-g1 diagonal } 5. Nf3 d6 { I thought about this move for a while,it seems very passive to me but it does bolster my e5 pawn and open a linefor my lsb } 6. d3 { This was a pleasant surprise as I was expecting d4,the text makes it difficult for whites lsb. It was about this time thatI was starting to form a plan, although I have not completed my developmentyet, I am ready to castle, and white isn't, so I decided to try to takehim by surprise and attack aggressively } 6... Ng4 7. h3 { It's hard to know forsure what whites best move is here but I don't think this is it } 7... Bxf2+ { This is quite nasty for white as his king has few options. } 8. Ke2 Nd4+ 9. Kd2 { If Nxd4, exd4 and then the knight on g4 is immune due to hxg4,Bxg4+ winning the queen } 9... Ne3 { This move was to force the queen away fromthe defence of the king, I am not worried about a check on a4 as it iseasily parried. This was partly a distraction in the hope that I wouldget the opportunity to move some of my pieces into better positions, inparticular my lsb and queen. } 10. Qa4+ Bd7 11. Nb5 { Note that Qb4 givesN (either) c2 forking the queen and rook } 11... a6 12. Nfxd4 axb5 13. Qb3 exd4 { Note that whites position is very cramped indeed and I am trying to tightenthe screw even more } 14. Ke2 { Threatens both the knight and the dsb, whiteis starting to fight back but it could be too late } 14... Qh4 15. Bxe3 Bg4+ { Keepingthe pressure up, perhaps better would have been dxe3 } 16. Kd2 bxc4 { Thisexchange was to try to get the queen off the third rank where it mighthave been able to hinder my attack } 17. Qxc4 Bxe3+ { Taking with the bishopkeeps the king confined and allows my queen in } 18. Kc2 Qf2+ 19. Kb1 { Lookingto get the king safer in a2 } 19... Be6 { Pressures the queen again and preventsKa2. } 20. Qb4 { This is a nice move from white that limits my options } 20... c5 { Pressuring white again, I am expecting a series of checks but they aregoing to have to run out sooner or later } 21. Qb5+ Ke7 { links the rooksin case of Qxb7 } 22. Qxb7+ Kf6 { Now I am looking at a future Rb8 } 23. Be2 { white sacrifices the bishop to get a rook active } 23... Qxe2 24. b3 { Preventsthe threat of Qxd3# } 24... Rhb8 25. e5+ dxe5 { This is not a good move as we willsee, at the time I was happy to undouble my pawns } 26. Qf3+ { A nice movefrom white that I had completely overlooked, fortunately for me I am stillin a strong position } 26... Qxf3 { forced } 27. gxf3 Rxb3+ 28. Kc2 { This is thepoint where I start to struggle a little to make good moves, I am tryingto trap the white king on the back row so that the rooks are no longerlinked. If I can use my bishops to do that I can bring a rook in for mate } 28... Rc3+ 29. Kd1 Bb3+ { Would Rxd3 be better here? that is the square I wouldlike my lsb on } 30. Ke2 Rc2+ 31. Kf1 c4 32. dxc4 Bxc4+ 33. Ke1 Bd2+ { Ican't remember why I did this, my plan was Rxa3, the rook is immune dueto Rc1# } 34. Kd1 d3 35. Rh2 Bc3 { If white decides to exchange he will havealmost nothing left } 36. Rc1 Rxc1+ 37. Kxc1 Rxa3 { Threatens Ra1# } 38. Rb2 { and white resigned. Thanks for reading please comment } 0-1

[Event "Casual Game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "'Mr. Blanc'"] [Black "'Mr. Rouge'"] [Result "1-0"] { A game played between a work colleague of mine and a friend of his. Mycolleague is 'Mr. Blanc.' } 1. e4 e5 2. Ne2 Be7 3. d3 { Neither one of themis very good. Probably lower rated than me. } 3... b6 { Preparing to fianchetto. } 4. f4 { The one advatage to the Knight at K2 is that P-KB4 is guarded. } 4... f6 { Defending rather than exchanging. } 5. fxe5 { Intiating the exchange... } 5... fxe5 { ...and completing it. } 6. Ng3 { Adding additional protection to theKP. } 6... Bb7 { Finally completing the fianchetto. } 7. Nf5 { Securing an outpost. } 7... Nc6 { Further gaurding the attacked B. } 8. g3 { Preparing to guard his Knight. } 8... a5 { ??? I have no idea what this is supposed to do. } 9. Bh3 { Gaurding theKnight and preparing to castle. } 9... h6 { To restrict the QB. } 10. O-O { Castling... } 10... g5 { Further restricting the QB. But this move allows... } 11. Qh5+ { ...thismove. } 11... Kf8 { Forced. } 12. Nd6+ { A wicked discovery. } 12... Kg7 { The only square. } 13. Qf7# { that's game. } 1-0

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.12.13"] [Round "-"] [White "kapila"] [Black "dutch12"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1508"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1511"] 1. e4 { Hello everyone, you are about to see a nice chess game I played. } 1... c5 2. Bc4 d6 3. Nf3 { This is simply opening with Sicilian defence. } 3... Bd7 4. Nc3 e6 5. O-O a6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Be7 8. Re1 Nc6 9. Be3 b5 { It seemsthat the Bishop in the square c4 is somewhat trouble for the opposite side.I can move back the Bishop but I thought first better exchange the Knightsat d4 and c6 and then think about the Bishop or getting back the Knightif he still wants to take the Bishop. } 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. Bd3 { See, a pairof Knights are gone. } 11... Rc8 12. a3 Nf6 13. b4 O-O 14. f4 Qc7 15. Bd2 e5 16. h3 { Both sides are trying to attack the other side. Who will succeed? Youmay better watch.., } 16... Ne8 17. Ne2 h6 18. Ng3 Bd7 19. Rc1 f5 20. exf5 { Nowpawn to pawn attack. Just an exchange though white pawn advancing and whiteside got a plus. } 20... Nf6 21. c3 Bc6 22. Ne4 d5 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 { Battle is goingand Knights fought bravely so now it is hard to find any. } 24. fxe5 { Nowpawns start to crawl and... } 24... Bxe5 25. Be3 Bh2+ { After the pawns, Bishopsthought that would be their time to move... } 26. Kh1 Bg3 27. Rf1 d4 28. Bxd4 { Further I plucked another pawn and also attacking his pawn at g7. } 28... Qb7 { See some attack that to my pawn at g2, making by moving the Queen. } 29. Qb3+ { Now, I think better move the Queen and attack the King. Whiteside has better choices of moving their Bishop or the King. I thought hewould move the King. Then I would advance the pawn at f5 and get anotherexchange/s and I would lessen his defenses. } 29... Bd5 { See, Bishop... I haveto start my other plans. The first thing is nothing but the movement ofthe Queen remember that my pawn at g2 is in danger. } 30. Qc2 Rc7 31. f6 { Now it would be time for some harvest. } 31... gxf6 32. Rxf6 Rcf7 { Here I couldget rid of the Rook but better give some company to the Rook at f6. } 33. Rcf1 Rxf6 34. Rxf6 Rxf6 35. Bxf6 { So, got exchanges of the Rooks, leavingthe battle for the Queens and Bishops. } 35... Bd6 36. c4 bxc4 37. Bxc4 Bf7 { NowI earned an attacking position. So, then why not go with the Queen. Buthow? } 38. Qg6+ Kf8 39. Qxh6+ Ke8 40. Qh8+ { It is time to earn a Bishop.You see how... } 40... Kd7 41. Bxf7 Qb5 { What a move... I think he gave up andhe just made a move. Do you see why it is a very bad move? } 42. Be8+ { Yougot it. It is the end of the Queen as well as the game. He resigned andexactly that is what I do when I have such situation. I enjoyed this gameand I wish better luck for his future games. Thanks for viewing. End. } 1-0

[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "jason"] [Black "james"] [Result "1-0"] [TimeControl "none"] 1. e4 { kings pawn game } 1... e5 { still } 2. Nf3 { there we go } 2... Qe7 { what } 3. Nc3 { this } 3... Nf6 { developing } 4. Bb5 { another one } 4... Qc5 { attack } 5. d3 { ha! } 5... Bd6 6. Bg5 { unpinning a piece } 6... Nc6 { i was waiting for that } 7. O-O { thenthis! } 7... Be7 { back? } 8. Qd2 { queen out } 8... d6 { this } 9. Rae1 Bg4 { you arenot pinning a piece! } 10. Re3 { there we go } 10... O-O-O { castle } 11. Bxc6 Qxc6 12. Bxf6 { how about this... } 12... Bxf6 13. Nd5 { and that? } 13... Rhe8 { you are letting me take your bishop? okay then } 14. Nxf6 gxf6 { knewit } 15. h3 { go back! } 15... Bh5 { of course you would do that! Hay!! how did restof the game is in Chinese??? } 16. b3 { I am doing a soldier's fight. } 16... h6 { 不好的... } 17. c4 { ohthank goodness! it is English again! } 17... Rg8 { threatening the pawn } 18. Nh4 { easy to defend } 18... Qd7 { what is that for? } 19. d4 { are you ready? } 19... exd4 { uh no } 20. Qxd4 { attack!! } 20... Kb8 { ??? } 21. Qxf6 { there we go } 21... Rg6 { goodone! } 22. Nxg6 { how about this? } 22... fxg6 { hay! } 23. Rfe1 { using the otherrook } 23... Qe8 { using back rank } 24. e5 { this? } 24... dxe5 { ha you fell into my trick } 25. Rxe5 { R O O K for the win! } 25... g5 { this } 26. Rxe8 { thank you for this } 26... Rxe8 { really? } 27. Rxe8+ { ha! } 27... Bxe8 { ha! } 28. Qd8# { checkmate! thanks forwatching my annotation and please rate more than three stars and see youguys next time! good bye!!!!! } 1-0

[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "windandrain72"] [Black "ph-lampe"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1097"] [WhiteElo "970"] { Hi guys, this is my seventh annotated game that i'm doing against ph-lampeand it was very exciting. This game only lasted 20 moves were I almostgot killed. And, please leave at least 3 stars for this review. Thanksand enjoy! } 1. d4 d5 { QP opening. } 2. Nc3 Bf5 3. Bf4 f6 4. Nb5 { Attackingthe Q side. } 4... c6 { ? } 5. Nc7+ Kd7 6. Nxa8 { +5!!!!! } 6... Na6 { Not for long...:( } 7. e3 { Marked as an error by Stockfish. } 7... Nb4 8. Bd3 { Also marked as a mistake. } 8... Bxd3 9. cxd3 Nxd3+ { ??? } 10. Qxd3 { +7!!!!! } 10... Qxa8 11. Qf5+ e6 12. Qh3 Bb4+ { Oops... } 13. Ke2 Ne7 14. Nf3 a5 15. Qg3 Qa6+ { Oops again... } 16. Kd1 Qd3+ 17. Kc1 { Not good. :( } 17... c5 { ??? } 18. Bc7 Bd2+ { What? } 19. Nxd2 { +7 again.:) } 19... e5 20. dxe5 { My opponent resigned because of the loss of material buthe could have gained back a piece with 20...Kxc7. } 1-0

[Event "Challenge from tounaboa"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "31-Oct-08"] [Round "-"] [White "tounaboa"] [Black "topazg"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1683"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1331"] 1. e4 c5 2. Be2 Nc6 3. Nf3 e6 4. c4 g6 5. b3 Bg7 6. Nc3 b6 7. Bb2 Nge7 8. Rb1 O-O 9. Nb5 { Everything seems ok to me up to here. I really likeWhite's development, though having played this I'd be looking to followwith d4 as soon as possible otherwise the d pawn could become a liability.You also want to castle but there is no imminent pressure. } 9... d5 10. Bxg7 { Why exchange if you don't have to? I'm not sure this greatly benefitsWhite's position, unless you have an imminent usage for the B1 rook thatyou want it freed up for. } 10... Kxg7 11. cxd5 { I think this is the wrong side.You have no real choice now to either make D2 into an isolated pawn, orto give me a solid spatial advantage in the middle. 11. exd5 exd5 12. O-Owould have been fine I think, and 12. d4 is probably an option. } 11... exd5 12. d3 d4 { With E2 on the white squares, locking this position seems advantageousfor Black from the point of view of restricting white mobility and gaininguseful space in the centre. } 13. O-O Ba6 14. a4 { I don't like this, you'vekind of weakened B3 quite terminally as the diagonal is available, andit can not easily advance to b4 now. I would have simply retreated to Na3allowing Nc4 and some future involvement of the knight. } 14... Qd7 { Perhaps shouldhave just doubled the white pawns here, but wanted further development. } 15. Qd2 Bxb5 16. axb5 { I decided that doubled pawns on your side wouldbe sufficiently difficult to defend that it was worth removing my goodbishop for. This seems to be slightly costly already for White. } 16... Nb4 { Attackingthe b5 pawn. You cannot defend it. } 17. e5 { This was a positionally weakmove. It is hard to maintain the defence of e5 as it has lost the protectionof the d pawn, tying your knight up. This was definitely one of your morecostly moves. } 17... Ned5 { Instead of capturing the pawn, I decided it wouldbe better to get hold of C3 for my knight, a lovely square for it to overseeyour whole back two ranks. Because your bishop is on the white squaresit will be very hard to shift for you, and b5 isn't going to get defendedany time soon. } 18. Ng5 Nc3 19. Rb2 Qf5 { It's far more useful to have theknight at C3 than to exchange for the bishop. It will be a pain for quitesome time for you there. Instead I try to force the knight of its happyhome, by locking the queen into its defence, and threaten the now undefendede5 pawn. If you return the knight, I can simply add the rook to the attackand you cannot defend. 20.f4 would be very interesting though. } 20. Bf3 { Good idea to free the file and threaten my rook, except my rook will moveto e8 and doulbe the attack. This has also removed the possibility of movingyour f pawn forwards in defence. At this stage, without my black bishopon the table, I don't think you have to be concerned about opening up thediagonal, and the positional strength it would have is quite significant. } 20... Rae8 21. Re1 Rxe5 22. Rxe5 Qxe5 { Going a pawn up. } 23. Ne4 { You cannotcapture my knight, because the corresponding dxc3 would lose you a piece,so I can ignore this move. } 23... Re8 { Gaining presence on the open file. } 24. g3 f5 25. Ng5 Qe1+ { Forced the exchange to get my rook onto the back rank,and because of the check I get to capture the d pawn, giving me a strongpassed pawn and increasing my lead to 2 pawns. } 26. Qxe1 Rxe1+ 27. Kg2 Nxd3 28. Rd2 Nb4 { Positionally the game is extremely hard for White. Only3 pawns sit on white squares, greatly reducing the effectiveness of yourbishop, although your knight is very active and probably your best chancefor any counterplay. With the e file gone to my rook and my knights inactive positions, it will be very hard to utilise your rook. E2, D3, E3,D1, C2 and A2 are all effectively removed from the Rooks positions, makingit impossible for the rook to get involved. } 29. Bc6 { A nice idea, I decidedgetting your knight out of the action was very important. } 29... h6 30. Nf3 Re6 31. Bd7 Re7 32. Bc6 Nxc6 { It will now be very hard for you to defend theb pawn after the capture, giving me time to (hopefully) go 3 pawns ahead,after which defending the queenside will be impossible and I will seekto exchange material. } 33. bxc6 Kf6 34. b4 Rc7 35. bxc5 bxc5 36. h4 Rxc6 { Now three pawns ahead, with no opposition to any of my queenside pawns,I'm going to start advancing as quickly as possible. } 37. Rd3 { An awkwardmove, as neither the capture nor E3 appeals. This lost important momentum. } 37... a5 38. Rd2 a4 39. Rc2 a3 { With 3 'free' advancement moves, it becomes veryhard to see how this pawn can be stopped without sacrificing further material. } 40. Nd2 a2 41. Nb3 Rb6 42. Na1 { Probably better was 42. Rb2, but after42... a1=Q 43. Nxa1 Rxb2 your knight is completely pinned and can do nothingto stop the d pawn advancing, so it makes little odds. } 42... Rb1 43. Rxc3 dxc3 44. Nc2 a1=Q 45. Nxa1 Rxa1 46. f4 c2 { Many thanks for the game :) I wouldhave said that 11. cxd5, allowing doubled pawns with 14. a4, and 17. e5were the three moves that cost you this game, but you generally didn'tmake any big mistakes apart from that that I could see. } 0-1

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.03.14"] [Round "-"] [White "wellhairedbeast"] [Black "seneque"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2118"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1357"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 { 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 Black declines the Queen's Gambit andoffer's the Albin Counter-Gambit with d4. } 3. dxe5 d4 { 3.dxe5 d4 I acceptthe offered pawn. Black is prevented from dxc4, due to Qxd8 Kxd8 losingthe ability to castle. Black pushes his pawn forward into my centre. } 4. Nf3 Nc6 { 4.Nf3 Nc6 I attack the pawn, Black defends it. } 5. g3 Be6 { 5.g3Be6 Aiming to fiancetto the light squared bishop and enable castling.Black's bishop threatens Bxc4 } 6. Nbd2 Qd7 { 6.Nbd2 Qd7 Nc3 is preventedby black's pawn on d4, but Nbd2 also defends against BxC4. Black developsQueen to enable Queenside castling. } 7. Bg2 O-O-O { 7.Bg2 O-O-O I fiancettomy light squared Bishop to build up pressure on the centre (Xray on e4,d5, c6). Black castles long. } 8. O-O h5 { 8.O-O h5 I castle to defend myKing. Black threatens my Kingside with his h-file pawn. } 9. Nb3 h4 { 9.Nb3h4 - Inaccuracy This was an error and I lose the previous positional advantageI have. Computer analysis puts this at -0.12. The pawn on c4 is undefendedBxc4 puts me a pawn down. Qa4 would have been better. However, Black hasopted to continue his Kingside attack. } 10. Nxh4 Nxe5 { 10.Nxh4 Nxe5 I needto get rid of that pawn, doing so loses the defense of e5 which is thentaken by Black. I have lost control of the centre, and the Kingside. } 11. Bf4 Nxc4 { 11.Bf4 Nxc4 I develop the dark squared bishop threatening Bxe5and looking to control the diagonal increasing the threat on Black's Queensidefor a later attack. } 12. Rb1 Bd6 { 12.Rb1 Bd6 – Mistake! Worried about Nxb2which would also threaten my Queen on d1 I rush to defend b2 with my rook.Computer analysis puts this at -0.64. However, Bd6 was also a mistake,this time on Black's part (+1.66). ( 13. Qxd4 b6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Qxg7would have provided me a + 2 pawns advantage). } 13. Qxd4 Kb8 { 13.Qxd4 Kb8I have noticed Black's error and taken the pawn that was threatening myposition. Black's King defends against Qxa7. } 14. Rfd1 Bxf4 { 14.Rfd1 Bxf4– Mistake! Rbc1 is better. Qxg7 would have been too greedy as Bxf4, gxf4weakens my Kingside defense. (14 Rbc1 Qc8 15. Bxd6 Nxd6 16. Qxg7 Nh6 wouldhave won me the pawn after dealing with the Bishop threatening f4.). Blacktakes my Bishop. } 15. Qxf4 Qxd1+ { 15.Qxf4 Qxd1+ - Inaccuracy! Better wasQxg7 (15. Qxg7 Qxd1+ 16. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 17. Bf1 Be5 18. Qf8+ Bc8 19. Qc5 Bh320. Qf8+ Bc8). Black goes for a sequence of exchanges while I am undercheck losing tempo with pressure building on my Kingside. } 16. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 17. Bf1 Nf6 { 16.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 17.Bf1 Nf6 This was forced. Black develops hisknight to aid his attack on my Kingside. } 18. Nd4 Nd5 { 18.Nd4 Nd5 – Blunder!Computer scores this as -6.27. I should have gone with Nf5 to defend myKing. Nd4 did have the aim of attacking the Bishop on e6 which was threateningBh3 (can't take it with my Bishop due to the rook on d1) but I overlookeda quieter move which would have been more useful. Black threatens my Queen. } 19. Qf3 Bh3 { 19.Qf3 Bh3 – Blunder! I am now at -10.99. I should have attackedthe King with Nc6+. If Black responds with bxc6 then I can reply Qxc4 puttingmy Queen in a position to better defend my King and threaten a King/Rookfork with Qb3+. I had also missed the threat of Bh3 as my Bishop is pinnedby the Rook. } 20. Ng2 Nd2 { 20.Ng2 Nd2 – Blunder! -23.92. I am clearly donefor. Nd2 forks my Queen and the pinned Bishop. I have to lose my Queento temporarily survive. If I try to save the Queen then Rxf1 is checkmate. } 21. Ne3 Nxf3+ { 21.Ne3 Nxf3+ - Impending Checkmate The game is lost, I cannot prevent mate. } 22. Nxf3 Nxe3 23. Nd2 Nxf1 24. Nxf1 0-1

[Event "Shropshire 2 v Anglian Avengers 3 4NCL"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "15-1-2017"] [Round "-"] [White "Charles L Higgie"] [Black "Elliot Cocks"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1915"] [TimeControl "40in1Hr 40+30secs/move"] [WhiteElo "1945"] 1. d4 { My 4th 4NCL match of the season, and my 4th youngster to play! Myopponent was aged 15. } 1... Nf6 { Indian systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Defence } 2. c4 { My usual. } 2... c5 { Selecting the Benoni. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoni_Defense } 3. d5 { I think this is the most principled move, aiming for a space advantage. } 3... b5 { The Benko Gambit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benko_Gambit } 4. cxb5 { I take. } 4... a6 { He offers another pawn. I have tried various things in thisposition. I have tried 5. Nc3 axb5 6. e4 b4 7. Nb5 and now black losesif the pawn on e4 is taken - 8. Qe2! wins for white. But if black keepscool, there are no problems, and white doesn't have the extra pawn. Sonow I tried something else. } 5. e3 { I like taking the pawn, and have apiece firmly planted on b5, so black doesn't have the open a and b filesfor his rooks on a8 and b8 firing down at my a and b pawns. } 5... Bb7 { Attackingd5. } 6. Nc3 { Protecting d5. } 6... axb5 { he takes. } 7. Bxb5 { I take back. } 7... Qa5 { and the queen comes out, threatening the d pawn. } 8. Bd2 { Unpinning theknight. } 8... Qb6 { And the queen drops back. The d pawn is under attack again. } 9. e4 { This is a mistake, I hand back the pawn. I should have played Qb3or Bc4. } 9... Nxe4 { now if I take his knight, he takes my bishop. } 10. Nge2 { So I develop my final minor piece. } 10... Nxc3 { I can't help thinking in thisopen position the bishops are better than knight and I think he shouldhave taken off my bishop on d2. } 11. Nxc3 { I have to take back this wayto keep my bishop protected. } 11... g6 { Typical to fianchetto this bishop inBenoni and Benko systems. } 12. O-O { I develop. } 12... Bg7 { So does he. } 13. Re1 { Attacking e7 and already I had the following piece sacrifice in mind. } 13... O-O { He castles, I was happy. } 14. Rxe7 { I take. I was very pleased tofind out afterwards that Fritz agreed that this was the best move for white. } 14... Bxc3 { He is after my Bb5, but the cost in terms of weakened black squaresis not worth it. Fritz agrees. Fritz actually likes 14....Bxd5 and if 15.NxBd5 then QxBb5. In this way black gets back the pawn he has just lost.Fritz considers 14....Na6 as second best move. The move I was looking atwas 14....Bf6 and white can offer the exchange with 15. Qe2, with advantageto white. } 15. Bxc3 { I take back. } 15... Qxb5 { He takes the bishop. } 16. Qd2 { Threatening Qh6 and mating on g7. } 16... Nc6 { A stunning defence! Qh6 is nowmet with Nd4! and black is winning. } 17. dxc6 { But I can just take it. } 17... Qxc6 { And now he is threatening mate on g2. } 18. f3 { So I stop that. } 18... d5 { Another clever defence. } 19. Be5 { But now he has to do something aboutthe impending Qh6. } 19... f6 { This is forced - but does lose a pawn. } 20. Qh6 { Threatening mate of course. } 20... Rf7 { The only defence. } 21. Rxf7 { So I take. } 21... Kxf7 { He takes back. } 22. Qxh7+ { I take the pawn. } 22... Ke6 { Madness! Why chargeup the board with the king like this? After Kf8 there is still work tobe done to convert the extra pawn to a victory. } 23. Bg3 { Now is it justlost. } 23... d4 { Nothing is much better. } 24. Re1+ { Finally mobilising my lastpiece. Of course Kd5 is met with 25. Qf7! mating. } 24... Kf5 { So he comes thisway instead. } 25. Qh3+ { Now I am mating. } 25... Kg5 { Forced. } 26. Qh4+ { anotherqueen check. } 26... Kf5 { Forced again. I had a choice of mates in 1. It seemedmost appropriate to have the mate where my bishop assists, as it has playedsuch a key role in the attack. Many thanks for reading! Please rate theannotation on the star system and leave a comment or two to let me knowhow I am doing. Until next time dear reader! } 1-0

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.11.11"] [Round "-"] [White "bejjy"] [Black "dwillv"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "992"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "958"] 1. e4 e5 2. d3 Nf6 3. b3 { This is usually followed by a fianchettoed bishop. } 3... Bc5 4. Bb2 { This was what I thought he'd do. } 4... d6 { I made sure my blacksquared bishop was past the d-pawn before I advanced it. This is prettybasic, but ti's important nonetheless. } 5. h3 O-O { Castle early and often. } 6. a4 b6 7. Nc3 Ba6 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Nd5 Nd4 { He threatens 2 different checks(both of which could be met) while I 'pin' the g-pawn or the g-knight becauseof Nf3. } 10. Nxf6+ { Trading a knight for no reason? I don't see any advantageto this. That was before I noticed it exposed my king if i captured itwith my pawn. however, that could be easily copensated. } 10... gxf6 { I didn'teven think about Qxf6. I have a habit of playing too fast. } 11. c3 Nxb3 { Captured a pawn while forking the queen and rook. A big error for my opponent } 12. Qd1 { This isn't a good move, but it's probably the best he had. } 12... Nxa1 13. Bxa1 { I now no longer have my most mobile piece (which could be badin the opening), but he lost one of his most powerful pieces in the process,so I'm a little less than 2 pawns ahead. } 13... Kh8 { Protecting my king fromQg4+ which makes him develope his queen with tempo. } 14. h4 { Not what Iexpected, and this move might deserve a question mark. } 14... b5 15. axb5 Bxb5 { Trading equal material is a good stradegy when ahead. } 16. h5 { The treatof the pawn is hidden if it even exists. I don't understand why he's weakeninghis g-file. } 16... c6 17. h6 Qa5 18. Qg4 { !? The threat is clear now, but thecheckmate threat is a little too late. } 18... Qxa1+ 19. Qd1 Qxc3+ { Before I madethis move, I thought of whether I should do this, or Qxd1+. I soon realizedthat if he makes his king safe, and plays Qg4 again, then Rg8 saves thethreat and (if White's not careful) could win the queen. } 20. Ke2 { Thisis the stronger of the 2 possible moves, but (like 20.Qd2 Qxd2+ 21.Kxd2)now he can't move his queen to g4 with tempo until his king moves again. } 20... Ba6 { This was done because it allows both of my rooks to move to the b-filewith tempo, and it pins the d pawn. He doesn't have a safe way to stopthis, so I'm probably going to win unless he surprises me. } 21. Kf3 { Hewastes a move and fails to remove the pin on the d3 pawn. } 21... d5 { Taking advantageof the pinned pawn. } 22. Rh5 { He fails to realize that dxe4 is safe sincethe d pawn is pinned. A potentially fatal mistake. } 22... dxe4+ 23. Ke2 { ?? terriblemove since exd3 now delivers check. } 23... exd3+ 24. Kf3 { I am now able to delivercheckmate in a few moves. } 24... d2+ { discovered check } 25. Kg4 { This is no betterthan the alternatives which also checkmate easily. } 25... Bc8+ { Needed to coverthe f5 square and the h3 square. } 26. Kh4 Qd4+ { After this, 27.Kg3 Qf4#or Qg4 Qxg4 or 27.g4 Rg8 28.Be2 f5 29.f3 and white's only pieces are tiedto protecting that one pawn. } 27. Kg3 { better is g4 } 27... Qf4# { checkmate } 0-1

[Event "3. Accelerated London vs. King's Indian Defense 2...c5 gambit. Gambit line"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2021.04.03"] [Round "-"] [White "mischo"] [Black "freeman8201"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1901"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1876"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 { Accelerated London system. Resembling the Colle System,white develops the Bishop to Bc1-f4 the hallmark of the London. The orthodoxmove order has always been on the 3rd move, e.g., 1. d4 2. Nf3 3. Bf4 towhat ever Black plays. The Accelerated London develops the bishop on move2. I'm not a Londoner so I'm not going to write the pros and cons of Theorthodox London vs the accelerated London system and how it is meant todeal with Black's moves. I just know it's really in vogue right now anda hot opening for White because Magnus Carlsen has played it. I will addblack will face a blunted King's Indian Defense if both sides were to developtheir own system, i.e., The london system vs the King's Indian Defense.For example, 1. d4...Nf6 2. Nf3...g6 3. Bf4...Bg7 4. e3...d6 5. Be2..0-06. 0-0. } 2... c5 3. e3 Nd5 4. Bxb8 Rxb8 { White's 4th move gains a tempo. Infuture cases black has to ready for such cases because King's Indian playerstend to favor their Knights. } 5. e4 { ! White gains two tempi one by exchangeand one by attacking. } 5... Nf6 { The singular move as Nc7 & Nb6 block the Qd8from moving. Nf4 &Nb4 leave the knight hanging and without support. Blackregains the tempi he lost on the previous move. The e4/d4 pawn duo Alekhineopening or Sicilian nimzovich opening. White would need to be very flexibleand knowledge with his opening knowledge to this. This is no longer a Londonopening it's a 1 e4 opening! } 6. Nc3 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Qb6 { ?! A mistake onmy part and leads to a bad pawn structure. } 8. Qxb6 axb6 9. Bb5 { a pin! } 9... g6 { In keeping of the theme 'King's Indian' I attempt to fianchetto mybishop. At this stage of the opening it's proven to be to late and pointless. } 10. O-O-O Bg7 11. f3 { The pawn chain at g2/f3/e4 resemble that are commonlyseen in Sicilians games, e.g., the Yugoslav attack in Sicilian Dragons,and The English attack in Najdorf. } 11... e5 { Singular forced. As castlingwould allow 12. e5 attacking Nf6 and losing the pawn on d7. } 12. g4 g5 { forced. } 13. Nd5 Nxd5 { singular forced. } 14. Rxd5 Ke7 { Black has a badpawn structure now. The bishop on g7 is blocked in by its own pawns. } 15. Ne2 d6 16. Rhd1 { White has achieved an positional advantage with doublerooks on the semi-open d-file. } 16... Rd8 17. Ng3 Bf8 { 17...Be6 may have beenbetter but still allows Nf4+ } 18. a3 Kf6 { 18...Be6 seems better. } 19. Nh5+ Ke6 { ? bad square to go to. } 20. Bc4 { ! } 20... Ke7 21. Rb5 Be6 { A movethat should have been played a long time ago. } 22. Bd5 Rd7 23. Rxb6 { Whitehas a technical win. Gameknot's computer engine has my position evaluatedat -3.14 which is means I'm down a piece. Well, I resign in lieu of avery long defensive game where I'm still losing at the end. } 1-0

[Event "It's time to face the music!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "13-Nov-07"] [Round "-"] [White "jstevens1"] [Black "marinvukusic"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2072"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1525"] 1. e4 c5 { 1. ....... c5 (this is the Sicilian Defence - this pawn moveis to prevent 2. d4 so I prepare it with 2. Nf3) } 2. Nf3 e6 { 2. ........e6 (a pretty standard response to 2. Nf3) } 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 { 4. N x d4(all book standard so far but Marin's next move takes me right out of thebook - in the database there did not seem to be that many good lines forwhite after 4. ........... Qb6) } 4... Qb6 5. Nb3 { 5. Nb3 (I move the knightout of the way) } 5... a6 6. Nc3 { 6. I get on with my development with 6. Nc3- this move backs up the e pawn. } 6... Nc6 7. Be3 { 7. Be3 develops a piece andattacks the Wicked Witch of the West (my opponent's queen) and Marin hidesher on c7. } 7... Qc7 8. f4 { 8. I consolidate the centre with f4 } 8... b5 { 8. ..........b5 (a pawn roll - they are after my knights!!) } 9. a3 { 9. I try to haltthis pawn roll with a3 } 9... Bb7 { 9. ........ Bb7 (develops a piece, preparesqueenside castling and puts pressure on my e pawn) } 10. Be2 d6 11. Bf3 { 11. Bf3 (my bishop zig-zags along to defend the pawn on e4 and challengethe b7 bishop's power on the h1-a8 diagonal) } 11... Nf6 { 11. ....... Nf6 developsa piece and more pressure on my e pawn! } 12. O-O Be7 13. Qe2 O-O 14. Rad1 { From moves 12 to 14 I castle and complete my development by putting arook on the half open d-file } 14... Rac8 15. Qd3 { 15. My queen comes to d3 tohelp guard the e pawn and has her beady eye on h7 - although in this gameshe never gets there! } 15... b4 { 15. ......... b4 (a pawn push forces an exchangeof pawns which results in me having to move my queen to d2 on move 17). Marin then pushes his pawn to d5. Because my e pawn is under so muchpressure I decide to exchange it. Marin asked me whether I had considerede5? Oops - maybe I have made the wrong decision. There then follows aplethora of exchanges and I come off worse. } 16. axb4 Nxb4 17. Qd2 d5 18. exd5 Nfxd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5 Nxd5 21. Rc1 Nxe3 22. Qxe3 a5 { 22. ........a5 - a pawn push threatening a removal of the guard by playing a4 so Imove my queen off the pin line. Maybe this was another mistake, judgingby what followed next and I would have done much better to get my KINGoff the pin line instead! } 23. Qe2 a4 24. Na1 Bf6 { 24. ........... Bf6(attacking the b pawn so I defend it by playing c4?? but this move losesbecause of the queen fork on b6 - maybe I should have played b3 instead). Hindsight is always 20/20 vision (I think you have heard this before andmay hear this many more times from me when playing 2000 players!!) soI now lose a pawn. } 25. c4 Qb6+ 26. Kh1 Qxb2 27. Qd1 { 27. I try and complicatethings by attacking the a pawn by Qd1 but he simply pushes it on. I spendthe next few moves trying to win it but to no avail. } 27... a3 28. Rb1 Qd4 29. Rb3 a2 30. Qxd4 Bxd4 31. Ra3 Ra8 32. Rxa8 Rxa8 33. Rd1 { 33. Rd1 - I attackthe bishop but I have just seen what is about to happen. He will playB x N, I will have to reply with R x B and he will then play 34.......Rb8 - this will lead to mate on the back rank (if 35. Rxa2) or ruinousloss of material - he will crown his pawn on if 35. g3, h3 or Kg1). SoI decided to resign the game. So that is five games against five expertsand 5 blobs to me. At the moment, except for my Expert game in Battleof the Wings I have looked way, way out of my depth against the Expertsso far - but I will not give up, although I will continue to play unratedgames below master level). The only thing I can say is that this weekI managed to draw against two 1600s players (my record against the complete1600s games is played 3, drawn 2, lost 1) so maybe I am on the upward curve- only time will tell. } 0-1

[Event "Traxler with 5.Nxf7 - Line Opening Sacrifices"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.12.08"] [Round "-"] [White "pawnstar2010"] [Black "jstevens1"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1790"] [TimeControl "7d+2d<7d"] [WhiteElo "1583"] 1. e4 { Hi everyone! This is only my second win of the tournament sofar. I did not think that I was gonna win, especially down bucket loadsof material against a Class C Player called Steve - he is an opponent towatch as he has an Expert Draw against a 2100+ player under his belt. Then I decided to sacrifice a second rook for a knight, luring the enemybishop away from Steve's defense. He took the rook and then I took a pawn,opening up a line for Glenda. Now how did my Good Witch of the North takeadvantage of this line opener? Well, read on! } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6. Kf1 { 6. Kf1 - the first unforced move. BTW- Gameknot analysis is provided for this game under the following link:-http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=14910443&fb=1&rnd=0.4039886741470244. NXB allows NxP+. I do feel a bit leery of putting Henry on the f filewhere the Wicked Witch of the West can get at him when I play the whitepieces but here I am playing black. We follow the DB until Steve deviateswith 16. Kf1. } 6... Qe7 7. Nxh8 { 7. Nxh8 - a rook is a rook. } 7... Bb6 8. d3 d5 9. exd5 { 9. exd5 - better than Bxd5 because of Bg4. } 9... Bg4 { 9. ...... Bg4 -I play it anyway. } 10. Qd2 Nd4 11. d6 cxd6 12. Nc3 { 12. Nc3 - development. } 12... O-O-O { 12. ...... 0-0-0 - as I am a long way behind in material I mustactivate my remaining pieces quickly and get Henry to safety. } 13. Nf7 Rf8 14. Ke1 e4 15. Qf4 Nxc2+ 16. Kf1 Rxf7 { 16. ...... Rxf7 - I got reallystuck for a plan after Steve deviated from the DB. However, while I washaving a good long soak in the bath I suddenly had a picture of the boardin my mind with 3 days left on my clock. I thought about taking the knightbecause if I did not, the white knight and the Wicked Witch would combineto keep Henry in a Perpetual Check and sentence me to a Low Draw - no thankyou! So I left my rook to hang. } 17. Bxf7 exd3 { 17. ..... exd3! - He tookthe bait and now I open up the e file and Glenda, who is seemingly mindingher own business on e7 is up to summat. What do you think she is stirringup in her cauldron? What square would she just lurve to land on? } 18. Bd2 { 18. Bd2 - this move appears to have avoided catastrophe for Steveand I think that knight on c3 is very annoying. If it were not for thatknight then Glenda could quite happily program her Satnav on her broomstickto the square e2 and gleefully fly towards it to nab the enemy king. } 18... Be2+ { 18. ...... Be2+!! - this move is the killer. Incredibly I spent anothertwo days on my clock before I saw this. Steve has no other legal movethan to capture Fou Leblanc than NXN. Now Glenda can deal death on e2. Having found myself in a hopelessly lost position against a 1900+ playerand having the possibility of losing 5.5 rating points to him I decidedto resign that game and then set up Qxe2# in response to NXN as a conditionalmove before going to bed. I woke up the next morning and gameknot confirmedthat I had got most of those lost points back - nice. Commiserations toSteve, in this line of the Traxler, Old Matey can strike out of a bluesky! I must watch out as I have the white pieces against Steve and I mustensure that he does NOT get his revenge! } 19. Nxe2 Qxe2# 0-1

[Event "GameKnot Blitz #2"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "baldvin"] [Black "africanboy"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1857"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 { i don't even know what the name of this opening isbut i saw someone play it so i decided to try it!! } 3. Nxe5 Qe7 4. d4 d6 5. Nd3 Nxe4 6. Qe2 d5 7. f3 Nd6 8. Qxe7+ Bxe7 { well that was a rather boringopening I ain't playing it again!! } 9. Bf4 O-O 10. Nc3 c6 11. Be2 Re8 12. O-O b5 { i am trying to give life to this utterly boring game!! } 13. a3 Nd7 { I am aiming for the c4 square!! } 14. Rae1 Nb6 15. Nb4 Bd7 16. Bd3 a5 { I don't like this knight!! } 17. Nba2 Ndc4 { finally i have a knightat c4!! i am surprised white didn't try to stop me he probably wasn't onthe same wavelength!! } 18. Bxc4 Nxc4 19. b3 { blunder!! rook to b1 or knightto d1 would be better. but this moves are defensive i guess my opponentdoesn't like being bullied around!! } 19... Nxa3 20. Re2 Bb4 { i crack up thepressure !! } 21. Bc1 { agian this move just shows that my opponent is onlyin attack/counterattack mode and doesn't want to defend!! } 21... Rxe2 22. Nxe2 Nxc2 { well now i force him to defend!! } 23. Nec3 { i guess he still doen'twant to be defensive oh well!! } 23... Nxd4 24. Be3 { maybe he doesn't know howto defend!! } 24... Nxb3 25. Nxb4 axb4 26. Rb1 { and he is still attacking/counterattacking!! } 26... bxc3 { take that!!! } 27. Rxb3 Ra1+ 28. Kf2 d4 { i bet my househe is gonna take the pawn!! } 29. Bxd4 { he did!! } 29... c2 30. Be3 c1=Q 31. Bxc1 Rxc1 32. Rd3 { true to his style his last move is an attacking move!! } 32... Be8 { well my opponent either got tired of attacking or realized how pathetic/predictablehis future attacks were going to be and resigned!! what did we learn fromthis? is that you can't win a game if you can't defend! lol!! but the thingi will remember about this game is that my opponent is rated 1800+ butyet he played so poorly!! } 0-1

[Event "2 rooks v a Queen"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.12.09"] [Round "-"] [White "jstevens1"] [Black "untateve"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1759"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1776"] 1. e4 { Hi everyone! This is a Traxler Tournament Game. I played mybuddy Steve as black and lost that long game, sigh. But here I was whiteand I ended up with a Low Draw having 2 rooks against the Wicked Witchof the West. It can be interesting to see how the rooks when they worktogether can be a tough outfit and the queen can be a menace with her checkingpowers (Steve's Witch certainly was a menace here). Anyhow, as it wasa mini-tourney with forced moves up to 4. ...... Bc5 I will start the actionon move 5. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Bxf7+ { 5. Bxf7+ - astandard riposte in this tourney although Steve does break the mould inour game when it is his turn to play white. } 5... Ke7 6. Bd5 Rf8 7. O-O { 7.0-0 - keeping with the mould. Sorted out my kingside now I have to sortout the queenside. } 7... d6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. d3 { 9. d3 - opening up a line forFou Lenoir. } 9... Bg4 10. Nf3 Kf7 11. Be3 { 11. Be3 - at last I can start ondeveloping my queenside. } 11... Bb6 12. Nbd2 { 12. Nbd2 - clearing, well, almostclearing the back row and at the same time defending the pinned knighton f3. Glenda has now been released from defending (poor put upon Glenda!)Henry's steed. Where she can move to though I have yet to decide. } 12... Kg8 13. Qe1 { 13. Qe1 - I put her on e1 and break the pin. } 13... Qe8 14. Bxb6 cxb6 { 14. ....... cxb6 - bishop trade. } 15. Qe3 h6 16. Rfc1 Qg6 { 16. ..... Qg6- the beginnings of a kingside mating attack. Can Henry survive? } 17. Ne1 Nh5 18. f3 Bh3 { 18. ....... Bh3 - the g3 pawn is pinned and so thatblack lsb encamps on h3 for a long long time. } 19. Qf2 Rf4 20. Nf1 Raf8 { 20. ...... Raf8 - the heavies gather ominously around Henry. } 21. Ng3 Bg4 22. Qd2 Be6 { 22. ...... Be6 - I make that bishop retreat but Henryis in no way out of the woods yet. } 23. Nxh5 Qxh5 { 23. ....... Qxh5 - knighttrade. } 24. g3 R4f6 25. c3 Bh3 { 25. ...... Bh3 - the bishop returns toh3. Sigh! } 26. Rc2 { 26. Rc2 - defending Henry along the second rank. } 26... Qg6 27. Qe3 h5 28. Kh1 { 28. Kh1 - unpins the g3 pawn. } 28... h4 29. gxh4 Rf4 30. Rf2 Qh5 31. d4 { 31. d4 - what is going on here? Henry is under siegeand I am trying to counter on the queenside? This, however, will saveme half a point later on. You will see how. } 31... exd4 32. cxd4 Qxh4 33. Ng2 { 33. Ng2! - forces an exchange of that black lsb for my knight. Good riddanceto that turbulent priest! } 33... Bxg2+ 34. Kxg2 Qh6 35. Kf1 { 35. Kf1 - at firstthis appears to be a gross blunder but there is a way out, trade Glendain for those two nasty rooks. } 35... Rxf3 36. Qxf3 Rxf3 37. Rxf3 Qxh2 { 37. .....Qxh2 - but the Wicked Witch is about to turn a few of my footmen into dust! } 38. Re1 Qxb2 39. e5 Qxd4 40. e6 { 40. e6! - this move ensures the draw. Because that pawn is almost certain to reach Glendadom the Witch mustnow resort to Ye Olde Perpetualle. You know what that means ...... } 40... Qc4+ 41. Re2 { 41. Re2 and Draw Offer which was accepted by Steve. Whew! GladI survived that one! Cheers and bye for now - Joanne } 1/2-1/2

