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[Event "muek54's mini-tournament IX"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.05.25"] [Round "-"] [White "pilou"] [Black "dsb13"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1959"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1905"] { As with my other annotations, I would ask that anybody who reads thisgives it a mark so I know how many people have actually read it. Pilouand I are team mates on the Caissa team but found ourselves playing eachother in this mini-tournament. In the first game JP blundered into a matewhen trying to beat off a direct king-side attack. With colours reversed,pride at stake, and aware of my hack and slash tendencies, he went foran unusual opening designed to make my life difficult. A number of interestingthemes emerge... } 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 { I still can't believe that this isWhite's best line, but it avoids the main theory of 2. e5 and the obscurepositions that occur. } 2... d5 3. d4 { I'm not sure whether this is !? or ?!- White gives up a pawn to change the style of the game. The positionis akin to a Veresov (1. d4 d5 2. Nc3) or potentially, a French Defence. Black's pawn on e4 can only be defended at the cost of a weaknesses ate6 and/or d6 in the event of ... f5 and White gets some open lines. } 3... Nxe4 { Probably better than 3. dxe4 where White can look to play Bg5 to pressurizethe Nf6 in due course. } 4. Nxe4 dxe4 5. Bf4 Bd7 { The GK computer says thatthis is inaccurate and suggests 5. Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. Qc2 f5 7. Nh3 Bd6 8.0-0-0 0-0 9. Be2 Bd7 10. d5 as +0.87 for Black. Personally, I think thatWhite has good compensation for his pawn in this line. His king is safe,his pieces are freer and he has f3 and g4 to prise open the K-side. 5.Bd7 is flexible and looks at playing ... e6 and .. c5, whilst keeping aneye on Bb5 threats in the event of ... Nc6. The computer thinks that 6.Qh5 e6 6. 0-0-0 Bd6 is pretty equal. } 6. Bc4 e6 7. a3 { Is this a wasteof tempo? 7. Qe2 Bd6 8. Nh3 0-0 9. 0-0-0 Re8 10. Re1 Bc6 11. d5 couldleave Black's K-side a little fragile and there is the option of recapturingon e4 at moves 9/10 etc if White fancies it. For my part, I was thinkingabout ... b5 (which Qe2 would have prevented) but I'd probably have gonewith 7. ... Bd7-c6-d5 and ... c5 to hold the pawn and to compete in thecentre. I don't see that Black needs to rush to 0-0 in this position -he can always 0-0-0 instead. } 7... c5 { It seems sensible to attack the centreat this stage, before playing ... Nc6 although the computer suggests 6.... Bd6 7. Qg4 0-0 8. Bg5 f6 9. Bxe6+ as the best line for Black. My personalrule is that if White can get away with playing Qg4, you probably don'twant to be meeting it with 0-0. I'll go with 6. ... c5 thanks. } 8. Ne2 { 8. f3 exf3 9. Nxf3 looks more in keeping with White's plan for an attack,although there's nothing wrong with this move. } 8... Nc6 9. dxc5 { White givesup what remains of his centre but does he really want an isolated pawnon d4? } 9... Bxc5 10. b4 Bb6 11. O-O { White's development is almost complete,he has a pawn majority (and space) on the Q-side and the e4 pawn is a littleisolated. 11. ... 0-0 simply moves the king away from his minor pieces,whilst d6 is already looking somewhat weak. Perhaps 10. ... Be7, controllingd6, is better, but it looks rather passive and the Bd7 isn't going anywhere. } 11... f5 { If this looks cavalier, it's based on some relatively sound dynamicprinciples. It defends e4 in the first instance, threatens ... g5 and... e5 followed by ... f4 and looks to utilise Black's K-side majorityas soon as possible. Granted, e6 is drafty, but I have a cunning plan. } 12. Qd2 { Stopping 12. ...g5 and threatening to double on the d-file. } 12... Qf6 { The computer thinks that 12. ... 0-0 13. Qd6 Re8 14. a4 Bc8 15. a5 isa better continuation. Any takers? } 13. Rad1 Bc8 { ! - The obvious squarereally. } 14. Qd6 { The obvious move, although 14. Bd6 might be stronger. Black can play 14. ... a5 according to the computer, although 14. ...g5demands consideration at this stage. Black's K-side pawn advance looksvery imposing. } 14... e5 { I really liked this move too. At a stroke, Blackfrees himself of the weaknesses at e6 and e5 and grabs a share of f4 andd4. The computer wants to grub around with 14. ... Kf7 which looks a bitgrotty, but the threat of ... Rd8 is actually rather difficult to meet. 15. Be3 Qe5 16. Qd2 Rd8 is, on the face of it good for Black, but I hadan extra pawn and wanted a phalanx, shoulder to shoulder, to advance onthe White king. At this stage, however, I'd be lying if I thought I wasbetter. Equality first as Black, then push on to win if you can. } 15. Qxf6 gxf6 16. Bh6 Ke7 { The position is, according to the computer, equal. Black's pawn apparently counts for nothing at all, but is that right? The Bh6 looks nice enough, but what if I can play ... f4!? Can Whiteforce a pawn through on the Q-side? } 17. Nc3 { White's only central squareis d5. } 17... Be6 18. Nd5+ Bxd5 { I'd rather keep my dark-squared bishop thanmy light-squared one. I have dreams of playing ... f4 or ... e3 at somepoint, but here and now I'll settle for equality. } 19. Bxd5 { Black's ina bit of a bind here. His pawns aren't going anywhere and his pieces aretied up. I can't use g8 and b7 is weak. How to solve the problems? } 19... Rhd8 20. c4 { White's pawns start to move, and the threat is 21. b5. 