[Event "Careful What You Wish For"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.06.13"] [Round "-"] [White "bwaa"] [Black "odisant"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1279"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1754"] 1. e4 { Today's entertainment is a fun game I completed recently againstodisant, who has been putting up steadily tougher resistance in our games,despite the discrepancy in our levels of experience. This game is no exception,with opportunities to learn from the mistakes of both sides. I make a questionablepositional decision in the hopes of making the game 'interesting', andit sure does work! } 1... e5 2. f4 Nc6 { osidant declines my King's Gambit, choosinginstead to defend his e-pawn. } 3. Nf3 { This Knight plugs the hole in White'sdefenses, and asks of Black whether he's truly ready to commit to a fightover the defense of e4. } 3... Nf6 { By far more popular choices are 3...exf4(accepting the gambit a move late) or 3...f5. The text gives White a chanceto begin a Knight hunt! } 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 { Chasing the Knight. Thisseems to block in White's light Bishop, but since the Black Knight onlyhas one refuge--c5--this pawn will get another chance to advance with tempo,so the momentary blockage is acceptable. } 5... Nc5 6. d4 Ne4 { With no pawnsleft to kick it away, e4 is now a relatively safe haven for Black's Knight--atleast for the moment. If White attacks it with a piece, e.g. 7.Bd3, Blackcan respond with ...d5, significantly solidifying his position. } 7. d5 { ...So White kicks the other Knight, while blocking the d5 square! } 7... Nb4 { ? This Knight probably should have retreated to e7 or even b8. Now Whitecan force Black's Knights practically off the board, after all their movement,and be left with a great position, e.g. 8.a3 Na6 9.Qe2 Nec5 10.Nc3 (coveringthe a4 square and threatening to trap the Knight with a pawn thrust) 10...Nb8(vacating a6 for the other Knight's retreat) 11.b4 Nca6, leaving Blackwith one developed piece--a Knight on a6--and White with the initiative,an advanced center, and a huge lead in development. } 8. a3 Nxd5 { ?! Thenagain, even all that might have been preferable to just giving up the Knightimmediately. On the plus side, this move does have the benefit of breakingup White's pawn center. } 9. Qxd5 Nc5 10. b4 { White continues to chaseKnights with pawn moves. It's getting a little frivolous now; probablydevelopment was better. The computer suggests 10.Bc4, threatening mateon f7 and forcing Black to move his Knight yet again, to interpose on e6. } 10... c6 { Black has had enough, and starts a chase of his own. } 11. Qc4 { Perhaps11.Qd1 would have been preferable, over the coming shenanigans. Now it'sBlack's turn to gain some space with pawn moves while harassing a Whitepiece. } 11... b5 12. Qf4 Ne6 13. Qf5 g6 14. Qe4 { The White Queen has finallylanded on a safe space, after much running around. White's developmentaland spatial edges are slightly diminished now, and his isolated e-pawnfeels weak. } 14... Bg7 { Black hits the weak pawn, pinned to the Ra1, but givesup a pawn of his own in the process. Probably 14...Rb8 was better. } 15. Bxb5 { Black cannot recapture, since the Rook on a8 would hang. } 15... Qb6 { Instead,he brings his own Queen to bear, threatening the intruding Bishop and denyingWhite a safe castling place. } 16. Bd3 O-O 17. Nbd2 { This move serves twopurposes: White is considering castling queenside, and this Knight wantsis now poised to leap to c4 once ...d5 is no longer a threat. Of course,Black may simply play 17...d5 immediately, and he should. White probablywould have been better off playing the awkward-looking 17.Ra2, to get outof the pin on the e-pawn. } 17... Ba6 { Black puts the pressure on, but this allowsWhite to trade down. When behind, trading pieces is not usually such agood idea. Instead, 17...d5! forces the White Queen out of the center (as18.exd5 e.p. leaves the Queen exposed to tactics down the open e-file)and gains Black some much-needed space. } 18. c4 { The idea is to 'prevent'...d5, or answer it with c4-c5, but Black can just play it anyway. Betterwas 18.Bxa6 Qxa6 19.Bb2, but I wanted to keep things 'interesting'... well,I'll get my wish, all right... } 18... Rae8 { 18...d5! was the right way to gohere. With the White King stuck in the middle of the board on a half-openfile, Black can thrust ahead with the d-pawn to break open the center,and therefor he absolutely should. } 19. Bb2 { ? White continues to disregardBlack's central dangers. ...d5! is still very strong here (as is ...f5!),and White probably should have just played 19.c5! to block the Black Queen'ssight into the White Castle. But once again, I wanted to make it 'interesting'... } 19... c5 { Objectively not as strong as pushing the d- or f-pawns. However,perhaps my opponent was simply baiting me into a trap... } 20. O-O { Myresponse to the a7-g1 diagonal being momentarily closed is... to castledirectly into the line of fire! There are worse moves, but there are certainlyalso better ones, 20.Qe3 looks promising, for instance. } 20... cxb4+ { Of course! } 21. Nd4 { ? 'This is a good place for a Knight! I'll be able to get outof the pin eventually!' Almost any alternative was better than this. Complicationswith this Knight positioning will haunt me for pretty much the rest ofthe game. } 21... Ng5 { I think 21...Nc5 was stronger, as here White could play22.Qh4 and get out of danger while gaining time against the undefendedKnight, whereas on c5, the Knight is not in danger, and also threatensWhite's Bishop on d3. } 22. Qd5 { ? Oy vey. Not feeling like he's in troubleenough yet, White now tries to see if he can get his Queen trapped as well. } 22... Rxe5 23. Qxd7 Rd8 { The White pieces are all undefended and lined up onthe d-file for Black's convenience. 23...bxa3 would have been a littlemore accurate, as White would have to give up the Bishop on b2 (24.Rxa3Qxb2) or else lose endless piles of material down the d-file after 24.Bxa3??Rd8 25.Qg4 Rxd4! 26.Qd1 Rxd3+! and so on. } 24. Qg4 Bc8 { 24...bxa3 wasgood here, too. } 25. Qh4 Ne6 { 25...bxa3 still was the best choice. Thetext allows White a move to breathe. } 26. Nb3 { White adds a defenderto the hapless Nd4, and blocks the BQ's access to the Bishop. } 26... bxa3 { Theright idea, but slightly too late, now that the Bishop is behind a guardianKnight. } 27. Rxa3 Rh5 { This is actually inaccurate, but I didn't realizeit at the time--I thought White was just barely hanging on here, but thecomputer actually puts White at nearly +4, because of 28.Qe7! threateningf7 and supporting a c4-c5 advance to break the deadly pin. } 28. Qf2 { Sadly,I missed 28.Qe7! and instead went for a stab at f7 while breaking the pin(momentarily). Still, this position is full of poison. } 28... Rxd4 { ?? Thisactually blunders into a tricky mating net; Black needed to play 28...Nxd4instead. Can you spot the forced mate from here? It's nine moves long! } 29. Qxf7+ { The White Queen pounces! } 29... Kh8 30. Qe8+ { With no Rook on Black'sback rank, the White Queen is free to run rampant. } 30... Nf8 { 30...Bf8 heldout longer: 30...Bf8 31.Bxd4+ Qxd4+ 32.Nxd4 Rf5 (blocking the f-file againstRxf8+) 33.Nxe6 (removing the defender) 33...h5 (giving the King room) 34.Bxf5Bxe6 35.Qxf8+ Bg8 36.Bxg6 a5 (or anything) 37.Qf6#. } 31. Rxf8+ Bxf8 32. Qxf8# { That's it! Thanks for reading; comments are appreciated! } 1-0

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.01.06"] [Round "-"] [White "wichita1967"] [Black "rodeomouse"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1180"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1079"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 { Philidor's Defense. } 3. h3 Nf6 4. Bb5+ { This move isactually somewhat promising for black, though the move tree is pretty sparsethis far down. We anticipate black will move Pc6, permitting the queenegress. } 4... c6 5. Ba4 b5 6. Bb3 Be6 7. Nc3 { Here I am partial to BxBe6, whichdoubles black's pawns. Not that that is a big thing, but it makes Ng5nice. } 7... Nbd7 8. d3 { This will prove a good solid move. I still like BxBe6to prevent black doubling white's pawns. Maybe I get too hung up on pawndoubling. It isn't that big an advantage. } 8... Nc5 9. O-O d5 { Black withdrawscover for Pe5. NxPe5 looks real good. } 10. d4 exd4 11. Ne2 Nfxe4 12. Nexd4 Qf6 13. Be3 { Nf3 was covering Nd4. I would move Re1 here. Even better,NxPc6. You can't do NxPc6 after Be3, since Bc1 protects against QxPb2. } 13... a5 { Actually, NxPc6 still looks good, followed with BxPd5 unless blackattacks Nc6. The white queen is covering BxPd5. } 14. Nxc6 { Yay! } 14... Qxb2 { And here the game came to an unfortunate conclusion. BxPd5 would havegiven white lots of sweet options. } 0-1

[Event "Beating a 2000+ player in Blitz, Part I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.07.21"] [Round "-"] [White "thestack"] [Black "stadhouder"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2114"] [TimeControl "5min+10s"] [WhiteElo "1532"] 1. e4 { I open with e4 quite often, as I like open games and love playingthe King's Gambit in blitz games here on GameKnot. } 1... Nf6 { Okay, my opponentdecides to play Alekhine's defence, no open game. } 2. e5 { Provoking anotherknight move. } 2... Nd5 3. d4 { Establishes a strong pawn center... } 3... d6 { ...whichBlack will usually try to smash up as soon as possible. } 4. c4 { Okay, timeto provoke another knight move. } 4... Nb6 5. f4 { The four pawns attack suitsmy taste. Unfortunately, my decent opening theory knowledge ends at thispoint. I guess it's time to develop some minor pieces! } 5... g5 { I was verysurprised by this move as I haven't seen it before. According to the GameKnotopening database it's called the 'Planinc variation'. } 6. Nf3 { After 6.fxg5 Black could destroy my pawn center immediately with 6... dxe5, soI decided to attack that pawn another time by developing a minor piece. } 6... Bg4 { Pins my knight. } 7. h3 { I figured out that Black should now be forcedto take my knight (or retreat somewhere on the c8-h3 diagonal), otherwisehis bishop is lost. I would retake with my queen, which would have a niceplace on f3, attacking b7 and being on the f-file which could get verypowerful after castling short, like in the King's Gambit. Furthermore,I'd own the pair of bishops. } 7... Bh5 { ?! Interesting, he neither takes myknight nor retreats to the queenside. } 8. g4 { The happy bishop huntingbegins! At this time I was a bit unsure of this move because it seems myKing could have a hard time finding a safe place after all those pawn moves... } 8... Bg6 9. Nxg5 { I should have played 9. f5 immediately, I don't know why Iconsidered this knight move to be more important. Now Black has one lastchance to save the bishop. } 9... dxe5 { ? Black could have saved his bishop with9... Bxb1. } 10. f5 { Now or never! } 10... f6 { Defending the attack with a counter-attack.This creates the possibility to retreat to f7 after I move my knight whichis attacked. } 11. Ne6 { ! Fortunately, the knight has a superb square onthe sixth rank where it attacks the queen, so Black has no time to savethe bishop. } 11... Qd6 { Now taking the bishop doesn't bring in any material advantagebecause my knight could be taken by the queen afterwards (12. fxg6 Qxe6). } 12. c5 { Creating a nice fork. At this point three of Black's pieces areattacked, material loss can't be avoided. } 12... Qd5 { ?? The intention was toattack my rook on h1. This enables my power horse on e6 to... } 13. Nxc7+ { ... fork another time! Black resigned at this point. It was amazing, Iguess I hardly ever won a game just with the power of one minor piece andpawn moves. And that against a 2000+ rated player. Either the rating doesn'tcorrespond to his real strength or he had a really bad day. But what Iwanted to demonstrate with that short annotation: everything is possible,especially in blitz games, don't discourage yourself from the beginningjust because your opponent has a *much* higher rating! } 1-0

[Event "Beaten by your son 'HOW EMBARRASING!'"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Paul Morphy"] [Black "Alonzo morphy"] [Result "*"] { This is one of Morphy's games when he was only twelve. He played his dadwho was one of the best players in the area. Here Morphy beats his father.I feel for Alonzo it can't be nice losing to your son. My dad would know,I always beat him Lol ;) } 1. e4 { 'A logical and sound move to start thegame, grabbing central space and opening lines for quick developement ofthe Bf1 and queen. Other pawn pushes with no real drawbacks include 1.d4 and 1. c4. And for our hypermodern players, there is always 1. Nf3,controlling the center with pieces and not commiting to a set pawn structure.' Morphy one and only true love, his confidence never wavered with thebest move 'best by Test' Bobby Fischer. } 1... e5 { This is so White can't createa huge pawn centre unnopposed. } 2. Nf3 { Developing a knight to its bestsquare, attacking the pawn, controlling two center squares. } 2... Nc6 { Thebest move to defend. Also attacks two squares and develops a piece. } 3. Bc4 { The Italian game. An old opening that is now thought to be ratherdull and boring. Black now has two main options here 3....Bc5 the GiuocoPiano or 3... Nf6 The Two Knight's Defence. The Italian game can evolveinto the romantic Evans Gambit if 3...Bc5 then 4. b4!? } 3... Bc5 { The GuiccoPiano. This is less agressive than the Two Knight's defence. Moprhy nowhas the chance to play his and my fave as I have already mentioned, theEvan's Gambit 4.b4!? } 4. b4 { This the move that signals the beginning ofthe Evans. White sacrifices a pawn for center control and a kingside Initiativewith a quick attack on the Black king which will hopefully end in mate.Most gambits like these give White an early initiative, however if Blackcan defend accurately, he stands better in the ensuing endgame, with plentyof chances for a win. When people tell me this I simply reply ' I don'tgive a crap, I don't plan letting Black get into an endgame position anyway.Lol.' } 4... Bxb4 { It is often said that the way to refute a gambit is to acceptit. Black grabs a pawn so as to have the option of uploading it in a laterstage in the game in order to neutralize whites resulting initiative. Thisis atleast what Black is meant to try and do! } 5. c3 { This is the planof giving away the b4 pawn to gain tempo by forcing black to move his bishoprepetitively while he gains momentum in the centre. } 5... Bc5 { Retreatingto a powerful square that won't be his for long because of the oncoming6.d4! Better would have been 5... Ba5 } 6. d4 { Grabbing the pawn center,unleashing the dark squared bishop, and attacking the c5 bishop all withone move. Remember the best moves accomplish multiple goals or hit multipletargets } 6... exd4 { An exchange in the centre. } 7. cxd4 Bb6 { Keeping the pressureon the d-pawn. However it is obvios that White has the edge in this positiion. } 8. O-O { Castliing is not only a defensive move, but also an offensive move.Notice that now the f rook is in the game, and surely will be moving tothe powerful and open e-file soon. } 8... Na5 { Moving the knight to an inferiorsquare where it no longer attacks the center. } 9. Bd3 { Not wanting to tradethat good bishop for that half-knight stranded passively on the side ofthe board where it will find it hard to affect the game. } 9... d5 { With thebishop gone, black is able to challenge white's awesome pawn center. Nota bad idea although flawed because it gives Paul the opportunity to openthe e-file. } 10. exd5 { Luring the queen out early. Not good for Paul'sDad! } 10... Qxd5 { Bringing the queen out early is very dangerous, because whitecan attack it with his developing pieces, there are no other options thoughif he wants to regain the material deficit. } 11. Ba3 { Developing the bishopto a powerful square where it will prevent black from castling, pressurethe critical squares around the king, and pin the king to the middle ofthe board,, sometimes in the Evan's Gambit Black play the pawn move d7-d8but oh woops Blacks excanged all his central pawns while his King is stuckin the centre. } 11... Be6 { White finds it necessary to block the critical e-filesince it is obvious white rook will be coming to town with R-e1. } 12. Nc3 { ! White develops with a threat! } 12... Qd7 { Black does not go all the way backbecause he hopes to castle queenside since castling kingside is out ofthe question because of the a3 bishop. } 13. d5 { A pawn sacrifice whichclears the e-file for an attack on the king. } 13... Bxd5 { Black accepts the 'free'pawn. } 14. Nxd5 { White wants to trade this bishop off because it is black'scritical defender. } 14... Qxd5 15. Bb5+ { ! A piece sacrifice, typical Morphy!The reason for this move is to clear the d-file for white's queen so theking can't run out of the center. } 15... Qxb5 { Notice that black had no otheroption without losing the queen. Do you see why? } 16. Re1+ { Finally thefile grabbing move! } 16... Ne7 { Another file grabbing move. } 17. Rb1 Qa6 18. Rxe7+ { Here comes the powerful blow.... } 18... Kf8 19. Qd5 { Threatening checkmate. } 19... Qc4 { Paul's Uncle is now clinging onto straws. } 20. Rxf7+ Kg8 21. Rf8# { CHECK AND MATE! This shows Morphy was always was a big one for development(just look at all the other games by Morphy I have annotated.!). Perhapsthe first chess player to stress the need to develop before you attack...He just simply annihilated all the competition in his time. I believe thathe was the greatest player of all time, his genius goes along with Capablanca,Alekhine, Fischer, and Tal. I hope you liked this game. I hope you likedthis game. I'm happy for positive and negative feedback aslong as its constructivecriticism! and feel free to leave comments. One thing I would like youto do is before you rate this game please think honestly and think howI can improve on it and leave comments and PM me with them. Don't justgive one and a half stars and not tell me why leave a comment or PM. ThanksTom } *

[Event "The Botvinnik"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Me"] [Black "Class B Player"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1700"] [WhiteElo "1800"] 1. d4 { I almost always play 1.e4, but if I know my opponent will enterthe botvinnik variation I'll play 1.d4 as it is a completely fascinatingvariation. } 1... d5 { My opponent in this game loves the semi-slav and he makesthis move without hesitation. } 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 { And we've reached the opening position of the botvinnik. Black cededthe center to white but he snags the c4 pawn. } 6. e4 b5 7. a4 { 7.e5 isalso possible, it leads to extremely complicated lines with absurd materialimbalances (like three pieces for two rooks, or a queen for two pieces). We had played that line a few times, and this game I felt like tryingsomething new. } 7... Bb4 { I think this is the best move to hold the pawn, butit does have a problem that occurs in a few moves. 7... Qb6 may be finefor black as it's difficult for me to use the fact that his queen's inthe open, 7... b4 is met by 8.Nb1 where the c4 pawn is quite ugly. } 8. e5 { After a one move delay I charge forward. } 8... h6 9. exf6 hxg5 10. fxg7 { We've exchanged pieces and for the moment material is equal, but noticehow 7.a4 acted as a decoy, drawing the bishop to b4. now he has to wastetempo moving the rook over and recapturing the pawn on g7 while if hisbishop was on f8 he could take and develop his bishop at the same time. } 10... Rg8 11. h4 { I now have a plan. I'm going to create an outside passed pawnon the h-file and push for victory. } 11... g4 { taking my pawn doesn't help myopponent in the slightest. 11... gxh4 12.Rxh4 Rxg7 13.Rh8 Bf8 (forcedas otherwise the queen is skewered) 14.axb5 cxb5 15.Nxb5 where c4 is falling,I will soon have a strong outpost for my knight on e5 and he's completelytied down. } 12. Ne5 Rxg7 13. h5 { I could win g4 but I feel that the mostimportant factor in my favor in this position is the passed h pawn andthus it's advance is more important than regaining a silly pawn. } 13... f5 { Onthe other hand my opponent likes his pawn advantage and he defends g4 whilecramping my position a little. Note though, how loose his pawns look. } 14. h6 { PUSH! } 14... Rh7 15. Nxg4 { 15.Nxg4??! Am I completely nuts? well, yes. This is probably unsound, but here's my justification for such a wildmove. a) look at his pawns, they're really ugly. They're advance or isolated,and either way they're ripe for the picking. b) I want to support my hpawn and f5 locked me out of the kingside, with this move I bring my queenover to support it's advance. c) His king is in the middle of the boardwith no pawn protection, and his pieces are undeveloped. } 15... fxg4 { Decliningthe sac achieves nothing, after 15... Qg5 I have 16. Ne5 Rxh6 17.Rxh6 Qxh618.axb5 where he cannot take back because of Qf3 hitting his rook. Whenhe makes some other move I win c4 and am doing great. } 16. Qxg4 { With threatsof 17.Qg8 and 17.Qg6 either way I win the rook. he has two reasonablelooking moves here. } 16... Qe7 { And he picks the one I think is worse 16... Kd7(trying to run) 17.axb5 Qf6! (17... axb5 18.Qe4 forks rooks) 18.Bxc4 Rxh6. The position is dangerous for black but it's probably his best chanceto hold the game. } 17. g3 { ! a stunningly dangerous quiet move, out ofnowhere it's very difficult for black to do anything. Here's a sampleline that wasn't played: a) 17... Bxc3 18.bxc3 b4 (trying to break through19.Bg2 bxc3 20.Qg8 ! Kd7 21.Be4! Rf7 22.h7 and white will queen. } 17... Bb7 { c6will be attack by the bishop on g2 and this move defends that square. However it does weaken the e6 square's defense. } 18. Bg2 { The logical move. } 18... a6 { He's in trouble and this move doesn't hold, but what else can he do? 18... Nd7 is killed by 19.axb5 where he simply can't take back and I threatento take on c6. 19... axb5 20.Rxa8 Bxa8 21.Qg8 ! where I skewer the kingand knight on b8. If the queen blocks I get the h7 rook. } 19. Qg8+ { Ihad some difficulty choosing between this and 19.axb5 with the followingidea in mind (note how pressuring the move 7.a4 turned out to be!) axb520.Rxa8 Bxa8 21.Qg8 . But then I saw 19... cxb5! (I though it was pinnedat first) 20.Bxb7 Qxb7 21.Qg8 where I thought I won the h7 rook, but hisbishop can retreat! Bishop retreats are the hardest one move tactic tosee in chess. 21... Bf8 and my attack fizzles, my rook is hit and 22.Qxe6loses to 22... Re7 winning my queen. So I chose this line. } 19... Kd7 20. Be4 { His rook is the key blocker of my monster h pawn so I hit it away. Themove Qg8 was designed to stop the rook from finding a happy home on h8where it would still be in the way. } 20... Rf7 21. h7 { He's done. } 21... Rf8 22. h8=Q Rxg8 23. Qxg8 { I'm up material, he can't develop and Rh7 is threatened. He resigned. I think it's amazing how completely tied down he was forthe entire game. If anyone has thoughts or corrections PM me. If youwant to see another game with this line there is a game in the databasewith 15.Nxg4 which followed the 16... Kd7 line and ended in a draw. } 1-0

[Event "Malpas/Whitchurch v Frodsham"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "23-9-2014"] [Round "-"] [White "Pat Ridley"] [Black "Charles L Higgie"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "ECF172"] [TimeControl "35in1.25hours+15"] [WhiteElo "ECF112"] { This was in our opening Wirral League match at home to Frodsham. We outgradedthem on all boards, the gap was especially large on the top three boards. } 1. e4 { So he starts conventionally } 1... c5 { I play the Sicilian } 2. Nf3 { Hedevelops his knight, preparing d2-d4 } 2... Nc6 { And I develop mine. } 3. d4 { Hepushes } 3... cxd4 { I take } 4. Nxd4 { He takes back } 4... Nf6 { I hit his e pawn } 5. Nc3 { He protects it. } 5... d6 { I prevent him from playing Nd4xNc6 followed bye4-e5. This is really the parting of the way next. He can play 6.Bc4,called 'Sozin' (ECO code B57). It brings the bishop to an aggressive square,or 6.Bg5, the Richter–Rauzer Attack (ECO codes B60 et seq). The move 6.Bg5was Kurt Richter's invention, threatening to double Black's pawns afterBxf6 and forestalling the Dragon by rendering 6...g6 unplayable. He playsthe thrid most popular move at this point. } 6. Be2 { Quite playable, butperhaps less agreesive that the previously mentioned moves. } 6... e5 { This isthe Boleslavsky Variation, named after Isaac Boleslavsky. Black gets afoothold in the centre, but has a backward d pawn on a semi-open file.Both sides have chances. } 7. Nb3 { This is the old move, which used to beconsidered the 'main line'. Now Nf3 is more common. } 7... Be7 { So I develop. } 8. O-O { He castles } 8... O-O { I castle. } 9. Be3 { He develops. Now I have hadthis position before. See http://gameknot.com/annotation.pl/hagley-v-kidderminster?gm=44180 In that game I continued with Be6 and d6-d5. There were exchanges on d5and then on the d file and the game ended in a draw. So I decided to playsomething else, which seemed to keep the pieces on more. } 9... a5 { I threatento drive his knight away from b3. If it goes to d2 it blocks the d file,allowing d6-d5 without so many exchanges, and if it goes to c1 it stopsthe co-ordination of rooks along his back rank. } 10. a4 { So he stops that. } 10... Be6 { And now I develop the bishop. } 11. Kh1 { He avoids any check on theg1-a7 diagonal. } 11... Nb4 { So I get another piece on d5, and also in some variationsthe attack on c2 is important. } 12. f4 { This is the thematic advance forwhite in this variation. } 12... exf4 { So I take, preventing f4-f5 and chancesof a king side attack. } 13. Bxf4 { So he takes back. Now my d6 pawn is isolatedtoo - but so is his e pawn. I was thinking of playing Qb6 here, with athreat of Nxc2 followed by taking on b3. However that threat is easilymet with Nd4, so I decided to play something else. } 13... Rc8 { This move pinshis Nc3, as if it moves, I will have both rook and knight attacking c2.I didn't know it at the time, but all this has been seen before. Thereare 5 games on the Gameknot 'World' database, each continuing with Bf3,with one win for white, one for black and 3 draws. Three of these gamescontinued with d5 15. e5 Ne4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Bxe4. My opponent now makesa dreadful mistake. } 14. Qd2 { OK, see if you can find my next move. } 14... Nxe4 { Did you find it dear reader? } 15. Nxe4 { He takes. } 15... Rxc2 { And anotherpawn goes. } 16. Qe3 { Now Pat told me after the game, he envisaged thisposition after he played Qd1-d2? and thought 'Well so what, my queen protectsthe knight and the bishop, he will take on b2 and then I have to do somethingabout the knight on b3. I'll have a extra minor piece in return for threepawns.' Find my improvement on this.... } 16... Bxb3 { Did you find this? Of course,if now he takes my bishop, I take his. His queen was over-worked, protectingboth Be2, and Nb3. I actually woke in the middle of the night, followingthis game thinking 'Hang on couldn't he play Bd1 here, attacking both myrook on c2 and my bishop on b3?' I pondered the position in my bed, withoutsetting it up. I then realsied I could simply rereat my bishop and if hetakes on c2, I take back with my Nb4, forking his Qe3 and Ra1, so regainingthe exchange. What he plays next is probably best for him, but two pawnsdown, it is very hard for him. He tries to make the best of a bad job. } 17. Rfd1 { All his pieces are now very active, my d pawn is under attack.I find a way of simplifying. } 17... Rxe2 { So I take. } 18. Qxe2 { He takes back } 18... Bxd1 { I take again. } 19. Rxd1 { He takes back. } 19... d5 { I advance the threatenedd pawn. } 20. Qb5 { This looks good, attacking three pawns. } 20... Qe8 { I was verypleased at finding this. This forces the queens off, as otherwise he loseshis knight. } 21. Qxe8 { So he takes. } 21... Rxe8 { I take back. } 22. Nd2 { Thisis a mistake. Better is Nc3 attacking the d pawn again. } 22... Nd3 { If the knighthad retreated to another square, his rook would be covering this square. } 23. Be3 { He retreats his attacked bishop. } 23... Bg5 { I am hoping for him totake my bishop, allowing me to play Nf2 forking king and rook. } 24. Bg1 { So he retreats to a safe square. } 24... Nxb2 { I finally take the thrid pawn. } 25. Rb1 { He moves his attacked rook. } 25... Bxd2 { I take his knight. } 26. Rxb2 { He takes mine. } 26... Bb4 { I block his rook from taking my b pawn. } 27. Rb1 { I was also threatening to play Re1 and Bc4, winning } 27... Re1 { But I play itanyway, forcing an easily won bishop and pawn ending. } 28. Rxe1 { So hetakes. } 28... Bxe1 { I take back. I am now three clear pawns up in a bishop andpawn ending. I will play over the final moves without any further comment,as it is a completely won ending. My opponent bravely plays on, after all,you never know, and you learn from playng out such positions. You nevergain anything from resigning! } 29. Bd4 f6 30. Kg1 Kf7 31. Kf1 Bb4 32. Ke2 Ke6 33. Ke3 Kd6 34. Kd3 Kc6 35. Ke2 Bd6 36. h3 Be5 37. Bf2 d4 38. Kd3 Kc5 39. Be1 b6 40. g4 g5 41. Bd2 Bf4 42. Be1 Be3 { And white resigned. Manythanks for reading, please rate the annotation on the star system, andleave a comment or two. Until next time dear reader! } 0-1

[Event "Interzonal Tournament, 1952"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Svetozar Gligorich"] [Black "Luis Augusto Sanchez"] [Result "1-0"] { All annotations below are by Ludek Pachman. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Be7 { Better is 5... P-QB4! } 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Bc4 O-O 9. O-O Nd7 10. Qe2 Qc7 { More promising is 10... PxP 11 PxP N-B3,to be followed with ...P-QN3 and ...B-N2. } 11. Rd1 a6 12. a4 b6 13. d5 e5 { Or 13... PxP 13 BxQP B-N2 15 P-B4. } 14. Ne1 { A very important move,which prevents the Black Knight from blockading the passed pawn. } 14... Bd6 15. Nc2 Re8 16. Bd3 Nf8 17. Ne3 Ng6 18. g3 { This move not only keeps Black'sKnight from KB5, it also prepares the strategically important move P-KB4. } 18... Bb7 19. Nc4 { A strategical maneuver where White prepares to exchange theblockading piece. } 19... Reb8 20. Be3 { An inaccuracy. Correct was the immediateexchange of the blockading Bishop. } 20... Bc8 21. Nxd6 { White doesn't miss hischance this time. } 21... Qxd6 22. f3 h5 23. Qf2 { This move prepares P-KB4 andforces the blocking of the Q side. } 23... a5 24. f4 { The threat is 25 P-B5 N-B126 B-K2 P-N3 27 PxP PxP 28 R-KB1 R-R2 29 Q-B6. } 24... exf4 25. gxf4 Bg4 26. Rd2 Qd7 27. Bf1 { 27 P-K5 is also strong, but White is unwilling to allow Blackany counterplay. } 27... Bh3 28. Bxh3 Qxh3 29. Qg3 Qh4 { 30 QxQ NxQ 31 K-B2 R-K132 P-K5 would now give White the superior endgame. } 30. Bf2 Qf6 { 30...QxBP? 31 QxQ NxQ 32 B-N3 P-Kn4 33 BxN PxB 34 P-B4 is a won game for White. } 31. f5 { White intends to exchange Black's Knight and make use of his protectedpassed pawn in the ensuing end game. } 31... Ne5 32. Kh1 Re8 33. Re2 Ng4 34. Bg1 Qe5 35. Qf3 Qf6 36. Rf1 Rad8 37. h3 Qh4 38. Bh2 Nxh2 { If 38... N-B3, 39R/1-K1 threatens B-B7 and Q-N3. } 39. Kxh2 Re5 40. Rg1 Rd7 { Better is 40...K-B1 41 P-B4, where the win is more difficult for White. } 41. Reg2 f6 42. Re2 { By this Rook maneuver, White has shut off the Black Q, which can nowbe exchanged. } 42... Kh8 43. c4 Kg8 44. Rge1 Kf8 45. Qg3 Qxg3+ 46. Kxg3 Ke8 47. Rb1 Rb7 48. Kf4 Kd8 { White now sacrifices the protected passed pawn inreturn for winning the pawn on QN6, enabling his Rooks to invade Black'sposition. } 49. d6 Kd7 50. Reb2 Kc6 51. d7 Kxd7 52. Rxb6 Rc7 53. Rd1+ Ke8 54. Rd5 { Black resigns, as after 54... R/4-K2 55 R-N8 ch K-B2 56 R/5-Q8,Black cannot avoid decisive material loss. } 1-0

[Event "master henryk second time lose against my stonewall !"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.06.30"] [Round "-"] [White "31415"] [Black "henryk555"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2045"] [TimeControl "blitz 5mn"] [WhiteElo "1346"] { A great blitz against Sir henryck555, last time i've won him was 25/05/13whith the same stonewall attack ! this game is better than all others,i have a forced mate at 14th move. No blunders, neither from me or him.Maybe we could consider that his last move, hxg6 was a blunder ? a mistake? or was the game lost anyway ? tell me. So, i think this is a nice schollcase about stonewall attack. } 1. d4 d5 2. e3 e6 { at this moment, betterblack defense whould be Bf5, or Kc6 in order to move e5 and break fromthe biginnig the wall. I think that he did not realize from the biginnigthat he will fight a stonewall. } 3. Bd3 Nf6 4. f4 { here we go, so now thereis no doubt, it will be a stonewall attack, hight rated player should knowhow to manage with it ! } 4... c5 { this is a way, but not the worst for white... } 5. c3 { defending d4 } 5... Nc6 { pressuring D4 } 6. Nf3 { going on whith thestonewall } 6... cxd4 { ok, first initiative. I'm playing from about one yearthe stonewall, and before i whould play cxd4, that i think now is a mistake: exd4 is realy better ! } 7. exd4 { i whould even say that black attackc5xD4 is a mistake, because it give me the opportunity to open the DSB } 7... Bd6 { there is no danger whith that. DSB is protecting it, then the rookafter castle, and anyway my knight will go to e5 and if black exchangeit, it will close the center (fxe5) } 8. O-O O-O 9. Ne5 Qc7 10. Qe1 { inorder to protect e5 and to go to h colon (classical theat mate on h7, cangive me tempo in default to mate...) } 10... Nd7 { black are going to move f6 tommove the e5 knight. But i have a plan : Qh4 ! } 11. Qh4 { easy ! so if blackmove F6, there is mate on h7. So they wont, i they will have to managewith my bloody queen ! } 11... g6 { defending, black are not so good know, whatdo you thing about it ? } 12. Be3 { in order to developp my b kniht } 12... Be7 { this will help me ! because i have nothing great to do for the momentif i leave the queen there, better if she moves on g colon... } 13. Qg3 f6 { this is the mistake, in my opinion. Whould you did it ? } 14. Nxg6 { thissacrifice was expected apparently ... } 14... hxg6 { this was not the best move.now mate is coming. heshould accept to loose his rook, andmaybe he couldcounterattack taking the oportunity of the g colon opened ? Whould youfind a better plan for blacks ? } 15. Qxg6+ { this is the end, black resign(and dont ask for remacht...) } 1-0