20. b5Nd4 hits c2, e2 and b5 and potentially forces 21. c4 when White has compromisedthe flexibility of his pawns and the Nd4 looks useful. Black might evenbe tempted to play Rxd5 and try to advance his pawns. At this stage,I wasn't particularly confident about the outcome. Black has an extrapawn, but it's doubled and White has the bishop pair. Can Black stop Whiteplaying 21. c5 and closing down his Q-side for good? I think White isactually better here, despite the nominal material difference. } 20... Rd7 21. c5 { So what's Black's next move? } 21... Rad8 { 21. ... Rad8! A zwischenzug, or'in-between' move. 21. ... Bc7 22. Bxc6 bxc6 23. Rxd7+ gives White lotsof compensation for his pawn - his Q-side pawns are up and running andmy pieces are passive. Now, suddenly, the tables are turned. White hasto go backwards at this point. 22. cxb6 Rxd5 23. Rxd5 Rxd5 24. bxa7 Nxa7and White's pawns go nowhere. Suddenly, I felt as if I might survive onthe Q-side and take advantage. Firstly, though, I wanted to get the rooksoff because I thought that would minimise White's winning chances and giveme the best chance in the endgame. } 22. Bb3 Rxd1 { 22. ... Bc7 is supposedto be stronger according the GK analysis, but is too messy for my liking. Here, I get rid of the rooks and use my endgame technique. } 23. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 24. Bxd1 Bd8 { Now we have an interesting endgame. This is one of thosepositions where it's worth stopping and looking at it. White's pawns aremore advanced, but Black's king can get there first. The Bh6 could finditself trapped if it's not careful and the Nc6 can hop into d4 where itdominates the board. Much as I like the visceral thrill of a direct attackon the king, this is a tense, dynamic position. } 25. f4 { White blinksfirst. Giving Black a passed pawn can only end in trouble, although thealternative sees Black play ... a5 and (if necessary) ... b6 to neutralisethe Q-side. White can pick up the h7 pawn but at a cost. 25. Bb3 a5 26.bxa5 Bxa5 27. Bg8 Kd7 28. h4 Bd8 30. Bf8 Be7 31. Bxe7 Kxe7 32. h5 Kf7 isthe line suggested by the computer as best for White, albeit practicallyequal. } 25... Kf7 { 25. ... Bc7 is likely to be met by 26. fxe5 Bxe5 27. g4 Bd4+28. Kg2 Ke6 29. h3 Bb2 30. Be3 a6 31. gxf5+ Kxf5 32. Bg4+ Ke5 33. Bc8 whenthe Q-side pawns start to disappear. I think that White can hold the drawby a timely sacrifice of bishop for 2 pawns in this line. } 26. Bh5+ { Whiteis lured into a check. What are those bishops up to? } 26... Ke7 27. Kf2 Bc7 28. g3 a5 { Finally, Black gets to break up those pesky White pawns. } 29. b5 Nd4 { And the knight gets big. } 30. b6 Bb8 { One of those difficult choices. 30. Bd8 avoids the possibility that the bishop gets trapped, but 30. ...Bd8 31. fxe5 fxe5 allows the bishop out and gives White chances again. I was a bit worried by 32. Bg5 and 33. Bxd8, although 32. Bd1 is probablybetter, restricting the knight's squares and meeting Ke6/d7 with Bf8, Ba4and c6 if he can get away with it. } 31. Bd1 exf4 { So which way does Whiterecapture? } 32. gxf4 { Whilst this looks to leave the Bh6 trapped, 32.Bxf4 Bxf4 33. gxf4 Ke6! is winning for Black. 33. ... Ne6? 34. c6! is,however, not so hot. } 32... Ne6 33. Bb3 { 33. ... Nd4 34. Bg8 is unclear 33. ...Bxf4 34. Bxe6 Bxh6 35. Bxf5 throws it all away. 33. ... Nxf4 34. Bxf4 Bxf435. Bd5 is embarrassing. Any ideas? } 33... a4 { 33. ... a4 is, I suppose, oneof those logical, dynamic continuations in a position like this. It feelsas if it should work (if the Force is with you). 34. Bxa4 Nxc5 35. Bc2Bd6 and the Bh6 is trapped. } 34. Bxe6 Kxe6 { The possibility of oppositecoloured bishops disappears, White's pawns are on the wrong coloured squaresand if I can activate the bishop, we're quids in. } 35. Ke3 Kd5 { A hintof psychology to this move. It looks aggressive, and White's reply ispretty forced, but White is now looking to hold the draw, and gets suckeredinto a repetition. 35. ... Kd7 is stronger because I can triangulate theking to lose a tempo if necessary. 36. Bg7 Ke7 37. Bh6 Kf7 38. h4 Ke639. h5 Ke7 40. Bg7 Kf7 and I can waste a move by playing Ke7. } 36. Bf8 Ke6 37. Bh6 { ? 37. Bg7 is, I think, stronger. White doesn't realise howshort of moves he's going to get, and the bishop needs to be on g7 to giveflexibility as to when it goes to f8. Black's not exactly blessed in themoves category at this point - his bishop may have potential energy, butthat's about it, whilst his pawns aren't going anywhere. A tempo hereor there will make all the difference. } 37... Kf7 38. h4 { Offering a draw, butI've got one more plan. } 38... Kg6 39. Bf8 h5 { Now 40. Bd6 is met by Bxd6 andthe King covers the d-pawn whilst White's King is stuck stopping Eddie(né Duncan). Amusingly, 40. Be7 Kf7 41. Bd8 Kd6 42. Bc7 Bxc7 43. bxc7 Kd7also shows the power of zugswang. In this line, if White ever tries tomove the King, f4 falls. } 40. c6 { Surely that's it? Except it's stillnot that simple. } 40... bxc6 41. b7 Kf7 42. Bc5 { Black can still make a realmess of this. White's idea is to meet ... Bxf4 with Ba7 forcing Blackto give up the bishop. } 42... Ke6 43. Kd4 Kd7 44. Bb6 { Another moment of decision. 44. ... Bxf4 45. Ba7 gives White saving chances. I saw that 44. ... c5+45. Kxc5 Bxf4 46. Ba7 Be3+ is winning, but after 46. Kd5 Bb8 47. Bd4 Kc748. Ke6 f4 49. Kf5 I am not sure that Black can break through. If Whitecan pick up the f-pawn and sacrifice the bishop for the a-pawn, I havethe wrong bishop to queen on h1. I thought I might be able to lure theWhite king away from the e-file first. } 44... Kd6 45. Kc4 Kd7 { Allowing Whiteto repeat with 44. Kd4 but the last time he tried that, it didn't workout for him. If he had, I think I would have tried 44. ... Kd6 45. Kc4c5, akin to the game continuation. } 46. Kb4 c5+ { It's only a pawn, andit was getting in the way. 47. Kxc5 Bxf4 and the check on e3 allows meto get back to b8 } 47. Bxc5 Kc6 { Now the b7 pawn falls but there's onesting left. } 48. Be3 Kxb7 49. Kxa4 { Now we both have a passed pawn andmy doubled pawns don't look healthy. What's Black's move? } 49... Ba7 { Of course. If White plays 50. Bd2 e3 51. Bc3 e2 and ... 