[Event "Astersen v/s Templeton"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "23-Oct-06"] [Round "-"] [White "astersen"] [Black "templedf"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1486"] [TimeControl "14 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1860"] 1. d4 c5 { My usual response to a queen's pawn opening is King's Indian,but KI is very positional, and I don't tend to do well with it againsthigher rated players. My opponent is 400 points higher rated, so I decidedto try something different. I like to keep Benoni in my back pocket incase of emergencies, like this one. I like it because its lines resembleSicilian, which is my most played opening. } 2. Bf4 cxd4 { I am never afraidof drawing a queen out early. It almost always gives some great opportunitiesfor development while chasing the opposing queen around the board. } 3. Qxd4 Nc6 { Chasing/development. } 4. Qe3 Nf6 { Preparing to chase/development } 5. Bg5 { Breaks up the Nd4 fork. } 5... e5 { I needed to free my queen and bishopto join in the queen hunt. } 6. Bxf6 { Surprise! Not a move I expected froma 1900 player. } 6... Qxf6 7. Nc3 { Nice development. The knight gets nicelyin my way and opens up the long castle, putting the rook right where Idon't want it. } 7... Qd6 { The only sensible thing to do was to block the castle. Otherwise, it was going to go downhill fast. } 8. Nb5 { White didn't lookclosely enough before moving. He thought he had me hung, because theonly safe place to put my queen is b8, which is extremely counterproductive. White later admitted that this move was the mistake that cost him thegame. } 8... Qb4+ { What white missed was the Zwischenzug. This puts white ina bad position. His only response is to jump back with the knight, givingup two pawns in the process. } 9. Nc3 Qxb2 { Pawn #1. } 10. Rb1 { The onlyreasonable move. } 10... Qxc2 { Pawn #2. } 11. Nf3 { Again, the only reasonable move. White now has to do some serious development fast. } 11... Qf5 { I wanted to getmy queen out of jeopardy. If I hadn't taken her out now, Nh4 would haveconsumed the last two squares she could have used to escape. } 12. Nh4 { Whitewants to get my queen off the knight's and rook's backs. Can't blame him. Personally, though, I would have played g3. } 12... Qf6 { My objective was topressure the knight and defend the pawn. It also sets up a discoveredattack on the knight. My plan was to roll out the black bishop next, probablyto pin the knight. } 13. Nd5 { Another surprising move. Were I playing white,I'd have played g3. Instead, white tries to sucker me into the same king-rookfork that we danced around earlier. The annoying part is that I don'thave an easy way to shake the knight loose. } 13... Qd6 { Abandoning my attackon the knight and retracing the queen's previous tour, I move the queento defend c7 and attack the knight. I'm not happy about it, though, becauseQd6 blocks Bb4 . } 14. Qd2 { White defends his knight and lines up a beautifulqueen-king skewer. } 14... Nd4 { My two choices were Nd4 and Ne7. Ne2 felt safer,but it further blocked in my bishop, and my goal was to pin the white queen. Nd4 creates a lot of interesting possibilities, though, most of whichend up with white being down a piece. The safest thing for white to dois to retreat the knight to either c3 or e3, pinning my knight to my queen.We are now 14 moves into the game, and only two of my pawns have moved,while only one white pawn has moved. The knights and queens are the onlypieces that have actually seen play. Out of 28 total moves, 11 of themhave been queen moves and 9 of them have been knight moves. } 15. Qa5 { Insteadof playing it safe, white chrages in, a move I didn't see coming. Thisis a very interesting setup, because it looks really bad for black, whenin reality, white is teatering on the edge of being mated. } 15... b6 { The onlyresponse I have is b6. Anything else allows Nc7 . The only valid responseis Rxb6. Nxb6 gets Nc2 , Qxb6 ends up with white down a piece, and anythingelse loses the queen or the knight. The only valid response to Rxb7 isaxb6. Anything else still allows Nc7 . } 16. Rxb6 axb6 17. Qxa8 Qc5 { Withthis move, I did three things. Most importantly, I defended the bishop. Without defense, the queen would rip through my entire back rank. However,just a little defense is enough because white has so few pieces in play. The second part of this move is continuing to pressure the knight. Thatmeans that the queen is limited to only a few squares. Last, but far fromleast, I threaten mate with Qc1 . The best response is probably f3, openingup a bolt hole. } 18. f3 Nc2+ { I check white for two reasons: to preventany hope of castling (not that there really was any) and to get the kingout in the open. My goal is check the white king enough that I can getmy dark bishop into play, enabling me to castle my white bishop to safety. } 19. Kd2 Nb4 { Because of the placement of the white king, this move is awin no matter what happens. If white responds with Nxb4, I get Qxb4 ,starting a sequence that eventually frees my bishops. If white respondswith e4, choosing to defend the knight, either Nxd5 or Qc2 either resultsin trading off the queens (Qxd5, Qxd5) or freeing my bishops. Doing neitherloses the knight. } 20. Nxb4 Qxb4+ { My king is now no longer in any realdanger. The only worry is losing the bishop, which will be taken careof in the next few moves. } 21. Kc2 Qc4+ { Kc2 didn't leave me much roomto steer the king where I wanted. Coincidentally, though, the only validcheck puts me in position to defend my light bishop while freeing my darkbishop. After Bb4, white has to decide whether to defend the king or savethe knight. Meanwhile the white queen is forced to watch from the corner. } 22. Kd1 { Very nice move. White once more takes away my control by positioninghis king just out of reach. } 22... Bb4 { The knight is still in danger, but theking is relatively safe for the moment. The most reasonable response isNf5, protecting the d4 square and threatening to bother my king. } 23. Nf5 g6 { With the white queen on the a8-h1 diagonal and the white knight guardingd4, my queen can no longer check the black king with a single move, whichmeans that I can't take my queen off the c file. Fortuantely, the whiteknight is easy to bump. } 24. e4 { Rather than move the knight [24. N?? Qd4 25. Kc2 Qc3 26. Kb1 Ba3], white chooses to attack my queen. I thinke3 would have been a much stronger move, but e4 serves the purpose. } 24... Qc3 { Remaining on the c file, I advance my queen into mating position. Theonly direct move that can prevent Qd2 is Qd5. } 25. Nd6+ { White sees thewriting on the wall. He sacrifices his knight to make me lose tempo, givinghis king a chance to escape. (If he hadn't made the sacrifice, we get:25. Qd5 Qa1 26. Ke2 Qb2 27. Kd1 Bb7 28. Qd3 Ba6, leaving the queen withno way to continue to defend e7 against mate.) } 25... Bxd6 { I didn't have muchchoice but to accept the sacrifice. Ke7 takes the heat off my light bishop,but it leaves the white knight there to prevent my light bishop from participatingin the king chase. White managed to rob me of my chance for an early matebut paid for it by entering the end game materially disadvantaged. Fortunatelyfor me, though, at this point white's only active piece is his queen. My only real danger spot is my e pawn. After Qd5, if my queen and bishoplose sight of my e pawn, white can steal my rook. White's current worryis that moving his bishop off the first rank loses his remaining rook toQa1 . } 26. Qd5 { White leaves me with the decision of whether to trade queensand slug it out in the end game (Qd4 ) , or to regroup and continue tryingto catch the white king (Bb4). } 26... Bb4 { Ultimately I decided to continue houndingthe white king. I figured that I would have the option of the queen tradefor at least a couple more moves, and with only the queen in play, thereisn't too much damange that white can do. By resuming the bishop's poston b4, the white queen is forced to guard the d2 square. The white bishopis locked down by the Qa1 threat. The white rook is trapped. The whiteking's only move is Ke2, which gets mate is a couple of moves. The onlymoves white has at this point are pawns and Qd3. We're now 26 moves intothe game, and still the queens and knights have dominated play. Of theremaining pieces other than the queens, only two have moved: the whiteking and the black bishop. That leaves 5 out of 9 pieces untouched, with6 out of 11 pawns untouched. } 27. a3 { White tries to drag me off courseagain with another sacrifice. This time, though, I have a choice. } 27... Bb7 { Instead of taking the bait, I attack the white queen. Because takingthe queen off the c file results in mate, the queen has no recource butto retreat, Qd3. } 28. Qd3 Qa1+ { Now we begin a dance that will eventuallylead to mate. } 29. Kc2 Qa2+ 30. Kd1 Ba6 { Again, the white queen cannotleave the c file, so her only choice is to run. } 31. Qc2 Qa1+ { We now begina long dance that I hoped would give me a shot at a mate, but ended upjust trading off the queens and bishops. } 32. Qc1 Qd4+ 33. Kc2 Qc3+ { Ihad to be careful here, because both of my bishops are in jeopardy. Ihad to make sure that when the dance was over, Bxa3 (or Qxa3) would bethe last step. } 34. Kb1 Qxc1+ { At this hope I gave up hope of avoidingthe end game. } 35. Kxc1 Bxa3+ 36. Kc2 { I had to be careful here, becauseif the white rook got out, it could have skewered my bishops or my rook. } 36... Bxf1 { No more bishop skewer. } 37. Rxf1 O-O { No more king/rook skewer. } 38. Ra1 { White's concern is now my passed b pawn. } 38... Bc5 39. Ra7 { Not surewhat white was trying to accomplish. } 39... d6 40. Kc3 b5 { I use the fortunatepositioning to advance by b pawn two ranks. } 41. Rb7 b4+ 42. Kb3 Ra8 { Nowmy objective is to get my rook over to the white g and h pawns. If I canget a passed pawn on either side of the board, it's pretty much over. } 43. h4 { White split his g and h pawns to make them harder to chase down. } 43... Ra3+ { This check was to bump the king so I could get my rook onto the secondrank. } 44. Kc4 Ra2 { I'm really after the f pawn here, but first I haveto chase off the g pawn. } 45. g4 Rf2 { The f pawn is now lost, opening theway for a second pawn charge, down the king-side. In theory. } 46. h5 { Whiteoffered an innocuous pawn trade which turned out to be a nasty trap. Inconsidering my next move, I looked right at the trap but failed to recongnizeit. } 46... Rxf3 { Mistake of the game! I was feeling a little too confident,and wasn't paying enough attention. This move almost cost me the game. } 47. h6 { My king is now locked into the corner, waiting for Rb8 ! Evenworse, white now has a shot at running his h pawn to the 8th rank. } 47... f5 { I had to open up some room for my king. I chose f5 instead of f6 fora couple of reasons. First, white will not capture my f pawn. Doing sowould give me a nice opportunity to get my g pawn out from between my kingand his h pawn. Also, f5 gives my king more room to work, and the potentialof opening the f file so I can send my rook to the rescue. And at a minimum,it put's another pawn in the running for promotion. } 48. Rg7+ { It's amazinghow being ill can affect one's mind. The *obviously* correct responseto this is Kh8. Instead... } 48... Kf8 { I chose Kf8?? Giving white an honestchance at promoting his pawn. } 49. exf5 { White captures my f pawn to getmy g pawn out of his way. Now that I have opened the door to promotinghis pawn, the game has completely changed. } 49... gxf5 { The best move here isprobably g5, blocking off support for the h pawn. Instead, my diseasedmind found it better to capture. } 50. g5 { And now white is in a beautifulposition. } 50... b3 { Failing to notice that I'm about to lose the game, I decideto mak e a run for it with my b pawn. } 51. Rxh7 { At this point, it finallydawned on me that I might not be playing at my best. Before I could domore damage, I stopping playing until I was well again. } 51... Rg3 { After recovering,Rg3 was the only move left to me that left me a chance of winning. Beloware the non-draw alternatives. [51. ... Kg8 52. g6 b2 53. Rg7 Kf8 54.Rf7 Ke8 55. h7] [51. ... Kg8 52. Rg7 Kh8 53. g6 Rh3 54. Rh7 Kg8 55.Rg7 Kf8 56. Rf7 Ke8 57. h7] [51. ... Rh3 52. g6 b2 53. Rf7 Ke8 54. h7] } 52. Rb7 { I was very happy to see this move. It meant that I had brokenthe charge of the h pawn. Being up by a pawn of a bishop, I was very willingto trade passed pawns, especially considering my pawn-bishop pair and thefact that the white h pawn becomes a pain point for white. } 52... Rxg5 { Witha great sigh of relief, I captured the white pawn. I thought it was allover. I was wrong. } 53. Rb8+ { Doh! Never saw it coming. Not like I hadmuch of a choice in any case. I sealed my fate several moves ago. } 53... Kf7 { I have to sit back and watch while I lose my rook. } 54. h7 Rh5 55. h8=Q Rxh8 56. Rxh8 b2 { OK. So white has now evened up the game. Things stilllooked good for me, though. With four pawns, one on the 7th rank, anda bishop for support, my odds of promoting a pawn looked pretty good. } 57. Rb8 { This move surprised me. I expected Rh1 to stop the queen untilthe king could move into postion to guard b1. The advantage of this moveover Rh1 is that white has bought an extra turn that he can use to go aftermy d pawn. The disadvantage is that the rook can only defend one file. } 57... Bd4 { I decided that it was more important to keep the pressure on withmy b pawn than to save my d pawn. } 58. Kd5 { White moves in to threatenthe d pawn and block my king's passage. } 58... f4 { By advancing my f pawn, Irescued the d pawn. If white captured the d pawn, my f pawn is a run-away. At this point, the thing I was most worried about was white ability toburn moves by wiggling the rook. } 59. Rb3 { White makes another brilliantplay. He prepares to safely take my d pawn by guarding my f pawn. IfI make a run for it with the f pawn, white has the Zwischenzug, Rxf3 ,which allows him to then return to guarding my b pawn before I can promoteit. } 59... Kg6 { I play wide, removing the Zwischenzug. Ke4 is white's only move. Anything else lets either the f pawn or the b pawn get away. } 60. Ke4 d5+ { For the same reason that white couldn't capture my d pawn before,he still can't now. Same goes for Kd3. White's only move is Kf3, drivingthe his king forward and allowing my pawns to advance. } 61. Kf3 Kf5 { Iclose in with my king to support the charge. This is the point where Iwas finally certain that I had won. } 62. Kg2 { White decides to take controlby moving the king instead of twiddling the rook and letting me check theking with e4. } 62... e4 { White now has two choices: twiddle the rook or Kf1. Kf1 is probably the better move because the rook creates a lot of pressurewhere it is. } 63. Rb7 f3+ { The pawn barrage marches onward. } 64. Kg3 { Ithink white was trying keep my king from moving in to support the pawns. } 64... f2 { White is now hosed. I have two pawns about to be promoted, and whitehas two pieces with which to stop them. That means my king and remainingtwo pawns are free to roam. } 65. Kg2 { White has now other move. } 65... e3 66. Kf1 { White brings his king around to the other side of the f pawn to blockmy king from providing support. } 66... Ke4 67. Ke2 { Perfactly timed to move intoopposition. } 67... Bc3 { Unfortunately, white just has to sit back and watch whileI bring the rest of my pieces into position. } 68. Rb8 { White twiddles therook because he doesn't want to yield to my king. } 68... d4 { I close the formation. If white tries to check my king, he will work his way over to the b pawnand bring it home. If not, then d3 , e2 , e1=Q . } 69. Re8+ { White optsto send my king travelling. } 69... Kd5 70. Rb8 { White returns to guarding theb pawn. The purpose of all this was to separate my king from my pawns. } 70... d3+ { Because of that check, white has the option to capture either thee or d pawn. Of course, it doesn't make any difference. } 71. Kxe3 { White,having reached the point of inevitability, resigns just before I can promotea pawn. } 0-1

[Event "OTB Chess Game-2015 Finale"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "12/18/15"] [Round "-"] [White "Joe"] [Black "Ted"] [Result "1-0"] [TimeControl "About 2 hours"] [WhiteElo "1367"] { This is our last day at the chess club, until January 6. The reason beingis that the place which runs the activities is closed on Christmas andNew Years Day. Plus, the new student, I believe Nemi, (from last week,came in.) So, it was Ted, Nemi, and I because the others were gettingsnack in the Kitchen since no food or drinks are allowed in the activities. And, Ted wanted to play against me, so it was an interesting game betweenme and him. It started with about 2 hours, but Jack Stockel stopped thegame (for a few minutes to annotate another game which I support.) That'sI told Nemi that she could learn by watching because Mr. Stockel is anexceptionally good annotator. In it, I said that this is why I'm ableto annotate games. And, Jack smiled when I said that. Now, I have playedTed before, and when I first joined this website (for the first few yearsbefore reaching an 1100 rating, he'd won.) But, as I've gotten stronger,things have changed, and ever since, I've been winning. It happened again,yesterday. That's because, after my opponent made a couple of mistakes,I did not get give him back the advantage. } 1. e4 { Typical, and his nextmove is also the same. Like with Jack, when I play against Ted, I usuallyplay the Ruy Lopez. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 b5 { But, he usuallyplays this, as opposed to 4...Nf5 (which is the main line). Despite that,however, this is common, as it will force my next move. } 5. Bb3 Na5 { Thisis the one time, where 5...Bc5 should be played, and after that, whitefollows up 6.c3, followed by 7.d4. Therefore, this is no longer the mainline. Since he didn't stay with that, I am already trying to find a weaknessto exploit. } 6. O-O { I considered 6.Nxe5, in this position. But, now,it's similar to, if we played 1.e4, e5 2.Nf3, Nc6 3.Bb5, a6 4.Ba4, Nc65.Nxe4, Re8 The idea is that if I took, just like with ...Re8, he couldanswer with 6...Qe7, as not only would he gain something back, but I'dlose tempo, in return. Although that's still in book, I didn't want togo into complications due to a chance of missing a possible weakness. By playing this, I felt that there was still a chance for Ted to go wrong. The idea is being what I noted of black not sticking to mainlines. By,taking (which he does), I already start exploiting a potential weakness. } 6... Nxb3 7. axb3 { That's because I take this way, as opposed to, playing 7.cxb3 The idea being is that, like we saw with one TA's blitz Q sacs, I nowhave an open file with the Rook. As I learned in that game, open filescan be dangerous. } 7... Nf6 { Meanwhile, he develops another piece. } 8. Nc3 { Sodo I, but there's more to it then meets the eye. As now, I'm confidentthat I can take on e5, without the fear of losing a possible advantage,except for one move that I overlooked, after that. The idea being is that...Qe7, is no longer a concern. Yes, I'd lose tempo, but he can't takeback on e5 (immediately) because of this move. However, something elsewill happen which will result in the loss of time and give him back thepawn. } 8... Bb7 { Putting his Bishop on a long diagonal. But, having had played8.Nc3, as noted, I'll take, on my next move. } 9. Nxe5 b4 { This, however,is the one move that I overlooked. It was an oversight, which as ION noted,can't solved. The idea being is that I must retreat my defender, he'llregain the pawn back. } 10. Nd5 { So, I played this. Although, it doesn'tlose a piece, my thought process was completely wrong and could've donethat. I anticipated 10...Nxe4, in which case, 11.Re1?? would be my nextmove, with the idea being that after 11...Bxd5!, 12.Rxe4?? This line,however, would've lost a Rook without compensation. However, I get luckyand don't have the chance to make that blunder because he takes back ond5, instead, in which we exchange, afterwards. } 10... Nxd5 11. exd5 Bxd5 12. d4 { I considered 12.Re1, with the idea being 13.Nxf7??, as it first appearsto win a Rook with a nasty discovered. Afterall, I remembered my gamewith unkitty, which worked, but that involved a different position, though. In this position, however, I quickly ruled that out due to his Bd5, whichwould've lost a piece, as Ted does not overlook moves, like that. Therefore,I decide to advance a center pawn with the being to, at some point completedevelopment, whilst, adding a defender to my Ne5. The idea being is that12...Qe7 is no longer a concern. } 12... d6 { Ted has the same idea to what I noted,about developing his DSB, whilst, hitting my Knight, anyway. } 13. Ng4 { Ihad a hard time deciding on weather to retreat here or on f3. In fact,I almost played 13.Nf3, with the idea being that if 13...Bxf3, 14.Qxf3,strengthening my Queen. But, I realized, at almost the last minute (justbefore moving) that I might need my Knight. It's hard to know open orclosed position and Knights V. Bishops. So, when we reach a position whereI'm not sure, my rule of thumb is that a Knight is usually worth more thena Bishop. And, that's because of TA notes in his Q sacs, which I willanother, one of these days. The idea being is that, in two of those games,his Knights maneuvered all around the board which made them dangerous. In fact, that's something that redfoxrising also emphasized in one ofthose annotations, so it shows just how much you can learn just from that. The lesson is to keep that mobile on different squares, which is alsothe idea here. } 13... Be6 { ?? I have no idea why Ted played this, but it's ablunder, as I will win a piece for a pawn now. Instead, I would've continuedwith 13...Be7, to complete development, followed by 14...0-0. It showsthat by being patient and looking for opportunities, I, finally, founda weakness that was exploitable. } 14. Re1 { The idea being is that his LSBis pinned. And, after studying that position with stalhandske, which wasmentioned in a different annotation, I take advantage of going after hisBe6 since it'll be locked in. } 14... Qd7 { Ted thought that this would protecthis Queen. } 15. d5 { But, this is also the move that I was implying with14.Re1, as now, his LSB is helpless. } 15... O-O-O { So, Ted castles long. } 16. dxe6 { So, I take. } 16... fxe6 { He takes back. } 17. Bg5 { Knowing his weakness,I hit his Rook. The idea being is that only way to defend is with 17...Be7,which enables me to liquidate while ahead. } 17... Kb7 { ?? But, Ted plays thisinstead. As a result, I will win his Rook and another pawn for a Bishop,which is even worse. } 18. Bxd8 Qxd8 19. Rxe6 Qd7 { Hitting my Rook. } 20. Re4 { Not only don't I mind, but the loss of tempo is no longer of a concernbecause time is important. But, when down by the equivalent, it's difficultto get counterplay. } 20... d5 { Ted hits again. Initially, I thought he movedhis Queen to c7. First it was 20...Qd7 (except that the Queen is there) But, then, it was 20...Qc7 which would've made it impossible for the othermoves. Yet, my Rooks does get attacking. So, after going back in timeand studying (which wasn't several years ago when playing an OTB game)I figured out that this is what was played. } 21. Rd4 { I played somethingafter making a mistake, but taking it back made Jack upset for good reason. I, originally, played 21.Rxb4+?? Seeing the advantage, it appeared thatI won another pawn. But, I overlooked his DSB. Before he had the chanceto play 21...Bxb4, I took back. Now, I'm spoiled by the use of Analyzeof Board, combined with, visualization, in which there are take backs,before you've made the move which is the same idea as here. Mr. Stockelaccurately said that Ted was being nice, but in an OTB tourney, there areno take backs. Once a move is made, that's it. And, taking it back isconsidered cheating, and therefore, would result in disqualification. It goes with the rule of touch a man once, my teacher wants me to get inthe habbit of not taking things back as that's one is forced to think harder. As usual, I agree with him. } 21... c6 { The good thing is that Ted gets a pawnchain, in return. But, it's not as useful, in this position. For onething, that chain does not range from, for example, b7-d5 It's d5, c6,and you have the K. However, the b pawn is on the fourth rank, and hedoesn't have an e pawn. Therefore, things don't change much. } 22. Ne5 { So, I hit his Queen. Now, 22.Rc4 also came into consideration as he can'ttake my pawn without losing his Q. But, aside from that, I didn't seethe point because that would be it's only purpose. But, this move keepsmy N more mobile, especially, when he reattacks. } 22... Qe6 23. Nd3 { This iswhat helps to keep it's mobility. } 23... c5 { So, he hits my Rook. } 24. Rf4 { Like before, but this time, without moving, I considered 24.Nxc5+??, withthe idea being to fork Q+K. It appeared to win his Queen, but the problemis Ted's Bf8. So, I retreated, instead. } 24... Kb6 { I the idea is to mobilizehis monarch. We have now approached the endgame, so the King is very useful,but things are still going to be difficult since he's a Rook down. } 25. Rf3 { Planning to play 26.Re3, but 26.Nf4 is also a possibility. The ideais to hit his Queen and gain tempo to maintain the advantage. } 25... Bd6 { But,when Ted plays this. } 26. Nf4 { I'll attack this way. That's because Iknow Ted very well, and like what I was taught what to do with Tom, thisopponent likes to exchange. And, unlike before, even with N for B, I'mhappy to go along with it because, when ahead, liquidating pieces is toyour benefit. } 26... Bxf4 27. Rxf4 Qd7 { This time, however, I have no idea whyTed played this. But, one move is almost as good or bad as another. Inother words, he does not have a good move, left, at this point. } 28. Qd3 { Keeping that in mind, I threaten to win another pawn and his Queen fora Rook. The threat is 29.Rxa6+, Kc7 30.Ra7, Kd6, or 30...Kd8, 31.Rxd7+,Kxd7 There are only two options. One is 28...c4 blocking that, whilst,hitting the Queen, but after I'd still win another pawn after 29.bxc4,with a renewed threat, since 29...cxd4 isn't an option due to the obviousreason. } 28... a5 { But, Ted finds the best move. } 29. Rf5 { So, I threaten towin another pawn. } 29... g6 { ? This time, however, Ted does not find the rightresponse. 29...d4, or 29...Rd8 were the only options, as now I'm goingto win another pawn. } 30. Rxd5 { When I took, Ted was wondering what hecould do. Originally, my opponent played 30...Kb7??, but he saw that I'dtake with 31.Rxd7+, immediately. Therefore, he took it back which I didn'tmind. First, I wouldn't have a right to be angry since I took back a move. But, even so, and say that it didn't happen, I'd be fine with it becausethe idea is taking time, and sometimes, you must go back which is frequentwith analyze the board. However, Ted could not find a good move, and therefore,resigned. This time, it's not premature, as black will lose his Queen,sooner or later. For example, 30...Qe7 31.Rd6+, Kc7 32.Rxa5, Qxd6 33.Ra7+,Kc6 34.Ra6+, Kc7 35.Rxd6 When the game was finished, there was about,30 minutes to play another which I did not annotate. First, it was unfinished. Second, but more importantly, with such a time crunch, I played horribleand blundered a Rook early. But, before that, Ted said that he had funplaying and was still a little overwhelmed. I told him that failing tocomplete his development led to his downfall. However, I forgot that thedecisive mistake was allowing me to pin his Bishop which was going to losea piece for a pawn. But, the more important moral is something that I'mbeing trained to do. Don't deviate from the mainlines. Doing so leavesyou with a potential weakness that can be exploited sooner or later, asit did here. } 1-0

[Event "mattspike's mini-tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2008.12.02"] [Round "-"] [White "kansaspatzer"] [Black "knazmi"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1685"] [TimeControl "3d+1d, 7d max"] [WhiteElo "1661"] { December 2008 KayN's Candidate Game } 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 { Scandinaviangambit } 3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. h3 O-O 8. Bd3 Na6 { 8. ... Na6!? Trying new idea on Na6 Repertoire. Move Knight to a6 squarehave becoming more popular in KID and other opening. It look ridiculousbut a6 just a temporary post before jump to b4 or a5 or more defensivesquare c7. Obviously this move is out of 'Chess positional rule of gravity':p } 9. Be3 c6 10. O-O Be6 11. a3 Qc8 { 11. ... Qc8 preparing to sac ath3. } 12. Kh2 Rd8 13. Qc1 { 13. Qc1 preparing to terminate dark square bishopsfrom the board. } 13... Nh5 { 13. ... Nh5 to strengthen g3 and f4 square. } 14. Rg1 Nc5 { 14. ... Nc5!? } 15. Qc2 { 1. Qc1 ?! Better was Bc2 or Bb1 } 15... Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Bxd4 17. Qe2 { 17. Bxd4 Bxh3! 18. gxh3?? Nf4 19. Qe3 Qxh3# } 17... Qc7+ 18. Kh1 Bxc4 { 18. Bxc4! Now attack start with 19. Qxc4?! Bxe3 20. fxe3??Ng3 21. Kh2 Nf1 22. Kh1 Qh2 23. Nxh2 Ng3# } 19. Qxc4 Bxe3 20. fxe3 Ng3+ { 20. ... Ng3 21. Kh2 Nf1 22. Kh1 Qh2 23. Nxh2 Ng3# 0-1 Mission Achieved! } 0-1

[Event "incandescent thoughts..."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "22-Apr-08"] [Round "-"] [White "fireballz"] [Black "ciaman"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1458"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1481"] 1. d4 { many a chess battle.... } 1... Nf6 { has been demonstrated there on theshore... } 2. c4 { with the lake..... } 2... e6 { being our audience! } 3. Nf3 { Icheer on the stars } 3... Bb4+ { and the soft breeze } 4. Nc3 { as every thunderingmove... } 4... O-O { booms into the twilight... } 5. Bd2 { as we put our callusminds... } 5... Nc6 { into the fire... } 6. e3 { into the fire... } 6... d6 { I can onlyimagine .... } 7. Qb3 { a fine game } 7... a5 { and the shadows.... } 8. Bd3 { makeour pieces move into ever greater incandescent thoughts... } 8... e5 { spartawill defend the gates of doom... } 9. Ne4 { and they are carrying my anxietyat arms length in sadness } 9... Bg4 { that I will not be with them again.... } 10. Nfg5 { Through the fog we are leading. } 10... Nxe4 { Not sure of what willfloat this day. } 11. Nxe4 { But my men and I are doing something, } 11... Bf5 { and know that we will carry the day. } 12. d5 { I would pour a glass ofthe best scotch in the house . } 12... Bxd2+ { for each of us. } 13. Kxd2 { Youare a very good friend:) } 13... Nb4 { I will end it with this: } 14. h4 { Game,Anyone? } 14... c6 { Horizontal icicles of pure ice strike my back and bore aspirationsthrough my heart. } 15. a3 { Are they mine? } 15... Nxd3 { If not, then whose? } 16. Qxd3 { I could say 'check', then watch the bishop of black squares hungerfor the white ones. } 16... c5 { For are not the white ones (of squares) always first? } 17. f3 { And by definition, then they are the prized ones? Thebest ones? } 17... Qd7 { But the white ones want the red ones, where blood hasbeen spent and paid for. } 18. Qb3 { Check! } 18... Rfb8 { Do we always want whatothers have? } 19. Nf2 { Do the rules tell us to reach farther than reachcan exist? } 19... b5 { Tilt all the squares until they are 90 degrees, then theybellow that this is quite enough. } 20. Rac1 { And, in unison, they ask'what do we want?'. } 20... bxc4 { I straighten my spine and spike my hair. InL.A. coffee houses, all the boards are gray. In the dark. } 21. Qa2 { Andhere is where beautiful surpasses pretty, and extraordinary trumps allelse. } 21... Rb3 { And those who have it never look back to lesser ones. It mayhurt to see them. In the court of fame, one cannot lose with a one-sidedcoin. Mate! } 22. Nd1 { Do you prefer the dark? The ones? } 22... Rab8 { And whotold you to? } 23. e4 { The 'U' can go up or down, you know. } 23... Rd3+ { So softon top, razor blades on bottom. } 24. Ke2 { I prefer to stay white. Squares. But if black could go first, then that is a different color. And game. } 24... Bxe4 { Then I would prefer, absolutely, the black ones. } 25. Nf2 { Checkers,anyone? } 25... Rdb3 26. Nd1 { did } 26... Bxd5 { you } 27. Rc3 { like } 27... Qa4 { these } 28. Kf2 { words:) } 28... Rxc3 { please } 29. bxc3 { write } 29... Rb3 { your } 30. Qd2 { comments } 30... Bc6 { to } 31. Qxd6 { the } 31... h6 { real } 32. Rh3 { poet...... } 32... Rxa3 { CIAMAN!!!!! } 33. Rg3 { wot a pleasant game this was:)))) } 33... Ra2+ { greater incandescentthoughts... } 34. Kg1 { checkers anyone? } 34... Ra1 35. Qxh6 Qxd1+ { Thank you friend!I'm looking forward to another great game! } 0-1

[Event "Push Pawns!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "NN"] [Black "dmaestro"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1636"] 1. d4 { I generally lose against this opponent. But in this game, I wasable to seize the initiative early and come out ahead in the resultingtactical complications. } 1... Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. e3 Nbd7 4. Bd3 e5 { Generallygood against White's set up. } 5. dxe5 dxe5 6. e4 Be7 { Black has gaineda tempo through transpostion since the e pawn moved twice } 7. O-O c6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. Bg5 { Standard Hanham formation with White's bishop misplacedon d3 } 9... Qc7 { with the idea of freeing the QN and a Rook to the d-file } 10. Re1 b5 { Black pushes for more space on the Queenside. } 11. a3 a5 12. Rc1 { Prepares to attack Black's pawns and the c file later. } 12... Nc5 { Puts pressureon e4. } 13. Bf1 { White retreats the bishop. } 13... b4 14. axb4 axb4 15. Bxf6 { Necessary to protect the e4 pawn } 15... Bxf6 16. Nb1 Rd8 17. Qe2 Ra2 { Blackwants to provoke some sort of weakness, if possible. } 18. Qc4 Qa5 19. c3 { 19 c3 !? begins a highly tactical struggle. 19...RxP??, PxP! wins a piece,and White threatens to win a piece by cxb. } 19... b3 { ...b3! prepares for ..Ba6 } 20. Qe2 { Qe2?! I expected Qb4... } 20... Nd3 { Wins the exchange, but White hascounterplay. } 21. Nfd2 Nxc1 22. Rxc1 Rxb2 { ...Rxb2!? creates more tacticalcomplications, Black needs to be concerned about the rook being trapped. } 23. Qe3 { 23 Qe3, stronger than it might appear. White hopes for counterplay,possibly picking off the advanced b pawn and trapping the rook to get theexchange back. } 23... Be6 { Black decides this is the best available move to dealwith the threats of Nc4 and Bc4. } 24. Bc4 { Hoping for ..BxB.24 Nc4 BxN,25 BxB was also possible. } 24... Rc2 { 24 ...Rc7, a tactical move that exploitsthe position of the Rook on c1. The mate threat can't be ignored, and exchangingoff White's last rook is unpalatable. } 25. Re1 { Avoids the rook exchange. } 25... Bxc4 26. Nxc4 Qa2 { Black decides to press on, since White must be carefulto not exchange or allow the pawn to Queen if it leads to a back rank mate. } 27. Nba3 { An attempt to win back the exchange. } 27... b2 { 27...b2!!. If nowNxR, the pawn queens and White loses more material. If now Rb1, QxR ! andmate follows. White can't afford a rook exchange and Black threatens Be2as well. } 28. Nb1 Rc1 { Black could just take the Knight and be up a rook,but decides to simplify first. } 29. Nca3 { Na3? White had no good choices,probably looking for a swindle. } 29... Rdd1 { White resigns, to avoid immediatemate Black must give up another rook at least. } 0-1

[Event "Kamiak @ Everett bd.4"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "December 4, 2008"] [Round "-"] [White "Max Zaleski"] [Black "Travis Olson"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "unr."] [TimeControl "75 min game w/5 sec. dly."] [WhiteElo "unr."] { This was my first-ever rated chess game (in real life; I joined gameknotthe previous September). I had recently joined the Kamiak chess club aftermy third season of show band in the fall, and I was ready to take on theleague. Although I didn't know how tough the competition would be, I wasprepared for anything. As always, commenting and rating are appreciated. } 1. a3 { This opening really made me question my opponent's abilities. Nonetheless,I was cautious. } 1... d5 2. d3 { Very passive. I still thought white had somethingplanned, though. } 2... e5 3. Bd2 Nc6 4. Be3 { Now that I saw that my opponentmoved the same piece twice in a row, whilst blocking the advance of hiscentral pawn, I was almost sure I had this game in the bag. } 4... d4 5. g4 { Thisguy was the perfect example of how NOT to play chess. } 5... dxe3 6. fxe3 Qh4+ { It was a shame that the d2 square was vacated. } 7. Kd2 { Forced } 7... Bxg4 8. a4 O-O-O 9. Bg2 Qf6 10. h3 Bf5 11. Nf3 e4 { I now struck at my opponent'sweaknesses. } 12. Ra3 { !? } 12... Bxa3 13. bxa3 exf3 14. Bxf3 Nge7 { By the completionof my development, my opponent was already in shambles, even with his pawnstructure. } 15. e4 Be6 16. Kc1 Ba2 17. Nd2 { Now I would win the knight. } 17... Qa1+ 18. Nb1 { Forced } 18... Qxb1+ 19. Kd2 { Forced } 19... Qxd1+ 20. Rxd1 Be6 21. d4 { He now makes it easier to get at the king! } 21... Rxd4+ { All White's pawns werenow isolated. } 22. Kc1 Rxd1+ 23. Kxd1 Rd8+ 24. Ke1 Nd4 25. Bg2 { White maybe better to keep his bishop than his queenside pawns, not that it wouldhave helped. } 25... Nxc2+ 26. Kf1 Ne3+ 27. Kf2 Nxg2 28. Kxg2 f5 29. h4 { Not evengonna take that pawn? I had enough of this guy. } 29... fxe4 30. e3 Rd3 31. Kf2 c5 32. h5 c4 33. Ke2 c3 34. a5 { My pawn marched to promotion as White didnothing. He only cared about pushing pawns, not running the king away. } 34... c2 35. a4 c1=Q 36. a6 Qc2+ { And now I'm ready to win my first rated game. } 37. Ke1 Rd1# { This was a great start to the 2008/2009 chess season. Whatnew opponents did I hope to take on next? Thanks for watching. } 0-1

[Event "87th GK tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.11.07"] [Round "-"] [White "morgansm"] [Black "kaspanatola"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1879"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1502"] 1. e4 { white blundered a couple of pawns in the opening and allowed severerestriction on his queen's wing, that resulted in advantageous exchangesfor black that converted in to a won endgame, B+2N vs 2N } 1... c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. Bc4 d6 5. h3 Nf6 6. d3 { it's a bad placement for the d pawn,in this kind of structures both the d and the b pawn can rapidly becameweek and be captured } 6... O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3 d5 { to open up the position,white's d pawn will be a liability latter, as it can be easily attacked } 9. exd5 Nxd5 { as played already in Nevednichy, V. - Ivanisevic, I; 16thBora Kostic Memorial; Vrsac; Serbia; 2010; 0-1, white continued with Re1 } 10. Nbd2 Nb6 { attacking both the bishop and the pawn, I expect Bb5 } 11. Ba2 { ?! } 11... Qxd3 { and the mentioned pawn falls } 12. Bb3 Bf5 { to avoid Bc2 } 13. Re1 c4 { more space and some more restriction on the bishop } 14. Re3 { ?! forces the queen to back up, but weakens the back rank } 14... Qd5 15. Bc2 Bxc2 16. Qxc2 Rad8 { the queen is in front of the rook but then the bishopis closed, so it's not possible for white to play Rd1, if Ne4, I'm ableto exchange queens with Qd1+ Qxd1 forced, Rxd1+ and now is Re1 Rxe1 Nxe1or I'll force it with Nd5 attacking the rook with the idea of Re2 Nf4 Re3Nd3 wining a piece, so white must play Re1 and allow the exchange of rooksalso } 17. b3 { ? loses another pawn } 17... cxb3 18. Qxb3 Qxb3 19. Nxb3 Rd1+ 20. Kh2 Nd5 21. Re1 Rxe1 { and another piece is exchanged, and I'll get anotherpawn also } 22. Nxe1 Bxc3 { a forced sequence and here is the pawn } 23. Bh6 { ? Rb1 and black would have had to give up the exchange in to R+N vs B+2Nendgame } 23... Bxa1 { getting the exchange, if Bxf8, I'll save the bishop withBe5+ } 24. Bxf8 { ? still Nxa1 is better than the played move, as it entersa B+2N vs R+2N endgame... either way black should lose now } 24... Be5+ { ! } 25. g3 { f4 isn't better due to Nxf4 and a threat to a discovered check withan attack on the e1 knight, as an example of a possible sequence: Bh6 Nd3+g3 Nxe1 } 25... Kxf8 { now I'll try to exchange as many pieces as possible... } 26. Nc5 Bd6 { I'll exchange pawn by pawn... } 27. Ned3 b6 { or better yetI'll win a pawn, and if Nd7+, I'll win a knight with Ke8 and now if Ne5?Nxe5 Nxe5 Bxe5 } 28. Nd7+ Ke8 { and white will lose the knight... so he decidedto resign } 0-1

[Event "The Annotation Project"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.05.25"] [Round "-"] [White "yoshark"] [Black "rjacobs"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1575"] [TimeControl "5d+1d<7d"] [WhiteElo "1504"] 1. e4 { When I won this game I didn't think it was anything remarkable butas the project has advanced, I think maybe it is. In one of my currentgames, Black has bleated that he's on a hiding to nothing, so I'm offeringthis game up as evidence that there is hope for Black after all (even ifWhite plays the correct 7th move, unlike my blunders against easy19 andyoshark) } 1... c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Qxg4 Nxg4 7. Bxf7+ Kd7 8. Be6+ Kd6 { I didn't see any point in consulting the databasefor this tournament. Both players should play from first principles. In this case, I offer to return my Q for the sake of better development. If White plays Nf7+ and takes the Q, I get his B and he has to expendmoves to save his N. } 9. Nf7+ Kxe6 10. Nxd8+ Kd7 11. Nxb7 e6 { Development! } 12. Nxc5+ Bxc5 { Lo and behold, I'm a piece to two pawns up and threateningmayhem... } 13. Nc3 Nc6 { Development again! Ignoring the attack on thee4-pawn } 14. Nxe4 Bb6 { I like to preserve my Bishops if at all possible. This one stops White from castling kingside. } 15. d3 Nd4 { ThreateningNxc2+, forking the K & R } 16. Kd1 Rac8 { Maintaining the attack and developinga rook } 17. c3 Nf5 { Forced to move, I create a hold on e3 } 18. g3 { ? Notsure what this was for } 18... Rhd8 { completing my development } 19. Ke2 { gettingout of the line of fire of my rook } 19... Ke7 { ditto } 20. d4 h6 { restrictingthe scope of White's best piece } 21. h3 Nf6 { and this simple retreat broughtWhite's resignation. If White's N moves, ...Nxg3+ wins the rook on h1and Black's material and developmental superiority must surely lead tovictory. I'd have thought 22. Kd3 was worth a try though. } 0-1

[Event "King's Gambit Accepted Training Match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.11.07"] [Round "-"] [White "evilgm"] [Black "madscan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1395"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1899"] 1. e4 { This game is one I should have lost, probably twice. I was fortunateto escape with a draw as I played poorly. There are a lot of good thingsto take out of our mistakes in the game. Appreciate your comments andsuggestions for improved play. } 1... e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 { To help protectthe f pawn as well as allow options for harassing my knight. } 4. h4 { Althoughthis is the book play for KGA, I almost never play it. I prefer Bc4 tohelp develop my attacks more quickly. Since this was an unrated traininggame I decided to give it a go. } 4... g4 { Continuing with the attack } 5. Ne5 { This move is better than Ng5, because it centralizes the knight and threatensthe g pawn. } 5... Nh6 { I would prefer Nf6 because it simultaneously threatensthe e pawn and a knight on the side of the board is normally less usefulthan a knight in the middle. } 6. Nxg4 { Regaining pawn parity. } 6... Nxg4 { Anotheroption is d6 } 7. Qxg4 Bh6 { I think either Nc6 or d6 would be better } 8. d4 { Nc3 would have been much better... even d3 would have probably beenbetter. } 8... d6 { I still think it's better to bring the knight out. Gettingyour power pieces in play early are important to allow you to quickly respondto advanced threats. } 9. Qf3 { Qh5 (followed by 9.... Bg7, 10. c3) was amuch stronger play, keeping the pressure on Black and forcing a bishopmove and helping me dictate moves. If you ever find yourself retreatingearly in a KGA, then you have made a poor choice leading up to or in themove at hand. Gambits are about exchanging pieces for fast developmentand attacks. I took a timid approach and some future compounding errorswill severely impact my position. } 9... Qf6 { Good positional play for black. } 10. c3 { ugh... this was one of those moves that I made and instantly regretted. While it does help shore up the central pawns, it cedes all initiativeto Black. Instead of dictating the flow (as White should in KGA) I amnow reactive. Nc3, and giving up the d pawn, would have been better. } 10... Rg8 { Good development by Black, bringing extra pressure on my kingside. } 11. e5 { Instead of playing pawn games, I should have brought my knightinto the game either at Na3 or Nd2. Black has the ability to reach deepinto my territory with a rook at g3, so I need more pieces for defensiveand counterattack options. Rookie tip: if you're ever uncertain what todo, and you still have power pieces in their starting positions, get themin the game. As a potential side benefit moving my knight would have potentiallygiven me a chance to castle queenside and connect my rooks. I can alreadyfeel this game slipping away. } 11... dxe5 12. Qe4 { Getting some positional leveragefor my queen and preventing the e pawn from capturing my d pawn. } 12... Rg7 { I'massuming Black did this to protect his h pawn. It's an acceptable sacrificeat this point. If Black can get some more of his pieces in play, he canseriously give me the run around. Get that knight and bishop going! } 13. Bb5+ { I should have taken dxe5 and have no justifiable reason not to. The LSB was doing me some good at f1. } 13... Nc6 { Probably blocking with a pawnor a bishop was better. } 14. Bxc6+ { Again, how did I not do dxe5?!?! Itwould of allowed me to exchange queens and stave off some significant threatsagainst my exposed kingside. Now my g pawn is going to be a spoil of warin the not too distant future. I am embarrassed by how badly I'm playinghere. :( } 14... bxc6 { Probably better to take with the queen and offer the trade. } 15. O-O { Probably one of the least intelligent moves I've made thus far,and I've had a few to choose from. Again, dxe5 is vastly superior. I'venow compromised my position even further. I am fairly convinced I am goingto lose this game after I make this play. Another indefensible choice. } 15... Bh3 { Perfect response by Black, bringing the heat. } 16. Rf2 { Can Whiteever see dxe5? When you bring significant pressure against someone, asBlack is doing, your opponents sometimes blink. I'm blinking hard here. The end is drawing near. } 16... O-O-O { Great play, allowing for the inevitablerook battery to make my life hell and force me to start shedding material. Black is in complete control. } 17. Nd2 { Finally White decides to get someof his remaining pieces into the game. } 17... Rdg8 { White is close to dying. } 18. Kf1 { At this point I was looking at losing a piece and going down 4points. About every which way I sliced it I'm losing a piece here, soI decided to take a gamble instead of playing the safer Nf3. } 18... Rxg2 { Charge! } 19. Nf3 { This move is better than immediately retaking in my book, sincethat allows Black to get another piece down the board for free. Don'tgive away moves if you can help it. } 19... Rxf2+ { I was expecting Black to startputting the final nail in the coffin by playing Qg7 here. The triple batterywould have allowed a stronger blow against White's anemically poor positionand sealed my fate. This move is a mistake and is the beginning of allowingWhite to crawl back into the game. } 20. Kxf2 Rg2+ { On the surface thismove appears fundamentally sound, and it isn't a game breaker, but it isa blunder: Qg7 would have been far stronger. By bringing the queen intoposition (of which I can do nothing about except shed material) I am stilldead and dying. This move still preserves the threat of pain and White'sposition is still lost, but it just isn't as powerful or quick as Qg7 wouldhave allowed. } 21. Ke1 { The only move worth considering... } 21... Rg3 { Now Blackis taking his eyes off the prize. Either Qe6 or Qg7 would have been strongerand would have eventually allowed Black to force me to cough up the knight. } 22. dxe5 { At long last White finally makes the center pawn capture. } 22... Qe6 { Good position for Black's queen. I am still going to lose more materialand likely the game. Although Black squandered a super strong position,he's still got plenty of pop to make me bleed. } 23. Bxf4 { Finally gettingmy DSB into the game. Better late than never... } 23... Bxf4 { Blunder! f5 wouldhave won the piece. } 24. Qxf4 { Unbelievably I have managed to salvage acompletely lost position to at least equal in points. As I don't havemy rook in the game yet, Black still has a tremendous positional advantage,but White isn't dead yet! } 24... Qg6 { Looking to trade a rook for a knight anda rook. } 25. Rd1 { Taking away the trade value. } 25... Bg2 { Blunder! Black shouldhave brought his queen to Qg4 to force the trade and would have been inprime position to win the knight. White is now able to turn the tide. } 26. Ng5 Rd3 { The only option worth considering... } 27. Qg4+ { I also consideredRxd3, and perhaps I should have, but I wanted the extra pieces for maneuverability. } 27... Kb7 28. Qxg2 Re3+ { It might have been better for Black to trade rookshere and allow a free queen in the backfield. } 29. Kd2 { I also consideredKf1 and now consider that a better play, but I wanted to be able to geta queen/rook battery. } 29... Rxe5 { h6 was probably a better play or forcing arook trade... } 30. Rg1 { A problem for me. h6 gets a knight for pawn exchange. Qh1 is the better play to break the pin. } 30... Qh6 { Looking to make the pawn/knightexchange via pin (better to play h6 and just get it) } 31. Kc2 { Breakingthe pin } 31... Qh5 { I expected Black to trade pawns here via 31... Qxh4, 32:Nxf7. Instead Black is trying for the rook split of my king/queen. } 32. Qg4 { Getting rid of the exchange option. } 32... Qg6+ { Gaining free positionalplacement via tempo. } 33. Kc1 Rf5 34. Ne4 { Blunder! Instead of a niceend game advantage I gave away the rook and forced a draw. Qb4+ givesme an escape root for the queen and allows a stronger finish, a path totrade queens. This is the final blunder in a series of blunders that allowsBlack to snatch a draw from the mouth of defeat. } 34... Rf1+ { Great play by Black! Note that this move effectively wins the rook and were it not for my abilityto force perpetual check would have cost me the game. Excuses? None valid! } 35. Kd2 Rxg1 36. Nc5+ Kb8 { Another other move is mate. } 37. Na6+ Kb7 38. Nc5+ Kb8 39. Na6+ { And thus ends the sad chapter on this little game. A few key lessons: 1) KGA - if you're White, it's still early, and you'reretreating, you've done something wrong. Look for ways to extend the attack!2) When in doubt, get your pieces into play. Don't play pawn games whenyou need that extra power for attack/defense. Finish that development.3) When you have your opponent on the ropes, don't immediately recapture. Look at your options and see if there's another way to add even more pressure.4) And finally, queens make for a hairy endgame that can be tough to predict. If you're ahead, consider trading them away to have more predictableend games. If they are out of power pieces, their ability to mount a comebackand few and far between. In sum I made a lot of mistakes early, Blackalmost capitalized and let me claw back, and then I made a key blunderlate in the game that robbed me of my shot at victory and by all rightsshould have cost me the game. Not worthy of the rating in this game! Well done, madcsan. } 1/2-1/2

[Event "An amazing start...or end? you decide"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "hselikin"] [Black "jcmwhite"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1111"] [WhiteElo "1389"] 1. e4 { Normal opening for me here } 1... e5 { Normal opening for black and everyoneis happy } 2. Nf3 { Carrying on with development } 2... f6 { I prefer the queensidepawn defense } 3. Bc4 { Still carrying on unfazed. } 3... c6 { I guess he's hopingfor a d5 move next. } 4. Nc3 { Still carrying on } 4... Na6 { Only move for thatknight } 5. Nxe5 { I know this is a risky move that could easily go wrongbut i was curious } 5... fxe5 { Expected and now im thinking if that was a goodidea. Surely he won't fall for it. Or will he? } 6. Qh5+ { hahaha i checkedyou. It now depends on his move. } 6... Ke7 { WHAT? } 7. Qxe5# { HAHAHAHAHAHAHAwhat a checkmate within 7 moves. g6 would have made him live slightly longer } 1-0

[Event "A thrilling attack"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.05.01"] [Round "-"] [White "damalfi"] [Black "jjtman"] [Result "1-0"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 { A mistake, since it allows Qb3 byblack. But anyway... } 4... d5 5. c3 { ...my opponent leaves me the chance tofix it. Now, imagine a different move order :-) } 5... Nc6 6. Nbd2 c4 { This choiceby black means he will want to strike on my queenside. Good to know. Itoften works, so I have to be careful with it. Who will go first? } 7. h3 { Pretty a slow and passive move to begin with. But I have g4-g5 in mind. } 7... b5 { He's going serious. } 8. a3 { Needed to hold. } 8... a5 { Really serious.Now, let's think about the danger. If I just defend, he will get the initativeand I'll be crushed. } 9. g4 { No risk, no gain. With some luck, I willget on time to distract him from the queenside. Another try was Ne5, butit was a well known scheme, and NxN is not so good or interesting to playwith. } 9... Bb7 { Defending the knight, and making useless the Ne5 plan. } 10. g5 { ...But Ne5 must be done in order to avoid Nh4 by black. It was 'anexperiment', for not to say a mistake. :-) } 10... Nd7 { Thank you black, now Ihave some chances against your kingside. } 11. e4 { Starting from the centre.Black is in any serious danger, still. } 11... Be7 12. exd5 { Weakening the columnwhile the lsb is still trapped by a pawn. } 12... exd5 13. h4 { Freeing my minorpieces to the duty of defending g5... but the plan is h5 and yahoo! } 13... O-O { Thank you black... } 14. h5 { It is not all done, here. The queen is stillon d1, the bishop isn't playing (h6 is not any dangerous)... } 14... Re8 { Goodone, black. } 15. Be2 { I'm prepared to sac this bishop since now, if necessaryan emergency o-o-o, as long as I am attacking his king. This looks prettya wild fight. } 15... b4 { Well, well, getting serious. I have one move left,accepting the exhcange... enough? We'll see. } 16. g6 { I can't lose thischance, period! } 16... fxg6 17. hxg6 h6 { Ok, step one concluded. Now, I needa sac to break the pawns. Bxh3 was enough to win? } 18. Qc2 { I need morefirepower. The queen could have gone to a4, but I was looking for f5 andd5. } 18... b3 { I should have considered Nxb3, then Qxb3, pressing d5. But itwas not enough to win, I considered. } 19. Qf5 Nf6 20. Nxc4 { ...But now,the story is different! I was not faithful to Bxh3, but maybe the rightsac is just here! } 20... dxc4 21. Bxc4+ { Ouch! } 21... Kh8 22. Ng5 { With this move,I thought everything was over. I was wrong, as I often am. } 22... Bxa3+ { Betterwas Bc5+. d4 is the only hope for black. } 23. Kd2 { Better was Kf1, butI wanted to keep the rooks free to join the fray. As you see, it was arguable. } 23... Bxb2 { Now... } 24. Nf7+ Kg8 { Ano now, NxQ seems to guarantee me the victory.But no, I 'have' to be 'smarter'... :-( } 25. Nxh6+ Kf8 { Now, I realized,terrified, that I had to think about Bxc3+, KxB, Qxd4+!, and my empireis shaken into death. So, incredibly... } 26. d5 { Was it the right move?Wow, million of volts are crisping around. I'll miss something and lose,any moment... } 26... Bxa1 { -7. But black's choice was not the best. Note themating net if gxN... I remember to have seen it in tactics, somewhere...nice in an actual game... But black must counter my queen in the firstplace. } 27. Nf7 { Now I can go for the queen, and opening the way for myrook. } 27... Qb6 { Aiming to f2, but not quick enough. } 28. Rh8+ Ng8 29. Bd6+ Ne7 30. Nh6# { Quite a nice combination for a puzzle. The pinned knightsare a nice theme. Help yourself! :-) } 1-0

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.08.02"] [Round "-"] [White "branneke"] [Black "phoag53"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1343"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1331"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. h3 Nc6 4. d3 Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. Qf3 Qf6 7. Qe2 Be7 8. c3 dxc3 9. Nxc3 Be6 10. Be3 O-O-O 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Qh4 13. O-O-O Bg5 14. Bxg5 { By trading bishops black ends up with the pawn at Pd5. } 14... Qxg5+ 15. Kb1 Qxd5 16. Rc1 Nf6 17. Qc2 c6 18. f3 Rhe8 19. Be2 Qe5 20. Rhe1 Nd5 21. d4 Qxd4 22. Rcd1 Qf2 23. f4 { White begins shedding pawns like crazy,apparently to unleash the trapped bishop. } 23... Qxf4 24. Rc1 { Oh, Highwayman0902points out RxNd5 (free knight) would have been a better play here. } 24... Re4 25. Bb5 Rxe1 26. Rxe1 Nb4 27. Qc3 Qf5+ 28. Bd3 { Interposing is, of course,a mistake when the interposed piece lacks sufficient protection. } 28... Nxd3 29. Re3 { Another mistake. Ne1+ gives white Pg2. } 29... Qf1+ 30. Kc2 Nf2 { Whitemust move either the queen or rook or black will fork them with Nd1. } 31. Qd2 { Another option might be QxPg7 which protects Pg2. } 31... Qc4+ 32. Rc3 Qe4+ 33. Kc1 Qxg2 34. Qd4 Qf1+ 35. Kc2 { NxPh3 was another option, with the queenprotecting the pawn marauding knight. } 35... Qe2+ 36. Kb3 Qb5+ 37. Kc2 Qe2+ 38. Kb3 Kb8 39. Qb4 Nd1 40. Rxc6 { Half way clever, except QxPb2+ is going tohurt--black WANTS to trade down, enjoying a seven point advantage. Whitemay just lack decent options. } 40... Qxb2+ 41. Ka4 Qxb4+ { Black could have scoopedup Pa2 first, before trading queens and taking the rook. What's one morepawn though, with this much material advantage. } 42. Kxb4 bxc6 0-1

[Event "Fast Ladder"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.12.20"] [Round "-"] [White "bunnyrabbitz"] [Black "chesspony"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1837"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<3d"] [WhiteElo "1722"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 { According to theory, dxc4 is not the best move. Thisisn't really a gambit you want to bite on. } 3. e4 { At this point, whitehas an advantage in space. Your d and e pawns control the center -- c5,d5, e5, and f5. } 3... e5 4. d5 { You should have played Nf3, but d5 is also ok.Generally speaking, the tension you had before d5 was working in your favor. The player who breaks that tension usually suffers by doing so. } 4... Nf6 5. f3 { Why not Qc2? You get your queen off the back rank and threaten thepawn on c4. Actually, f3 is a mistake (not a blunder). You hinder the developmentof your knight and your bishop. Ne2 closes you bishop in, unless of courseyou take the pawn on c4. } 5... c6 6. Bxc4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 { Nc3! } 7... O-O { Black couldhave played cxd5, which would have been a pain for you. } 8. Bg5 { Whilethere is nothing wrong with Bg5, Be3 was stronger. } 8... cxd5 9. Bxd5 { Thisshouldn't have been a surprise. } 9... Nbd7 { You are very much in this game. Black has a slight edge and Nbd7 wasn't the strongest move out there. } 10. Qb3 { A better move would have been Nge2. Now you are almost done developing. } 10... Nc5 { This is okay, but Qb6 is even better. } 11. Qc4 { The queen shouldhave gone back to c2. } 11... Bd7 { Now black is got a definite advantage. } 12. O-O-O { This is a mistake. You're castling into the lion's den. Rd1 wasa better option. } 12... Bxc3 { This was a very strong move for black! He's threateningto ruin your defenses. bxc3 leaves a gaping hole. } 13. bxc3 Rc8 { At thispoint, you are losing and almost lost. Look at how coordinated blackspieces are. He is in a great position to wipe out most of your queen-side. } 14. Qb4 { What were your thoughts here? This is a big boo-boo. Blackshould have played Nxd5 and you would have played Bxc8 and then Nxd4 andthen Be7 and then Nxa2+ and you're a goner. } 14... a5 { This is one of black'sbigger mistakes! You could have clawed back into it by playing Qa3. Nextfor black would have been Qb6, Bb3, h6, Bxf6, Qxf6 and you still have achance. } 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 { Qxa5 is not worth your time. Qb1 and then c4 wouldhave been better. } 16. Qxa5 Qg5+ { You'll drop a piece with this move --your knight. } 17. Kb1 Qxg2 18. Ne2 { T } 18... Qxe2 19. Rhe1 Qxf3 { Resigning herewas a wise decision. Black only made one obvious error (a5). If you lookat what's left of your position, you see that your king is very vulnerable.Black's knight on c5 is menacing. His white bishop is poised to put thehammer down and the rooks will soon join in on the fun. Black's defensesare rock solid. You don't have any chance of breaking through there. } 0-1

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2020.02.20"] [Round "-"] [White "jacquie"] [Black "gamegold10"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "736"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "900"] 1. Nf3 { White is starting with knight } 1... Nf6 { I am black } 2. Ng5 { Firsttwo moves moves the knight not good to double move } 2... Nc6 { So I got bothknights out half done } 3. c3 { Moving something other than a knight } 3... h6 { Moves a pawn } 4. Nf3 { Goes back to her side . } 4... d6 { Moves other pawn } 5. Na3 { Got both knights out } 5... e6 { I think I have a better control ofthe middle } 6. d3 { Pawn moves white has no plan } 6... g5 { Moves pawn forward } 7. e4 { Game of pawns now } 7... e5 { Blocks the pawn } 8. h4 { Other pawn moves } 8... Nh5 { Blocks the pawn from going forward } 9. hxg5 { Takes pawn } 9... Nf4 { Knightgoes forward } 10. d4 { Whit attacking two pawns } 10... Bg7 { Moves bishop up } 11. d5 { Blocks pawn } 11... Ne7 { Moves back } 12. gxh6 { Takes pawn } 12... Bxh6 { Movesbishop } 13. Bb5+ { Did not see } 13... c6 { Is this a fork } 14. Bc4 { Moves backmust of saw what I was doing } 14... Nxg2+ { Check } 15. Kf1 { Safe } 15... Nf4 { Moves back } 16. Be3 { All minor pieces out } 16... cxd5 { Takes pawn } 17. exd5 { Checkmate in3 } 17... Bh3+ { Check } 18. Kg1 { King } 18... Rg8+ { Check } 19. Kh2 { Running out of time } 19... Rg2# { I won. } 0-1

[Event "Fierce Queen ruling out luck?"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "-"] [Round "-"] [White "loreta"] [Black "fiercequeen"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "unrated"] [TimeControl "3mins+10secs"] [WhiteElo "2132"] { We cannot close our eyes for the fact, that luck plays a big part in blitzchess. But we also cannot deny, that many of the strong(er) players areable to create their own luck. Just by using their imagination, they canreach positions only they would understand. Fischer and Tal were playerslike that, and they enriched the world of chess. So I decided to pick a'really strong opponent', just to rule out the better part of my luck;just being the stronger player... again, 3 minutes + 10 seconds blitz isbeing played here; resulting in a surreal gambit game... } 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Nge2 a6 5. Bg2 e6 6. d3 Ne7 7. Be3 d6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bh6 d5 { just playing the Hungarian variation of the Sicilian, like I did amillion times before; equalizing is Bxh6, Qxh6, but I had other plans... } 10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. exd5 exd5 12. O-O { White had a lot of chances for playingd4, and dissolve c5; this might well be the last one... but I was not readyfor d4, yet... } 12... b5 { at this point, I had no idea where this would takeme: I just had to place the pawn there, as if my hand had been drawn toit; was this my imagination kicking in? of course, after this I could neverplay d4, without at least Nbc6 or something like that, due to Ra8... thisstrange move mainly rules out Na4, after d4, with an attack on c5; so ina way, we are forcing Nf4 to free up a possible Nc3-e2; apart from d4 somewherein the future, b4 is still a threat... } 13. Nf4 { like clockwork... } 13... Be6 { forced for both; d4 will not work now, due to Ra8 hanging there... } 14. Rae1 { still, d4 would have been better; but now things are getting tense...to avoid serious trouble at e6, Blacks' best option is Qd6... after 15.Qe2 Nbc6, 16. Nxe6 fxe6, 17. Qxe6 Rf6, things are fairly under controlwith minor advantage for White... in stead, Black weaves a deep and dangerous- but thematic - trap involving gambit pawn c5, in this closed Siciliangame; taking an enduring (for now) disadvantage... } 14... Ra7 { avoiding Nbc6(covering Ne7, but hindering our plans), followed by Rc8, which would makeour plan too obvious: taking over the c-file, after d4, cxd4 (or even allowingdxc5, winning a tempo), with Rc7 or Rc8 under cover of the Queen; thematicin any Sicilian... on a higher plain, this strange looking move also makesd5-d4 possible since d5 is unpinned, plus it covers for Ne7; very importanthere - as jkarp explained in his comment... but there is more, than meetsthe eye; we are luring Whites' pieces into our position, and drawing Whites'attention away from d4: just the kind of move, Tal - whom I deeply admire- would have come up with... } 15. Nxe6+ { and the cheap magic worked fornow; had White played Rxe6 (fxe6??, Nxe6+ with loss of the Queen), Blackwould have simply lost a piece with virtually (mind you: there is morewhere this came from, and this is far from over) no compensation... Whitejust got too greedy: all in the game, and all that... } 15... fxe6 16. Rxe6 Nbc6 { objectively stronger was Qd7, Rfe1, Nbc6; but I was still working on mytrap, so I needed more time... this simple reversing the order of moveshowever, would set White on the wrong foot for a while... all other options- b4, Ne2, Qd7, Nf4 or Qd7, Rfe1, Nbc6, d4 - are only favoring Whites'play; a direct d4 would only induce Ne4, attacking c5... } 17. Rfe1 { thisis sloppy again... after Nxd5 (Nxd5?, Rxc6, and c5 is surely lost), Nd4,Nxe7, Rxe7, Rxa6, things are starting to look grim for Black with threepawns behind... } 17... d4 { finally: here, Blacks' plans are coming together...... } 18. Rxc6 { taking on c6 is practically forced and best, but again Whitemisses the (probably) winning continuation: Bxc6, Nxc6, Rxc6, dxc3, Qxc3+,Qd4, Qxc5!, leaving no other option than trading Queens, and White is clearlybetter with a massive force of pawns at the Q's side... it all evolvesaround c5: that magnetic gambit pawn in any Sicilian; play like this, learnedme that 1. e4 c5, is indeed a true gambit... that pawn screams to be conquered;only few dare and succeed... } 18... Nxc6 19. Bxc6 dxc3 20. Qxc3+ Qf6 { the positionis dead and drawing, after Qd4, Re4, Qxc3, bxc3, Kf6, a4!, so Black againtries to make complications with his first Queens' move in this game; whichlooks more intimidating than it really is, because we voluntary choosea pin on the Queen... but obviously, after something like Kh6, Bc6 is runninginto trouble, and also f2... so White tries to make things easy for himself;falling right into the trap, I set up a while ago: taking the c-file withsome Rook, and enter somewhere on the second row... thematic play for Blackin any Sicilian, where c5 is supposed to be a gambit pawn; look it up foryourselves... } 21. Qxc5 { and snap, said the trap: which all started atRa7, now working as a magnet for what seems to be a winning attack; unfortunately,Qxc5 is not working anymore: c5 has become a poisoned pawn... can we callthis blindness in chess, which occasionally happens to all stronger players?or was White too eager to make up for all the chances he missed? we willnever know... simply Qe5 (pinning Blacks' Queen again), Qxe5 (Rf7, f4!),Rxe5, would at least have held some advantage with two pawns ahead... } 21... Raf7 { the last bluff, and again reversing the attention from the real problem;of course, after 21. ... Rc7, 22. c3 (what else?), Rxc6, 22. Qe7+ Rf7,23. Qxf6+ Rcxf6, f4, g5, all is over for White with a Rook behind, butfor some reason, White missed that... Black is obviously attacking Whites'second row of pawns now, after Qxf2+, Qxf2, Rxf2, etc... White has severaloptions now, of which most - of course - involve moving Bc6, or at leastpinning Qf6 with Qc3 or Qe5... White however, wants to rule out Blacks'new threat on f2... } 22. f4 { a terrible move; best was Be4 (or maybe Bd5),Qxf2+, Qxf2, Rxf2, d4, Rd2, Bd3, Rff2, Re7+, Kh6, with a decent edge forBlack... but not more than that; White still has a lot of pawns to be neutralized... } 22... Rc8 { reversing the problem back into reality; and again, White has no betterthan c3, Rxc6, Qe5, b4!, cxb4, Rc2, clearing Whites' pawns... Black hasthe best of both worlds now, so White has to resign although at least twopawns ahead... the clocks were at 4:38 for Black and 3:26 for White; Istill felt not lucky: I felt like a cheap magician, with too many tricksup his sleeve... Tal would have just played 21. ... Rc7, and mock at Bobby... } 0-1

[Event "Challenge from paul7777777"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "29-Oct-07"] [Round "-"] [White "the_villa"] [Black "paul7777777"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1203"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1146"] 1. c4 { Started with the English opening } 1... d5 { which then he replied withD5 } 2. cxd5 { I thought I might as well take it } 2... Qxd5 { he took with theQueen } 3. Nc3 { I brought my Knight to attack the Queen and at this pointI thought he would move back to D8 } 3... Qf5 { but instead moved it to F5 andthought whilst its out I can attack it } 4. e4 { Started with E4 protectedwith the Knight } 4... Qf6 { He then moved to F6 with the queen } 5. Qa4+ { I thendecided to bring mine out and put him in check } 5... Qc6 { which he moved hisQueen again and I thought he would of done Nc6 or Bd7 to develop his pieces } 6. Bb5 { I then pinned his queen with the Bishop } 6... Na6 { He then brought hisKnight out which I thought he would of either done Qd7 or Bd7 } 7. Bxc6+ { which I naturally took the queen hoping he would take my Bishop so thenI could do Qc6 so then I could after do Qa8 } 7... Kd8 { Instead he moved hisking to D8 } 8. Qd4+ { which I then went to D4 with the queen Knowing heonly had Bd7 } 8... Bd7 { He then made the move he could only do } 9. Qxd7# { Thenit was checkmate ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To gmflash2008 here's the link http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?bd=8376639&rnd=0.3262944566156024 } 1-0

[Event "Won or not?"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.12.11"] [Round "-"] [White "pennsylvaniadan"] [Black "damalfi"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1759"] [TimeControl "5d+5d<10d"] [WhiteElo "1498"] 1. e4 { Hi all, this is recent game I played in Jo's welcome No3 mini-tournament.It is interesting mainly for the final position, I'm not able (since Ihave no chess engine) to tell if it was won or not, and I would like someadvice. } 1... d5 2. exd5 e6 { This was a mistake. The theory about Icelandicgambit says Nf6 first, hoping for white to move the c or d pawn. Now, itis premature. } 3. dxe6 Bxe6 4. d3 { Because of this move, that shields whiteabout all the tactics that arise after d4 or c4 are played. It's not adisaster, but now the gambit is not all that exciting anymore. } 4... Nf6 5. h3 { My opponent doesn't take advantage of the free tempo to develop a piece. } 5... Bd6 { Bc4 is kind of pointless, since no serious threat can be put on f2in a short time. } 6. Nf3 c5 { I can play this in order to get some controlof the center, open the lines for my queen, get out the b8 knight withoutblocking my c pawn, and since little attack can be performed on the a4-e8white diagonal by white because of d3. } 7. Be2 { Kingside castling, anda battery against the kingside is served. } 7... O-O 8. O-O Nc6 { Black is aheadin developement, but no concrete attack... still. It will come shortlyafter. } 9. Nc3 Qd7 { Not Qc7 because of Nb5. But a bishop sac on h3 is worthconsidering. } 10. Ne4 Be7 { I could have played Bc7, or NxN (recommendedby GK engine), but I wanted to 'tempt' him to... } 11. Nxf6+ gxf6 { ...inorder to play this, opening a column for a kingside attack. } 12. Bh6 Rfe8 { This rook is not misplaced here, but I plan to move it quickly to thegcolumn. } 13. Nh2 { White's play is passive, but I can understand the point:to provoke exchanges without disrupting the king's pawn chain. The planwill not work because I have f5. } 13... Kh8 { Or Ne5, fighting for g4. But Idon't want to exchange, only have more firepower against the white king. } 14. Bf4 { Kind of good, controlling the black diagonal. If it wouldn'tbe because of the control white has of f3, I would have gone Bxh3 rightnow. } 14... Rg8 { Firepower into the fight. It's amazing how white, just becauseof a couple of weak moves in the opening, seems now completely frozen,with no countergame. } 15. Bg3 { Temporarily avoiding Bxh3, but at the costof an even more cramped game (the bishop cannot move or Bxh3. I think Kh1was the indicated move, followed by Rg1. } 15... f5 { Hunting the bishop, withf4 the next move. } 16. Bf4 { I expected f4. The f5 pawn is blocking myown attack, but I can make something of it moving my battery to the whitediagonal aiming to g2 in a couple o moves (Nd4, Bd5, Qf6). I only haveto find the right order. } 16... Nd4 { Threatening to exchange white's lsb. } 17. Bh5 { White could have gone Be5+, f6, BxN etc, but this would haveallowed me to further advance the f pawn. } 17... Bd5 { Step two. } 18. Nf3 Qc6 { Step 3. As predicted, weapons are aiming the right spot. } 19. Kh2 { GKengine says this is a mistake. But it doesn't explains why. I'd like tothink this is because of my next move, but I am not all that sure, either. } 19... Rxg2+ { Was this sac correct? I played it almost without thinking. } 20. Kxg2 Rg8+ 21. Kh1 { And here it comes: is this position winning for black? } 21... Nxf3 { GK engine says this is a blunder, preferring BxN+. It is a thematicline, and I thought white is lost, and so did white, because it resigned.But the GK engine says white is >+2! What do you think? Of course the threatis Ne1+, 22. Kh2, Rg2+, 23. Kh1, Rxf2+, 24. Kh2, RxR+, 25. Kh2, Rh1+, 26.Kg3, Qf6 etc. But does it win? Too lazy to see further... :-) } 0-1

[Event "It's a Hanging!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.09.23"] [Round "-"] [White "~NN~"] [Black "theancientbeast"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 { I really wanted a French! } 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. b4 { Hanginga pawn. } 4... Bxb4 5. Nb5 { And another. } 5... Nxe4 6. Rb1 Bc5 7. d3 { And another. } 7... Nxf2 8. Qd2 Nxh1 9. g4 O-O 10. Qg2 Nf2 11. Ng5 Qf6 12. Nxh7 { Rubbish! } 12... Qe5+ 13. Kd2 { The next few moves are practically forced. } 13... Be3+ 14. Ke1 Bc5+ 15. Kd2 Qe3+ 16. Kc3 Nd1+ 17. Kb3 a5 18. Nxc7 { He didn't see the mate. } 18... a4# 0-1

[Event "Pudsey B vs. Alwoodley B, Farsley Liberal Club"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2018.09.26"] [Round "-"] [White "Ross, Andy"] [Black "Ibbitson, Anthony"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "141"] [WhiteElo "138"] { So this was my first over the board game of 2018 as I hadn't played asingle OTB for over 10 months! I'd actually only played 2 games duringthe previous 2 years. Of course I was going to be rusty but I was galdto be back. } 1. e4 { I was very happy to see this as I've not had muchchance to study as yet and I was more e4 than a d4 system or something.I have played the French for years so was expecting something that I knowwell. } 1... e6 { The defence I've probably played more than any other. } 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 { I was happy to see this over an exchange, which is somethingthat I have previously refused to study. } 3... Nf6 { Keeping it nice and simple,or so I thought, with the classical variation. I do like exciting chessbut generally that's more with the white pieces. there's too much theoryto learn in say the Winawer. Alternative variation: 3... Bb4 4. e5 Ne75. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. Qg4 [The Winawer is so much more complex althoughI may find time so study it someday.] } 4. e5 Nfd7 { The Steinitz Variation. } 5. Bd3 a6 { This is unnecessary, better and more accurate was 5...c5.The move Nb5 has often caused issues to I tend to throw in ...a6 as prophylaxis.In some lines this move is necessary to prevent Nb5 followed by Nd6 butyou can generally just counter Nb5 with ...f6 anyway, undermining the d6hole. Alternative variation: [Better was just ] 5... c5 [followed by] 6.f4 Nc6 7. Nf3 Nxd4 8. O-O Nxf3+ 9. Qxf3 } 6. f4 { All standard stuff sofar. Immediately grabbing space on the Kingside. } 6... c5 { Essentially I'mone move behind here and I should really be playing 6...Nc6 now, in whichcase, black would have a slight edge. I think the actual position is aboutequal. } 7. f5 { Ugh! This confused me, all the years of playing the Frenchand I've never seen this. I knew it must be bad but practically every lineI looked at seemed to be decent for white. I think Andy realised I'd beenout of the game for some time and tried to mix it up a bit. I should beclose to winning here but I miscalculated a little under the pressure ofbeing watched and expected to perform. } 7... c4 { This was an innacuracy onmy part and should be losing by force however, my opponent wanted morethan just a pawn. The reasoning behind this move was to force the lightsquared bishop off the b1-h7 diagonal, the lines involving fxe6, Qh5 andBxg6 worried me. Let's discuss the alternatives and what made me choosethis over the various other candidate moves; Alternative variation: [FirstI looked at] 7... Qh4+ [but after] 8. g3 Qxd4 9. Nf3 [I ruled this outfor obvious reasons.] Alternative variation: [I then looked at] 7... exf58. Bxf5 Nc6 9. Nxd5 [which was okay but I didn't like the fact that myKing was still in the centre, so I ruled this line out too.] Alternativevariation: [I then miscalculated] 7... cxd4 [which (according to my engines)was the best move!] 8. fxe6 Nxe5 [This is the best reply and it's simplybetter for black now. There were so many tricky variations to look at soit was quite brutal for my first game back in over 10 months!] (8... fxe6[I was worried about this line however, simply ...Nxe5 is better for black]9. Qh5+ g6 10. Bxg6+) } 8. fxe6 { I expected 8.Be2 here, which is playablebut white chose an even better move. White is certainly trying to keepthe initiative alive. } 8... cxd3 9. exf7+ { I can see why white plays this butbetter was Alternative variation: 9. exd7+ [when] Bxd7 10. Qxd3 Nc6 [ whichis slightly better for white however, there's no clear counterplay in thatline which is probably why white went for 9.exf7+. I need to defend preciselynow.] } 9... Kxf7 10. Qf3+ { So black may be a piece for a pawn up but whitehas compensation and the initiative. There's always chances for me to gowrong here, especially at OTB chess. } 10... Ke8 { The best square for the King.It looks strange, especially considering that I can't castle but anythingelse is either dangerous or restrictive. There's actually no checks frome8 so this gives me chance to unravel somewhat. } 11. Nh3 { This just seemstoo slow. I can see that white wants to castle and get his Rook to f1 buthe just doesn't get chance until it's too late. It's my turn to grab someinitiative and confidence now. } 11... Qh4+ { Black's King seems more exposedthan mine which is ironic as he's the only one able to castle. } 12. Nf2 { Some use came of Nh3 after all! } 12... Qxd4 { I seem to be maintaining someinitiative and appear to be making it hard for white to find any resources. } 13. Nxd3 { I'm very confident with my position here. I have the initiativeand I'm a whole piece up, my King may be stuck in the centre but whiteis unable to capitalise on this. } 13... Nxe5 { Many people would be put off playingthis, especially with the King being on e8 but this was fully calculatedand I just knew black was winning now. After 14.Qh5+ I just have 14...Ng6when after 15.Qxd5 I can force the exchange of Queen's and have an easierendgame. } 14. Qh5+ { Alternative variation: [If] 14. Qe2 [then] Nbc6 [holdsafter] 15. Bf4 Bg4 [And black is easily winning.] } 14... Ng6 { I played thisimmediately, showing my opponent how confident I was at this stage. } 15. Qe2+ { Bit rash, forcing me to develop a piece? Thanks! } 15... Be7 16. Be3 { Looksforcing but here I move out of a threat whilst leaving a threat of my ownon d4. } 16... Qc4 { Retaining the initiative as I'm now threatening the forkon d4. } 17. Kd2 { Game over, surely the only move was Bg5 here? Alternativevariation: 17. Bg5 [was white's bes try but he's still losing.] Bg4 18.Qd2 Rf8 [with a good game for black.] } 17... d4 { Not sure whether white missedthis but he was losing anyway. Unless this was part of his last ditch planto try and win my Queen? } 18. Ne4 { It's really not easy for white now,he can just resign immediately but I think he wanted to play on a littlemore as there is still potential for tactics in a messy position such asthis one. My King is awkwardly placed and white probably thinks his piecesare better coordinated than mine, despite being two minor pieces down. } 18... dxe3+ 19. Qxe3 { Of course white now threatens 20.Nd6+, due to the X-Rayattack by the white Queen which will pin the dark squared bishop to e7.I'm not in a rush so I'm looking out for all tactical threats before Imove a piece. } 19... Qc7 { Removing the threat on d6 and keeping an eye on f7. } 20. Raf1 { I was happy to see this, more pieces will come off soon. } 20... Rf8 { My plan is just to exchange Rooks and get my King to safety. I thoughtas soon as that was accomplished, white would resign, knowing that he'dfailed to find any saving resources. } 21. Rxf8+ Kxf8 22. Rf1+ { Forcingmy King to a safer square. } 22... Kg8 { A pair of Rooks traded and my King tosafety, here I can breathe a sigh of relief. My first game of 2018 waslooking great! } 23. Kc1 { I didn't understanf this move at all... } 23... Nc6 { Quickly trying to free the Rook so that I can get another piece off theboard. } 24. h3 { Feels like white is now thinking about resigning. } 24... Bd7 { Now the Rook has been activated and my two bishops are controlling a lotof central squares. } 25. a3 { I feel like white is just making a few aimlessmoves so that it doesn't look too embarassing after resigning after sofew moves. } 25... Rf8 { Exchanging the final pair of Rooks which will leave mybishop pair even more dominant. } 26. Rxf8+ Bxf8 { And white resigned. Greatresult and it's nice to get off to a winning start after taking so longout of chess (2 matches in a 3 year period). It won't do my grade any harmeither. The lesson to learn here is not to panic when faced with somethingunusual or rare, it's unusual for a reason, because it's bad! My opponentgave me a material advantage in return for the initiative. I rode the stormand came out fighting. The next game I'll be even stronger. } 0-1

[Event "TEST YOURSELF with THIS TRAINING GAME!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "04-Apr-08"] [Round "-"] [White "pilou"] [Black "winstonsmith"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1715"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1705"] 1. e4 { This is a quite short game I played recently. I want to test youto solve some intersting and basic positional and tactical ideas. Takeit as a quiz. First of all, open the java window, so that you can seethe flow of the game with my comments on the bottom. Flip the board, asyou will be playing the black side. Then, cover with a sheet the partof the screen with the moves. Don't look at the moves. From time to timeyou will be asked to find a move on your own. When you read 'IT'S YOURTURN' you'll have to decide what move to make. MAKE SURE to have a planbehind the move you want to make, or to have the CORRECT tactical idea,otherwise IT'S LIKE YOU DID NOT ANSWER CORRECTLY. The first moves are theoreticaland there will be no questions. Anyway, try to figure out what's goingon. There are 10 points available in total (some questions give 2 pointsor more, others give 1 point). At the end, tell me your score! I thinkthat players above 1800 should have few problems in analysing this game,but for those under 1500/1600 might be interesting. Good luck and enjoy! } 1... e6 { Good, you chose the French Defence. :) } 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 { This is probably the main variationof the French Defence. } 7... Qc7 { Black accepts the challenge. He gives Whitetwo pawns on the flank in exchange for active piece play. In fact, whitewill lose some important tempos to capture those pawns. Now Black mustplay vigorously, to undermine white's centre and take the initiative. } 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 { Black starts his plan of undermining black'scentre. White now can't play 10.cxd3 because of 10...Qc3 } 10. Ne2 Nbc6 11. f4 Bd7 12. Qd3 dxc3 13. Qxc3 O-O-O { Up to now it's all theory. Anyway,before going on try to understand what's happening here. Black has almostcompleted development, though his pieces still need to find more aggressiveposts to become really dangerous. White, on the other side, is still backin development, but if he manages to free himself he will be able to counton his strong passed h2 pawn. Black has a dynamic advantage (development,and if he can, initiative) while White has a static advantage (materialand pawn structure) } 14. Be3 { IT'S YOUR TURN TO MOVE } 14... d4 { 2 points if you found this move. 14... Nf5is also good (2 points, but only if you considered that after 15.Bf2 or15.Bc5 there would follow 15...d4 anyway). The fact is that there wasa fight for the d4 square. If white managed to take control of that square,he will probably be able to complete smoothly his development. Moreover,the pawn on d5 was a negative factor for Black, because his pieces didn'thave space enough. After that pawn disappears, the scope of the Rd8, theBd7 and the Ne7 will be greatly increased. So many good things for justone pawn! Think Dynamic! Add 2 more points if you also had in mind thefollowing plan: exchange as many minor pieces as possible. In few moveswe will see why. } 15. Nxd4 { Maybe 15.Bxd4 was slightly better, so whitecould retain some developed pieces for defensive tasks. } 15... Nd5 16. Qd2 Nxe3 17. Qxe3 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 { IT'S YOUR TURN } 18... Bb5 { 1 point. Attacking the Queen this way, Black exchangesthe last minor piece, and he will finally GET the INITIATIVE because ofhis powerful and active Rooks against an uncastled king and those poorundeveloped Rooks. Moreover, white now cannot take in a7 because of 19...Qc3. Not 18...Kb8? 19.Qd6! Nor 18...Bc6 19. Qxa7! are good. IMPORTANT:As you can see, Black is exchanging pieces even if is is down in material.You have probably been taught that when you have a material advange youshould try to reach the endgame. BE CAREFUL with this approach! Don't alwayslook for exchange of pieces when you are up with material. Instead, tryto understand what is best to do in that situation! Sometimes it is necessaryto fight with great determination even with a pawn up or two, because theplayer down in material may have some sort of dynamic compensation. Inthis case, for example, the more developed white pieces disappear, thebigger will be the difference in development between black and white. } 19. Qe3 Bxf1 20. Kxf1 { IT'S YOUR TURN } 20... Qxc2 { 2 Points, but only if you saw the variation 21.Rc1? Rd1 !!22. Rxd1 Qxg2 !! (not 22...Qxd1? 0 points) with a quick win. Other whitemoves also lose badly, to you the pleasure to find them (eg. 21. Qc1?) Look at the position. Despite being 1 pawn down, Black has a firm initiativenow, because of his strong and very active Rooks and Queen ready to penetratein the enemy camp. } 21. g3 { IT'S YOUR TURN } 21... Rd2 { 1 point. A defensive and attacking move at the same time. Afterhis move 21.g3, White was really threatening 22. Rc1 pinning the Queen.This move prevents this and also allows the doubling of Rooks along thed file (the Rg8 is no longer useful there). 0 points (or negative!)if you chose 21...Kb8. It is pointless. } 22. Re1 Rgd8 { Threatrening 23...Rd1,winning } 23. Qe4 { IT'S YOUR TURN. Calculate until a great advantage forblack. } 23... Rf2+ { White resignshere. I had prepared 24. Kg1 Qb2!! with the mortal threat 25...Rdd2. Neither25.Rc1 Qxc1! 26.Kxf2 Rd2 etc. nor 25.Rb1 Rg2 ! would have saved white. 2 points if you saw all this. (There may be other winning variations:2 points if you found one of these instead, but 0 points if you excangedQueens). Hope you enjoyed and liked the experiment. Let me know! } 0-1

[Event "Fast tourny for fast players - Edition 5"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.06.24"] [Round "-"] [White "dwardman"] [Black "srbijaja"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1753"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1731"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 c5 { This always provokes a response } 4. e3 Qb6 5. Qc1 Nc6 6. c3 d5 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. Bd3 h6 9. h3 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. Ne5 { Like the idea of my knight on this square } 11... Nxe5 12. dxe5 Nh5 13. Bh2 g6 14. Qc2 { Am considering a bishop sac, but it isn't really on yet } 14... Bb5 15. c4 Bc6 16. cxd5 Bxd5 17. e4 { This move looks counter intuitive as it blocksthe bishop, but it is going to force black back, and allow white to gainsome time } 17... Bc6 18. Nc4 Qc7 19. Nd6 { The knight is very happy there } 19... b6 { This is not the strongest of moves, and provides an opening to exploit } 20. b4 g5 21. Rac1 { White just piles more pressure on black } 21... Nf4 22. Bxf4 gxf4 23. bxc5 bxc5 24. Qxc5 Rac8 25. Ba6 { Ouch } 25... Rfd8 26. Bxc8 Rxc8 27. Rfd1 Kh7 28. Qc3 { Black resigned, the position is lost } 1-0

[Event "The Dentist is ............... Castled!!!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "08-Dec-08"] [Round "-"] [White "The Dentist"] [Black "jstevens1"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1734"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1293"] 1. e4 { Hi everyone! After the trials and tribulations of Beafyness' tourneyit is nice to report that I beat someone in just 13 moves. The Dentistis back after a sabbatical in Vietnam. This game goes a long way to exorcisethe memory of what happened the last time I was black against him (seeThe Dentist has his day). He starts off with the Patzer's Opening, anopening you should underestimate at your peril as an Expert played thisagainst me and won. } 1... e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. c3 { 3. c3 - to prepare d4, thoughsometimes Bc4 is played to threaten Scholar's Mate, this mate can be beatenoff by Qe7 or Qf6 or g6. I now drive back the Wicked Witch of the Westwith Nf6. } 3... Nf6 4. Qf3 d5 { 4. ........ d5 - I avoid the passive set up ofmy last game against him with this move twice attacking the e pawn. } 5. d3 dxe4 6. dxe4 Bg4 7. Qd3 { 7. Qd3 - the witch must block the d file -otherwise Glenda will steam down to e1 delivering mate. I exchange queensand then castle queenside, substituting the queen for the rook on the dfile. } 7... Qxd3 8. Bxd3 O-O-O 9. f3 { 9. f3? - loses pawn as you will see! } 9... Rxd3 10. fxg4 Nxe4 { 10. ...... Nxe4 - Voila! } 11. Ne2 Bc5 { 11. ..........Bc5 - I complete my development and this move contains a threat of matein two ....... } 12. b4 { 12. b4?? - ....... which he misses! With Glendaoff the board no doubt he was lulled into a false sense of security here. Nd2 should have been played here I think. } 12... Bf2+ 13. Kf1 { 13. Kf1 - theonly legal move. } 13... Rd1# { 13. ......... Rd1#. So he who doesn't castle iscastled! Again, Old Matey appears out of nowhere. Even with the queensoff, white was punished for slow development. All his queenside piecesare at home where black is fully developed. My battle with passivity continues. What I am now trying to do is study what moves are thematic to what opening,in particular pawn moves so that I do not get squeezed. Just hope I havesome more good news to post here. Have a nice day everyone! - Joanne } 0-1