52. Bf2 (where have I seenthat theme before?) wins the bishop and, because White's K-side pawns arefixed on dark squares, the game. } 50. Bxa7 Kxa7 51. Kb4 { And, having exchangedthe queens, then the rooks, and then the minor pieces, we arrive at a K+4v K+3 endgame. } 51... Kb6 { Black takes the opposition, but there is nothing leftfor White here. If the King stays with the a-pawn, the e-pawn will run. If not, the a-pawn drops and then the King makes its way to the K-side.A couple of examples: 52. Kc4 Ka5 53. Kb3 Kb5 54. a4 Ka5 55. Ka3 e3 -+52. Kc4 Ka5 53. Kd4 Ka4 54. Ke3 Kxa3 55. Kd4 Kb4 56. Ke3 Kc3 57. Ke2 Kd458. Kd2 e3+ 59. Ke2 Ke4 -+ } 52. a4 Ka6 { White realises that he's had enoughand resigned. Exhausting, but fun. Please rate the game if you got thisfar. Cheers, D } 0-1
[Event "Utah High School Chess Championship"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Brian "] [Black "Matt"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "Boren [me]"] [WhiteElo "Grisenti"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 { I enjoy the Cambridge Springsopening alot, especially against U1700 players. There are lots of littletactical tricks to look out for. } 5. Nf3 c6 6. e3 Qa5 { The defining characteristicof this opening, putting pressure on c3. } 7. Nd2 { I believe this is nowthe mainline. } 7... dxc4 { Revealing an attack on the bishop on g5. Will henotice? } 8. Nxc4 { Nope. } 8... Qxg5 { Now I'm up a bishop. } 9. e4 Bb4 { Shootingto remove the defender of the e4 square. } 10. Qc2 { Adding a defender toe4. } 10... O-O 11. g3 e5 { Threatening exd4, when the bishop is pinning the knight. } 12. h4 Qg4 13. Nd2 { A mistake, allowing me to win additional material. } 13... exd4 14. Bh3 { Now, THIS was an interesting position! I thought long andhard about my options here. Of course, I can retreat my queen and havea long, hard(er) fought position...ooorrr, I can take the knight, withinteresting and exciting play. } 14... dxc3 { I take the more interesting route. This turns out to be a good decision, and leads to very fun and excitingplay. } 15. Bxg4 cxd2+ { Of course, the whole thing wouldn't have workedif white had already castled. I have to be able to take the bishop withmy knight on my next move. } 16. Kf1 Nxg4 17. a3 Bc5 { Attacking f2. } 18. Qxd2 { Of course I was hoping for f3, but of course he doesn't play it. } 18... Nxf2 { Forking rook and pawn. It would take ALOT for white to even havea chance at a draw now. } 19. Rh2 Nxe4 20. Qd3 Ndf6 21. b4 Bf5 { A majorblunder. I was unfocused at this point, already thinking of what I woulddo after the game. This is the kind of DOY! move that haunts your darkestnightmares...you had a winning position against someone higher rated thanyou in a state championship event and then you blew it! } 22. bxc5 { Evenhere, though, I could still win. But, being an impatient teenager, I impulsivelyresponded immediatly with... } 22... Nxg3+ { Of course, there's nothing wrong withthis other than the fact that he can take my knight...(facepalm) } 23. Qxg3 { Now we've reached an endgame where the material is level, but white definetlyhas the positional advantage. } 23... Rfe8 24. Re1 Ne4 { Of course I don't wanta trade at this point. } 25. Qf4 Rad8 { Hoping desperately for the blunderQxf5. No such luck. } 26. Rhe2 Ng3+ { I shouldn't have played this. It'sbased on Bd3, but it loses even more position. } 27. Qxg3 Bd3 28. Kf2 Bxe2 29. Rxe2 Rf8 { He's up a pawn and I'm lost. } 30. Qc7 Rb8 31. Re7 Rfc8 32. Qa5 Kf8 33. Re3 a6 34. Qc3 f6 { Stopping the invasion of the queen (temporarily,at least). } 35. Qd3 Rd8 { Missing the next move. } 36. Qxh7 Kf7 37. Qh5+ Kg8 38. Qg6 { And I resigned. The only resource against the advance ofthe h-pawn is Rd7, and this loses to Re8 check. } 1-0
[Event "- Demolition Derby Investigated -"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.06.21"] [Round "-"] [White "easy19"] [Black "thereaper1"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1432"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "2254"] { So this was my first game against a master, I was disappointed not becauseI lost (That was a given!) but because I didn't think I played very well.I chose to annotate t because I realised it was a very good example ofhow white SHOULD play this type of position and how black should NOT playthe position. computer analysis here http://gameknot.com/analyze-board.pl?bd=16094074&fb=1&rnd=0.9283286367893933 } 1. e4 { I'll skip over the first few moves as the game only really detersfrom common practice of this opening at move nine. } 1... c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Qxg4 Nxg4 7. Bxf7+ Kd7 8. Be6+ Kc6 9. Bxg4 h5 { And here we have the point of this game. I had shortly before playingthis played another of these games where I won using this move and easy19challenged me to this game to show me the correct way that white shouldrespond to this move. } 10. Bf5 { by far the best move here. It keeps whiteplaying actively as well as keeping the pieces in touch with each other. } 10... e5 { A very poor choice by me. I even new that this is a bad move in thisopening but for some reason I seemed to be under the impression that havingplayed h5 somehow changes that. God only knows why I thought that. } 11. Bxe4+ Kb6 12. Nf7 { At first glance it appears white is getting greedy andonly seeking the fork of the queen and h rook. In reality White is onlyusing this square as a stopping station to get to a much better square(Being e5) } 12... Qe7 { ? again I think a poor choice of moves. For some reasonI seemed to think white might play Nxh8 then I could follow up with exf4.really all this does is misplace my queen and block in my own DSB. } 13. Nxe5 Nc6 { it is here I began getting glimpses of how bad my position reallywas. I began to realised the potential of forks knowing full well thatWhite would play Nc3! the move I just made is still good seeking to tradeoff even if it cant do so yet. } 14. Nc3 { ! as I said, black would liketo play Nxc5 but because of the fork threat it is impossible. } 14... Rd8 15. Ng6 { white has good piece co-ordination and realises that this move takesadvantage of blacks lack of piece of coordination. } 15... Qf6 16. f5 { cementsthe knight in place. } 16... Rd4 17. O-O { White just has time t do everythingwhereas black seems to be scrambling around with no real idea of whatsgoing on. } 17... Rh7 { poor move but I could not think of any better. Having playedQf6 my queen is still vulnerable to king/queen forks. I would have likedto play Rxe4 but unfortunately the rook needs to stay on the d file toguard against Nd5+ } 18. Nxf8 Qxf8 19. d3 { White is suddenly looking veryvery good. I'm afraid to say it just got even worse from here. I thinkI probably should have taken this opportunity to rid myself of whites annoyingbishop. } 19... Rh8 20. Be3 Rd6 { makes my earlier Rd4 just look silly. Best herewas most likely Qd8. } 21. b4 { And this is where my opponent said in chatOK here we go... I could see I was in a heck of a lot of trouble. anyonecould see white is dictating this game. and has most pieces all in positionfor the attack. } 21... Rd4 22. bxc5+ Kxc5 { Qxc5?? Na4+ } 23. f6 gxf6 24. Rab1 a6 { Done to prevent the rook nestling in on b5. } 25. Ne2 Qe7 26. Rf5+ Kd6 27. Nxd4 Nxd4 28. Bxd4 { black can almost wave the white flag here. it'sgood practice though to play losing positions, besides black still haspieces left on the board. } 28... Rc8 29. Rb6+ Kd7 30. Rd5+ Ke8 { Harbouring fainthopes that white might play something like Bf3. But alas no, Freddy didnot wish to lose this encounter. maybe next time :P } 31. Bg6+ Kf8 32. Rxf6+ Kg8 { Perhaps he will move his rook off the file? } 33. Rxh5 { Nextfew moves are just me making futile attempts to prolong the game an extramove or two. } 33... Qe1+ 34. Rf1 Qxf1+ 35. Kxf1 Kf8 36. Bf6 Rc6 37. Rh8# { A goodgame to play despite my absolutely atrocious playing. I believe I learnedalot though and am sure if I played one of these queen sac games againI would have a much better understanding of the type of unique play thesegames require. } 1-0
[Event "A killer move"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2018.09.09"] [Round "-"] [White "damafi"] [Black "anesanes"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1491"] [TimeControl "300+5"] [WhiteElo "1505"] { In this game I think I found a 'killer move' not so obvious, that's whyI annotate it. } 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 e6 3. Nf3 f6 { Interesting option, butit provides me with a clear target: Qh5+, sac and mate. } 4. Nbd2 Bd6 5. e3 Bxf4 6. exf4 Nc6 7. Nh4 { Here it goes. I don't care if he takes thed4 pawn. } 7... Nge7 { He doesn't, so I protect my d4 pawn. } 8. c3 a6 { Not thebest. } 9. Bd3 { I add another piece to be sacced on g6. } 9... b6 { This timehe doesn't see it. } 10. Qh5+ Kd7 { Still, it's not so easy to break in. } 11. Qg4 { ...threatening g7, if f5. } 11... g6 12. O-O-O { Bringing more materialto attack the e6 pawn with rooks. } 12... Bb7 13. Rhe1 f5 14. Qf3 { ? Qe2 wasmore straight-forward. If he defends with Qg8, his pieces are completelytangled. } 14... Qg8 15. Re2 { Re3 was better: when creating an Alekine's gun,the queen needs to be in the last place, ideally. } 15... Kc8 16. Rde1 Nd8 17. Qe3 Kb8 18. Nhf3 { Aiming to g5. } 18... Nec6 19. Ng5 Bc8 { Well, so this is 'theunbreakable defence' against 'the most powerful attack'. If c4, Nb4...so I probably should have played a3. } 20. Nb3 { Just a bad move: he canexpand with a5-a4. } 20... h6 21. Nf3 Qf7 22. Ne5 Nxe5 23. Qxe5 { With tempo onthe rook, but this is not very useful... } 23... Re8 24. h4 { Containing any g5idea. } 24... Nc6 25. Qe3 Kb7 26. a4 { Trying something with a5... } 26... a5 { ...whichhe prevents. I'm coductig this attack very badly, being my idea to createa sort of zugswang for black at some point. } 27. Bb5 Re7 28. Qd3 { Rebuildingmy Alekine's gun with the Q in the middle. } 28... Bd7 { BxN+ at some point willforce him to take with the K, after which I could bring my Q to b5...but even this is not a clear plan. I have to push c4, this is the breakthat will give me the game. } 29. Re3 Qf6 30. Qe2 Qxh4 { Well, his Q isnot defending, so I can go on with my plan. } 31. Bxc6+ Kxc6 32. c4 { ? g3must have been played first. } 32... Qxf4 33. cxd5+ exd5 { ...now my R is pinned.But I'll attack the other way. } 34. Qb5+ Kb7 35. Nc5+ { Finally a good move:once the B is removed, the game is mine. } 35... Kc8 36. Nxd7 Rxd7 37. Kb1 { Nowit's over. } 37... Qxd4 { Now, Re8+ can be answered with Kb7. Still, after that,RxR, KxR, Re8+ wins. But I found... } 38. Qc6 { ...and NOW this is over.There is no defence against Re8+. Thanks for reading . } 1-0