[Event " Malpas & Oswestry 2 Vs Chester J"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "5 April 2018"] [Round "-"] [White "Andrew Williams"] [Black "Kareem Ghatwary"] [Result "1-0"] [TimeControl "28 in an hour plus 15 to finish"] [WhiteElo "ECF38"] 1. d4 { I am annotating this for one of my team mates, Andrew 'Willy' Williams. } 1... d5 { He plays on Gameknot as 'knight_nite'. } 2. Bf4 { This line is calledthe Mason Varation. https://www.365chess.com/eco/D00_Queen's_pawn_Mason_variation } 2... Nc6 { Sound development, but this move blocks the c pawn and prevents c7-c6to support the c pawn and the counter-attacking c7-c5. 2....Nf6 is mostcommonly played, and I think is best. } 3. Nf3 { Sound development by Willy. } 3... Bf5 { ...and by black. } 4. e3 { Yes, that is what I would have played. } 4... Nf6 { Good development by black. The raid 4....Nb4, threatening c2 doesn't cometo much, white can simply play 5. Na3 and then drive the knight back withc2-c3. } 5. c3 { A good, solid move by white. I quite like white's set-up.The Bf4 has been developed outside the pawn chain, and then the centrepawns placed on black squares. This seems to be a logical developing move,but Gameknot thinks it is a mistake. http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=5951167&rnd=0.4397394524167513 } 5... e6 { Black too is making sensible moves. } 6. h3 { This not really a mistake,but I don't see the need for it. I think white would be better advisedto continue to develop. } 6... Bd6 { Black plays to exchange dark squared bishops(DSB).One could argue that for black his DSB is the good bishop as it is on theopposite colour to his central pawns, so it can weave in and out of them,while for white the DSB is the bad bishop, as it is on the same colouredsquared as his central pawns. However in this case the white DSB is developedoutside the pawn chain, so is not really 'bad'. } 7. g4 { A bold advanceby white. This has been played before in iceman32682 (1729) vs. josefgor(1556) http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=5951167&mv=13&rnd=0.3453198403913642 } 7... Be4 { As played by josefgor (1556) } 8. Nbd2 { 8. Bd3 was played by iceman,but this move looks good, developing the knight and attacking the bishop.In fact the Gameknot computer thinks that 8. Bd3 is a mistake and 8. Nbd2is stronger. http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=5951167&rnd=0.4397394524167513 } 8... e5 { Black tries to exploit the pin on the Nf3 to force through this movewhich is positionally desirable, but actually there is a flaw in the idea.Simply 0-0 and preparing e6-e5 with Re8 was better. } 9. dxe5 { Yes, I thinkthis is best move. Usually in these sorts of positions it is best to startby taking with the piece of the lowest value, i.e. a pawn. } 9... Bxe5 { Blacktakes back. } 10. Nxe4 { White takes the bishop that was pinning the Nf3.If black now recaptures the knight with, say 10....dxe4 then 11. Nxe5 andwhite has won a piece. White may consider taking the queens off with checkfirst too. } 10... Bxf4 { So black tries this. } 11. Nxf6+ { White cleverly takesthe knight with check. This is the only way to win a piece. } 11... Qxf6 { Blacktakes back. } 12. exf4 { And now white is a bishop ahead. } 12... O-O { A bishopdown, black plays for the attack my castling, rather than taking the pawnon f4. } 13. Qb3 { I really don't like this move. I think taking on d5 istoo greedy and black can move his rooks into the central files and causeproblems for white, for instance 13.Qxd5Rad8 14.Qg5Rfe8+ 15.Be2Qe616.Ng1 I think better for white is either 13. Be2 preparing 0-0 or 13.Qd2 protecting f4 and preparing 0-0-0. White needs to castle urgently! } 13... Rfe8+ { Black correctly checks down the file. } 14. Be2 { White blocks. } 14... Qe6 { Threatening QxBe2 mate! } 15. O-O-O { White panics and gives the bishopback. 15. Qc2 seems the logical move to me, or even 15. Ng1 } 15... Qxe2 { So blackgets the piece back, threatening the knight on f3. } 16. Qxd5 { White takesthe pawn, protecting the Nf3. } 16... Rad8 { But now black has all sorts of threats.What would you play here dear reader? } 17. Qxd8 { I think 17. Rh-e1 wasthe best move. This has an air of panic about it again. } 17... Nxd8 { Black takesback. } 18. Rhe1 { And now this move comes in. What would you play dear reader? } 18... Qxe1 { Did you see 18.....Qb5! and black keeps the extra queen and protectsthe rook on e8? Black would have been a clear queen for rook up. } 19. Nxe1 { With the exchange of errors we have now reached a fairly level ending.White has the extra pawn on the king side, but it is doubled, and difficultto convert to a win. I would predict a draw from here. } 19... Nc6 { Black improvesthe position of his knight, feeing his rook for action. } 20. Nf3 { As doeswhite. } 20... g6 { Presumably played to give his king a flight square, but Kf8was a better move if he was afraid of that. } 21. Rd7 { White correctly takesthe 7th rank. } 21... Re2 { Black also seems to be playing copy-cat. } 22. Ng5 { Whiteattacks f7, but I would have been minded just to start taking black's pawnswith 22. Rxc7. } 22... Re7 { Black hurries back to defend, losing a move in theprocess. If black wants to defend like this, he should have done it a moveearlier. } 23. Rd5 { As white is a pawn up, I would have exchanged rooks,following the advice 'If you are material up exchange pieces, but not pawns'. } 23... f6 { Black hits the knight. } 24. Nf3 { Knight drops back. } 24... Re6 { Not sureof the point of this move. 24.....Kf7 seemed more logical. In the endingthe king can be a useful attacking piece and needs to be centralised. } 25. h4 { Although in the ending pawns do have to be advanced, this is premature.25. Kd2 strikes me as being a good move, or 25. Rd7. } 25... Re4 { Black attacksthe extra pawn. } 26. f5 { White tries to keep his extra pawn. } 26... Rf4 { Blackattacks the knight. } 27. Rd3 { Rook drops back. I think black has a smalladvantage now. Black can regain the pawn.... However... } 27... Ne5 { I have noidea why black chose this rather than 27......Rxg4 or 27.....gxf5 28. gxf5Rxf5, with a level ending. } 28. Rd8+ { Now the rook comes in. } 28... Kf7 { Kingadvances. } 29. fxg6+ { White takes. Now black can take back with king, knightor pawn and still have a reasonable position. However.... } 29... Ke7 { Black hopesto gain a tempo by attacking the rook. Find white's next move. } 30. g7 { Excellent play by white. The winning move! } 30... Rxg4 { The only way to preventwhite from having an extra queen for the rest of the game. } 31. g8=Q { Whitequeens anyway. } 31... Rxg8 { Black takes. } 32. Rxg8 { White takes back. } 32... Nxf3 { Blackhas managed to escape with 'Only' being the exchange down. } 33. Rg7+ { Thiswins at least one extra pawn. } 33... Kf8 { Another mistake, returning the kingto the back rank is suicidal. It is lost, but 33.....Kd6 puts up a betterfight. } 34. Rxc7 { Black's pawns are dropping like ripe apples. } 34... Ne5 { 34.....Nxh4was better. } 35. Rxh7 { Another one bites the dust! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE } 35... Nd3+ { Black throws in the check. } 36. Kc2 { White attacks the knight. } 36... Nxf2 { Black gets a pawn back. I was getting quite excited here. We were 2-0up in a four board match, so we only needed a win or a draw here to winthe match, and I was confident that Willy could win this. } 37. h5 { Passedpawns must be pushed! } 37... Kg8 { King comes over to block. } 38. Rxb7 { Anotherone goes. } 38... Ne4 { I am not sure of the point of this move. } 39. Re7 { Whiteattacks the knight. } 39... Ng5 { Knight returns to the king side. White's h pawnis not going anywhere now. } 40. c4 { So white just advances his c pawn instead. } 40... f5 { Black too has hopes of promoting a pawn. } 41. c5 { White carries on. } 41... f4 { So does black. } 42. c6 { White carries on relentlessly. If black continuesto advance then white will queen with checkmate - 42....f3 43 c7 f2 44c8=Q mate. } 42... Nf7 { So the knight tries to come back to stop the pawn. } 43. Rxf7 { Excellent move by white. The pawn ending is easily won. } 43... Kxf7 { Blacktakes. } 44. c7 { Whate advances. } 44... f3 { Black adavances. } 45. c8=Q { Whitequeens. } 45... f2 { Black advances. } 46. Qh3 { The queen comes back to stop thepawn, so Black resigned. Many thanks for reading this. Please judge theannotation with the star system and leave a comment or two to let me knowhow I am doing. Until next time dear reader! } 1-0

[Event "A deadly pawn."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.05.23"] [Round "-"] [White "gonzxx"] [Black "damalfi"] [Result "0-1"] [TimeControl "3/10"] { After a blunder in the opening, I find myself surprised from another nicetrick... to my opponent! } 1. Nf3 { I seldom play against this, but it willmatch another line sooner or later. One in which the fact white didn'tplay f4, it is a 'plus' for me. } 1... d5 2. d4 Bf5 3. e3 e6 { That looks prettynormal. I'm expecting my lsb to be exchanged, but I can survive that. } 4. c3 a6 { A mistake, since it allows white's next move. } 5. Qb3 { Witha strong attack on b2, I cannot defend. Not with the queen, so the bestone was b3. I tried to tempt him into tactics (and see if I could survive). } 5... b5 6. a4 { Of course. Now I have to improvise. } 6... c6 { Nothing better, evenif it doesn't avoid... } 7. axb5 cxb5 { I expected Bxb5+, Nd7, Rxa3... avery dark sight, indeed... } 8. Na3 Bxa3 { Gone f4, this bishop controlsthe dark squares, but nothing more. The Kxb5 sac means too many piecesattacking over there. I have to exchange it. } 9. Rxa3 Nd7 { No use to tryto save b5, for sure. I better put some patchs on my position: now, Ra1is defended. } 10. Qb4 { Delaying again Bxb5. Now he pretend to take advantagefrom the undefended dark squares. } 10... Ne7 { I have to castle very soon, period. } 11. Qd6 { Attacking a6. I already decided not to try to defend the pawns,since it would have made me lose too much time for my developement. } 11... O-O 12. Rxa6 Rxa6 13. Qxa6 Nb6 { I still cannot avoid Bxb5, but now it is notthat much harmful... and I am developed, so I can use my pieces (the ideaof this move is to have the rook in a1 soon). } 14. Bxb5 Qc7 { White cannotcaslte, since Ra1 and his queen is trapped. } 15. Qa3 Ra8 { I don't wanthim to castle, if I can. This move opens a possible threat on a8. } 16. Qb3 { If I want to make something of my few chances, I have to clean theheavy pieces and try to outplay my opponent in the endgame... and be luckyto get a draw. } 16... Nc4 17. Bxc4 Qxc4 18. Qxc4 dxc4 { This costs me for thisisolani, apparently defenceless... } 19. Ne5 Ra1 { I know he can caslte now,but I like this move all the same. I cannot see any more play for me. } 20. O-O { I just can't afford the loss of another pawn. And on d3, my isolaniis apparently very, very weak, but let's see... I smell something... Ican't go Rb8 right now, Nxc4 covers it all. } 20... Bd3 21. Nxd3 { White concedesme to see if I were right. } 21... cxd3 22. Rd1 { Futile move, dear white. Youhave to try to exchange rooks, with Bd2. If I refuse with Ra2, Rb1. Thismove loses quickly to d2! } 22... Nf5 { But I didn't see it (I have to be fair!). } 23. b4 { Nor did he... } 23... d2 { ...but I finally did. It's curtains for white... } 0-1

[Event "Mountain Man First Invitational"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2017.03.01"] [Round "-"] [White "sanjinp"] [Black "lord_shiva"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1810"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1537"] 1. g3 { Benko's opening. } 1... e5 { Reversed Alekhine Defense. } 2. Bg2 d5 { Blackgenerally does pretty well responding with d3. While white's fianchettoedbishop throws some control over the center of the field, the pawn dominationis stronger. } 3. d3 c5 { Throwing the pawns into the field this way isa bit unusual. The queen's pawn will be weak and is exchanged in justanother two moves. White's d3, while not bold, discourages e4 which wouldplace a pile of pawns in white's white bishop's path. } 4. c4 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 Nc6 7. Nf3 h6 8. a3 Na5 { Time to see about pushing the queenaround. } 9. Qc3 { Pe5 is undefended. } 9... f6 { Moving this pawn is generallypretty weak, but white's bishop cannot attack the black king's open diagonalwithout first moving three times, nor can the white queen move to h5 orh6 in under three moves. Plus f6 discourages Nf3 opening an attack onPb7, defended by Na5. The drawback is that black's castle pawns are indisarray. But that won't be an issue if the queens exchange. } 10. O-O { White's king ducks into the spider hole. } 10... Bd6 { Black just needs to deployking side pieces, and can't move the bishop if the knight moves first. White might have taken advantage of this with Nd2 (either one) Ne4, toattack d6. The only other piece white could deploy against d6 is the queen,which is kind of blocked by hooves on a5. } 11. Nbd2 { Probably should havedone this instead of castling. } 11... Qc7 { Now black is defending the weak Bd6,and adding muscle to Pb7. } 12. Nc4 Nxc4 13. Qxc4 Ne7 14. e4 a6 { It lookslike a stupid move, and probably is. But white's queen and rook sharea diagonal, and whether or not Pd4 was ever played black needs supportfor Bb5 (which ultimately occurs on move 18--four moves away). } 15. Be3 Rf8 { Black cannot castle king's side. } 16. b4 cxb4 17. Qxc7 Bxc7 18. axb4 Bb5 { Bb5 no longer provides much attack. I moved here primarily to blockfurther advance of white's isolated b pawn. } 19. Rfd1 Nc6 20. Rac1 Rf7 21. Rb1 Rd7 { By attacking these pawns my hope is to drive white's piecesback to the back row. } 22. Ne1 b6 23. Bh3 Rdd8 24. Bf1 Rab8 25. Nc2 Nd4 26. Nxd4 exd4 27. Bd2 Kf7 28. Be1 g5 29. Rbc1 Bd6 30. Bh3 h5 { Here I noticedI could force Rd1 out, but I couldn't get more than swapping black bishops. Whenever I played this out I'd drop a pawn. I feel like I should be ableto promote one of the right side pawns, but I never got anywhere--too easyfor white to foil any advance it seemed. } 31. Bf5 Ba4 { I decide to tradebishops. I start out grabbing a pawn, but lose one later. Still, shouldbe able to force the passed pawn to promotion, theoretically. } 32. Rd2 Bxb4 33. Ra2 Bxe1 34. Rxa4 Ba5 { Pulling the bishop back preserves Pa6,and white has nothing to attack the black bishop. } 35. Rc7+ Kg8 36. Rac4 { White blunders. I think, 'hey, a pawn attacks one rook while the bishopanother?' White should probably trade rook for bishop with Rc2. } 36... b5 37. Rc8 { This makes the blunder worse, trading down the rook for the pawn. } 37... bxc4 38. Rxc4 Bb4 39. Bg6 h4 { If white splits black pawns, white's pawnswill be split. } 40. Bf5 a5 41. Rc7 hxg3 { Black can avoid having his ownpawns split by this expensive exchange. Expensive, because that pawn movedthree times. } 42. hxg3 a4 43. Be6+ Kh8 44. Bf5 a3 45. e5 fxe5 46. Rh7+ Kg8 47. Rc7 Bc3 48. Ra7 Ra8 { Black will be happy to trade rooks. } 0-1

[Event "Milky Way Grand Masters 2010"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.07.08"] [Round "-"] [White "haratta"] [Black "cichociemny"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1488"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1522"] 1. e4 c5 { Black chose the Sicilian. } 2. Nf3 a6 { A little bit unusual movein this situation, maybe? } 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bd3 h6 7. O-O { Castling kingside! } 7... d6 8. Nc3 Nf6 9. Bd2 Bg4 10. h3 { Putting the questionto the bishop! } 10... Bh5 11. Be2 Be7 12. Re1 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Nd4 14. Be2 Nxe2+ 15. Qxe2 { The opening is over, yet the middle game has begun! } 15... O-O 16. f3 b5 17. Be3 Nh5 18. Nd5 Ng3 19. Qf2 Bh4 20. Qd2 f5 21. Red1 f4 22. Bf2 Qg5 23. Nc7 { Threatening a fork on blacks rook and queen in the next move!Advantage for white! } 23... Rad8 24. Ne6 { And there comes the fork! } 24... Qg6 25. Nxd8 Rxd8 26. Bxg3 { Generally speaking it ́s good to exchange pieces whenyou are over in material! } 26... Bxg3 27. Qd5+ Kh7 28. Rd3 Bh4 29. Rad1 { Triplingon the d-file! } 29... Be7 30. c4 bxc4 31. Qxc4 Ra8 32. Rd5 Qe6 33. Qc6 Rc8 34. Qxa6 { A free pawn! } 34... Rb8 35. b3 { I have a clear advantage now. Is up inmaterial and have two free pawns + free play! } 35... Rd8 36. a3 Rd7 37. b4 g5 38. Qc8 Kg7 39. Rxe5 { Winning another pawn through this tactic! } 39... Qxe5 40. Qxd7 Kf6 41. Qf5+ { Changing queens make it easier for me to win! } 41... Qxf5 42. exf5 Kxf5 43. Re1 Bd8 44. b5 Bb6+ 45. Kf1 d5 46. Ke2 { Activating theking is important in the most endgames! } 46... h5 47. Kd3 Be3 48. Rxe3 { A positionalsacrifice that wins the game for me! } 48... fxe3 49. Kxe3 Ke6 50. Kd4 { It ́s hopelessfor black now! } 50... Kd6 51. a4 h4 52. a5 { Black resigns! } 1-0

[Event "Classical French Defence - Steinitz Variation - opposite castling"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "27-Feb-08"] [Round "-"] [White "nightlooser"] [Black "ifuinsist"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1638"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1619"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Bc5 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O a6 { Sooo... this is one of the startingtheoretical position of the French Classical Defence (3...Nf6) - (SteinitzVariation) In fact a rare case in point in the French, and a great resemblancewith many lines of the Sicilian because we have a race for mate with oppositecastling. It surely explains why this line is popular among top attackingplayers like Shirov or Morozevich } 11. h4 { The oldest and most tried plan,the Rook on h1 will be transferred on the third rank (Rh3) where it willbe capable of defending laterally White queen-side castle while attackingBlack's king-side. Others moves have been tried, and notably two of themare less direct and more poisonous by defusing first Black's attack onthe queen-side : 11.Qf2 (Kramnik) and 11.Nb3 (Nijboer, Anand) } 11... Nxd4 { Thisexchange is forced if Black wants to push his b pawn as quickly as possible } 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Rh3 b4 14. Na4 { Much more annoying for Black than the Knightretreat on e2, White will consolidate greatly his castle by followingby b3. } 14... Bxd4 15. Qxd4 f6 { A move devised by Short vs. Kasparov. Usuallya5 is played. } 16. Re1 { A new move. Here Kasparov took Pawn b4 and ShortPawn e5, on the complicated position that ensued Kasparov crushed Short.Later it has been proven by GM Brynnel on many occasions that Short's movewas perfectly playable and that white has to take the draw before gettinginto trouble. } 16... Qa5 { This move is an error it blocks my pieces on the queen-side,as I will need a lot of time to develop my Bishop by Bb7-c6-b5. Much smarterwere 16...a5, 16...Qc7 keeping the tension or the safe and sensible 16...fxe517.fxe5 a5 with a very slight plus for Black as he will have better controlof the position through the pawn target on e5. Note that the Queen is greaton d8 as it is eyeing the weak h5 pawn as soon as White try to move theh3 Rook. } 17. b3 { For the next two moves White is securing his king'shole } 17... Bb7 { There begins the long Bishop's journey to b5... } 18. Kb1 Bc6 19. Nb2 Bb5 20. Bd3 f5 { Apparently closing the gates for a future Whiteattack, but in fact it is a false impression. } 21. Rg1 { Very good and essentialmove } 21... Rac8 22. Bf1 { This move came as a relief for me. Had White continuedhis idea initiated by his last move and played 22.g4! he would have possessedall the trumps for a raging attack on my King. } 22... Nc5 { Now it is a questionof time. The arrival of a Knight on e4 will spell an end to any Advantagefor White in the Classical French. } 23. Bd3 Ne4 { There it is... } 24. Bxe4 { The threat of 24...Nc3 helped this exchange bringing one passed pawnin the center. } 24... fxe4 25. g4 Rxf4 26. Qe3 Rff8 27. Qg5 { White was in a difficultsituation, with a pawn less and no more concrete threats on my King. Buthere the Queen is going to far... } 27... Rxc2 { I just saw that my Queen willtake on a2, and then my Rook will check the King on c8 and that the WhiteKing will have to defend against a Queen, a Rook, a Bishop and 2 passedpawns. Also the Rooks are laying not protected on the back of White's camp. } 28. Kxc2 Qxa2 29. Qd2 { Perhaps not the best move but the position was notdefensible. } 29... Rc8+ { Threatening mate on the first rank, so the returningof the material invested is forced. } 30. Rc3 bxc3 { Loses at least one morepiece, so White resigned. I was quite lucky to win this. Has my opponentfollowed up 21.Rg1! with 22.g4, I will have had all the trouble in thisgame. As the Sicilian, the French is a strategical and sexy defence whereone misstep can spell quickly the end for one of both sides. } 0-1

[Event "Pushing to the end of life."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.11.01"] [Round "-"] [White "q198895"] [Black "chicoboy"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1237"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1279"] { Hi, all. This was a nice game--to a certain point! bwaa, chicoboy, andme, played against q198895 at the same time! } 1. f4 { The Birds. } 1... d5 { Standardresponse. } 2. d4 { Not to bad. I'd say Nf3 to get piece's out. } 2... Nc6 { Blocksthe c-pawn. Maybe Nf6 via g6 and castle quickly. } 3. e3 Nf6 { Developing. } 4. c3 { The 'Stonewall' } 4... Bg4 { Developing. Maybe not best. Maybe Bf5? } 5. Be2 { ? Bad move! If black takes, then white would have one Bishop. Andthat would be a BAD BISHOP. (The one on c1) The e2-Bishop is whites best. } 5... h5 { ? Why open up the side unless needed? } 6. h3 { ? Best was to game Nf3and save the LSB. } 6... Bxe2 { ! Great! } 7. Nxe2 e6 8. a4 { ? What? } 8... Ne4 9. h4 { ? Opening up squares for black to take advantage of. } 9... Bd6 10. Nd2 Nxd2 { ?! I don't really think that the exchange was needed. } 11. Qxd2 Qe7 12. Qc2 O-O-O { An okay move. } 13. b4 { Attacking on the queenside. Expected. } 13... a5 { ? Why open up your king? } 14. b5 Nb8 15. g3 { Why is white still pushingjust pawns? } 15... Rdg8 { I guess planning for f6; g5? } 16. Rf1 f5 { ?! Well, Ithought wrong! } 17. Rb1 { Planning b6, maybe? } 17... g5 { ? This just losses apawn! That's why f6 THEN this was better! } 18. fxg5 Bxg3+ { ?? What??? Blackjust lost a bishop for what? A pawn?? } 19. Nxg3 Rf8 20. c4 Qd6 21. Rf3 Nd7 { All I can say is: Black's in trouble! } 22. Ra1 c5 23. Ba3 b6 24. Rd1 f4 { Attacking. } 25. Nf1 fxe3 26. Rxf8+ Rxf8 27. Bb2 { Now white's not attacking.He should attack. Not do nothing as it looks like he's going to do. } 27... Rf2 28. Nxe3 { ?! Do you think that that was necessary? } 28... Rxc2 29. Nxc2 { Okay.Black's not in to bad of shape--now. } 29... Qg3+ 30. Kd2 dxc4 31. Re1 { I thinkblack should win this now, don't you? } 31... Qf2+ 32. Re2 Qf4+ 33. Kd1 Nf8 { ?!Hmmm... Why this? Why not Qxh4 or cxd4? } 34. Re5 Qg4+ 35. Kd2 Qf4+ 36. Kd1 { What? A draw? } 36... Kd7 37. dxc5 Qf3+ 38. Kc1 bxc5 { Hmm, c3 looks good,don't you think? } 39. Re3 Qh1+ 40. Re1 Qxh4 { Yum yum! } 41. Rd1+ Kc7 42. Be5+ Kc8 43. Rg1 Ng6 { ! Good! The knight is always the best piece to putinfront of a pawn! } 44. Bf6 Qf4+ 45. Kb1 Qf2 46. Re1 Kb7 { ? This just losta pawn! Best, if you wanted the king to move, Kd7. } 47. Rxe6 Qf5 48. Re2 Qd3 { I believe that black needs to push his h-pawn. } 49. Re3 Qd1+ 50. Kb2 h4 { Great! } 51. Be7 Qd4+ { ?? Whoops! That had to hurt! } 52. Nxd4 { I don'tthink I need to annotate the rest? } 52... cxd4 53. Re4 h3 54. Bd6 d3 55. Rxc4 d2 56. Rd4 { A very nice game, until the end. If black kept his cool, hemight have won! Please comment and rate it on the star system. Thanks! } 1-0

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.02.28"] [Round "-"] [White "locathah"] [Black "marcosnatal"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2069"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "2027"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 { OK eventhought I am not an expert with thisopening system I have a the ability to find similiarities with other systemsor a practical appilication of postional appreciation! With this systemwhite threatens to 'bulid' a board pawn center, this is the good... buton the 'dark side' c3 take best square for the Nb1! } 3... d5 { This is a good'reaction' to whites 'threat'... black begins a quick counter in centerand begins to challenge whites control over the white squares in the center. } 4. Qa4 { The alternative was 4. Bb5 but I mention this only in passing.The center theme of this struggle will be who can control the light squares!Whi exte is ahead a pawn but blacks compensation will be found in the elermentof TIME... or more players off the b ench and into the game! } 4... Bd7 5. exd5 Nd4 6. Qd1 Nxf3+ 7. Qxf3 Bd6 { Alternatives where 7. ...f5 or Nf6 again'fighting for control of the white squares. } 8. Bc4 Qf6 9. Qxf6 { This Ibelieve is contrary to the nature or favor of the stuggle I checked thisout with a computer evaluation and It gave me comformation of what I believedto be true, Qe2 or Qe3 was better or 'consistent with the plan'. Especiallysense it is important for white to keep pieces that will fight for controlof the light squares. } 9... Nxf6 10. d3 b5 11. Bb3 a5 12. c4 { This was an criticaldecision... from a practical stand point white must find a way to maintainsomething, ...eithier material and or postional compensation and oftenthese decisions are based on style or ones apperication of the nuncanesof this situation! Here I would chose to play a4 and if bxa4 Ba2, maintainingthe interigty of the white pawn postion! I see where the struggle betweenstrategy & tactics might be going so I choose to move the game into a perticluardirection! } 12... a4 13. Bc2 Bf5 { I will repeat my earlier comment, black isahead in TIME and with his three on one fastbreak he is 'pressing' whitesposition to the maximum! Notice the combination of a positional theme blendingin with tactical role play. } 14. Nc3 bxc4 15. Bxa4+ Rxa4 { This is a excellentideal, black is awhere of the relative value of the material but in thestroggle or posittion or the initative material is only a means to an end,the work ethic of the pieces is often more important than the point count,notice how effectively black removes whites only white squared protector...remember knights attack squares & bishops control color! } 16. Nxa4 cxd3 17. Nc3 Kd7 18. Bg5 Ne4 19. Bd2 Rb8 20. b3 Nxc3 21. Bxc3 e4 22. h3 f6 23. g4 Bg6 24. h4 Bf7 25. g5 Rg8 26. Rg1 f5 27. a4 g6 { Looking at this positionI understand whites decision but I believe that 'trading off' the d5 pawnand keeping the b pawn would maintain the strenght of whites pawn positionand offer better chances to continue the fight! The strenght of blacksposition is the 'actvitity of his pieces combined with the mobility ofhis pawns in the center'! } 28. a5 Bxd5 29. b4 Rb8 30. a6 { Rb1 would protectwhites valuable b pawn and threaten to advance the a pawn as well and afterBc4 the struggle would continue. } 30... Bxb4 31. Bxb4 Rxb4 32. Kd2 Rb2+ 33. Ke3 Re2+ 34. Kd4 Kd6 35. Rgc1 Rxf2 36. a7 Ba8 37. Ra6+ Kd7 38. h5 d2 39. Rd1 f4 40. hxg6 hxg6 41. Rxg6 e3 42. Kc5 Bf3 43. Rg8 Ke7 44. Rg7+ Ke6 45. Rg8 Kf7 46. Rd8 Ke7 47. Rd3 Rg2 48. Kc4 e2 0-1

[Event "Challenge from tylermarket"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.04.10"] [Round "-"] [White "gaustin1994"] [Black "tylermarket"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1200"] [TimeControl "14 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1322"] { This is one of the famous 'fools mates'. They are rare to come by, butthey are fun to pull off. I'll show you how to trick your opponent. } 1. e4 { My first move will be the standard king's pawn opening, a favoritefor most intermediate chess players. } 1... e5 { The opponent defends the centerby copying my move, so far this seems like a normal chess game. } 2. Nf3 { I now attack his pawn with my knight, of course we're going to expectour oponent to defend it. } 2... d6 { which he does, with his pawn, so far sogood. } 3. Nc3 { I now move up my other knight, to protect my pawn but toalso add to my evil plan. } 3... b6 { The opponent moves the b7 pawn, probablyfor some bishop attacks. } 4. Bc4 { I move my bishop to c4, everything isin place now, let's see how my opponent reacts. } 4... Bg4 { Exactly how I planned. In his mind he made a good move because if I try to attack the bishopI'll mess up my castling side, or I could end up having a double pawn. } 5. Nxe5 { I make the 'wrong move' and give up my queen, hoping that he takesher. } 5... Bxd1 { He did, like expected, and now I move in for the kill, it'smate in 2. } 6. Bxf7+ { check, the king cannot attack the bishop becauseit is guarded by the knight. } 6... Ke7 { the king moves to the only space available. } 7. Nd5# { checkmate, the king is trapped. This is the famous queen sacrifice/foolsmate. } 1-0

[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Eoin"] [Black "hselikin"] [Result "0-1"] { This game was one of my first long play games and i was sure i was goingto lose this. Here's what happened. } 1. c4 { I'm playing black here andthis opening for my opponent made me unsure about his ability. } 1... e5 { Carriedout my usual opening } 2. g3 { I expect him to take out his bishop next. } 2... Bc5 3. Bg2 { I was right. } 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 { Still battling out for the centerhere. } 4... c6 { I don't usually use this but i wanted to see how it worked out. } 5. d3 d5 { What will he do now... } 6. Nf3 { Not sure about that move forhim here. } 6... d4 { Hehehe i'm attacking his knight. } 7. Ne4 { predictable. } 7... Nxe4 8. dxe4 Bd6 { Bringing bishop back to defend pawn. Not probably thebest move but i'm not great at chess. } 9. O-O Be6 { attacking pawn obviously. } 10. b3 { thought so } 10... Nd7 { stopping his chances later on with c5 } 11. Re1 { think its obvious what he's trying to do but i waste a move to make sure. } 11... a6 12. e3 { pretty obvious. } 12... c5 13. Bb2 Bg4 14. Bc3 { trying to get me totake it so he can take bishop on d6 } 14... Qf6 { stopped that } 15. Bb2 { opponentnot sure what to do } 15... O-O 16. a3 b5 17. a4 bxc4 18. bxc4 { getting borednow but at least i'm not losing yet. } 18... Nb6 19. Qb3 { releasing the pin onthe knight whilst attacking my knight. } 19... Rab8 20. Nd2 { saving his knight. } 20... Nxc4 { at this point i'm feeling pretty good. Expecting to be a pawn aheadhere. } 21. Qc2 { WHAT!!!!!!!!!! what is white thinking of here. Probablythinking about the chips he was eating. nom nom nom. } 21... Rxb2 { haha } 22. Qxc4 { why didn't he do this earlier?? } 22... Rxd2 { yay } 23. Ra2 { trying to get myrook out } 23... Qxf2+ { hahaha weren't expecting that were you? } 24. Kh1 { Whitesonly move } 24... Qxg2# { my first long play win against an opponent who i don'tthink was on form. oh well i still won } 0-1

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.07.18"] [Round "-"] [White "devonmichael"] [Black "warp_speed"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1781"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1697"] 1. e4 e6 { I always thought white had the advantage at this opening becausemy c8 bishop is blocked by e6 pawn. } 2. d4 { AND white has control of thecenter. } 2... d5 { guess I have to take my own share of it (center) } 3. Nc3 Bb4 { In case of exd5, my pawn would be alone with no pawn protecting it=> weakposition } 4. Bd2 dxe4 { prevents previous position uncovers queen to attackd4 pawn } 5. Qg4 { forks g7 and e4 pawn } 5... Nf6 { protects e4 pawn } 6. Qxg7 Rg8 { unpleasant position for black's queen takes control of semi-open file } 7. Qh6 Nc6 8. O-O-O Rg6 9. Qh4 Rg4 10. Qh6 Bf8 { move the queen around evenif bishop loses any activity in the center } 11. Qh3 Nxd4 { natural takepawn and move knight to a dangerous position because of its extensive graspon its surroundings } 12. Nb5 { seems wrong, Be3 is better, I think (pinsknight to queen with rook) } 12... e5 13. Qc3 c6 14. h3 { simply delays the inevitable:great gain of tempo. } 14... Rg6 15. Na3 Nd5 { another pawn in the center andI get a 'free' move } 16. Qa5 b6 { forced } 17. Qa4 Bd7 { threatens c5 } 18. c4 { BLUNDER } 18... c5 { queen can't run to c4 anymore because of pawn } 19. Nb5 { forced } 19... a6 { Anything black does will end up with a lost queen. 0-1 thisopening does have its advantages } 0-1

[Event "82nd GK tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.07.27"] [Round "-"] [White "richard1234567"] [Black "quazi86"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1261"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1414"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 { I don't really see the brillianceof the Phillidors defense. I will gain a pawn at least } 4... Be6 5. Bxe6 fxe6 6. Nxe6 Qe7 7. Nxf8 Rxf8 8. d3 h6 9. h3 Nc6 10. Nc3 O-O-O { Castling shortwould be nasty here. } 11. Be3 b6 12. a3 d5 13. exd5 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Rxd5 15. Qe2 Rb5 16. O-O-O Re8 17. Rhe1 Qf6 18. d4 Rd5 19. dxe5 Rxd1+ 20. Qxd1 Rxe5 21. c3 Qf7 22. Qf3 Qxf3 23. gxf3 Rf5 24. f4 Ne7 25. Rg1 Nd5 26. Rg4 Nxe3 27. fxe3 Rf7 28. e4 Kd7 29. Kd2 h5 30. Rg3 Rxf4 31. Rxg7+ Kc6 32. Ke3 Rh4 33. Rg3 Kd6 34. b4 Ke5 35. Rg5+ Kf6 36. Rf5+ Ke6 37. Rf3 Ke5 38. Rf5+ Ke6 { A cycle of a few moves. Neither side wanting to give a pawn } 39. Kd4 { I have to break it. I don't want a draw. } 39... Rxh3 40. Re5+ Kd6 41. Rg5 h4 42. Rg6+ Ke7 43. e5 Rg3 44. Rh6 h3 45. e6 Rg4+ 46. Ke5 Rg3 47. Rh7+ Ke8 48. Kf6 Rf3+ 49. Ke5 Rxc3 { 49. Rxc3????????? <----- It deserves morequestion marks than that. This was being too greedy. } 50. Kf6 Rxa3 { 50.Rxa3?????????????????????<------- Probably worse than move 49. He was being too greedy here anddidn't see my mate. } 51. Rh8# { The price or greedy } 1-0

[Event "ICC 30 0, Internet Chess Club"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2018.08.14"] [Round "-"] [White "john2001plus"] [Black "fiddler"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1761"] [WhiteElo "1853"] 1. d4 Nf6 { White to play. } 2. c4 { I analyzed this game with Stockfish 9at a 29 ply search depth, and it often prefers different opening movesthan the ones played in the game. For example, here it prefers 2. Nf3. } 2... g6 3. Nc3 { Stockfish: 3. f3. } 3... d5 4. cxd5 { Stockfish: 4. Bg5. } 4... Nxd5 5. e4 { Stockfish: 5. Bd2. } 5... Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 { Stockfish: 7. Nf3 c58. Rb1 O-O 9. Be2 Nc6 10. d5 Bxc3+ 11. Bd2 Bxd2+ 12. Qxd2 Na5 13. h4 or13. Rc1 with just a tiny advantage for White. } 7... c5 8. Ne2 { This is a lineI like because it avoids any complications after 8. Nf3 O-O followed byBg4. } 8... Nc6 9. Be3 { For the next six moves, Stockfish thinks that Black'sbest option is to castle. } 9... cxd4 10. cxd4 Qa5+ 11. Qd2 { We recentlylooked at this same opening sequence in a Magnus Carlsen bullet game. Stockfish: 11. Bd2 Qh5 12. O-O O-O 13. Bc3. } 11... e6 12. Qxa5 Nxa5 13. Bd3 b6 14. O-O Bb7 15. Rfc1 { Now 15... O-O 16. Rc7 Rfc8 17. Rac1 Rxc7 18. Rxc7 Rc8 19. Rd7 Kf8 equal. } 15... Kd7 { Leaves his king vulnerable. } 16. Bd2 { Better is 16. Bb5+ Kd8 17. Bg5+ f6 18. Bf4 Rc8 19. Rxc8+ Bxc8 20. Rc1with a really strong advantage. Now Stockfish gives 16... Rhc8 17. Bb5+Bc6 18. Ba6 Bb7 19. Bb5+ Ke7 equal. } 16... Nc6 { White should play 17. e5 Rhc818. a4 f6 19. f4. } 17. d5 Nd4 18. Nxd4 { Miniscule better is 18. Rab1exd5 19. Nxd4 Bxd4 20. Bb5+ Kd6 21. Bf4+ Be5 22. Bxe5+ Kxe5 23. Rc7 Rab824. Rxf7. } 18... Bxd4 19. Bb5+ Kd6 20. Bb4+ { After 20... Ke5 21. Rab1 Rac8 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23. d6 Rd8 24. d7 Bc5 25. Bc3+ Bd4 26. Bb4 Bc5 is equal. } 20... Bc5 21. Bxc5+ bxc5 22. dxe6 fxe6 { Now 23. f3 Rab8 24. Bf1 Rhc8 25. Rc3Rc7 26. Rd1+ Ke5 27. Rdc1 Rbc8 28. Ra3 a6 29. Kf2 with a strong advantage. } 23. Rd1+ Ke5 { White has a slight advantage after 24. Rac1 Kxe4 25.Rxc5 Bd5 26. Bc6. } 24. f3 { At the time my thinking was that I had the betterpawn structure so I should prepare for the ending, which I thought wouldfavor me. } 24... Rhd8 25. Kf2 Rd4 { This is surprisingly good. } 26. Ke3 g5 { 27.h4 Rb8 28. Bd3 gxh4 29. Rac1 Kd6 30. Rh1 Ra4 31. Bc4 Ba6 32. Bb3 and Whiteis miniscule better. } 27. g3 { Now Black is close to equal after 27...Rb8 28. Bd3 Rbd8 29. Rac1 Kd6 30. Rh1. } 27... Rad8 { 28. Rd3 and White is a tinybit better. } 28. f4+ { Too ambitious. Weakens the center. } 28... gxf4+ 29. gxf4+ Kf6 { White equalizes after 30. Rxd4 Rxd4 (30... cxd4+ 31. Kd3 equal.)31. e5+ Kf5 32. Bd3+ Be4 33. Bf1 (33. Bb5 equal.) 33... Bd5 34. Bd3+ Be4. } 30. e5+ { Doesn't help his problem on e4. } 30... Kf5 31. Bd3+ { Now not 31...Kg4 32. Rac1 with a slight advantage for White. } 31... Be4 { Compared to thevariation after 30. Rxd4, this is stronger because of the pin. } 32. Be2 { After 32... Bc2 33. Rxd4 cxd4+ 34. Kd2 (Much worse is 34. Kf3 Be4+35. Kg3 (35. Kf2 Kxf4) 35... Rg8+) 34... d3 35. Bf1 Kxf4 36. Bh3 Kxe5 (36...Re8 37. Re1) 37. Re1+ Kd4 38. Rxe6 Rf8 Black still has a strong advantage } 32... Rxd1 { I was unsure how this would turn out, but it favors White. } 33. Rxd1 Rxd1 34. Bxd1 { If 34... Bd5 35. Bc2+ (35. h3 Kg6 36. Bc2+ Kg7 equal.)35... Kg4 36. Bxh7 and now 36... Bxa2 runs into problems after 37. Bg8Kf5 38. Bf7 a5 39. h4. } 34... a5 { This is a fatal mistake. } 35. h3 { The keymove. If 35... h5 36. Bxh5. } 35... Bb1 36. Bg4+ Kg6 37. Bxe6 h6 38. Bc4 { Hoping for 38. Bd3+ forcing a trade of bishops. If 38... Kg7 39. a3 Kf840. Bd3 Ba2 41. f5 with a winning advantage. } 38... Kh5 { Loses more quickly. How should White proceed? } 39. e6 { If 39... Kg6?? 40. e7. } 39... Kh4 40. e7 Bg6 41. f5 Be8 42. f6 { Black Resigns. } 1-0

[Event "OTB training game (final)..."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "26-may-2017"] [Round "-"] [White "fiercequeen"] [Black "E. Wijnands"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "UR"] [TimeControl "no time limit"] [WhiteElo "2059"] { this opponent wanted one last shot: so for something different... } 1. d4 { I usually swear by e4, but every once in a while you need to try somethingout of the ordinary... } 1... d5 { I recommended this: variations with Nf6, g6,Bg7, 0-0, are way too complicated for this apprentice... } 2. c4 { Queens'Pawn Gambit: the only feasable way after this... } 2... e6 { a sound move: Whitehas to reckon with Bb4... } 3. Nf3 { this move serves multiple purposes:the most important being Bg5... } 3... Nf6 { so this move makes sense... } 4. Bf4 { after Bg5, Be7, there is nothing: so White just prepares e3, releasingBf1... } 4... Nc6 5. a3 { prophylactic: we do not need interference on b4... } 5... Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Bd3 dxc4 { costing White an extra tempo, in developingthe LSB... } 8. Bxc4 b6 9. b4 Bb7 10. Nc3 a6 { against Nb5... } 11. O-O Na7 { releasing pawn c7, while making Bb7 active: not bad at all... } 12. Re1 { supporting an upcoming e4... } 12... b5 { trying to throw White out of balance:but this might backfire... } 13. Bd3 Bd5 { maybe asking too much... } 14. e4 Bc4 15. Bxc4 bxc4 16. h3 Nh5 17. Be3 { a mutual change of scenery... } 17... c6 { preparing Qc7... } 18. Qc2 Qc7 { both players have completed development:as usual, White is one tempo ahead... } 19. e5 { again, prophylactic: Whiteneeds to ponder over security for the King, before going to battle... } 19... Nb5 { looking for play: after Nxb5, cxb5, Blacks' position is in order... } 20. Rec1 { which is exactly, why White does not comply: now, after Nxc3,Qxc3, White gets out better... } 20... Rac8 { this makes sense: copying the batteryof Queen and rook... } 21. a4 { but here might be a problem: the Knight canno longer cover for the Queen, if or when things get rough... } 21... Na7 { Nxc3,Qxc3, gives little hope for the future... } 22. g4 { time to give the forgottenKnight on the rim some attention... } 22... f6 { I have to admit: this is a verystrong reply, given the circumstances; after just gxh5, fxe5, we reacha totally different ball park: without coverage for Nf3, White might losevaluable tempo; and exf6, Nxf6 solves all problems for Black... } 23. Qe2 { I seriously looked at gxh5, fxe5, Nxe5, but after Bh4, I encountered toomany problems: White has to reckon with g5! also; so covering for Nf3 seemedvery wise: Nh5 is still very much outplayed... } 23... Ng3 24. fxg3 fxe5 25. Nxe5 { probably the best way for Black, to lose this piece... } 25... Bxb4 26. Qxc4 Qd6 { forced: Black has to cover Bb4 as well as d6... } 27. Qxa6 { only tolose a pawn, in the process... } 27... Ra8 { the only way, to cover for Na7... } 28. Ne4 { blowing up, Blacks' position... } 28... Qd5 { again, Black produces avery creative solution: now, White has no time to take on c6; first Ne4needs attention: also Na7 is a very dangerous piece, when it decides somethinglike Nb5 followed by Nxd4... } 29. Nc5 { practically forced: luckily, Qf3is prohibited by Ne5... } 29... Bxc5 { here, Nb5 is no longer an option: Qxc6 solvesall; so Black decides to try and break up the center... } 30. Rxc5 { againforced... } 30... Qe4 { again a very smart move indeed: White has to react, andpostpone any attacking plans... } 31. Qd3 { time to put this pesky Queento rest... } 31... Qxd3 { only move... } 32. Nxd3 Rac8 { something needs to be doneabout c6: this is a logical move... } 33. Ne5 Rc7 { avoiding Nd7... } 34. Rb1 { taking Nb5 out of the equation... } 34... Rfc8 { Black has secured all, soit seems... } 35. Rb6 { but there are no moves left... } 35... h6 { it is hard tofind moves for Black: since Ng6 is no real threat, this is probably best... } 36. Nc4 { but White has different plans... } 36... Rd7 { the right rook: after Rcd8,Bf4 might lead to trouble... } 37. Bf4 { Nonetheless, } 37... Rxd4 { after somethinglike Nd6 or Bd6, Blacks position is locked up forever: so he needs to react... } 38. Rb7 { but White is preparing a mate attack on pawn f7... } 38... Ra8 { pawnc6 is no longer an issue, and Nb5 is no longer an option: so this is theonly one... } 39. Be5 { time to work on mating... } 39... Rd1+ { the only way out... } 40. Kf2 Nc8 { finally releasing the Knight, with an attack on a4... } 41. Rxg7+ { but White is first... } 41... Kf8 { the only one: after Kh8, just Rd7+ orRa7+, losing a rook... } 42. a5 { no worries yet: White has time on her side... } 42... Ne7 { again, c6 needs to be covered: but this will backfire... } 43. Rh7 { Bf6 (Bd6 will lose Rg7) fails on Ra7: but this threatens Rh8+ and lossof Ra8... } 43... Ra7 { only this will help, also aiding in covering Ne7... } 44. Bd6 { time to pick up the pieces... } 44... Rd7 { considering the circumstances,a decent move... } 45. Bxe7+ { White has no tricks left, so we wrap thisup... } 45... Rxe7 { no point in avoiding this... } 46. Rxe7 Kxe7 47. Rxc6 { andfinally, c6 has fallen: time for Black to resign, which he luckily did... } 1-0

[Event "Team match Chess Opening: B40 Sicilian Defense"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.01.14"] [Round "-"] [White "jerry"] [Black "dungeonking"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1547"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1244"] 1. e4 { This game was a battle. I had to use all of my chess knowledgeto beat this fine opponent. It was also a team match and I played strongerto not let my team down. I opened with the Sicilian which is my favoriteopening for black. } 1... c5 2. Nf3 e6 { I wanted to open with the familiar d6but I wanted to throw my opponent off just a bit. } 3. Bc4 { My opponentsurprised me as I was expecting the typical 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 } 3... Nc6 { In theSicilian it is typical to bring the c-knight out first to control d4 } 4. Nc3 { He foregoes castling to develop his c-knight. } 4... Nf6 { I develop a secondknight and am not worried about 5. e5 because Ng4 wins the pawn. } 5. d4 { White is attempting to control d5 so I counter with cxd4 } 5... cxd4 6. Nxd4 d6 { It took me a long time to understand why the small center is importantin the Sicilian. 6..d6 prevents 7.Bf4 allowing me to keep control of e5 } 7. Nxc6 { White takes my knight moving it twice before castling. I stillhave good pawn structure when I take back even though the c6 pawn is undefended. } 7... bxc6 8. Bg5 Be7 { unpinning the knight and preparing for kingside castling } 9. f4 { notice that white compromises his kingside pawn structure for afruitless attack. He wants 10. e5 dxe5 11.Qxd8+ Kxd8 so I cant castle. I ignore his subtle threat and castle } 9... O-O 10. Qf3 { Whites plan is tocastle queenside and pawn storm my castled position. He is also indirectlyattacking my undefended c6 pawn on the next move. } 10... Bb7 { I now protect thec6 pawn with my bishop and I dont have to worry about 11.e5 } 11. O-O-O { As expected white castles queenside } 11... Ne8 { 11..Ne8? A risky move on mypart but the plan was to keep d6 defended and force an exchange of darksquared bishops. } 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Qh3 { White immediately goes to attackingmy castled position. Notice my knight is not on its ideal square of f6 } 13... h6 { H6 was probably a mistake. Better was a5 attacking his castled position. Now white is going to shred my kingside position with g4! } 14. g4 Kh8 { 14..Kh8? 15. g4! Kh7 but this did not happen as white goes in for thekill with Bd3! } 15. Bd3 e5 { Im fighting for my life here as I try to blockthe d3- h7 diagonal. } 16. g5 { 16. g5! Now I have to place my king on theaforementioned diagonal because 17.gxh6 gxh6 18. Qxh6+ Kg8 } 16... Kh7 { Now whitehas the ability to place a rook on the half open g file, I should havelost this game handily to a stronger player. } 17. f5 { White is increasingthe pressure } 17... f6 { f6 was a mistake because of g6+! } 18. gxf6 { gxf6? Mydefensive position has improved a little. } 18... Rxf6 { I took with my rook insteadof my queen because I wanted to get my queen on his kingside. } 19. Qg4 { My pawn is defended twice from the queen and the knight and his bishopis blocked at d3 } 19... a5 { This was a little late as I mentioned earlier. } 20. Qg2 { I dont know why he moved his queen here. It seemed like a good square,that is g4 } 20... Qf7 { Im not sure what I accomplished with this move. } 21. b3 { Well I know i put my Queen under attack so I try to exchange Queens onthe next couple of moves to take away some of the heat on my kingside. } 21... Qh5 22. Be2 { White is aimlessly attacking the lady } 22... Qg5+ { Forcing the exchangeof Queens which was part of my plan. } 23. Qxg5 hxg5 24. h4 { 24. h4! theattack is still on. I decide to rid myself of the pawn and find a safeplace for my king after the check } 24... gxh4 25. Rxh4+ Kg8 { The only place formy king } 26. Rdh1 { 26. Rdh1 Kf7 27. Bh5+ Ke7 and white is better but insteadhe chose 27. Bc4+ Ke7 } 26... Kf7 27. Bc4+ Ke7 28. Na4 { Right now im not worriedabout the threat 29. Nb6 as I try to win the pawn on f5. Notice the factthat my g7 pawn is only defended once. } 28... d5 29. exd5 cxd5 30. Bb5 Rxf5 { Iaccomplished my objective but the defender which is my knight is defendingg7. White will want to take my knight and attack my g7 pawn with one ofhis rooks. } 31. Rh7 { Precisely as I predicted. } 31... Rf7 32. Rg1 { 32. Rg1! But I can defend that pawn again with 32..Kf6!! } 32... Kf6 33. Be2 Nd6 34. Nc5 { If 35. Rf1 Nf5 36. Bg4 Bc8 My bishop on b7 is defended twice } 34... e4 { Thismove served the dual purpose of advancing my pawn and to block Bd3 } 35. Bh5 Re7 { Getting my rook behind the advancing pawn The computer will notlet me annotate further for some reason. } 0-1

[Event "No queens or knights... how will you do? II"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.02.27"] [Round "-"] [White "aspiemikey"] [Black "andyno1"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1292"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1351"] 1. Nc3 Nc6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Ne5 Ne4 4. Nxc6 Nxc3 5. Nxd8 Nxd1 6. Kxd1 Kxd8 7. e4 e5 8. Bc4 Bc5 9. Bxf7 { This was to put my bishop on the attack... } 9... Bxf2 { ...this was to restore parity... } 10. Rf1 { ...and this was to repelthe bishop. } 10... Bb6 11. d3 d6 12. Bg5+ { Double trouble! } 12... Kd7 13. Bd5 Ke8 14. Rf7 { Caging the king } 14... Rf8 { This move only allows the king to move betweend8 (on the bishop's attack line) and e8. } 15. Re7+ Kd8 16. Rxg7+ { Thisallows me to remove a pawn } 16... Ke8 17. Re7+ Kd8 18. Rxh7+ { And again } 18... Ke8 19. Re7+ Kd8 20. Rxe5+ { And again } 20... Kd7 21. Re7+ Kd8 22. Rf7+ Ke8 23. Rxf8+ { I decide to retire my rook, having obliterated my opponent's left-handpawns. My right-hand side is now wide open. } 23... Kxf8 24. Bh6+ Ke7 25. Bg5+ Kd7 26. Kd2 c6 27. Bc4 Kc7 28. Rf1 Bd7 29. Rf7 { This was to pin the bishopdown } 29... Re8 30. Re7 Rf8 31. Be6 Rf2+ { A possible counter-attack? } 32. Ke1 Rxg2 33. Rxd7+ { Why did my opponent resign after this? } 1-0

[Event "Casual Larsen's Opening"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.01.21"] [Round "-"] [White "bwaa"] [Black "odisant"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1248"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1748"] { I have the white pieces in this game, just a casual battle from a coupledays ago. It features Larsen's Opening, lots of tactical play, and no smallnumber of inaccuracies. Hopefully it's worth at least a glance! } 1. b3 { Larsen's Opening! White seeks to fianchetto his QB and use it to pressureBlack's center and Kingside. } 1... e5 { Black occupies the center immediately. } 2. Bb2 d6 { White attacks the pawn; Black defends it. Somewhat more commonis 2...Nc6. } 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Nc6 { White fianchettoes his *other* Bishop,while Black develops both Knights. This is a typical hypermodern setup,with Black occupying the center directly and White attacking it from thewings. } 5. c4 { Giving more power to the Bg2, by controlling d5 and givingspace for a White Knight on c3. } 5... g6 6. e3 { Black prepares to fianchettohis own KB. White, meanwhile, intends to play Ne2 and d2-d4, but he mustbe careful: his pawn moves have left many potential weaknesses. } 6... Bh6 { Thisawkward-looking move actually puts pressure on e3 and makes d2-d4 moredangerous for White, as the e3 pawn may become quite vulnerable and Blackmay even look for a sacrifice there. } 7. Ne2 O-O 8. Qc2 { ? White wouldhave been better off castling immediately. At the time, I wanted to preventan e5-e4 intrusion, but the WQ will prove too easily harassed on c2. } 8... Nb4 { 8...Bf5 works as well. } 9. Qc3 { Threatening the Knight and optimisticallylining up with the Bishop against the Black kingside. } 9... a5 { Black defendshis Knight rather than retreat it--looking for possibilities on c2 or d3,no doubt. } 10. d4 { ? Once again, White should have simply castled. Thismove further weakens e4. } 10... Bf5 { Threatening ...Nc2+, of course. There wasactually a subtler, nastier move here: 10...Bh3! This effectively tradesoff White's Bishop after 11.O-O Bxg2 12.Kxg2, leaving the light squaresaround the White King dangerously weak. The point is that White must nottake: 11.Bxh3?? Ne4! and the White Queen is a goner (e.g. 12.Qc1 Nd3+). } 11. Na3 { ? White defends c2 but overlooks d3, and must pay the price.Yet again, the correct choice was 11.O-O. Castle early; castle often! } 11... Nd3+ 12. Kd2 { ?? Too overly aggressive, this move allows 12...Nxf2 andthe threat of 13...Ne4+. The result is a horrid incursion into the Whiteposition and an absolutely lost game after 12...Nxf2 13.Ke1 (avoiding thefork) Nd3+ 14.Kf1 Ne4! Best was 12.Kf1. } 12... Ne4+ { ? Too early; 12...Nxf2was called for instead. Black is still better, but now White can diffusethe attack somewhat. } 13. Bxe4 Bxe4 14. Rhf1 { White gets his Rook outof danger, defends f2, and prepares f2-f3. All the while, the weak e3 pawnis pinned to the White King, and White's only threat--the idea of a strikedown the a1-h8 diagonal--can be put to the sword any time Black sees fit,as the White Bishop cannot escape from the Nd3. } 14... c5 { Here I probably wouldhave played 14...Nxb2, but the text is actually reasonably strong, althoughit gives Black weaknesses at b5 and b6. The point is that since the pawnon e3 is pinned, Black can force his way through on d4. If White takeson e5 or c5, the d-file opens up, with the Black Queen glaring down atthe helpless White King. } 15. d5 { Every line I saw seemed to end up withmy two Knights against Black's two Bishops, so this move seemed natural.Knights are stronger than Bishops in closed positions, and besides, therewas no way I was going to let Black open the d-file against my King. Thismove also establishes strongpoints on c6 and e6, and blockades the Blackd-pawn: my Knights should have a field day. } 15... Rb8 { ? This is not a tacticalmisstep, but rather a problem of timing: this move doesn't present anythreats or eliminate any of White's options, so White has enough tempoto finally kick his counterplay into gear. } 16. f3 { Further weakeninge3, but kicking back the pesky Bishop and ensuring that Black will haveto give up *some* part of his attack. } 16... f5 { ?! This sacrifice is overly-aggressive,and not altogether sound, but the resulting position is very fun. The ideais to provide constant defense for the Nd3, which is a huge thorn in White'sside, while potentially opening lines for the heavy Black pieces. The downsideis that it badly weakens e6 and f6. } 17. Nf4 { ?! After the fact, I think17.fxe4 was probably stronger, but this line is much more exciting. Nomatter what Black chooses, it seems to me that White comes out at leasta pawn or two stronger. This is basically due to the fact that Black hastwo pieces trapped--his LSB and Knight. They will certainly be clearedoff soon enough, whereas White will only lose his Knight and a pawn ortwo. Black obviously has many options here, but I think the most promisingare 17...Nxf4 18.exf4 Bxf3, where the Bishop can get back to defend g7.It seems Black *must* take the Knight, since it's threatening to leap toe6. Taking with the e-pawn is tempting, but it opens up the long diagonal... } 17... exf4 { ? Black accepts the 'sacrifice', but at the price of opening hiskingdom to the invading armies. His LSB is still hanging as well, of course.This is the trap I was hoping for when I played move 17: I hadn't lookedvery far down all the lines, but it seems very promising for White (infact, I believe it's just winning outright). } 18. Qh8+ { The White Queenand Bishop battery, sitting patiently in the corner since move nine, finallygets a chance to shine, and they will not disappoint! } 18... Kf7 19. Qxh7+ { Onepawn down, and the Bishop is White's for the taking. Of course, now Whitehas a hanging Bishop as well. } 19... Ke8 { Forced. } 20. Qxg6+ { This seems natural.White clears some timber while trying to get everything organized for thisimpromptu assault. I felt if I could chase the BK towards the queenside,perhaps I could get some use out of my misplaced Knight. The WQ is alsostill indirectly guarding b2: after Qxh6 Nxb2, White has enough checkingoptions to eventually place a check on f6, g7, or h8, allowing her to swoopback and gobble up that Knight, and then eventually that Be4. } 20... Ke7 { ??Tragically, we never get to see how this one would have played out; Blackblunders into a mate instead. 20...Kd7 was necessary. } 21. Qe6# { That'sall there is! Obviously the competitors here were mis-matched, but Blackplayed very well and I thought there was enough material to make for someinteresting study. Thanks for reading! } 1-0

[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Fort"] [Black "Campbell"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Kf2 Qh4+ { The beginning of the Tumbleweed opening. } 4. g3 fxg3+ 5. Kg2 gxh2 6. Rxh2 Qxe4+ { The Tumbleweed, in all its glory.White has open lines on the K-side to use for attack, and Black's Queenis exposed, but Black has a material advantage in return. } 7. Nf3 d6 8. Kg1 { Unpinning. White can get his KB and Q mobilized quickly. } 8... Be6 { IfBlack can develop quickly, he will have the better game. The K-side Pawnswill be an insurmountable endgame advantage, if Black can reach one. } 9. Nc3 Qg4+ 10. Rg2 Qh5 11. d4 Bg4 { A mistake. Black needs to get his piecesoff the back rank with more alacrity, or White wil mobilize his forcesand overwhelm him. 11... N-QB3 or 11... B-K2 were better choices. } 12. Rf2 Nd7 13. Qe1+ { Now the King's exposed position on the open file comesback to haunt Black. If he had played 11... N-QB3, he could have followedup with 12... O-O-O and his King would have been safe. } 13... Ne7 14. Ng5 Nf6 15. Bc4 { Now White has five powerful attacking pieces. Black's defensemust be exact. } 15... Be6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Bxe6 { This Bishop now dominates theboard. } 17... Qh4 18. Nb5 Kd8 19. Bf4 { Another White piece joins in. Now Blackis in trouble. } 19... Nc8 20. Qf1 Ng4 21. Bg5+ { Black resigns. if 21... QxB,22 RxBch!! forces mate. } 1-0

[Event "Yahoo chess kibitz"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "just some guy"] [Black "dpham572212000"] [Result "1-0"] { this is a game i played on Yahoo and it was very fun. i was white. } 1. d4 { i have trying thye queen pawn opening for a while now and i like howthe board turns in it. } 1... d5 2. f4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 { the usual answer here. } 4. e3 Nf6 5. Be2 Bxf3 { he takes and i do not mind } 6. Bxf3 { nice squarefor my bishop } 6... e6 7. Nc3 Bb4 { again? lol } 8. Bd2 Bxc3 { no knights for mean bishops for you. } 9. Bxc3 O-O 10. g3 Re8 11. Qd3 { attacking the castlethinking about breaking in. } 11... Qd6 12. O-O-O { my preferd way to castle. } 12... Nd7 13. Rde1 Nb4 { i do not mind this trade. } 14. Bxb4 Qxb4 15. c3 { go away } 15... Qa4 16. Kb1 Nb6 17. f5 { gotta break in here } 17... Nc4 18. b3 { nice fork } 18... Na3+ { the only answer to the fork } 19. Ka1 Qa5 20. fxe6 { in i go. } 20... fxe6 21. Bh5 Rf8 22. Rhf1 { stealing the open file. } 22... Rxf1 23. Rxf1 Rf8 24. Rxf8+ { no rooks for anyone } 24... Kxf8 25. Qf1+ Ke7 26. Qf7+ { push the king to a mtesquare } 26... Kd6 27. Qf8+ Kc6 28. Be8+ Kb6 { he is running into a brick wall. } 29. Kb2 Nb5 30. Qc5+ Ka6 31. Bxb5+ { wins the knight } 31... Qxb5 { why trade wheni can win? } 32. Qxc7 Qe2+ 33. Ka3 Qxh2 { she is out of the action now. } 34. Ka4 Qxa2+ { no biggie } 35. Kb4 b6 36. Qc8# { nice mate. } 1-0

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.03.21"] [Round "-"] [White "hiredgun112"] [Black "reachforgoals"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "817"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "837"] { This game was an interesting game between Jason and Erika. And, to makematters even more special, it's the first time that I'm annotating a gamebetween two players, where I've coached. In the past, I've annotated eithera coaching session or mentoring session, where I trained that player. Or, I annotate where I've only coached or mentored one of the players. However, this will be my last annotation for a while because I recentlylearned that understanding concepts and theories in a game is more importantthen the annotation. But, about a month or two ago, I promised reachforgoals,to annotate this game. And, once you make a promise, you have to keepit. Unlike other annotations, however, this time, I will be applying conceptsand theories and going into details about them here. @reachforgoals andhiredgun112: This is because I would to get both of you into concepts andtheories as this is a very important way to improve. But, basics alsohave to be applied here as well because as easy19 once said, 'learn basicsfirst.' So, I'll attempt to do all of the above here. } 1. d3 { Unlikebefore, this is not a common first move, and I don't why he played this. More common is 1.d4 as it can lead to different variations like the QG. So, 1.d4, d5 2.e5. Or the King's pawn with 1.e5. But, what you don'ttypically see, however, is a pawn that only advances one square. Usually,I don't emphasize it because this is a central pawn. The only thing, however,is that it's not studied by top players. Now, Jack Stockel has advisedme to play opening that are studied and analyzed by masters and grandmasters,and this point is indirectly implied in the, 'Deeper Chess Theory Club'. } 1... d6 { And, my comment with this move is the same about 1.d3. } 2. Nc3 { Now,this is a good developing move. And, that's because you're deploying,developing, a piece. So, this move blends well with the third thing onthat checklist. } 2... Nc6 { Same. } 3. Nf3 { Another good developing move, andby doing what he's doing, Jason not only developing. But, he's also coordinatingthose pieces which should make it easier to control the center. And, that'sbecause, as GM Susan Polgar emphasized in using openings to think likea GM while developing, you're pieces have to be coordinated to controlthe center. } 3... Nf6 { Same thing. } 4. Bf4 { ?! While this move develops, theproblem is the first and sixth on that checklist. Mainly Material balance,but also space. The problem here is that with this move is that whitecreates a weakness for himself in which black can exploit with 4...e5. If this happens, not only would white lose tempii, given that his DSBwould be attacked. But, that would give black better control of the centerbecause that move would develop a center pawn. And remember: in the opening,the most important files are d and e, as that's how you control the center. } 4... Bf5 { ?!, the problem with this move is the same before. But, this time,white will take advantage of it. But, will he, however, find the rightresponse? That is, the move that I would play? } 5. g3 { No. I mean, Ilike this move, as it gets white to fianchetto his LSB. But, I would have5.e5 because that gains tempii, at the same time as controlling the center. And, with that, he would have had a slight advantage. But, now, thingsare still even. } 5... g6 { She is also getting ready to fianchetto her B. Theonly thing is that archduke_piccolo told me that trying to fianchetto anythingusually takes more time, by an extra move, when you could already use thatmove to bring something into play. That's in general, so I usually don'tdo that. This time, it's not a problem because the center pawns, unfortunately,have not yet been developed on either side. } 6. e4 { Now, this is a gooddeveloping move. And, as noted this is what I would've played a move earlier. But, it makes no difference the results are the same. With the idea ofspace and center he used to that tempii to achieve that. So, he has bettercontrol of the center which gives him a slight edge, at this point. } 6... Bg4 7. Ng5 { ?? This, however, is serious blunder. What Jason forgot is thatbecause black retreated with 6...Bg4, his N was indirectly to the Q. So,'almost anything was better then this move' as this move loses a Q fora B. Plus white's K is vulnerable to exposure because after 8.Kxd1, hecan no longer castle which is also part of the third thing on that checklist.And, now, with best play black should win. But, in my mind, white doesthe right thing by not resigning because there is just one question whichremains to be seen. Can black keep her advantage? } 7... Bxd1 8. Kxd1 Nh5 { Despitebeing far ahead, one should still follow the basics and the theory andconcepts. Unfortunately, this doesn't due to one fact. And, as you getmore experience it doesn't matter as much, but @Erika: Remember, that aKnight on the rim is dim. Meaning that it should not be on the endfiles. Otherwise, the opponent has more opportunities to attack it, whereas,there's less room for the N to escape. Plus, it makes the N worth less. } 9. Be3 { ! And, while I would've considered punishing black with somethinglike 9.Be2, while developing at the same time. This move is actually better,and that's because the most important concept, in my opinion, is materialrelationship. While, they're all important, this one, in particular, outweighseverything, as it's the thing that makes or breaks a game. By doing whatwhite did, he avoided an exchange. That's an important strategy becausewhen you're behind, it's more often then not, a bad idea to exchange. It's well known, that people like to exchange when ahead, as it gives theopponent less to defend. Jason saw that and her plan and his responseto the threat was good. } 9... Bg7 { Fianchettoing her DSB and preparing to castle. BTW, @Eirka and Jason: chess terms are very important since chess is alsoa language. Now, fianchetto=putting your B on the longest diagnol. That'sthe case, in this position, since the diagnol of black's DSB extends fromh8 all the way to a1. } 10. Bh3 { This is also a good developing. And,although he can't castle, white just completed his development, and thereis a way to make for the loss of castling. But, a lot of thinking, however,is required to do so. It seems simple of just lifting the K up, movingthe R directly right, and bringing the K back to d1. However, there'sway more to it, then meets the eye. } 10... O-O { However, black's now in reallygood shape, as she just castled. With it, black's development is now complete. } 11. Nd5 { ? Perhaps, white was thinking that this move successfully forkeda piece. But, if that's the case, Jason miscalculated. In order for itto work, his other R would have to be on c1. And, more often then not,there are ways out of it, so it isn't really a fork, in that case. And,the problem here, is that by moving the N white just create another weaknesswhich his opponent will take advantage of. He left his b pawn enprise,vulnerable to attack, and black will take it, winning another pawn andadding to her advantage. } 11... Bxb2 12. Rb1 { Attacking the B. I mean, why not? You're losing anyway, and when I'm losing, or for that matter, in a completelylost position, before resigning I get really aggressive, like this. Theidea being to try to pull a swindle. And, btw, @hiregun112 and reachforgoals:a swindle=a win or draw in a hopelessly lost position. } 12... Nb4 { ?? I don'tknow why black this, but it is an absolute which should give white somecompensation for lost material, if he finds the right move. } 13. g4 { Iunderstand, this move, doing what he can to gain tempii. But, and whilethat's part of the strategical aspects, as talked about earlier, it's notthe best move. When we count material relationship, white's best responsewas either 13.Rxb2, or 13.Nxb4. Both moves win back a piece and lose someof black's advantage. } 13... Ng3 { ?? Best outpost for black was 13...Ng7. And,while I generally don't like this because it creates a structural disadvantagearound the K, it was the only sure way to protect her N. So, now whitehas one more way to get back some compensation and win material. } 14. Rg1 { And, he still could've taken back, but instead, attacks the N. You haveto base things on the position, usually, material, like winning or losingit, is more important the tempii. But, once in a while, tempo is moreimportant. This, however, is not one of those times. Now, black has noway to prevent white from a winning back a piece. So, now, some of Erika'sadvantage is gone. } 14... Ne2 15. Kxe2 Nxa2 { ?? I understand this move very well,as it's the kind of thing that I used to do. Black thought that she hadadvantage, and the only thing on her mind is to exploit white's weakness. Yes, that's important to think about and apply, as it's part of thinkingahead. But, just as important, is calculating accurately. And, unfortunately,black miscalculated because she overlooked Jason's R. This makes a differencespace and material relationship, btw, because white can and will take blacksDSB with 16.Rxb2. So, now in addition to compensation, she lost a piecefor a P. And, with that little by little, white's starting to regain hisadvantage, believe it or not. So, in the short term this move is a blunder. But, in the long term, it's also an error because of what's about to come. } 16. Rxb2 Nc3+ { The idea was to check. But, now you have to ask yourselftwo questions. First, is this check helpful or harmful. Second, is itserious or just a nuicanse. This check was a nuicanse. But, after thethis move, black's N was trapped, another reason, why in the long term,15...Nxa2 was a blunder. Now, if white finds the right response, he shouldwin it. And, despite being a Q behind, if this happens, all of black'sadvantage will be gone, and in fact, will have a slight edge, as he'llbe slightly ahead, paradoxically. } 17. Kd2 { Unfortunately, black doesnot, however, find the right response. 17.Nxc3 was best, as this is themove that would've given white the advantage. With this choice, it becomesan even exchange, and white is still behind. } 17... Nxd5 18. exd5 c6 { Given thatshe's still ahead, black intends to exchange. } 19. Bd4 { ? I don't knowwhy he played this. In this case, white had to exchange with 19.dxc6,and there was no way out of it. Sine white had doubled pawns, there wasno way to advance it for protection, which is what I did in a recent gameagainst him. This is the disadvantage of having doubled pawns, it's aboutpawn structures. And, two pawns on one file weakens that. So, with thismove, black is going to win another pawn for free. } 19... cxd5 20. Rg3 { I understandthis move. It get's white's last piece out, and achieves mobilization. While there's nothing wrong with this move, I would've preferred 20.Rb1,doubling his R's. And, that's because, while not in this position, it'sgood practice because, in general, doubled rooks are very dangerous thatcan pose immediate mating threats, even when you're behind. However, Iwould've recaptured immediately with 20.Rxb7. However, that move willbe played, sooner or later. } 20... Qa5+ { Again, you have to ask yourself it isa good or harmful check. And, if it's a nuicanse or serious. I thinkthis check was harmful because white can and will get out of it. And,he'll gain some needed tempii to get out of it. Note: Even if we're notin the beginning stages, tempii is still very important. In fact, it'susually most important in the endgame. } 21. Bc3 Qc5 { ! Remember when Isaid that white could immediately recapture that pawn. Well, with thismove, it's now too little, too late because once white takes, black recaptureswith 22...Qxf2+. However, anything can change drastically, so stay tuned. } 22. Rxb7 Qxf2+ 23. Kc1 Qg1+ { ?? But, this is a very serious blunder whichI think I know why black, however, moved here. She probably thought thatthis move was an automatic back rank mate but miscalculated and overlookedwhite's R which is about to do some serious damage. Best, was 23...Qxh2gaining back even more of the advantage that she lost. Had black playedthat, she probably would've won, in the long run. With this move, however,black not only loses her advantage, but white now has a winning advantage. Here's the thing, @reachforgoals: if there were three pawns surroundingthe K so in addition to c2, b2, and d2, it would be mate. However, theK can escape. And, to make matters even worse, white can and will winback a Q. So, before moving, one thing that ties into material relationshipis calculating and asking yourself if there's anything you're missing. Then, analyzing to figure out if there's anything your opponent can doabout it, and if you're plan will work or be counterproductive. Meaning:That it does the opposite of what you achieve and/or if it will cause damage. This is a perfect example. } 24. Rxg1 Rac8 { Given that she's now behind,black tries to compensate. And, she does with the second checklist, byposing a direct threat. The idea, though, basing on the structures isthat she wants to win white's DSB. } 25. Rf1 { ?? This time, I don't knowwhy white moved there, but he overlooked the threat. Best was to retreathis attacked, but instead, left it hanging. Therefore, black is goingto win something back. } 25... Rxc3 26. Rxe7 { And, despite white getting a pawn,in exchange, there's something important for both players to remember. So, I am not basing on who's ahead or not, at the moment. The importantconcept and strategy, in many cases, and it's a well known fact, btw. But, pieces are worth more then pawns. While not completely true, if it'san even exchange, one way to remember is, as elyhim would say, 'Exchangepawns, not pieces.' } 26... Ra3 { Understandable, and actually this is very similarto what I would've done. The idea here is that based on the positionalaspects, this time, this move does protect black's a7 pawn. The idea beingand what normally happens is that this kind of move prevents the immediateloss of another pawn. But, in this position, that is not the case because,'There's always another way of doing something.' And, here, white is goingto win a pawn. That's because when we look, after 27.Rfx7, even when blackdoes take bake, white has his rooks connected+ his g5 N, whereas, blackdoesn't. So, even if and when black were to recapture with ...Rxf7, withthe rook nearby and the N on g5 white then quick plays Rxf7. Now, hadthe R's not been side by side and the N not where it is, white would notdare to take the pawn, or he's lose a R, in exchange. } 27. Rfxf7 Ra1+ { Theidea here is that once white gets out of check, black would win back aR and everything would, henceforth, be even after 28...Rxf7. But, thatis not the case because of what I mentioned above. } 28. Kd2 Rxf7 29. Nxf7 Kg7 { ? This time, I have no idea why black played this. Best, however,was 29...Ra6, protecting the d6 pawn. But, with this move, however, blackis going to lose another pawn with a discover check. Note: @reachforgoalsand hiredgun112: a discover check occurs when you have a position like,but you get put in check, by removing a defender. Meaning: moving pawnor piece that allows another piece, right behind, to put the player incheck. One example will occur, when white plays 30.Nxd6+ } 30. Nxd6+ Kf8 { ? I understand what black was trying to accomplish as it's how I usedto think. Since black's now far behind, the idea was to pressure whiteso that he'll blunder. By doing this, black would win back a piece, theR. In which case, black would've equalized. @reachforgoals: the problemhere and in general is that the plan doesn't work and it won't in thiscase either. White has ways out of it, and in fact, with this move heis going to win another pawn. So, what's important to remember is materialrelationship, what's being threatened, calculation, and strategies. And,this is even more of a reason why applying that 7 point checklist is veryimportant. } 31. Rxh7 Ra6 { Trying to win white's N. } 32. Nf7 { But, as weknow, it's about asking yourself what being threatened which white justdid. } 32... Kg8 { I don't know what this move accomplishes. } 33. Ng5 { My guessis that white is trying to find a mating sequence against black. The questionhere is, how can he do it? If his LSB weren't blocked by his g pawn, itwould all make sense. } 33... Rf6 { Black still wants counter play, so she wantsand is planning to put her opponent in check with 33...Rf2+, after which,she'll win back a pawn. } 34. c4 { But, this is a perfect example of thinkingahead which is what I'm trying to get reachforgoals to do. He sees thethreat and moves here to prevent that from happening. } 34... dxc4 { So, blacktakes. } 35. d4 { Normally, this isn't bad, but this move can mess up thepawn structure. And, despite being ahead with a winning advantage, whitemust be careful in order to avoid throwing that away. Remember: 'Whenyou think that you have won or are in a winning position, be very careful,and don't underestimate your opponent. Otherwise, you might start makingmistakes and losing the game.' The reason that I'm emphasizing that rightnow is because while it might not appear so, black's a pawn is very dangerous. So, white has to do something in order to prevent black from getting apassed pawn. Plus, while it doesn't matter here, in general, if thereblack had more then just her c pawn, surrounding the d pawn, and whiteplayed this, black would be able to just continue advancing the d pawn,so she wouldn't have to take another. If that were the case, then thed pawn would have potential, something that one must be very careful about,as that blends in with part of the concepts and theories, as well. } 35... c3+ { ? So, black check's with the idea that she can promote her c pawn. But,as noted above, because black does not have any pawns surrounding the cfile, she will not achieve her goals. In fact, this move is another mistakebecause it gives away another pawn. } 36. Kxc3 a5 { So, now, she's tryingto promote her a pawn. } 37. Bg2 { Don't why he played this, but better was37.Kb3 to stop the promotion. The only thing is that black could protectand get a passed pawn 37...Ra6. So, to prevent all of that, best was 37.Bf1. } 37... a4 { Still trying to promote. } 38. Bd5+ { But, white reacts by placingblack in check. Let's see what else he has in mind. } 38... Kf8 { Indirectly forced,as the only other choice would've been 38...Rf7??, but that would losea R. } 39. Kb2 { ! Very smart move. Now, that we're in the endgame, theK's become very powerful weapons. Believe it or not, almost as much so,as the Q. And, this will certainly prevent black from promoting her apawn. } 39... a3+ { ? Still wanting to promote, but this time, the check was harmful. Best might have been 39...Ra6, in which case the a pawn would still bevery dangerous. But, this move loses, yet, another pawn. } 40. Kxa3 Ra6+ { Nuicanse, yet, understandable check. When, I'm faced with a positionlike this, I'd do anything to stay in. Now, at this point, I would resign,in this position, given that any hope of counterplay would be gone. But,as we're about to see, even in a position with no chance of that happening,it's still better to stay in, as we will see later on. } 41. Kb4 Rb6+ { Stilldoing anything to pressure Jason. } 42. Kc5 { But, now white put's a squeezeon black. } 42... Rb7 { ?? Serious blunder. Black either should have retreatedto the first or second rank. With this, she's going to lose another R,without much left. } 43. Bxb7 Kg8 44. Bd5+ { It might look that good, andit seems like the move doesn't accomplish. While that might seem so, theplan, though is very good and shows that white is thinking ahead. Theidea is to get black in a mating net. This would normally work, but thereis one way out of this. } 44... Kf8 { Directly forced, this time. } 45. Rd7 { Don'tknow why white played. But, I'm not going to annotate every move, aswe already went into a lot of theory and concepts. In fact, I'm only planningto annotate one more before the very end. Plus, despite being far behind,black is not going to lose her remaining pawn. PS, white is not goingto place black in any more checks. And, remember when I said, that I would'veresigned. Well, white miscalculates, so this game is going to end in adraw. Proof, of why it's actually better to stay in the game, as opposedto, resign. } 45... Ke8 46. Be6 Kf8 47. d5 { ?? This might seem fine, as you mayask, ok what else could white have done, and is any move better then theother. Well, the thing is that this a super blunder, despite not losingmaterial. The reason here is that Jason missed an immediate mate in 3. With this move, however, the game is going to end in a draw, as blackcan now find different ways and strategies to force a stalemate, as opposedto, a checkmate. } 47... Ke8 48. Kc6 Kf8 49. Kc7 Ke8 50. Rh7 Kf8 51. Kc8 Ke8 52. d6 Kf8 53. d7 { There is a lot for both players to learn from this game,as it could have gone either way, this game had more twists and turns thenany other game that I've annotated before. The main lessons are, first,apply the concepts, strategies, tactics, positional aspects, theory, andbasics into your games. Second, thinking ahead is important but also calculating. Third, which blends in with the third concept is not only development,but developing in the right spot, to for center control since controllingthe center is extremely important. For instance, white tried to take advantageof black's weakness by attempting to put pressure on her K with 7.Ng5. But, what Jason forgot was that his N was indirectly pinned to the Q. So, by moving it, he lost a Q for a B. Later on, after losing some advantage,black miscalculated by playing 23...Qg1+ which allowed white to win backthe Q and handed the advantage back to white. Whereas, 23...Qxh2 wouldhave given black more of her advantage back, so she would've had almostas much, as earlier. And, @Jason and Erika: In the beginning, despitedeveloping your B's, you them in a place where both could be chased andthat actually happened with black. Afterwhich, white chased, and had aslight edge before any blunders as he had better control of the center. Now, the main problem is that some of the mistakes that I've seen havebeen reoccurring, and when this happens you don't learn from the firsttime. That's another reason why I really decided to go into depth andget both of you into the big picture which is theory, as well, as everythingthat goes into the game. Now, if you can remember these lessons, you bothwill become much stronger players. } 1/2-1/2

[Event "Forgotten Histories"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.11.16"] [Round "-"] [White "chesskingdom64"] [Black "lindaj"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "926"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1021"] { I search through my games history and I found tons of games that I thinkare very interesting. I will be annotating these games that remind me ofmy historical moments back then when my rank was almost 1,000, and thelong struggle to get to where I am now. } 1. e4 e5 { My favorite kinds ofopenings come from the King's Pawn games. } 2. d4 { My friend, Clark showedme this opening and its ferocious power. It is the unusually played CenterGame. } 2... Qh4 { My opponent, I don't think, knows this opening and decidesto attack my e4 pawn and threaten the four move mate, but I will hold himat bay. } 3. Nf3 { I play the wrong Knight for sure because I could haveused this move's purpose at a later time. 3.Nc3 exd4 4.Qxd4 and the gameis equal. } 3... Qxe4+ { I try plotting to get my pawn back while I'm being vibratedwith these checks. } 4. Be3 { This move and 4.Be2 are equal, but I startgetting concerned about the future of my d-pawn. } 4... Bb4+ 5. c3 { I have otheruses for the Knight besides getting pinned by the Bishop. } 5... Be7 { Now, Iget my pawn back because he showed too much aggression. } 6. Nxe5 Qf5 { Ijust about had it with his Queen invading my position, so I attempt toward him away. } 7. Bd3 Qe6 { Now that I hindered his developement, I cannow finish mine. } 8. Qf3 { After moving there, I start thinking about 8.Nd2instead. } 8... Nh6 { Inaccurate. If I were Black, I would have played 8...Nf6,or Nc6. } 9. Bxh6 { Inaccurate. Better was either a developing move (preferrably9.Nd2), or castling. } 9... f6 { I guess he wants me to win an extra point andget chased, but that's fair enough, right? } 10. Qh5+ { Inaccurate. 10.Bxg7was the only average move I had. The rest (except this move) are mistakes. } 10... g6 11. Bxg6+ { A reasonable move that could lose points. } 11... Kd8 { 11.Bf7 andBlack better abandon his Kingside and give it his farewell. } 12. Bf7 Qd6 13. Bg7 fxe5 { Forget about that pawn for now. I will rob Black of his Rookfirst. } 14. Bxh8 c5 { Now, I'll rob his weak pawn. } 15. Bxe5 Qa6 { I don'tcare if I don't castle. Black already has a growing fear: checkmate. } 16. c4 { I feel the desire to castle, but I don't feel too much fo the needfor castling, but I'll do it anyway. } 16... Qa5+ { I will start making a wish,'I wish to capture Black's Queen.' } 17. Nc3 { Here's my plan: Castling,then Nd5. } 17... Nc6 18. O-O d6 19. Rfd1 { Forget about Nd5! Plan B is to encouragehim to rob my Bishop so that I can check him for the rest of the game untilhis end. } 19... dxe5 { He falls for it. } 20. dxe5+ Kc7 { What was wrong with Nd4?Use your resources. } 21. Nd5+ Kd7 { Qf5 wouldn't hurt me hopoefully. } 22. Nxe7+ { I possibly could have done a different move, but I don't see that'different move'. } 22... Kxe7 23. Bd5 { I felt like having my Queen take my Bishop'splace, which should explain why I move there. At the same time, I saw Bg8as a better move. } 23... Nb4 { Mate in three, unless otherwise. } 24. Qf7+ { Move#1. } 24... Kd8 { Never mind the 'unless otherwise' part because that's a totallie, especially when I say that this was a forced move. } 25. Bc6+ { Discoveredcheck with mate to follow. } 25... Bd7 { The 'unless otherwise' part applies ifI take the Bishop with the Rook or the Bishop, but I don't want to go there. } 26. Qxd7# { That's the game. Black's critical mistakes began when he unnecessarilychecked me with the Bishop. Then when his Queen was doing nothing on a5,he could have moved it in the sense that something bad was going to happen.Also,the openings are always on proper development (well, almost always),and use what you have even if you are down material. Finally, when you'redown material, you are forced to defend your position. What you do in theopening will affect you in the mid-game; what you do in the mid-game willaffect you in the endgame and what you do then will affect the results.Chess is a colossal chain reaction and you better be careful about yourmoves. This is why you need to look at your move before comfirming it. } 1-0

[Event "Tournament game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Aron Niemzowitsch"] [Black "Julian Perlis"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "GM"] [WhiteElo "GM"] { Julian Perlis is one of the masters who never quite got the recognitionhe deserved as a great player. Here, with the Black pieces, he takes outthe great Niemzowitsch in just 23 moves. } 1. e4 e6 { Perlis intends a Frenchdefence... } 2. c4 { ...which Niemzowitsch prevents, by not playing 2 P-Q4. } 2... c5 { Perlis counters by advancing his own QBP. } 3. Nf3 Nc6 { Both playersdevelop a Knight. } 4. d4 { Niemzowitsch tries a central thrust. } 4... cxd4 { Perlispromptly captures the Pawn. } 5. Nxd4 { Niemzowitsch completes the exchange,and now has a centralized Knight. } 5... Nf6 { Perlis chooses not to capture,preferring to continue his development. } 6. Nc3 { Both players have nowdeveloped their Knights. } 6... Bb4 { Perlis develops with a pin. } 7. Nxc6 { Niemzowitschinitiates an exchange... } 7... bxc6 { ...and Perlis completes it. } 8. e5 { Niemzowitschthrusts... } 8... Ne4 { ...and Perlis ripostes. } 9. Qg4 Nxc3 { Perlis's other choicewas 9...N-B4, but he chooses the capture. } 10. Bd2 { Rather than the immediaterecapture, Niemzowitsch prefers to develop. If the threatened Knight moves,the Bishop is lost, so Niemzowitsch should regain the piece anyway. } 10... Qa5 { Perlis is trying to force Niemzowitsch's hand by guarding the Bishop. } 11. Qxg7 { Niemzowitsch counters with an attack on Perlis's KR. } 11... Rf8 12. a3 { Now the N and B are both attacked by Pawns, and Niemzowitsch will regainthe piece... he thinks. } 12... Nd5 { A clever counter. 13 PxN would fail to 13...BxBch, and 13 PxB would allow 13...QxR ch. } 13. Bxb4 Nxb4 { Niemzowitsch stillcannot regain the piece, as 14 PxN allows 14...QxR ch. } 14. O-O-O Na6 { Asa result of Niemzowitsch's delay in recapturing the piece, he ends up notrecapturing it at all. } 15. f4 { Guarding the advanced Pawn. } 15... Rb8 { Perlisis beginning to press a Queen-side attack. } 16. Qxh7 { Niemzowitsch snagsa loose Pawn. } 16... Qb6 { Doubling major pieces on the QN file. Perlis is beginningto generate severe Q-side pressure. } 17. Qc2 { Bringing the Queen back intothe ranks for defence. } 17... Qe3+ { Centralizing the Queen with a check. } 18. Qd2 { Offering to exchange Queens, hoping to break the attack. } 18... Qb3 { Smartlyrejecting the offer. } 19. Qc2 { Still trying to break the attack. } 19... Nc5 { Nowthreatening to recapture with check if Niemzowitsch does exchange the Queens. } 20. Bd3 { Bringing another piece over to defend. } 20... Ba6 { Activating his heretoforeuseless QB. } 21. Qxb3 { Finally exchanging the Queens. } 21... Nxb3+ { The attackhas lost some force, but is still strong. Furthermore, Perlis's extra pieceshould outweigh Niemzowitsch's two extra Pawns in an endgame. } 22. Kc2 { Trying to keep the King out of the corner. } 22... c5 { Locking the QB pawns inplace. } 23. Kc3 { Playing out the string. } 23... Ke7 { Centralizing his own Kingand connecting his Rooks. Niemzowitsch graciously resigns the lost endgame.Well done by Perlis. } 0-1