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "24-Aug-06"] [Round "-"] [White "bakerbaker"] [Black "damacles"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1596"] [TimeControl "7 days"] [WhiteElo "1589"] 1. e4 e6 { The French Defense. The idea is to play d5, challenging White'se-pawn. But my opponent didn't play the main variation. } 2. d3 { I don'tplay this anymore, but the idea is to play Nd2 and keep the pawn on e4if Black plays d5. } 2... g6 { Not a normal move. 2... d5 is the most common movehere. } 3. f4 { I want to prep for a pawn storm on the kingside in case Blackcastles there. } 3... Bg7 4. Nf3 Nc6 { A better idea is to play 4...c5 beforedeveloping the knight there, because now I can control d4 with 5. c3. } 5. c3 Nh6 { An odd developing square, because that knight does not haveany active purpose there. } 6. h3 { Planning g4 whenever Black castles. ButBlack may be afraid to castle there if I play it too early. } 6... O-O 7. g4 { I'm threatening g5, winning the misplaced knight. } 7... f6 { Gives the knightthe escape square f7. } 8. g5 { I thought I was being too hasty. I should'vecontinued the attack slower and safer. } 8... fxg5 9. fxg5 Nf7 10. d4 { AlthoughI have a strong centre, I'm lacking in development from moving too manypawns, and my kingside is overextended. } 10... d5 11. e5 { Now the position becomesmore like a French structure, but where Black hasn't played c5. } 11... a6 { Iwasn't sure exactly what the reason for this was. } 12. Bd3 Ne7 { This movewas also odd to me. } 13. Qe2 { I plan to castle queenside, where I havepawns to cover me. } 13... h5 { Black keeps making odd moves here. } 14. Bf4 { Ithought Be3 was a better place for my bishop, where it doesn't sit on theopen f-file. } 14... Nh8 { Black has made 4 odd moves in a row, and I should'vebeen winning, except I made a huge blunder here, getting into a lost position. } 15. Nbd2 { 15. Nbd2?? is totally losing because I hang the bishop. Thisis a common mistake in correspondence chess because a lot of times playerswill go to a game they haven't looked at for a few days, and make a movewithout checking the position for hanging pieces or threats. } 15... Rxf4 { Iam totally lost in this position, but miraculously I came back and won.You're probably wondering how that happened in a position like this. } 16. O-O-O Bd7 17. Nf1 { Usually the best way to try for a swindling desperateattack, is to attack the king. I move my knight so that I can reach thegood g6 square, with a better chance to swindle Black. } 17... Qf8 18. N3h2 Rf2 19. Qe1 { My position looks terrible! A lot of my pieces are on the backrank, and Black has control of the f-file. I thought for sure I would lose,but I didn't resign because there were so many pieces on the board, andmaterial advantages are only useful with fewer pieces on the board. } 19... Bb5 20. Bc2 { Although trading bishops would take away Black's bishop pair,I must avoid trading my active pieces if I want to swindle Black. } 20... Re2 21. Qg3 Rf2 { Black probably didn't think very much on that move. He probablythought I had no chance to win because I'm down a piece, and just expectedthe game to win itself. } 22. Ne3 Rf7 { Why is Black retreating? He mustthink I'm going to resign any move now. } 23. a4 Bc6 { In just a few moves,the position has changed. Now I'm the one with all the active mobil pieces,and Black is the one with the cramped position. And material advantagesare less useful in cramped positions, so I'm not really 'totally' losing.Just losing. } 24. Rhf1 { I challenge the f-file. } 24... a5 { Another random move.Black thinks there is no way he could possibly lose, but his bad play continued,giving me a brilliant swindle I felt very happy about. } 25. Nf3 b5 { Blackwants to open up files to my king, but he doesn't have very many activepieces there, so I am not worried. I have lots of active pieces on thekingside, so I should mainly focus there. } 26. Nh4 { I am eyeing the weakg-pawn. } 26... Rxf1 27. Rxf1 Qc8 { Black just gave me control of the f-file, somy chances to swindle Black are increased. Black is probably thinking,'why won't this guy just die.' And is frustrated that his extra piece isn'thelping him much. } 28. Qf3 { I don't care about losing my a-pawn, becauseI'm already down a piece, and a pawn won't make much difference. If I takethe pawn, then Black can attack much faster, and I don't have time formy swindling attempt on the kingside. } 28... bxa4 29. Neg2 { I am headed for f4where I attack the weak g-pawn. The key to getting a successful kingsideattack is to first attack the pawns. } 29... Be8 30. Nf4 Bf7 { Another wasted move.Black doesn't want to work for his win and wants it to be handed to him.Black has an attack going on the queenside, and should've tried pilinghis heavy pieces on the b-file. } 31. Qd3 { Taking the a4 pawn just losesa tempo, deactivates my bishop, and material isn't important to me rightnow because I am working for a kingside attack. Don't let distractionslike that keep you from carrying out your intended plans. } 31... c5 { Black isunderestimating my swindling chances, and thinks anything he does willwin because he has an extra piece and pawn. } 32. Nxh5 { If Black takes,then I will play Qh7 and g6, which gives me a lot more swindling chancesthan if he doesn't take my knight. } 32... Nf5 { Black is realizing now that Istill have chances to win, and must neutralize these chances and win withhis extra piece in the endgame. } 33. Nxg7 { It isn't good to trade whenyou're down material, but Black was threatening both my knights, so a tradewas forced, and trading on f5 solidifies Black's kingside, lessening myswindling chances. } 33... Nxh4 { Not the best way to trade. My knight on g7 ismuch more powerful than my knight on h4. } 34. Nh5 { Black probably thoughtmy knight was trapped, but if he takes, then I can still play Qh7 } 34... Nf5 { Black blocks my strong diagonal. } 35. Nf6+ { Black should've taken thisknight earlier, because now my knight is posted on f7, where it cannotbe disturbed and controls good squares in Black's camp. } 35... Kg7 36. h4 { Iam trying desperately for a swindling attempt. } 36... Nxh4 { A terrible move.If Black doesn't take the pawn and just keeps the knight on f5, then Ihave no chance to win, and Black is up a piece. Black probably greedilytook the pawn without a second thought, and is amazed that I haven't resignedyet. } 37. Qh3 { Black is in big trouble, and may even be losing here, buthis next move was a definite blunder, which hands me a winning position. } 37... Nf5 { Black may have still had a chance, I'm not sure, but now I am totallywinning, although I hadn't realized it yet. } 38. Qh7+ { The h8-knight isdoomed, and my crushing attack will eventually eat Black alive. } 38... Kf8 39. Qxh8+ Ke7 { I hadn't realized my winning position yet, until I found theone magical move, which saved my game. } 40. Nxd5+ { Nxd5!! wins and Blackhas no idea what hit him. His trouble started when he took my h-pawn. Nowhe must pay the price. } 40... exd5 { Kd7 was the only other legal move, but Nb6 or Bxa4 win Black's queen. } 41. Qf6+ { I'm down a piece again, but thistime my attack is unstoppable. } 41... Ke8 { Kf8 loses after 42. Bxf5 gxf5 43.Rh1!! unstoppably threatening Rh8 which either mates or wins the queen.But Ke8 is still losing. } 42. Bxa4+ { Now I can't kill Black's only gooddefender with Bxf5, but I need to get Black's king back into danger, andit gave me a more brilliant win. } 42... Kf8 43. Rh1 { Threatening Rh8# } 43... Ne7 { Theonly way to stop mate is to attempt to block on g8. } 44. Rh7 { Black resignedin this position, because he can't stop both my mating threats of Qxf7#and Qg7#. Although I wasn't pleased with myself blundering a piece, I lovethis game because it shows how I went from being down a piece in a hopelesslylost position, to fighting desperately for a brilliantly winning tacticalattack, and it certainly must've made my opponent feel like crap to loselike this! } 1-0
[Event ""] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "mdbdmb41"] [Black "andra"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1157"] [WhiteElo "1298"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 f6 4. Nh4 g5 5. Qh5+ Ke7 6. Qf7+ Kd6 7. Nf5+ Kc5 8. Qd5+ 1-0
[Event "Challenge from rodog"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.11.12"] [Round "-"] [White "rodog"] [Black "jhfit"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "2037"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "2617"] 1. d4 { Against this strong player, I'm going to try to equalize in theopening and see what his plans are. } 1... Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 d5 4. e3 c5 5. c3 { It seems to be a Torre at this pont. I know the opening from White'sperspective and should be able to defend. } 5... Qb6 6. Qc2 Nc6 7. Nbd2 Bd7 8. Bd3 Rc8 9. Qb1 cxd4 10. exd4 Bd6 11. O-O h6 12. Bxf6 { Now here I was temptinghim to exchange on f6 and he finally did. } 12... gxf6 13. Re1 Kf8 { I have noproblem with this set-up. The g file is open and the extra f pawn is usefulin pressuring the center and keeping knights at bay. The downside is aloose king position and an isolated h pawn. } 14. Nf1 Kg7 15. g3 { Here,I think, he startes to go wrong. His f pawn is blocked and and the f1 knightshould have gone to g3. } 15... Ne7 16. Qc2 Bb5 { Bb5! Now I can exchange offhis powerful bishop and his attack is slowed considerably. } 17. Bxb5 Qxb5 18. a3 Qc6 { The king on g7 seems to be a lot safer, my rooks are connectedand I have the c file. } 19. Ne3 b5 20. Qe2 a5 21. Red1 Ng6 22. a4 bxa4 23. c4 Ne7 24. c5 { Releasing some tension with c5. Since he gave up a pawnto open the b file, I should think he would consider doing something thereor just taking the d pawn. } 24... Bc7 25. Rd2 Rb8 26. Nd1 Rb4 { His plan, whateverthat is, is too slow. I have a real advantage here. } 27. Nc3 { With thismove, he offered a draw and I accepted. After taking back the pawn, theremight have followed an exchange of rooks with his knight going to c6, butthen ...Nc8 pretty much ends his counterlpay. } 1/2-1/2
[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "???"] [Black "???"] [Result ""] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 { pinning the night } 4... Bd7 5. d3 a6 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Bg5 { threatening the trade but black will havedoubled pawns } 8... e6 { black does e6 so he can capture with his queen and notdouble his pawns } 9. e5 { an equal trade but if he captures i attack hisbishop for another trade } 9... dxe5 10. Nxe5 Be7 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Ne4 { threatening the pawn } 13... Bxb2 { attacking the rook } 14. Rb1 { attackingthe bishop } 14... Ba3 { defending the pawn and getting out of danger } 15. Rb3 { attacking the bishop } 15... Qa5 { defending the pawn and he bishop } 16. Nd6+ { forcing the king to move so he cant castle } 16... Ke7 17. Nc4 { fork attackingthe queen and the bishop } 17... Qc7 { get the queen out of danger } 18. Rxa3 { leavingmy night in a good position } 18... Rab8 19. Rb3 { trying to get a trade becauseI'm up material } 19... Rbg8 { black probably isn't trading because I'm up material } 20. Re1 h5 21. Ne5 { getting my night in a good position } 21... g5 22. Qf3 Kd6 { blundered } 23. Nxf7+ { forking the king check and getting his rook } 23... Ke7 24. Nxh8 Qa5 { threatening a checkmate on my rook } 25. Rb7+ { getting a goodattack } 25... Kd8 26. Nf7+ { getting black in a bad position } 26... Ke8 27. Nd6+ { forcingthe king to one spot and the checkmate threat } 27... Kd8 28. Rxe6 { i could ofcheckmated him in one move but i guess i didn't see it but there's nothinghe can really do to stop the checkmate } 28... Qa3 29. Qf6# { and there's the checkmate }