[Event "Challenge from sparkery"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.06.10"] [Round "-"] [White "sparkery"] [Black "pruathome"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "716"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1208"] { I have noticed that after every annotation I make, my playing gets better.So I have decided to annotate every game I play (mostly GameKnot), evenif the games are as 'unpredictable' as this one... I will also annotateevery move (if I do not forget this). In this game, you will learn oneof the most famous opening traps, the Scholar's Mate. This mate is especiallyplayed by low rated children, as far as my experience playing them andas I used to play that. I have since realized that after I had lost manygames to similar kids my age, that I needed to change. } 1. e4 { This isa strong opening move. This is also one of my favorites. This move controlsthe center and aids for future development. } 1... a6 { This is the Baker Defense.This is very uncommon at my current level and basically gives me furthertempo. } 2. Bc4 { I am practicing to play more offensive (i.e. Vienna game). } 2... b5 { Attacking the bishop. This also gives room for Bb7. At first to me,a6 looked like nothing, but now is turning to the Polish played by black. } 3. Bb3 { Any other move is passive, loses an exchange, or gives the opponenta tempo. } 3... Nc6 { This develops the opponents knight controlling the center.In my experience of observing games with this rating, this probably doesnot mean much to the opponent. I was expecting e5 from a player my strengthbecause I can calmly play d4 this way, making the knight in a tight spot. } 4. Qf3 { I thought that I could go Scholar's Mate on my opponent, seeinggames of my opponents rating. This move is actually OK, but there are manymore moves which are better. This sort of equalizes the position... } 4... Nf6 { Here, the opponent must have noticed the checkmate because most playersthis rating would go for Nd4. This is still not a good move. } 5. e5 { Thisis a strong move. If the knight moves out of the way, I either win it orcheckmate them. If the knight captures the pawn, I can take the rook ona8 with my queen. } 5... Bb7 { This move prepares for a discovered attack, butI can still take the knight. If my checkmate plan fails, I will still win. } 6. exf6 { Capture wins a knight for a pawn. } 6... gxf6 { Recapture, but now theopponents g-file and f7 pawn looks really weak. I still pursue my dreamof checkmating. } 7. Qh5 { If Qd5, e6 will make me lose a tempo. } 7... Rg8 { Ihave no idea here why anyone would play that if they already defended againstall of the other threats... } 8. Qxf7# { Bxf7 would also have checkmated. This is not exactly the Scholar's Mate. That mate is typically four moves,with the same pattern of the bishop on the f7 diagonal and the queen alsoattacking the square from f3 or h5, and no other pieces are blocking theway of checkmate. This is a good strategy for winning games against lowrated players quickly and efficiently, but otherwise NEVER play this opening.Be smart in defending against this, or end up like that... } 1-0

[Event "Tactics 101"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "07-Aug-08"] [Round "-"] [White "Player"] [Black "mokru"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1499"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1428"] 1. e4 { Was asked by moku to annotate this game. Looking ahead it appearsboth sides played a good game. I will attempt to find tactical improvements.Should be just a few as the game becomes an exercise in trading off pieces.Those with a strong endgame will use this plan frequently, usually oncethey are ahead a pawn or have the better pawn structure. } 1... c5 2. Bc4 e6 { Usually a good idea to give the bishop a pawn chain to bite on. Thuswhite should wait for e5 to be played prior to Bc4 or till moving the epawn for black is not a good option in the game. } 3. a3 { Possibly a prophylacticmove by white to take away an outpost for the black knight once it movesto c6. This is not a strong move in the opening as it takes away whitesiniative and gives black a tempo for developement. } 3... g6 { Fianchetto coming(Bg7) next. This defense is called the Sicilian Dragon and is in the hypermodernstyle of chess openings. Hypermodern is a style where the center is notoccupied with pawns early but controlled/influenced by pieces instead.The premise is to let the opponent set up a center then go about underminingit with pawn advances or levers causing weakness in the opponents game.Thus hypermodern openings have a built in plan. } 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. c3 { Nowwhite gives black's bishop a pawn chain to bite on, touche! This does takeaway the natural and usually best square for the white queen's knight,c3. } 5... a6 { Possibly preparing b5 to drive away the bishop. } 6. d4 { Contestingthe center. } 6... cxd4 { In most Sicilian defenses d4 is met by this capture.Black is trading a wing pawn for a more valuable center pawn. } 7. Nxd4 { PxP is also playable. 7.cxd4 has several advantages: It occupies the centerwith another pawn. The pawn at c is gone so the only way for black to contestthe d4 square would be with e5, and e5 would result in white playing d5.This essentially blocks in blacks fianchettoed bishop and immobilizes itfor the time being. 7.cxd4 also gives white back the c3 square for thewhite knight to move to. So black's play after cxd4 might be 7.d5 whichcontinues 8.exd5, exd5 with matching isolated pawns and an even game. Thus Nxd4 is fine and a bit better maybe than cxd4 considering the black'sbest response to cxd4 is a drawish line.. } 7... Ne7 8. Be3 O-O { A bit bettermight be 8...d5 as now 9.exd5 results in Nxd5 and if white replies 10.Bxd5- Qxd5 gives black a strong queen presence in the center. } 9. O-O Nbc6 { Again, d5 a bit better for black. } 10. f4 { Starting a king side attackpossibly. } 10... d5 { Here comes d5. } 11. exd5 Nxd5 12. Rf3 { I would guess herethat white is preparing R to g3 or h3 which doesn't work against a fiachettoedposition usually. The better way to guard the bishop would be Re1. Whatis hard to see here is that after the knight at d5 moves then black hasthree threats on the d4 knight and white has only two defenders if thebishop is taken at e3. After Rf3 the knight at d4 can't move later dueto QxQ for free. Whites best play after 11....Nxd5 is Nxc6 and blackresponds bxc6 with an isolated c pawn and a weakness. } 12... Nxe3 13. Rxe3 Nxd4 { As I was saying earlier, the N at d4 falls. Excellent read by black. Greattactical combination! } 14. Rd3 { and not cxd4 due to Bxd4 and the pin ofthe rook to the king. } 14... Qb6 { Much better was Qc7 as this forces the bishopto be moved or guarded then the knight moves and black is up a piece. orPxP after Qc7 and QxB still leaving black up a piece. } 15. cxd4 Rd8 { Pillingup on the d pawn. It is pinned by the queen. } 16. g3 Rxd4 17. Qb3 Rxd3+ { Here black missed the best move. 17.... Qb3 (QxQ) = BxQ and RxB with morematerial then the way it was played and game too black. } 18. Qxb6 Bd4+ 19. Kf1 { Better for white was Kg2. Then blacks best move is Rxg3 checkan Intermezzio (Inbetween in Italian) move seeing that Bxb6 returns Bxd3loosing the rook. Thus the rook check gains black a pawn. Kf1 resultsin black saving his rook with another intermezzio move but this time nothaving to exchange it for a pawn. } 19... Rf3+ 20. Kg2 Rf2+ { Now the Rook is guardedand black can finally capture the queen. Also a rook on the 7th (a pig)is strong as it limits the king to the back rank if he is there already. } 21. Kh1 { Better was Kh3 as this limits the kings movements as stated prior.The king is stuck on h1 because moving to g1 subjects him to a discoveredcheck once the rook moves. The rook usually kills something then says checkand thank-you then moves away. } 21... Bxb6 { Now Black is up a rook for a pawn.4 points if your counting. } 22. Nc3 Ba7 { ? maybe fearing Na4. Why movethe bishop as Na4 may not happen. Black has the intiative and should controlthe ending now. Black is maybe preparing b5 later. } 23. b4 e5 { Why notb5 now? Drives the bishop away. } 24. Ne4 Rc2 25. Bb3 Re2 26. Nf6+ Kg7 27. Ne8+ Kh6 28. Nf6 Bh3 { Hemming in the king further. } 29. Bd5 Rd8 30. Bxb7 Rdd2 { Two pigs on the 7th hard to defend even if you had a queen on theboard. Rxh2 is mate next. White can throw in Ng4 then Bxg4 and follows32. Bg2, Rxg2 with mate at h2 still next move. A case of black seeingsome fine tactics. Well played!!! For a site that allows tactical practiceand tactics are 90% of the game according to a GM whos name I do not remember:http://chess.emrald.net/ Can't do a link here so copy and paste. Suggestyou just click on guest and practice away. I wouldn't worry about scoreor time but concentrate on finding the best move/tactic. If you'll practiceoften, you should make good progress in your games. Wayne } 0-1

[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.10.13"] [Round "-"] [White "bernadet"] [Black "chijik"] [Result "*"] [BlackElo "1584"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1484"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 { White play king's gambit. It is one from my favourite openings,..but when I play as white } 2... d5 { In answer I try to play counter-gambit -to give my opponent a pawn too } 3. exd5 { And my opponent takes it } 3... Qxd5 { I take pawn too, by queen, to else to defend my pawn on e5 } 4. fxe5 { whitebeats pawn e5 } 4... Nc6 { I attack on white pawn by knight to help a queen andsimply to develop figures } 5. Nc3 { White knight attack black queen } 5... Qxe5+ { Queen takes a pawn on e5 with check. In this position I see some advantageof white side, because black hasn't pawns in the center and its queen mayto persecute. But from another side, queen gave a check to opponent's kingand can't to persecute at this moment, so black wins a time (tempo) } 6. Qe2 { Queen defends a king } 6... Qxe2+ { Black queen beats white queen, check } 7. Bxe2 { Bishop beats a queen. If you catch sight of - a game became developon: black attacks - white defends, - but not on the contrary - it is acost of time } 7... Nd4 { Black knight goes in offensive and menaces by fork onc2 } 8. Bd1 { White bishop defends point and pawn c2 } 8... Bf5 { Black bishop alsomakes a pressure on c2 } 9. d3 { White defends by advance a pawn on d3, tooverlap a line of the charge of black bishop f5 } 9... O-O-O { Black makes a longcastling, to lock up a king and, first of all, quickly put a rook nearerto the theatre of main actions } 10. Be3 { White bishop, what free from defenceof point c2, attacks black knight. And not only! I see, that also bishope3 trains on the in-sheltered black pawn a7, if a knight on d4 will leaveitself place } 10... Nxc2+ { And I hesitate to sacrifice my knight to win a tempo.Black knight beats a pawn c2 - check with fork - an offer from what noteasily to give up } 11. Bxc2 { White bishop beats black knight on c2 } 11... Bxd3 { Black bishop beats white pawn on d3 and wipes out last opportunity tocapture a center by pawns in this game. After this move we can see twoabsolutely open verticals - d and e, - one from what controls by blackrook - it is a plus for black side. From another side white has materialadvantage +1 } 12. Bxd3 { White bishop beats on d3 } 12... Rxd3 { Black rook beatson d3 } 13. Bd2 { Bishop overlaps a line of attack of the rook - for, I think,a long castling } 13... Nf6 { Black knight goes to help } 14. Nf3 { White knightalso develops on the point f3 - now, it seem, white can castling as inone so in another side... } 14... Bc5 { But at first black bishop does its outof a second opportunity... } 15. Ne5 { White knight attacks on the rook andat the same time menaces to take a pawn on f7 - it is a fork - to increasematerial advantage } 15... Re8 { But another black rook catches out to help itselffigures - from point e8 rook trusses white knight e5 against king - a mainfigure on the chessboard. So I liquidate danger from white knight in thecenter. Else one comment: it can't to be defended by itself pawns, andbishop on d2 too busy by defense on the another flank } 16. Bf4 { And justthe same, white bishop bucks up to help } 16... g5 { If white takes this pawn,knight e5 will stay without defence } 17. Bg3 { White wants to save a knightat all the costs } 17... Ng4 { But black knight attacks it too } 18. Ne4 { Anotherknight of white closes king by one and at the same time menaces to takea bishop on c5 } 18... Nxe5 { And black knight beats white knight on e5. On mymind black have advantage, as material (+2) so and position, because whiteking stayed in center of 1st horizontal and already some moves (after 16.Bf4)can't to castling not in any side. These 18 moves my opponent Bernadetand me had made during 20...25 minutes, and to think on every from itswe spent very little time. } *

[Event "If you Fianchetto your Bishop,be careful of trading it off when heavy pieces are still on the board!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.09.12"] [Round "-"] [White "rookie879"] [Black "darojak"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1548"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1528"] { Hey all, this is my 2nd game against Darojak.I think I played pretty wellin this game. } 1. e4 { King's pawn opening,not fearing... } 1... c5 { The sicilian!Iusually don't play 1.e4 because of it.Not because I fear the opening itself,butthe studying of reams of lines that goes with it. } 2. Nf3 { The most logical-andpopular-move. } 2... d6 { Also in vouge are 2...Nc6 and 2...e6 } 3. d4 { I usuallyplay the Moscow variation,3.Bb5+ here. } 3... cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 { Dragonvariation,Black aims to Fianchetto his Bishop } 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 { Yugoslavattack.This leads to very exciting games due to that it usually involvesopposite-side castling. } 7... O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 { The older continuation9.O-O-O is also good,but I stick with the main line. } 9... Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 { In this variation,Black's counterplay is all based,down the c-file,Whitewill aim for h2-h4-h5 followed by Bh6. } 11. Bb3 Nxd4 { The main line is11...Ne5 } 12. Bxd4 b5 13. Nd5 { ! Hitting on the idea for the d5-square } 13... Nxd5 { The only move,according to the World database } 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exd5 a5 { threatening 16...a4 } 16. a3 { White has the advantage,due to weakeneddark-squares on the King-side,which White will take advantage of later. } 16... Rc5 17. h4 { Looking for h5. } 17... Qb6 { ? Hopelessly slow.I don't really knowany other move for Black though. } 18. h5 Rfc8 19. hxg6 hxg6 { Black is nowlost. } 20. Qh6+ { The end for Black } 20... Kf6 21. Qh4+ { !A good move forcingBlack' king back. } 21... Kg7 { Arguably the best chance since 21...g5,21...Kf5and 21...Ke5 all are losing.I do not wish to tire you out with all thelines I prepared. } 22. Qd4+ { !Using the weak dark squares to his advantage } 22... f6 23. Qh4 { !The queen heads BACK to h4 after forcing Black,to play f6further weakening the position.Black was played all the way to mate throughintertia,I suppose. } 23... f5 24. Qxe7+ Kg8 25. Qh7+ Kf8 26. Qh8+ Ke7 27. Rh7# { This game was quite a bloody one and helped me win my group with a 5/6score(I lost one due to time-out)Comments are quite welcome. } 1-0

[Event "'European Chess Championship Yerevan, 2014'"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "GM Alexsandr Shimanov"] [Black "GM Baadur Jobava"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2716"] [WhiteElo "2649"] { This is the first time in a while that I was on Susan Polgar's blogspot. I was trying to find out more about the Carlsen and Caurana championshipmatch but came across this game. Now, I have heard of various GM's. But,of those GM's, I'm Susan's biggest fan with what I've learned from her. She showed this game by a GM, and I had nothing to do with this annotation. Instead, Shimanov annotated the game himself, so it starts off with, 'Thiswas a brilliant chess game by Webster University GM Alex Shimanov withhis own analysis'. } 1. d4 { Baadur is well-known as a very creative andsharp chess player. Therefore, my plan for the game was to play solid chessand stay away from complications, which is probably Baadur's strongestside. By move 10, it was clear that something went wrong.. } 1... Nf6 2. Nf3 { The first interesting moment, already on the second move. Baadur periodicallyplays the Budapest gambit, but that day I did not want to see it on theboard. The first four moves I tried to play some solid chess, but thenhad to fight to get my Pawn back. } 2... d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bg4 { ?!A well-known line, which has a reputation of being dubious. Even thoughI thought that knew the refutation, (as I had played a similar game a fewyears earlier) it turned out that things are not so simple. 5...Bf5 isthe main line. } 6. Ne5 Bh5 7. f3 { ! The most principled answer and I believethat the strongest one. } 7... Nfd7 8. Nxc4 e5 { ! The point of Bg4 line. Nowboth captures lead to a good position for black, so white has to come upwith something stronger. } 9. e4 Qh4+ 10. g3 Qf6 11. dxe5 Qxf3 { 11...Nxe512.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.g4 Bg6 14.f4 Qf6 15.f5 Qh4+ 16.Kd2! and White is clearlybetter as in my chess game against Ipatov, but black did not get enoughcompensation for the bishop. } 12. Nd6+ { I was satisfied with my chess positionsince I knew that Bxd6 is losing for black and I could not believe thatKe7 can be actually playable. } 12... Ke7 { ! Frankly, at first I was sure thatthe game would not last more than 10 more moves with such a King on e7and a powerful knight in the attack. I had a feeling that the checkmatewas not far away. .But the more I was thinking about the position, themore clearly I was realizing that there was no checkmate. Moreover, Blackhas his own active counterplay. Things got tricky, so for the next moveI spent about 30 minutes. If 12...Bxd6 13.Qxd6 Qxh1 White wins after 14.Bg5f6 15.exf6 gxf6 16.Qe6+ Kf8 (16...Kd8 17.Bxf6++–) 17.Bh6 checkmate! } 13. Qb3 { The position looks kind of wild, but actually the next several movesare more or less forced for both sides. The toughest part was to find theupcoming Rg1 idea followed by Nd5, otherwise Qb3 would be just bad. } 13... Nxe5 14. Qxb7+ Kf6 { ! It's not every day you see both queens get almost to thecorner of the board to hunt the rooks. Not to mention that f6 is not themost common square for Black's king with a full board of pieces. Now Rg1with the idea of Be2 looks very strong However, unfortunately, my queenis also getting trapped, even though that was not so clear from this position,considering that my queen has a number of squares to go right now. If 14...Kxd6then simply 15.Rg1. } 15. Rg1 Bxd6 16. Be2 Nbd7 { ! } 17. Bxf3 Nc5 { ?! Oops,it turns out that the White queen has no squares to retreat to, since 18.Qb4 runs into 18...Nd3+. But, here comes the help from the knight, whichhad to be foreseen in advance. Due to the fact that my next move whitesaves the queen, 17...Bf3 deserved serious attention. Then after 18.Qb3 Nc519.Qc2 g6! I am not sure how to evaluate the position, but I have a feelingthat Black's play should be a bit easier as its pieces are much more activeand the King hides well on g7. } 18. Nd5+ { ! } 18... cxd5 19. Qxd5 Nxf3+ 20. Kf1 Be5 { ! } 21. Qxc5 { Here a new stage of the game begins. With an extra queen,objectively White's position is close to winning. However, it is very easyto make a mistake. } 21... Rac8 22. Qf2 Bd4 23. Be3 Bxe3 24. Qxe3 Nxh2+ 25. Kg2 { ? I don't think I spent more than a minute on this move, but the computershows a crazy balancing act of White's king with 25.Ke1! Nf3+ 26.Kf2 Rc2+27.Kf1 Nh2+ 28.Ke1 Nf3+ 29.Kd1 and white should win. } 25... Rc2+ 26. Kh3 Bg4+ 27. Kh4 h5 { I can't say that I felt very comfortable with the king on h4,but as we say in Russia: “If you are afraid of wolves, don’t go to thewoods”. So I began to look for the ways to escape with the King withoutlosing the queen or rooks along the way. } 28. Qg5+ Ke6 29. Qd5+ Ke7 30. Qb7+ Kf8 { ? A serious mistake, which allows White's king to run away. Muchstronger was 30...Bd7! 31.Kg5 Rh6!, getting the last piece into play. Forthose who are interested, you can turn on the engine and see that its evaluationis as usual: triple zero. That means it is a forced draw somehow. But,from the human's point of view, the position is far from being clear andall three results are possible. } 31. Kg5 { ! } 31... f6+ 32. Kf4 Re2 { I wouldlove to confirm the myth of my extraordinary calculating chess abilities,but unfortunately I simply overlooked this move and its powerful threatof g7-g5 checkmate. So I began to frantically look for a perpetual checkwhich I failed to find...The whole game flashed in my head, and it feltso disappointing to lose the game after such a heroic King escape.. Thus,the combination with a Queen sacrifice which led to the endgame with abig advantage for White was born out of desperation. } 33. Qb4+ Kg8 34. Qc4+ Kh7 35. Qxe2 { ! } 35... Bxe2 36. Rg2 { ! White wins one of the pieces andgets the endgame with a good winning chances. Baadur did not defend thebest way, but I can understand his disappointment, when instead of a matingattack he had to fight for a draw in an unpleasant chess endgame. } 36... g5+ 37. Ke3 Ng4+ 38. Kxe2 Rb8 39. Kd3 a5 40. Kc3 Kg6 41. b3 Rc8+ 42. Kb2 Re8 43. Re1 Ne5 44. Rd1 Nf3 45. Rd5 Rxe4 46. Rxa5 h4 47. gxh4 Nxh4 48. Rc2 g4 49. Ra8 Kf5 50. a5 g3 51. Rg8 Re5 52. b4 g2 53. a6 1-0

[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "kenderfender"] [Black "miller3534"] [Result "*"] [TimeControl "5min +10sec"] { [Event 'GameKnot Blitz'] [Site 'http://gameknot.com/'] [Date '2015.04.03'][Round '-'] [White 'kenderfender'] [Black 'miller3534'] 1. e4 c5 2. c4Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d3 a6 5. Be3 b6 6. g3 Bb7 7. Bg2 d6 8. Nge2 Nge7 9. O-ONg6 10. f4 Nge7 11. a3 Qd7 12. Na4 Nc8 13. b4 Be7 14. bxc5 dxc5 15. Rb1Qc7 16. Nec3 O-O 17. f5 Rd8 18. Qg4 Ne5 19. Qh3 exf5 20. Rxf5 Nxd3 21.Rbf1 Bf6 22. Rxf6 gxf6 23. Bh6 Ne7 24. Rxf6 Ng6 25. Nxb6 Rac8 26. Nxc8Bxc8 27. Qh5 Qe5 28. Qxe5 Ndxe5 29. Nd5 Ng4 30. Bg5 Nxf6 31. Nxf6+ Kh832. Ng4 Bxg4 33. Bxd8 } 1. e4 c5 2. c4 { Weakens the centre, but I kindof like the english-sicilian approach } 2... Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d3 a6 5. Be3 b6 6. g3 { Wasn ́t sure to open a fianchetto here, to counteract black bishop ́sposition. I think it helps holding the position although it requires oneextra movement. But since black has already spent two pawn moves before,it seems right. } 6... Bb7 7. Bg2 d6 8. Nge2 Nge7 { Black could have also attemptedto develop a fianchetto, but it may require too many moves. On the otherhand centre is solid and there is no clear requirement to me for castingfor either player. } 9. O-O Ng6 10. f4 Nge7 { Wasted movements, but it seemswhite didn ́t take much advantage of it. A stronger response to aatack theright wing was required, but didn ́t see a clar approach to perform suchattack. } 11. a3 { On the other hand, keeping preassure on the left wingalso seems right. Maybe 11.f5 was a better choice, as said before; attacksthe right wing and/or opens the centre. } 11... Qd7 12. Na4 Nc8 13. b4 Be7 14. bxc5 { Not sure if I had to expose the flank so soon. Not a clear gain inprospect, but time flyes. } 14... dxc5 15. Rb1 Qc7 16. Nec3 { With the intentionto do f5 and take the centre with the knight or leave a weakened pawn ine6. } 16... O-O 17. f5 Rd8 { To me black started to do the correct movementsnow, considering how delicate is the position. Attacking white ́s centreas a counterattack is a golden rule that he exploited very well. On theother hand, pressure on his King ́s defenses is high. I thought about givingup the centre and focus on attacking, but without much results. } 18. Qg4 { Unfortunately, I didn ́t see the 18...Ne5 that helps winning time . } 18... Ne5 { Now I feel black has the upper hand. White ́s left flank in contested withb5 and Bf6 is weak, and the centre is also lost. Not a clear attack onblack ́s king compensates anything. } 19. Qh3 exf5 20. Rxf5 Nxd3 { Not sureif this is best for black, but it doesn ́t seem bad. Rook on 8th line stillis a valuable defensive piece. } 21. Rbf1 Bf6 { As said before, Black ́sBf6 with b5 make the white position a very delicate, if not a lost, one. } 22. Rxf6 { This is the only movement I could see it gave white a chance.Maybe not to win but at least to create danger and confusion. Draw is theprice to aim for now and it doesn ́t seem and easy one, but better thantrying to hold the position without the sacrifice. } 22... gxf6 23. Bh6 Ne7 { Itnegates any chances of mate. } 24. Rxf6 Ng6 25. Nxb6 Rac8 { Why not 25...Rab8!? Or even a more active one sacrificing the rooklike Qe5; keyboard ormouse issues may explain this movement. Or he just didn ́t see those. } 26. Nxc8 Bxc8 27. Qh5 Qe5 28. Qxe5 Ndxe5 29. Nd5 Ng4 { Rook is lost } 30. Bg5 Nxf6 31. Nxf6+ Kh8 { Best, to avoid loosing the rook } 32. Ng4 { ? Not a clearcontinuation. Time and position doesn ́t help either. } 32... Bxg4 { ?? 32...Rd1+saves the game. I didn ́t even see that on the game either. I guess we wereboth too focused on the black ́s king. } 33. Bxd8 { I consider the game finishedhere. I am not adding the result, since I just wanted to share what I thoughtit was an interesting game with both errors and good moves, very fun toplay. } *

[Event "2019 WA Class Championship round 5"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2019"] [Round "-"] [White "freeman"] [Black "Keshav B."] [Result "*"] [BlackElo "1308"] [TimeControl "2hr/40 moves 30 min SD"] [WhiteElo "1551"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 { QGD: Slav } 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 { Slav Defense } 5. e4 { Tolush-Geller gambit } 5... b5 6. Be2 { I wanted to venture off with thissimple move instead of the main move e4-e5 } 6... e6 7. e5 Nd5 8. O-O Be7 9. a4 Qb6 { And here I analyze Ne4 but thought it didn't amount to any advantageand no path per se... } 10. Nxd5 { Time clock remainder: 1 hr. 53 min } 10... exd5 { Pawn diamond! Black's time: 1hr. 44min. } 11. axb5 cxb5 12. Qc2 { hmm fairmove? I deployed my queen to prevent Bf5 development. } 12... Nc6 { ! Doubleattacking d4 } 13. Rd1 { Here I was at crossroads with Be3 or Rd1. } 13... O-O 14. h3 { prophylaxis! yes I was planning Be3 but I spent a little too muchtime on this move. I passed the move to Black } 14... Bd7 15. b3 { ?! Time remainder:1hr. 27min } 15... Rab8 { Black's time: 1hr. 23min } 16. Be3 { Maybe should I playedon move 13? } 16... Rfc8 17. bxc4 bxc4 { It was here I realized that my Be3 wasX-raying his queen and saw Bxc4 with pawn d4-d5 Of course, it doesn't workhere with my queen on c2 with his Rook on c8. Where to place my queen Ithought. } 18. Rdb1 Qd8 19. Rxb8 Rxb8 20. Qa2 { Time: 1hr 1min } 20... Qb6 { Time:1hr 8min } 21. Bxc4 { ! And here I thought it was time to maneuver a combination. } 21... dxc4 22. d5 Qb3 { I believe my opponent acted real confused and played thisvery hastily. } 23. dxc6 Qxa2 24. Rxa2 Bxc6 { it has here I pondering waytoo long on Rxa7 or Nd4. Obviously, Rxa7 is better but I spent a good chuckof my time between these to moves Nd4...Bd5; Be4; Bd7; Be8 were all possible.I don't think Bb7 or Ba8 were candidate moves. So 25. Nd4 with tempo...Anybishop move; 26. Ra7 with tempo...Bc5 with tempo! Oh where does my Rookgo to? And here I was lost in the forest of variations after Black gainsa tempo I was lost. I spent too much time on this. Way too much. I believeI spent 14-16 minutes on this move. } 25. Rxa7 { Time 38mins } 25... Bd8 { Time:1hr 4min } 26. Ra6 { After accessing the rank was protecting by both bishopsI moved back a rank. } 26... Be8 { So here I notice my opponent didn't like complications.Even earlier He never ventured off with Nc6-Nb4 to attack my queen.... } 27. Nd4 c3 { And here I used bad time management. I seen Nc6 as a candidatemove but couldn't calculate Black's replies Nc6...Rb1+; Kh2...pawn c2 anddark square bishop has several squares to travel to with pawn c2 } 28. Ra3 { ?? } 28... Rc8 29. Nc2 { ?? I felt very shaky about my position about here comparedto earlier } 29... Be7 30. Ra7 { time: 10 min. I need to reach move 40 to get 30additional minutes. } 30... Bc5 { !! } 31. Bxc5 Rxc5 32. f4 h6 33. Kf2 Rc4 34. Ra8 Kf8 35. Ke3 { It was here I had less than 5 minutes } 35... Ke7 { Black's timewas 40-45 min. remaining. } 36. g3 Bc6 37. Ra7+ Ke6 38. Kd3 { And here Blackused a great deal of his time which went down to 23 minutes approximately } 38... Bb5 { !! winning move? } 39. Ke3 Kd5 { ! } 40. Ra5 Kc5 { It here I erroredany miscalculated the opposition. It was here I bet that I could preventc3 from queening while creating my own passer with Pawn f4-f5 with Pawne6to follow. } 41. Rxb5+ { Moves 30-40 where played very brash as I was undertime pressure. so feel free to leave any plans I missed. } 41... Kxb5 42. Na3+ Kb4 43. Nxc4 Kxc4 { I here I could have resign... } 44. Kf3 c2 45. Kg4 { Myking goes into the forest to die.. } 45... c1=Q 46. Kh4 g5+ 47. Kg4 gxf4 48. gxf4 Qg1+ 49. Kh4 Kd5 50. Kh5 Ke6 51. f5+ Kxf5 52. Kh4 Qg5# *

[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "12-Jun-07"] [Round "-"] [White "gazdvez"] [Black "suenteuspo147"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1668"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1657"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 c4 7. Bc2 a6 8. O-O Bd6 9. Re1 O-O 10. e4 { Colle-system. } 10... dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Rxe4 Ne7 13. b3 b5 14. bxc4 bxc4 15. Rh4 { To make weakpoints by the king. That iswhy the place of the knight f6 must be. } 15... h6 16. Bxh6 { A typical sucrificein the Colle. } 16... gxh6 17. Qd2 Nf5 18. Bxf5 exf5 19. Qxh6 Qxh4 20. Nxh4 { Thegame is over. Now white must care of the first rank, and it must win. } 20... Be7 21. Qf4 Re8 22. Nxf5 Bxf5 23. Qxf5 Rab8 24. Rb1 { This exchange is thesimpliest, maybe not the best. } 24... Bd8 { A trick. After Rxb8 Re1# } 25. g3 { Playingwith patience. } 25... Rxb1+ 26. Qxb1 Ba5 27. Qc1 Bb6 28. Qg5+ Kh7 29. Qf6 Re1+ 30. Kg2 Ba5 31. Qxf7+ { Anyway, the bishop is over. } 31... Kh6 32. Qf6+ 1-0

[Event "Live Chess Tournament, Chess.com"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.12.08"] [Round "-"] [White "hanzaants"] [Black "arc4nus"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1102"] [TimeControl "15|10"] [WhiteElo "1031"] 1. e3 e5 { Beginning with e5, placing a pawn in the center. } 2. Nf3 Nc6 { Develop your horse in C6, protect my pawn from e5, and attack the center. } 3. d4 { My rival quickly created complications at the center. } 3... exd4 { Tomo paraabrir el centro } 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 { Cambio caballos y la apertura se torna irregular. } 5. Qxd4 { Mi rival me sorprende en este movimiento. Creí que tomaría conel peón de e. } 5... d5 { I put my pawn on d in the center without losing any time. } 6. Nc3 { A reasonable development of the horse and attacking the central pawn is recommended. } 6... Nf6 { I am defending my central pawn and developing my horse. This is a conceptual move. I am beginning to prepare a possible short rook's knight's move. } 7. g3 { White is trying to move their knight to e2 or d3 to put more pressure on the pawn on d5. Personally, I think this is a bad move. I believe the white knight has better moves on e2 or d3. } 7... c6 { c6 is the best move in this moment. By supporting my pawn on d5 and avoiding the knight on b5 that will later win the pawn on a7. } 8. e4 dxe4 { This move took me a few minutes to think it through. The idea here is to play a trick on Capablanca when he said that one should simplify the position. I took the black pawn simultaneously while offering a change of queens. } 9. Qxd8+ { Blanco acepta el cambio. } 9... Kxd8 { This move loses me the enroque, but enroques without queens many times don't make sense. } 10. Bg5 { Ag5 clavandomi caballo. } 10... Be7 { I support my horse and resolve the stalemate. } 11. Nxe4 { Estaes la jugada en donde el blanco pierde la partida. Cxe4 entrega un caballocon nada ya que la clavada está resuelta. Aca creo que al blanco lo traicionaronlos nervios del torneo. } 11... Nxe4 12. Bxe7+ Kxe7 { I am at this height with more pieces. } 13. Bd3 { El blanco que ya debió haber abandonado decide seguiry atacar mi caballo con su alfil presionando también sobre h7. } 13... Nc5 { Good move. Retiring the knight and attacking the bishop. } 14. O-O-O { Accepting the change of pieces to put a tower on the board. } 14... Nxd3+ 15. Rxd3 Re8 { Esta jugada la pensé un rato y jugadas más tarde me arrepentí.Lo correcto según la teoría de Capablanca hubiese sido Td8 ofreciendo elcambio de torres para seguir simplificando la posición y si el blanco noacepta el cambio yo ganaba la columna abierta d. Pero no, mi idea era unpoco diferente. Mi plan era conseguir un enroque forzado, llevando en unfuturo mi rey a f8 y ganando la columna e con la torre y hacer los cambiosde torre sobre esa columna. Veamos como sigue la partida. } 16. Re1+ { Evidentementeel blanco da jaque con la torre en e1. } 16... Be6 { I had two options: to retreat my king to f8 and to change the rooks, which does not bring me the win of the column e5, or to play Ae6 to cover the check and to pressure the unprotected pawn on a2. I decided to go for the latter, as it is more aggressive and it fits my playing style. } 17. f4 { The whites begin an attack on the flank with f4. } 17... Kf8 { Sigo con mi plan retirando el reya f8. } 18. Rde3 { blanco dobla sus torres. } 18... Bxa2 { This error could have cost a lot. If white had continued with b3, my knight would have been trapped and it would have been very difficult to save it. Fortunately, the moral of my opponent was already low and they didn't see the trap. } 19. Rxe8+ { The white piece is throwing itself at the exchange of queens. I was a bit scared by this: The white piece made an error in a2 and is now trying to simplify the position in order to play b3, win my knight and try to equalize the position. Seeing the board situation, I thought: "Well, this probably ends in a draw". } 19... Rxe8 20. Rxe8+ Kxe8 { The knights are exchanged and the position becomes simpler. If mate is captured, the end will be very complicated and there is a great possibility of a draw. } 21. c3 { I was amazed to see this move. White did not see the checkmate and played c3, converting my blunder of Axa2 into a good move. The game is won. } 21... Bb3 { My knight takes a very good position on b3. } 22. Kd2 Kd7 { The race for control of the center of the board begins, fundamental to the end. } 23. Kd3 Kd6 24. Kd4 b5 { I am beginning to prepare my definitive attack from the flank. } 25. Ke4 Ke6 { This move loses time, it would have been better to continue with the attack of pawns. } 26. g4 a5 { My attack continues. } 27. f5+ Kd6 28. g5 b4 { Ruptura en c3 } 29. cxb4 axb4 30. h4 { El blanco estatarde con los tiempos e intenta apurarse. } 30... Bc2+ { I gained some time by moving the knight from b3 to the same square, while checking the king. } 31. Kf4 c5 { Sigue mi ataque. } 32. h5 c4 33. h6 { Era mejor g6 } 33... g6 { Trato de inmovilizaral blanco. } 34. f6 { White plays badly and stays without attack in the flank.A worry less for me. } 34... Kd5 { The key is to win space with the king. } 35. Ke3 c3 36. bxc3 bxc3 { If we look, there is a barrier formed by the pawn, knight, and king. The white king cannot approach. } 37. Ke2 Kd4 38. Ke1 Kd3 { My king is still winning all the available space. } 39. Kf2 { The king loses space on his flank and my king takes advantage of it. } 39... Kd2 40. Kf1 Bd3+ { Retiro mi alfil para que el peon pueda avanzar y gano untiempo atacando al rey blanco. } 41. Kf2 c2 { Camino despejado, ¡A coronar! } 42. Kg3 c1=Q 43. Kf4 { White is still playing badly and has put his king on the diagonal of my king and queen. } 43... Ke2+ { Jaque to the discovered. } 44. Kg4 Qc4+ 45. Kh3 Bf5+ 46. Kh2 Qf4+ 47. Kg1 Qf2+ 48. Kh1 Be4# { MATE. Espero les halla gustadoesta partida. } 0-1

[Event "fianbish64's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.08.06"] [Round "-"] [White "cavillus"] [Black "swearengen"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1622"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<7d"] [WhiteElo "1645"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 c5 { ? A mistake, which gives White a clear lead. } 8. Nb5 { ! Pointing out thatd6 is no more defended. } 8... Nb6 9. Nd6+ Kd8 10. dxc5 { Now White is up a pawn,and Black has no compensation at all for the deficit and the bad King. } 10... N6d7 11. c4 { ! Opening even more the Black King position. White one issafe because Black is too behind in development to highlight it. } 11... Na6 12. cxd5 Naxc5 13. Nf3 b6 { Now White can bring the Queen into play gaininga tempo. } 14. dxe6 Nxe6 15. Qd5 Rb8 16. f5 { Now Black is completely lost,but he will set up a quite funny try. } 16... Nf6 { !? It is obviously a blunder,but at least he tried something. } 17. exf6 Qxf6 { ?? OK, now this is toomuch creative... } 18. Ne4+ { Simple. } 1-0

[Event "GameKnot Blitz, http://gameknot.com/"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.05.13"] [Round "-"] [White "yoshark"] [Black "gammaray"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. g3 { GM Josh Waitzkin uses this openingin a few annotated games on Chessmaster. Though not too highly favoredin the db. I find it quite interesting however, it fits in to my styleI like to attack and I prefer slower closed games this game will evolveinto such. } 4... Bb4 { I feel Bc5 is slightly better. This threatens the e4pawn but white can simply ignore the threat and continue with Bg2. 5.Bg2 Bxc2 6. bxc2 Nxe4 7. Nxe5 winning back the pawn, and unleashing thelight square bishop on g2. } 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Nd5 { Again Nxe4 doesn't win anythingthreatens to win the two bishops. } 6... Bc5 7. O-O d6 8. d3 h6 9. Nc3 { Thismight seem like a strange move but I don't like the tension on my knighton d5, the game isn't opening up quickly and again I have a threat of winningthe dark square bishop. Na4 is now my threat. } 9... Bg4 10. h3 { Kicking thebishop out. } 10... Be6 11. Na4 { Winning the bishop pair. } 11... Bb6 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. Be3 Qd7 14. Qd2 { This was a poor move I'm planing on piling up on the h6square with moves like Nh5-f5 and Kh2 Rh1 aiming for a king side attack. I left the h3 pawn hanging though. } 14... Bxh3 15. Nh4 { Once again continuingmy plan of Nf5. Rh1 will have some more power after the bishops are traded. Notice that the bishop on h3 and g2 create an interesting relationship. Black wants me to take the h3 bishop. Bxh3 Qxh3 and the queen is veryhard to remove from that square not to mention Ng4 is a threat. I wanthim to trade so I can put my rook on h1. Bxg2 Kxg2 most anything Rh1. } 15... Qg4 { I find this a mistake because it allows me to force my plan of tradingon g2. } 16. Kh2 Bxg2 17. Kxg2 Qe6 { The queen would be kicked out by f3at some point anyway. I never noticed this till a few minutes ago butnotice how long the pawn on a2 hangs. Rxa2 Rxa2 Qxa2 can be quite dangerousfor black because it leaves the defense of blacks king. } 18. Rh1 Ng4 { Takingthe bishop back though I'm not greatly concerned the position isn't goingto open up right away. Though my bishop is a nice piece the knight canbe slightly better in this position. } 19. Nf5 Kh7 { Defending the sacrificespossibilities on h6. } 20. c3 { This may seem like a strange move but blackinterestingly enough has a quick counter play option here. 20... Nxe321. Qxe3 Nd4! forcing a trade of knights Nxd4 exd4 and suddenly my attackis gone. } 20... d5 { Good move here my king is not as secure as his breaking thecenter would be quite beneficial for black. } 21. f3 { Forcing a trade. } 21... Nxe3+ 22. Qxe3 { I actually have a threat in this position to win a pawn,with exd5 Qxf5 dxc6. Note exd5 Qxd5?? Rxh6+!! Kg8 Qg5 wins. } 22... d4 { Blackgives a pawn up temporarily. } 23. cxd4 Nxd4 24. Nxd4 exd4 25. Qxd4 Rxa2 { Black finally goes after the a2 pawn 8 moves later. } 26. Rxa2 Qxa2 27. Rc1 Rd8 28. Qe5 Rxd3 29. Qxc7 Qxb2+ 30. Rc2 Rd2+ { I thought this was verygood. Forcing a trade of rooks and attacking my king. } 31. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 32. Kh3 { Gets out of the line of fire. } 32... Qe2 { I don't like this move thoughblack is going to lose something here. This just feels bad for no otherreason that it allows me to take a pawn and defend, and cuts blacks queenoff from his king. Blacks best plan in my opinion is to play Qd4 hereand after Qxf7 Qf6 } 33. Qxf7 b5 { Offering a very real draw chance for whitenot much black can do to stop constant checks Qf5+ Kg8 Qe6+ Kh7 Qf5+ givinga draw. Which is the best black can hope for. Though it may seem abstract.The b-pawn due to the fact that they are so far from blacks king have littlemeaning. } 34. Qf5+ Kg8 35. Qe6+ Kh7 36. Qf5+ Kg8 37. Qe6+ Kf8 { Giving upthe b7 pawn. } 38. Qc8+ Kf7 39. Qxb7+ Ke8 { Now the king is easy pray forqueen checks. } 40. Qc6+ Kd8 { Black decides to try to defend his main advantagethe b5 pawn though in doing so black will have little protection from myactive queen. } 41. Qd6+ Ke8 42. Qg6+ Kd8 43. Qd6+ Ke8 44. Qe6+ Kd8 { Givingup the g7 pawn. } 45. Qg8+ Kc7 46. Qxg7+ Kb6 { and the h6 pawn. } 47. Qxh6+ Kc5 { I felt Ka5 may have been slightly better here. } 48. Qf8+ { Defendingmy f3 pawn. } 48... Kd4 49. Kg4 { My king is out of checks and defends my f3 pawnfrom Ke3. } 49... Kc3 { Ke3 Qc5+ is an active defense Kd2 e5. } 50. Qc5+ Qc4 { Giveswhite an easy win. } 51. Qxc4+ bxc4 { The other option though still not winningis Kxc4 e5 Kd5 Kf4 b4 Ke3 b3 Kd2 b2 Kc2 Kxe5 f4+ Kf5 Kxb2 } 52. e5 Kd4 { Blackslast mistake now the e-pawn will be traded for the c-pawn when they queen. } 53. e6 c3 54. e7 c2 55. e8=Q c1=Q 56. Qd8+ { ! ends the game. The onlymove that black has that doesn't lose the queen forces a trade. Ke5 Qg5+and white goes has two pawns that cannot be stopped. } 1-0