[Event "Torneio AFBNDES de Xadrez Sub-18 por Equipes"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.08.06"] [Round "-"] [White "Thiago"] [Black "Renan"] [Result "1-0"] [TimeControl "12'"] { Copio aqui o que escrevi na partida anterior: 'Note como quase todas aspeças ficam sufocadas na posição inicial: exceto pelos cavalos, que têmo privilégio de saltar sobre outras peças, é impossível mover as torres,os bispos, a dama e o rei. É bom tentar melhorar essa situação com os primeiroslances.' } 1. e4 { This is an excellent move. It should be the favorite of all beginners: it has central importance and frees the queen and a knight, as well as offering a house more for a horse. One of the advantages of releasing this knight is that it makes it possible for the small rook to be moved. } 1... e5 { Excellent, for the same reasons. } 2. Nf3 { The players continue to make moves: this is the most natural place for the horse, at least at the beginning of the games. } 2... Bc5 { This is a rare response, which occurs in less than 0.5% of the times when we have 1e4e5 2Cf3. The statistics indicate that this is a bad move, since in around 70% of cases the whites win. Notice that the knight could capture the central pawn of the blacks. } 3. d4 { Lance ruim,pois desperdiça a chance de capturar o peão central das pretas. O corretoseria Cxe5 } 3... Bb4+ { The best move was to capture the pawn. This knight lacked objectivity, as it was easily circled by the whites. } 4. c3 { Boa jogada:resolve o xeque, libera uma diagonal para a dama, atua no centro e realizaum ataque contra o bispo preto. } 4... Ba5 { As pretas moved the bishop, then they moved again and now they are moving yet again! This violates an important principle: in the opening of the game, avoid using the same sin twice. } 5. Nxe5 { Good move! The whites should have won the game (they should have done it earlier, but better late than never!) } 5... Nf6 { Develop your knight's pawn to its best position, clearing the way for the rook to move, and attacking the small white piece with it. } 6. f3 { Cc4 would have been more aggressive, but the move chosen showed that the whites perceived that their pawn was threatened. } 6... Na6 { Lance moves: does it cover the center? No! Does it have any sin? No! Position the horse in a good place? No! (in general, horses should stay in the corners, unless there is a specific reason) Create any threat for the opponent? No! } 7. Bb5 { Ok, that move does not commit a serious mistake and still opens up space for a small rook. However, if the idea was to create a threat, forget it: the pawn on d7 has 4 defenses! Moreover, if that bishop becomes uncomfortable, it can be easily expelled, by moving a pawn to c6. } 7... Nb8 { Bad move, which reveals that the blacks are slightly confused and without imagination: first they put the horse in a bad house, then they waste time making him return to the initial house! Here, it would have been better to roll. } 8. O-O { As whites move. Okay, that puts the knight in play and leaves the king less exposed. However, that rook is fragile, as one of the three pawns that make up the 'castle' has already been moved. } 8... a6 { Ok, that move has a merit: it is aggressive, as it puts the white bishop in danger. In the future, however, preferably attack moves that cannot be so easily defended. Here, the white bishop will retreat to a safer position, avoiding greater difficulties (and if attacked again by the other pawn, it will continue to flee, and in the end it will be in a good house!). Better would have been to ROCAR. } 9. Ba4 { The bishop could have gone to home d3, where it would have provided a solid foundation for the white center. However, this move is interesting, as it allows for a future Bb3, from which the bishop can start an important diagonal. } 9... O-O { Ok. That's good: the two players have made the small rook (excellent!), and did so before the 10th move (great!). The position is good for the whites, who monopolize the center with their 4 pawns. The blacks, however, have a more preserved rook, with 3 pawns protecting the king, as well as a horse and a tower nearby - the maximum protection! } 10. Bg5 { Ok, it's a good move, developing the bishop by 'pressing' the horse - when the time is right, that bishop could force a trade with the horse, blocking the rook of the blacks, which is impenetrable. } 10... c6 { That lance was not good: take the horse to its natural home - alas, that horse is 100% imprisoned now! } 11. Qb3 { Castling is a good move. The movement of a knight and a bishop was wrong due to a detail: the only escape route for the bishop was discovered by black, and they have now trapped him in a terrible predicament! } 11... d6 { As pretasdesperdiçaram a chance de atacar o bispo branco, mas o lance realizadotem o mérito de ser ofensivo - realmente, devemos sempre deixar o adversáriona defensiva, evitando jogadas passivas e sempre criando algum problemaque complique o próximo lance do oponente. } 12. Nxc6 { Lance péssimo: asbrancas capturaram um peão. Mas perderão um cavalo! } 12... bxc6 { Ok, it is better to capture with the horse which is still at the bottom of the board, developing it. } 13. Nd2 { The knight move: has the central ability and allows the two towers to communicate. } 13... Qe7 { Ok, let's go. Blacks need to quickly develop their flaws. } 14. Nc4 { Probably with the intention of trading a horse for a bishop (which is usually a good business). That move was successful. } 14... Be6 { A creative defense, I liked it! Instead of fleeing with the bishop, providence some defense, the blacks gave a way to PRETEND the knight: if the whites insist in capturing the