[Event "Counter play - tempt your faith"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2007.10.18"] [Round "-"] [White "aditucualamare"] [Black "vbotond"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2063"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1473"] 1. d4 { This game was my 9th here at a rating of around 1500 just like myopponent. Like it happens in my games rather often, this was not won byme.. but lost by my precious opponent. He played well and brave but madetwo unfortunate passive moves backwards when the counter-play should havetaken place. } 1... d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bd2 Nbd7 { So far nothingnew under the sun. A variation of the Semi-Slav played by many Grand Mastersin the 90s but more or less disappeared in the new millenium. White isahead in development while Black gained a small run in creating outpostsand building an attack. } 6. f4 { Unusual move and in my opinion slightlyinaccurate as well. Prevents the advance of Black's e-pawn, keeps a closeeye on a centre square, but sadly enough gives away the adventage Whitehad in development and what is most important (and it is going to turnout within two more moves) weakens the e4 square, the one Black was racingfor to make an outpost there. } 6... Nb6 { This is a bluffy threat. 6... Ne4 7.Nf3(rushing to f7 via g5) 7... Be7 (preventing it and getting closer to castle)8.Bd3 (attacking the e4 knight) 8... f5 (defending it) 9.0-0 0-0 10.Rc1(occupying the most probably opening c-file) 10... Ndf6 is the logicalline I think. Let us face it, at analyzis time it is always easier to findthe proper moves :-) } 7. b3 { 7.c5! would have pointed out my lack of cautionimmediately and I would have had no choice but to go back to d7 wastingtime. } 7... Ne4 { The outpost has been created. } 8. Nf3 { The king-knight threateninglyappears on the battlefield.... and... and... } 8... Nxd2 { ... and an outburstagain.. bad habbit of mine, I have to confess. 8... Be7 preventing thebright knight from going to g5 and getting ahead both in development andin securing His Highness was the cool and cautions continuation. Exchanginga precious outpost for a bishop that has no use for a long while is a damnwaste!! } 9. Qxd2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 { I would have taken back with the b-pawnstrengthening the centre and creating a good pawn-chain moreover a clearhalf open b-file for the queen-rook. Taking with the bishop has a clearadventage though, it gives way for castling. In spite of the fact I wouldhave taken with the b-pawn I am not entirely sure that was any better. } 10... Bb4 11. O-O Nd5 { Helping the b4 bishop in attacking the c3 knight. } 12. Bxd5 exd5 { It is clear now that the big fight will take place on the queen-side.The king is safe after castling so it was better to take with the e-pawnthan taking towards the centre (never follow the principles blindly). } 13. a3 Be7 { Felt a bit behind so decided to try and simplify the boardin a better position. } 14. b4 O-O 15. Ne5 { Good outpost but it means noimmeadiate or concrete threat for the moment. } 15... Bf5 16. Rae1 { Maybe 16.g4Bc8 17.Qg2 was slightly better. This rook move prepared the advance ofthe e-pawn but with loosing a tempo. } 16... a5 { One of the white knights is faraway and even Her Majesty is a bit off while the e7 bishop occupies thequeen-side actions.. conclusion? It is high time to make some trouble onqueen-side!! } 17. Na2 { 16... a5 was a threat but not a solid one. A goodcounter attack with advancing the b-pawn could have pointed it out: 17.b5f6 18.Nf3 Bxa3 19.bxc6! bxc6 and White has a good and solid pawn structure..while that of Black is a mass! } 17... f6 18. Nd3 axb4 19. Ndxb4 { The move thatpractically costed the game for White. Have given a great deal of thoughtto it, but honestly I still do not see what my opponend had in mind. Hehad played well so far so there must have been something there I am sureof it. Taking back with the other knight would have given a better counterplay. The black pieces are better organized still and both bishops areactive, but the position was far from decisive. } 19... Rxa3 20. h3 Qa5 21. Ra1 Ra8 22. g4 Be4 23. Qb2 Bxb4 { All in all it was an exciting game for whatI would like to thank for my opponent! Being a bit more aggressive probablythe result would have been the opposite! } 0-1

[Event "Simultaneous Exhibition, 1964"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Bobby Fischer"] [Black "Ojars Celle"] [Result "1-0"] { Celle puts up good resistance, but Fischer's relentless attack wears downhis defences. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 { Celle acceptsthe gambit Pawn. } 5. c3 Be7 6. d4 d6 { Avoiding PxP, which would completelyconcede the center. } 7. dxe5 Nxe5 8. Nxe5 dxe5 { So far, Celle has playedwell. He has not let Fischer seize a positional advantage or fallen toofar behind in development. } 9. Qh5 g6 10. Qxe5 Nf6 { Preparing to castle. } 11. Ba3 { One of the thematic moves of the Evans. Now Celle cannot castlewithout losing a piece. } 11... Rf8 { Unpinning the Knight. } 12. O-O Ng4 13. Qg3 { Celle decides to trade Bishops, trying to cut down the wood and ease hisdefesive task. } 13... Bxa3 14. Nxa3 Qe7 15. Bb5+ { Fischer tries to generate anattack on Celle's King, which is stuck in the center of the board. } 15... c6 16. Nc4 { Celle has a chance to simplify the position with 16... PxB 17N-Q6 ch K-Q1 [not 17... QxN??? 18 QxQ] 18 NxB KxN 19 QxN ch K-B2, but electsinstead to augment the guard on his advanced Knight. } 16... Qe6 17. Rad1 cxb5 { Now that Fischer controls the open file with his QR, he can afford tosacrifice this Knight to pressure Celle's King. } 18. Qc7 Bd7 19. Nd6+ Ke7 20. Nf5+ { Another sacrifice. But when mate is in the offing... } 20... gxf5 21. exf5 Rac8 { Trying to break the force of Fischer's attack. } 22. Rxd7+ Qxd7 23. f6+ Nxf6 { Celle is completely tied up. His material advantage is uselessto him. } 24. Re1+ Ne4 25. Rxe4+ { Fischer closes in for the kill. } 25... Kf6 26. Qxd7 Rfd8 27. Qg4 { Celle resigns. He has fought off the mate, but his materialand positional disadvantages render his position hopeless. Well done byFischer! [He had a mate in 5 with 27 R-B4 ch K-K4 28 R-B5 ch K-K5 29 P-B3ch K-K6 30 R-K5 ch K-B5 31 Q-B5 mate, but as this was a timed simul, hedecided to play a move that would end the game immediately with a resignation.] } 1-0

[Event "elwoos's Queen's Pawn Tourney"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.07.02"] [Round "-"] [White "elwoos"] [Black "gm_paz"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1610"] [TimeControl "9d+2d<15d"] [WhiteElo "1524"] 1. d4 { Another game from my Queen's pawn tournament against one of thestronger players in the tournament The analysis of this game can be foundat http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=13970651&rnd=0.5168563760817051 } 1... Nf6 2. e3 g6 3. Nf3 c5 { Starting position } 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 { Guarding thehole at e4 } 5... cxd4 { This move seems a little unwise to me as it relinquishessome control over the centre } 6. exd4 O-O 7. Be2 { Perhaps this move isa little premature, I am not under any pressure. Is Be3 or g5 better? } 7... d6 { Opening a line for his lsb though this is described by the computeranalysis as an innacuracy } 8. O-O { I decide to play safe } 8... Nc6 9. a3 { preparingfor a queen side pawn storm. Also preventing Nb4. } 9... Bg4 { Although this removesa defender from the d4 pawn it doesnt' seem that strong a move to me. Iwas expecting something like Bf5, followed later by Ne4 } 10. Be3 { Protectingthe pawn. At the moment I am quite happy with my dsb on the c1 h6 diagonal } 10... Rb8 { I guess here he is preparing to defend against a pawn storm } 11. b4 { As he is outnumbered in pawns I decide to go for it } 11... e6 { This was a bitof a suprise. I think black is playing a patient game, waiting for a mistakethat he can pounce on } 12. b5 { Continuing my push, black has limited optionsfor the knight and if I can get in a c5 it could be 3 of my pawns against2 of his. The analysis here suggests this is an inaccuracy and offersb3 as a better move. I had considered that but didn't want to disturb thepawns in front of my king needlessly } 12... Ne7 13. Rc1 Nf5 { threatening thed4 pawn } 14. Bf4 Nh5 { I need to be careful here as black is building astrong assault } 15. Bg5 f6 { I expected Bf6 } 16. Bd2 { Blacks queen is prettyrestricted. I had figured that he would want to bring it in to play yethis options are limited at the moment and the line of pawn he has fromg6-d6 could become a nice target } 16... Bxf3 { This move is pretty much forcedas I had the threat of h3, can I take advantage of the bishop pair? Theanalysis however calls this a mistake and suggests Bh6 } 17. Bxf3 Nxd4 18. Bxh5 { The analysis suggests that this is an inaccuracy and that g4 is better,however I again was reluctant to disturb the pawns in front of my kingand felt that this would weaken the black pawns } 18... gxh5 19. Qxh5 Nb3 20. Rcd1 { lining my rook up against the black queen } 20... Nxd2 21. Rxd2 Rc8 { Thismove pretty much forces me to do what I want to anyway The analysis suggestsf5 } 22. Qg4 { Blacks dsb is now pinned (not that he will want to move it) The analysis calls this a mistake, recommending Ne4 in preference } 22... f5 { Prevents Qxe6+ } 23. Qe2 { This blunders a piece } 23... Bxc3 24. Rd3 { The analysissuggests 24. Qxe6+ Kh8 25. Rxd6 Qe8 but I didn't see that at the time } 24... Be5 25. Rh3 { Looking to get my queen to h5 to threaten Qxh7 } 25... Qg5 { I haveserious doubts about this move if only because blacks rooks cannot getinto the play just yet to assist an attack, perhaps more importantly Istarted to look at how I might be able to pin the queen to the king withmy rook, however the computer analysis seems to not dislike this } 26. a4 { This was really a waiting move to see what black would try } 26... Rf7 { potentiallyremoving the chance of a queen pin } 27. f4 { however had something quiteagressive in mind. Note that the black dsb is no longer protecting againstthe pin } 27... Bd4+ 28. Kh1 Qg4 { This is a major blunder in my view, black islooking for the queen exchange, he has however forgotten about the pin The analysis suggests Qf6 } 29. Qxe6 { but first I wanted to make sure thatthe lack rook didn't get in the way. Looking at it now this seems uneccessary,however in the analysis the advantage swings significantly back in my favour } 29... Rc7 30. Rg3 { and there it is } 30... Qxg3 31. hxg3 { Looking at the position nowI felt I was in with a chance. Although the material imbalance isn't toogreat, black has three isolated pawns and his rooks are very limited inmobility, his best chance is to open the h file but he can't force that.I have doubled pawns though I don't feel they are a massive weakness andmy queen is nicely placed } 31... Bc5 { Prevents me from pushing my pawns too much } 32. g4 { I decided to offer a sacrifice so that I would have a passed pawn.This is risky as it reconnects blacks pawns } 32... fxg4 { The analysis callsthis a mistake and offers Rce7 which is one of the moves I had plannedfor } 33. f5 h5 34. Qg6+ Rg7 { black's h pawn is now doing me a favour aswithout it he would be threatening mate with Rh7 The analysis suggestedKf8 here } 35. Qe8+ { pushing the king away from my f pawn } 35... Kh7 36. f6 { Opensthe b1-h7 diagonal for my queen to use. This will also limit the mobilityof the black king } 36... Rgf7 37. g3 { but before I do anything else I wantedto clear some space around my king to prevent black getting a rook to theh file } 37... Kg6 38. Qe4+ { I did consider Qg8 here but this move felt betterto me as there was little black could do to retaliate immediately } 38... Kg5 { The analysis calls this a blunder and suggests mate in 14!! I will asthey say leave that as an excercise for the reader } 39. Qf5+ Kh6 { Blacksking is now totally immobile and there is little defence that can be broughtin to play } 40. Kg2 { Looking for Rh1, blacks best defence could be Rg7 } 40... Bb4 41. Rh1 { Thanks to gm_paz for a very enjoyable game. Thanks for readingplease feel free to comment } 1-0

[Event "Dana vs Freddy - Demolition Derby Attack"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.07.19"] [Round "-"] [White "oddodddodo"] [Black "easy19"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "2269"] [TimeControl "10 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1200"] 1. e4 { Freddy invited me to Gameknot to play some games in the BryntseGambit (or to use the name he made up, the Demolition Derby Attack). Igave a lecture on this variation at ChessLecture.com, called 'Nuke theSicilian! How to Sac Your Queen on Move Six and Win.' This game is absolutelya wonderful example of how the attack should go -- but just when you thinkWhite is going to win, Freddy plays some great defensive moves and escapeswith a draw. I would like to see some comments on where I went wrong. Move41? 43? 44? } 1... c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Qxg4 Nxg4 7. Bxf7+ Kd7 8. Be6+ { The 'tabiyah' position, and the starting point forour game. } 8... Kc6 9. Bxg4 e6 { Probably best. Other alternatives are 9. ...Qd4 and 9. ... Qd6, but Black's biggest problem is lack of development.Note that 9. ... e5? is dubious because of 10. Nf7 Qh4+ 11. g3 Qxg4?? 12.Ne5+ -- the first and most basic trap in the 'Demolition Derby Attack.' } 10. Nc3 Na6 11. a3 { So far following Mackenzie-Pruess, Reno 2006. } 11... Qd4 { Freddy's novelty. Pruess played 11. ... Bd6 here, and in my many gamesagainst Fritz the computer played 11. ... Qf6 every time. Freddy's movelooks much more assertive, and so I had to figure out why the computerdoesn't like it. } 12. Nxe6 { I looked at seven (!) candidate moves: N3xe4,d3, Nxe6, Bxe6, N5xe4, Ne2, and Nf7. I decided on this for two reasons.First, I really don't like having the queen in my face, and second, thisseemed like the only way to profit from Black's playing ... Qd4 insteadof ... Qf6. } 12... Qd7 { This was a surprise, and I realized now that I had beena little too superficial in my analysis on the previous move. I had expected12. ... Qf6, when White can gain a key tempo after 13. O-O Re8 14. Nxe4.If 14. ... Qg6 15. N6g5! with two key points: 15. ... h6? 16. f5 trappingthe queen, or 14. ... Rxe4 15. Bf3 winning the exchange. The point of12. ... Qd7 is to not allow White to win a tempo with Nxe4, so now 13.... Re8 becomes a serious threat. } 13. d4 { My first inclination was toplay 13. Bh3, which I still think is okay for White. Then I started lookingat this move, almost as a joke, and realized it was no joke! If Black takeseither way, White gets lots and lots of piece activity, which is what theopening is all about. If he declines the pawn then White just gets a greatbind after d5. } 13... exd3 { If instead 13. ... cxd4, then 14. Ne2 threatensN6xd4+, winning Black's queen. } 14. Bf3+ Kb6 { A little bit of a surpriseto me, but 14. ... Kd6 15. Ne4+ Ke7 16. f5 also looks really good for White,with all of his pieces participating in the attack. After 14. ... Kb6 theposition takes on a very forcing character, as White gets a long seriesof checks. } 15. Nd5+ Kb5 16. Nc3+ { An interesting moment psychologically.I had not yet worked out how White gets an advantage after c4+, and soI decided to play this move to see if I could tempt Black into either ...Ka5 or ... Kc4. On 16. ... Ka5 I was planning the spectacular line 17.b4+ cb 18. ab+ Kxb4 19. Nd5+ Kb5 20. Rxa6!?! ba 21. N6c7+, with amazingcomplications. Believe it or not, there is a good chance that Black willget mated on a1. However, Freddy indicates that he is willing to playfor a draw by repetition. Interestingly, at this point he still thoughtthat Black would have the advantage if White doesn't go for the draw. } 16... Kb6 17. Nd5+ Kb5 18. c4+ { A key point in the game. I think that 18. f5is too slow, and 18. Nxf8 opens the position up too much. Even now I hadnot fully worked out the point of 18. c4+ -- but it just seemed like White'sonly try for an advantage. } 18... Kxc4 19. Ne3+ Kb5 20. a4+ { The next key point.When I played 18. c4+, my intention here was to play 20. Bd5. But thisgives Black an important tempo to play 20. ... Nc7! Now on 21. a4+ Kb6!22. Nc4+ Ka6! 23. Ne5 Qxe6! 24. Bxe6 Nxe6, Black has successfully fendedoff the White attack. Black is a pawn up, but more importantly Black candevelop very naturally. White will win the pawn back but the best he canhope for is equality, and maybe even a slight disadvantage. However, thisline showed me that it was very important for White to try to get the knightto e5. I therefore thought about 21. Nxc7 Qxc7 22. Qxc7 23. a4+ Kb6 24.Nc4+ Ka6 25. Ne5, which gets the knight to e5 without allowing a queensac for two pieces. I could not reach a clear assessment after 25. ...Qd6 26. Be3 d2+! Nevertheless, as I sat down in front of the computerI was planning to enter the move 20. Bd5, but then I said, 'Wait a minute,what about ...?' All that analysis of 20. Bd5 turned out to be wastedeffort, except for one thing -- it showed me the importance of gettingthe knight to e5. } 20... Ka5 { Forced, as 20. ... Kb6 21. Nc4+ is mate, and 20.... Kb4 21. Bd2+ Kb3 22. Bd5+ forces Black to give up his queen (for onlyONE piece) to stop mate. } 21. Nc4+ Kb4 22. Ne5 { This is the point I suddenlyrealized on move 20 when I was sitting at the computer. Ironically, I hadgotten to the position after 21. ... Kb4 previously in my analysis, andconcluded there was no way White could play this line. He has two piecesen prise and he can't defend them both. It was only several hours laterthat I came back to this move and realized White doesn't HAVE to defendthem both! } 22... Qxe6 { Poor Freddy doesn't have much choice about any of hismoves during this part of the game. } 23. Bd2+ Kb3 24. Bc3 { Threatening25. Bd1 mate. If 24. ... Nb4 25. Ra3+ Kc2 26. Bd1+ Kb1 27. Kd2 with matenext move. 24. ... d2+ is a possibility, but after 25. Kf2 Black will stillhave to give up his queen, plus the pawn on d2 is now a sitting duck. Freddydecides to give up the queen immediately, perhaps hoping that he mightbe able to hold onto the d3 pawn. } 24... Qxe5+ 25. fxe5 { With both queens offthe board, you might expect the position to get simpler. But you wouldbe wrong! Black's king remains nearly (but not quite) in a mating net,and one wrong step could mean his rapid demise. } 25... Be7 { (!) So far Whitehas had most of the fun, but here Black plays an excellent move. I hadassumed Black would play ... Rd8 or ... Nb4 because of the potential forkon b7, but those moves lose quickly to Ra3+ and Kd2, threatening b3 mate.25. ... Be7 prevents White from carrying out that plan because of the checkon g5. Freddy is not concerned about 26. Bxb7 -- he may have to sac theexchange, but he gets a tremendous initiative with his knight, his bishop,his rook, and his pawn on d3. Meanwhile, White gives up his best piece,the bishop on f3. NO DEAL! } 26. Kd2 Bg5+ 27. Kxd3 { (Reply to Ionadowman)I briefly thought that 26. Bd5+ c4 27. Bf3 was the solution, particularlyin view of the exquisite variation 27. ... Nb4? 28. Ra3+ Kc2 29. O-O Bc5+(Black can throw this check in or not, it doesn't matter) 30. Kh1 Rhf8.It looks as if Black has wriggled out, but now comes the rook sac 31. Rc1+!!Kxc1 32. Ra1+ Kc2 33. Bd1 mate. Unfortunately, there are two flaws. First,26. ... c4 is not forced; Black can try 26. ... Kc2 and I couldn't finda clear win. Second, instead of 27. ... Nb4 Black can play 27. ... d2+28. Kxd2 Rad8+ 29. Kc1 Rhf8. You're right that Black has to sac the exchange,but look at the awesome compensation he gets after (say) 30. Bd1+ Rxd131. Rxd1 Rf2. How will White ever activate his pieces? This move was whenI started realizing that this was not going to be an easy win. There arelots of exchange sacs that give Black tons of counterplay. Thus, I alsohad to reject 26. Bxb7? Nb4! 27. Bxa8 Nc2+ because Black's pieces justtake over the board. Although risky, 26. Kd2 was the most consistent withWhite's principles for playing this opening, because it keeps the coordinationof the pieces (keeping the two bishops on the board, connecting White'srooks, and even using the king as a fighting piece) and keeps mating threatsalive. The fact that it also eliminates Black's potentially dangerous pawnon d3 is a nice bonus. } 27... Rhd8+ { This move surprised me a bit. I thoughtthat Black's best try was 27. ... Rad8+ 28. Ke4 Rhf8, when all of a suddenWhite's king is very uncomfortable! My intention was to continue Bd1+,Be2+, and Rf1. Black has, of course, many opportunities to go wrong. Myfavorite mistaken variation was 27. ... Rad8+ 28. Ke4 Nb4? 29. Bd1+ Kc430. Ra3 (threatening Bb3 mate) Rxd1 31. Rxd1 Nc2 (it looks as if Whitehas overlooked this shot, winning back the exchange) 32. Rd3!! (but no!White sacs a whole rook instead) 32. ... Nxa3 33. Be1!! and there is nodefense to b3 mate. This is the way I was hoping the game would end. } 28. Ke4 Rd4+ 29. Bxd4 { A big decision. Freddy thought 29. Kf5 was more principled(according to my ChessLecture on this variation, where I admonish White'Don't cash in too early'). However, I thought that after 29. Kf5 Be3 Black'srooks would start getting really dangerous, and I would probably have toaccept the exchange sacrifice anyway. The other reason I took immediatelywas that I was able to work out a long tactical variation that led to abetter endgame. } 29... cxd4 30. Kxd4 Rd8+ 31. Bd5+ Kc2 { Notice that 31. ... Kxb2??would lead to instant checkmate with 32. Ra2+! The mating threats neverseem to stop in this game. The b-pawn seems to have a charmed life, andWhite immediately takes advantage of it with his next move. } 32. Ra3 { (!)The key move. White seems to ignore the threats of ... Nc7 or ... Nb4. } 32... Bd2 { If 32. ... Nb4 33. Rc3+! Kd3 34. Kc4. Now if 34. ... Nxd5 35. Rd3+and White recovers the piece. It's wonderful how White makes Black's kingdance around into all the wrong places! Alternatively, if 34. ... Rxd535. Kxb4 Rxe5 36. Kb3, I judged this exchange-up endgame to be a win forWhite, although it might take a while. } 33. Rc3+ { (!) White had to seethis resource back on move 29, otherwise the whole line would be unplayable. } 33... Bxc3+ { Another amazing line happens if Black declines the exchange with33. ... Kxb2. Then White plays 34. Rb3+ Kc2 35. Rhb1! and threatens matewith R3b2! Again, this had to be foreseen back on move 29. Black's onlydefense is to play 35. ... Be3+ (or 35. ... Bc3+, it doesn't matter) 36.Rxe3 Kxb1 37. Rb3+ followed by Rxb7. This ending is completely winningfor White, as the bishop and rook dominate the knight. } 34. bxc3 Nc7 35. c4 { The b-pawn, after surviving by some miracle and turning into a c-pawn,now comes along and rescues White's bishop in distress. } 35... Ne6+ 36. Ke3 Nc5 { This is roughly where I stopped in my analysis on move 29, and thoughtthat White was probably winning. But it is much harder than I thought itwas. White's pawns, even though they look imposing, are rather shaky. Andif Black can win the pawn on a4 and start pushing his a-pawn, it couldbe rather hard for White to defend. } 37. Rf1 { White ignores the a-pawnfor now, and just improves the position of his pieces. The seventh rankbeckons, where there are several tasty pawns for White's rook to munch. } 37... Kc3 { Another beautiful variation: If 37. ... Re8, attacking the e5 pawn,White plays 38. Rf7 anyway! The point is 38. ... Rxe5+? 39. Kd4! Nd3 40.Be4 winning the knight. Even though the mating threats have finally goneaway, the position of Black's king is still a problem! Freddy says, 'Enoughalready,' and moves to reunite his king with the rest of his army. } 38. Rf7 Re8 39. Kf4 Kd4 40. Rxg7 h6 41. Kf5 { Up to this point I don't thinkI have made any significant mistakes. However, 41. Kf5 may be my firsterror. I really wanted to keep my rook on the seventh rank, and I thoughtthat I would just walk my king into g6 and win his rook pawn. However,it isn't so easy, and so now I wonder if I gave up on 41. Rh7 too easily.After all, it *does* give me connected passed pawns on the kingside, evenif it misplaces my rook a little bit. } 41... Rxe5+ 42. Kg6 h5 43. Bxb7 { Thiswas a painful decision, because I really liked White's battery of bishopand pawn on d5 and c4. The trouble was that on my intended move 43. Rh7,Black has the spectacular resource 43. ... a5 44. Rxh5 Rxh5 45. Kxh5 b5!!If 46. ab White's bishop can never stop the a-pawn. If 46. cb Kxd4 it looksto me as if Black has time to take on a4 and then bring his knight to thequeenside. So I had to look for a new plan, and I finally decided on thisone. There were too many lines where Black's move ... b7-b5 was a key idea,so I decided that getting rid of the b-pawn was the right thing to do.I spent a long time also looking at 43. h3 and 43. h4, but I was not convincedthat either of them was a win. } 43... a5 44. Bd5 { The main alternative for Whiteis 44. Bf3. I regret to say I did not spend enough time looking at thismove, because 44. Bd5 seemed to be completely winning to me. I should haverealized that Freddy had one more trick up his sleeve! } 44... Nxa4 45. Ra7 { Drawoffered and accepted. Only after Freddy played 44. ... Nxa4 did I see hispoint: If 45. Ra7 Nb6! 46. Rxa5 Nxc4! White has to give up his bishop.47. Ra7 may be okay for White, but I was going to play 47. Rb5 Nd6 48.Rb4+ (not 48. Ra5? Ne4 followed by 49. ... Nc3 and Black probably wins)48. ... Kxd5 49. Rh4. Black cannot save his h-pawn, and the endgame R +2P versus R + N should be a draw. Interestingly, Freddy thought that 45.Ra7 Nb6 46. Bf7! would still be better for White, though he thought hecould hold a draw. I believe that he missed the response 46. ... Rc5! Theidea of this move is simply to set up ... Nxc4, which was not playableright away. It's hard to see any way for White to make progress. For example,after 47. h4 Nxc4 48. Kh6 Ne3 49. Bxh5 Nxg2 Black wins both kingside pawnsand probably has a won game. In view of this line I was happy to havethe alternative of taking Black's last two pawns and bailing out into adraw. } 1/2-1/2

[Event "Get a pawn up and trade off until you win."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.07.22"] [Round "-"] [White "chuckbo"] [Black "phenomenal"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1988"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1973"] 1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e4 5. Ne5 Nxe5 6. Bxe5 d5 7. c4 { Thisis a new idea for me here. I always have trouble with the pawn on e5, soI'll offer the pawn on c4 to weaken it protection. If she trades, I'llplay Nc3 and offer another pawn. After I recapture axb3, the rook'll comeout on a4and I'll eventually trade the B for the N on f6. } 7... Bd6 8. Bxf6 { Yeah, I hate trading that dark B for her knight. But e4 is where the actionwill be, so I'll trade a piece that can't attack e4 for one that can. } 8... Qxf6 9. Nc3 Qg6 { Now that's an interesting move. I've got the feeling she'splanning something very sneaky. Does she expect me to capture with theknight, and then I have to take another move to retreat it after she playsc6? And my bishop is stuck on f1 until I play g3. So I think I'll takewith the pawn, instead, and see what she has planned. } 10. cxd5 O-O 11. g3 Bg4 12. Be2 Bh3 { I don't think I'll ever get to castle kingside. Mustbe time to consider going the other direction, unless I really want tostay in the middle all game. } 13. Qc2 Rfe8 14. f4 Qh6 { I can't play Nxe4because she would get to play Bg2. Even after I trade my knight for herbishop, I think I'd have to give up my rook. I think I'll play Kf2 firstto protect that square. I don't feel like my king is out in the open onf2. The black squares are well guarded, and my bishop protects all of thewhite holes. I'd be a lot more reluctant to do that if she still had aknight that she could put on g4. } 15. Kf2 Qg6 16. Rac1 Qf5 17. d3 exd3 18. Bxd3 Qh5 19. Be2 Qh6 20. Nb5 Re7 21. Nxd6 cxd6 22. e4 f5 23. exf5 Rae8 24. Bd3 Qh5 25. Rhe1 Bxf5 26. h4 Rxe1 27. Rxe1 { I'm a pawn ahead, so I'mhappy to trade pieces. } 27... Rc8 28. Qd2 { I looked a long time at Qd1, but I'mafraid it leads to a perpetual check. We trade queens and then bishops,and then he gets to play Rc2+. My king has to go to f3 so he can't threatenmy pawn on g3. After Rxa2, I play Rc3 to get the open file, and I'm goingto get a pawn back and go ahead again. But at some point, that rook willbe checking my king back and forth, and I can't get away unless I'm willingto go to h3 and hide behind the pawn on g3. (Actually, I just thought ofthat while I'm typing this note and I didn't look at that line ... toolate now.) } 28... b6 29. Re7 { I love getting a rook to the 7th rank. } 29... Bxd3 30. Qxd3 Rc5 31. Rxa7 Qxd5 32. Qxd5+ Rxd5 { I've got the pawn lead, so I wantto trade off the big pieces. I've got my rook behind his pawns, and Iwant to keep his rook off of his 7th rank. } 33. Ke3 Rc5 34. Kd4 { Now, myking's far enough advanced that I don't think it'll hurt me if he goesto the 7th rank. I'm going to make a passed pawn on the queenside -- probablythe b-pawn, and I can use my king to guide it in and the rook to keep hisking from reaching it. } 34... Rc2 35. Ra6 Rg2 36. Rxb6 Rxa2 37. Rxd6 Rb2 38. Kc3 Ra2 39. Rd3 { This rook will keep his king from stopping my pawn. } 39... Kf7 40. b4 Ke6 41. b5 1-0

[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "1997"] [Round "-"] [White "Johansson "] [Black "Hernback"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1200"] [TimeControl "???"] [WhiteElo "1200"] 1. d4 f5 { The Dutch Defense. } 2. h3 { A Strange move But It Requires attention. } 2... Nf6 { The Modern Move In The Dutch Defense. } 3. g4 fxg4 { Pawn Exchange. } 4. hxg4 { White accepts } 4... Nxg4 5. Qd3 Nf6 { ??Black blundered...... } 6. Rxh7 { Black Resigned.If The Rook or Knight Captures The Rook Then Qg6#.ThanksFor watching The Annotated game.Be Back Soon.Bye. } 1-0

[Event "So many pieces en prise!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.11.18"] [Round "-"] [White "ionadowman"] [Black "jstevens1"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1790"] [TimeControl "7d+2d<7d"] [WhiteElo "2115"] 1. e4 { Hi everyone! Here is my return match against Coach Ion in theTraxler MT. I will be annotating that one two but this one is quite fascinatingbecause although I lost this match there were so many pieces on both sidesthat were en prise! This will be a good lesson in tactics to us all, includingmyself, The Beginner. Here is the link to the game which has GameknotAnalysis:-http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=14875035&fb=1&rnd=0.8882096860666713 I will start the commentary on Move 5. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Nxf7 Bxf2+ { 5. ...... Bxf2+ - this has become the standard responseto the knight fork. Both Qe7 and Nxe4 (sacrificing the queen) have beentried in the Gameknot DB. Qe7 has transposed back into the main line however. } 6. Kf1 Qe7 7. Nxh8 d5 { 7. ....... d5 - another standard move, opening upthe diagonal of Fou Leblanc. } 8. exd5 Nd4 9. d6 cxd6 10. c3 Bg4 { 10.....Bg4 - attacks the Wicked Witch of the West who in turn feasts her glareupon Henry next move with Qa4+. } 11. Qa4+ Nd7 12. Nf7 { 12. ...... Nf7 -that pesky, rook stealing knight extricates himself from the corner. } 12... b5 { 12. ...... b5 - this move is a break from the db but it does not work. } 13. Qa3 Nc2 14. Nxd6+ Kf8 15. Nc8 { 15. Nc8 - this is getting sooo drole- trouble is I have more pieces en prise than The Coach, sigh and doublesigh! There is nothing better than to trade queens as Glenda is pinnedand twice attacked. } 15... Qxa3 16. Nxa3 Nxa1 17. Kxf2 bxc4 18. Nd6 { 18. Nd6- maybe instead of trading Glenda I should have played RxN allowing QxQ+and then grab the rook in the corner. Do you the Inquest Jury agree? } 18... Nb6 19. Ndxc4 Nxc4 20. Nxc4 Be6 21. Nxe5 { 21. Nxe5 - I knew that my e pawnwas gonna fall so I thought I would trade it. But my minor pieces becometrapped on the queenside. } 21... Bxa2 22. d4 Bb3 { 22. ..... Bb3 - wrong piecemethinks. In retro the knight should have gone to this square. } 23. Bg5 Nc2 24. Nd7+ Kf7 25. Nc5 Rb8 26. Rc1 { 26. Rc1 - after a lot of clever manoeuvre,Ion will now remove my knight after NxB, RxN then RxN leaving me 5 pointsdown on material with no counterplay whatsoever so I waved the white flaghere. Well played, Ion! } 1-0

[Event "Chess Olympiad (Final Group A), Skopje 1972"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Viktor Korchnoi"] [Black "Victor Ciocaltea"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "Rumania"] [WhiteElo "Soviet Union"] { Korchnoi himself supplied an annotation of this game for the chess magazine'64', which was translated into English by Andrew Whiteley. All notes belowpreceded by (VK) are Korchnoi's own. All notes preceded by (TH) are mine.Enjoy the game. -- TheHellion } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O { (TH) All book so far. This was the final round of the 'A' final of theOlympiad, and with the Soviet Union leading Hungary by a slim 1/2 pointentering the round, draws wouldn't do. The Russians had to play to win.Bear this in mind as the game progresses. } 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Bg4 { (VK) At the Olympiad at Lugano in 1968 Ciocaltea played against me7... P-QR3 8 P-KR3 R-N1 9 B-K3 P-QN4 but lost without a struggle. Thistime he follows a different path. } 8. d5 Na5 { (VK) It is well known thatafter 8... BxN 9 PxB White has a clear advantage. } 9. b3 c5 { (VK) Of courseBlack cannot play 9... NxQP 10 NxN BxR 11 B-Q2 (or 11 B-R6) with advantageto White. But 9... P-B3 is interesting. } 10. Bb2 a6 11. Nd2 Rb8 12. Qc2 b5 13. Rfe1 { (VK) Even more energetic was 13 QR-K1. } 13... Qc7 14. Nd1 Rb7 { (VK)The right move was 14... P-K4. By playing the rook to N2 Black loses thepossibility of active play in the center and finds himself in a difficultposition. } 15. Bc3 Rfb8 16. f4 bxc4 17. bxc4 Ne8 18. Nf2 Bd7 19. Nd3 Ra7 { (VK) Black's Rooks can acheive nothing on the QN file as White's minorpieces control all points of entry. } 20. Bxg7 { (VK) After 20 P-K4 I thought20... B-Q5 ch followed by 21... P-K4 would be unpleasant. } 20... Nxg7 21. Qc3 { (VK) But now 21 P-K4 was worth considering. } 21... Nb7 { (VK) Better was 21...N-B4 22 P-K3 N-QN2, slowing down White's attack as it is no easy task todislodge the Knight from KB4. } 22. e4 Qa5 23. Qb2 Raa8 { (VK) This Rookhas taken 4 moves to return to its original square. This proves that Black'sopening strategy must have been wrong! } 24. Nb3 Qd8 { (VK) The Queen wouldhave been badly placed on R5, but better was 24... Q-B2. } 25. Qc3 a5 26. a4 { (VK) A critical move. White reduces Black's counterplay on the Q sideat the price of putting this Pawn on a square where it is weak. } 26... Qc7 { (VK)After 26... Q-K1 27 P-K5 BxP 28 N-Q2 N-B4 29 N-K4 White loses a Pawn butgets very powerful play in the center of the board. } 27. Nd2 Nd8 28. h3 { (VK) Black is cramped and cannot undertake anything active on either sideof the board. White has no quick way of realizing his advantage. At theboard I thought at first that it would be best to exchange a pair of Rooksand the prepare for the advance P-K5 supported by minor pieces. Anotherplan, recommented by Tigran Petrosian, is worth considering: B-B3, B-Q1,B-B2, N-KB1, N-K3 followed by either P-K5 or P-B5. But in the heat ofthe last round I opted for an energetic (and premature!) advance in thecenter and on the K side. It is worth mentioning that after 28 B-B3(threatening 29 P-N4) 28... P-R4, 29 P-B5 really would have been strong. (TH) Here is where the having to play to win comes in. If this matchhad been in any earlier round, Korchnoi would undoubtedly have played aslower but sure win by constriction strategy, with his enormous advantagein space. } 28... h5 29. f5 gxf5 30. e5 Ra7 31. Nf4 Rab7 { (VK) A mistake. After31... PxP 32 RxP Q-Q3 it would be very difficult for White to penetrateBlack's defenses and his own position would be rather precarious. } 32. e6 fxe6 { (VK) This time 32... B-K1 was best. Now White's attack is irresistible. } 33. dxe6 Bc6 34. Bd5 Rb2 35. Rf1 Qb7 { (VK) The final mistake. 35... B-K1was necessary. } 36. Nxh5 Nxh5 37. Rxf5 Nf6 38. Rg5+ Kh8 { (VK) If 38...K-R2, 39 Q-Q3 ch. Or if 38.. K-B1, 39 R-KB1 RxN 40 RxN ch PxR 41 QxBP chQ-KB2 (41... N-B2 42 Q-N7 ch) 42 P-K7 ch and mates. } 39. Rf1 Rxd2 40. Qxd2 { (VK) Better than 40 RxN Q-N8 ch 41 R-B1 dis ch R-Q5 and Black is stillfighting. (TH) Ciocaltea resigned here. Korchnoi's win helped the Russianteam score 3 out of a possible 4 points in the final round, while Hungarywas held to a 2-2 draw by West Germany and finished 1 1/2 points back,in 2nd place. } 1-0

[Event "Chester-le-Street chess congress 2016"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Walker, David J"] [Black "Kolodiy, Yaroslav"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "170"] [TimeControl "100 min for 40 moves + 20 min for the rest of the game"] [WhiteElo "218"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e5 3. Bg2 Bc5 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. O-O Re8 7. d3 h6 8. a3 a5 9. e3 d6 10. b3 Bg4 11. h3 Bh5 12. Bb2 e4 13. dxe4 Nxe4 14. Nxe4 Rxe4 15. Qd5 Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Re8 17. Qd1 Qg5 { Inaccuracy. Best move accordingto engine was 17... Ne5 18. Bxb7 Rb8 19. Bd5 Qd7 20. Bc3 Qxh3 21. Bg2 Qg422. Bxa5 Qxd1 23. Rfxd1 Rxb3 24. Bxc7 according to lichess.org } 18. Kh2 Rab8 19. Qc2 Ne5 20. Bg2 Qg6 21. Qxg6 Nxg6 22. Rfd1 Ne5 23. Bc3 Bb6 24. Bf1 Nf3+ 25. Kg2 Ng5 26. Bd3 Ne4 27. Be1 Ra8 28. Bc2 g6 29. g4 Kh7 30. Rd5 Nf6 31. Rdd1 Ne4 32. Rac1 Rad8 { Terrible mistake in time-trouble. Bestmove was 32... Ng5 33. Bc3 Ne4 34. Bxe4 Rxe4 35. Kf3 Ree8 36. h4 Bc5 accordingto lichess.org } 33. b4 { Terrible mistake. White was winning two pawns anda game after 33. Bxe4 Rxe4 34. c5! Ba7 35. Bxa5 according to lichess.org } 33... axb4 34. axb4 Ng5 35. Bb3 Ne4 36. Ba4 c6 37. Bc2 Ng5 38. Bc3 Ne4 39. Bxe4 Rxe4 40. Bf6 Rd7 41. Kf3 Re6 42. Bd4 Bxd4 { Black offered a draw, whichwas rejected. } 43. Rxd4 Kg7 44. c5 { Inaccuracy. Best move was 44... d5according to lichess.org } 44... Rf6+ 45. Ke2 d5 46. Ra1 Re6 47. Ra8 Rde7 48. Rb8 Re4 49. Kd3 f5 50. gxf5 gxf5 51. Kc3 Kg6 52. Rd1 { Mistake. Best movewas 52. b5 Rxd4 53. exd4 f4 54. Kb4 h5 55. Ka5 cxb5 56. Kxb5 Kf5 57. Kb6Re2 58. Rf8+ Ke4 according to lichess.org } 52... f4 53. exf4 Rc4+ 54. Kb3 Rxf4 55. Rd2 Rf3+ 56. Ka4 Rxh3 57. Ka5 { Terrible blunder with less than 5 minuteson the clock. } 57... Ra3+ { White resigned in view of Ra6# } 0-1

[Event "ipsissimus's Evaluation Tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.07.31"] [Round "-"] [White "ptitroque"] [Black "rakbeater"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1639"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1890"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 { Scotch } 3... exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 { one ofthe most efficient lines for black } 6. c3 Qg6 { puting pressure on e4 } 7. Nd2 { Defending e4 } 7... Nge7 8. g3 b6 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. O-O { Fianchoto built, white'sdeveloppement is completed. } 10... Ne5 { To menace e4 with the LSB } 11. Qc2 { defendinge4 and joining the rooks } 11... O-O-O { Probably a strategical mistake, blac shouldhave castled short as white has strong attacking possibilities on the queenside: he'll be dangerous quicker than black } 12. b4 { To fire the bishop offthe long diagonal and advance toward the king. } 12... Bd6 13. Qa4 { attackingthe kingside. White has developpement advance and controls more space (havingsome control on 41 squares against 36 for black. } 13... Kb8 14. Nb5 { White increasesthe pressure on the fiancheto } 14... a6 { weakening the king but black had littleothe choice } 15. Nxd6 { To eliminate one defender of the black king. } 15... Qxd6 16. c4 { advancing toward the king. } 16... Qc6 { menacing c4 and an attack on thelong diagonal. } 17. Qb3 { Defending c4, setting the queen in front of theblack king and making place for an advanc of the a pawn. } 17... f5 { White cannottake but this move is of little advantage for black. 17. Ng6 might havebeen better } 18. a4 { reinforcing the attack. } 18... g5 { mistake } 19. Bxg5 { menacingthe e knight. } 19... Rde8 20. b5 { The assault begins } 20... Qg6 { The menace on g2 isover. } 21. Bf4 { menacing the knight so that black has to defend it andsetting the bishop on the black king's diagonal } 21... Ng4 { It provides somecountergame but the knight is far away of the black king. 21. f7 wouldhave been better (to allow a further Nd6 or Nd8). } 22. bxa6 { Now white'sattack cannot be stopped. } 22... Bxa6 23. a5 Bb7 24. axb6 { Menacing 25. Bxc7+or 25. exf5 or 25 bxc7 Kc8 26. Ra8+ Bxe8 27. Qb8 mate. } 24... Qxb6 { Blunder butthe game was anyway lost for black. } 25. Qxb6 { mate in 4. : 25. ... d626. Bxd6 cxd6 27. Rfb1 Kc8 28. Ra8+ Bxe8 29. Qxb8 mate. The main mistakefrom Rakbeater is probably strategical : long castle and underestimatingwhite's attacking possibilities on the queenside. } 1-0