bishop at a5 with the horse, they will lose the queen with BxD! However, a bit more of calculation shows that it is not good, since after exchanging bishop for horse with BxC and g7xBa whites could advance the pawn to d5, canceling the pretense - and the horse could capture the bishop in safety. } 15. Nxa5 { That horse was playing tricks on the silly cow! It played everything up high and went in search of the bishop, leaving its own Queen lost! } 15... c5 { Do you want a pair of glasses? The blacks didn't understand that a succulent Queen was ready to be devoured! } 16. Qd1 { Wow! After sweating cold, the whites flee with the Damabem quickly... } 16... Nbd7 { That was not good... the knight jumped out of the bishop's move: if the bishop is attacked by a pawn on d5, where will it flee? } 17. Nc6 { Losing the chance to attack the bishop. This attack on the queen does not have much effect, as it is easy to defend - in fact, the queen appreciates it, as she needed to get out of where she was, dismounting her horse. } 17... Qe8 { Correct. } 18. dxc5 { It would be better to move this pawn to the cascade, attacking a bishop that wouldn't have means to defend itself. When playing, always remain aware of the enemy's'surrounded' pieces. } 18... dxc5 { retomando semmaiores polêmicas } 19. Ne5 { ok... } 19... Qd8 { He was feeling a bit uninspired... } 20. Nxd7 { Boajogada. } 20... Bxd7 { retomando com a peça certa (retomar com o cavalo pregadocausaria a perda da Dama). } 21. Bxd7 { Before making this move, you should have 'prepared the ground' with the exchange BxC, not only to sacrifice a piece but also to rook the opponent, which is one of the defenses of black. } 21... Ra7 { Why would they take back the piece with the Queen? If they did this, there would be no risk of losing the Queen, since in a checkmate situation the black pieces would respond with a checkmate (or a simple trade). } 22. e5 { The idea of attacking a horse paired was good, but now it was time to defend the bishop! } 22... Rxd7 { Perfeito! } 23. Qe1 { defendendo-se passivamente } 23... Rd5 { The knights are very heavy pieces: they can move in various ways in the endgame, when many pieces have already been captured and there is plenty of space to move, before they become a bit disorganized, like they are maneuvering in a chessboard. The whites can advance a pawn up to c4 to entangle one of them... } 24. f4 { The white pieces are slightly frightened by the presence of their opponent and try to provide a defense, without realizing that the attacked piece counts with a defense (by the Queen). On the other hand, to capture the horse requires withdrawing the piece from the front, leaving the tower free to move the bishop. } 24... a5 { Lance pouco inspirado... que dá às brancas uma chancede capturar o cavalo. } 25. Rd1 { A posição é bastante favorável às brancas,mas elas deixam escapar oportunidades preciosas. Mais uma vez o cavalofoi poupado } 25... Rxd1 { ok } 26. Qxd1 { retomada simples } 26... Qc7 { Here there would be better DxD - the whites would have to spend time recapturing, and with this as blacks would have a chance to save the horse, since there is a ready-made pawn to devour a horse! } 27. exf6 { Aleluia! } 27... Qc6 { Instead of that, moving the queen in a diagonal would have been more interesting. But everything is alright, it doesn't change much: the blacks are completely lost, with a great material disadvantage! } 28. a4 { Esse foi um lance passivo. O certo seria aproveitar para causardanos ao roque adversário, por exemplo com peão x peão } 28... Qe4 { Despite being inferiorized, the blacks seek a more aggressive game, and position their Queen in a central and advanced position, although very exposed to attacks. } 29. Rf2 { The correct move would be to place the knight on e1, threatening the queen. This was yet another passive move. } 29... c4 { Another move without objective: both players alternately make bad moves, demonstrating that they are both going through a moment of decline in concentration. As I mentioned in the first game, our capacity to remain attentive varies, and it is normal for there to be phases of low concentration. So far, everything is okay - but it is important to be able to recognize "oops, I'm a bit distracted... let me count to ten, and then I'll refocus and get back on track". While I'm zoning out, it's not a good idea to just keep making random moves! } 30. fxg7 { bom lance } 30... Kxg7 { ok } 31. h3 { As brancas voltam a realizarlances a esmo, sem objetividade. A pressão do relógio às vezes causa essetipo de desatenção. } 31... h6 { Boa! As pretas atacam o bispo branco } 32. Qh5 { Lance fraco: as brancas entregam o bispo, que será tomado pelo peão. } 32... hxg5 { Goodbye bishop... the advantage of the whites is slightly reduced. } 33. Qxg5+ { ok, certo. } 33... Kh7 { ok, sem maiores problemas... } 34. f5 { ok, bom lance. } 34... f6 { ok, certo } 35. Qh5+ { bom lance! } 35... Kg7 { As brancas estão com um forteataque sobre o rei preto! } 36. Rd2 { Bad move! White intends to prepare a tower for an advance to d7, encircling the black king... but they didn't realize they could receive a double attack, with the black queen giving check and simultaneously attacking an undefended tower. } 36... Qe1+ { PERFEITO } 37. Kh2 { The only possible move, since there was no escape route available. } 37... Qe4 { Horrível! Por que a Dama preta não capturoua torre branca? Pior do que isso: agora as brancas poderão realizar aqueleplano de deslocar a torre para a casa d7 } 38. Rd4 { Em vez de Td7+, as brancaspreferem atacar a Dama... } 38... Qe5+ { certo! } 39. g3 { certo! } 39... Qe2+ { Our brain sometimes gets tangled when it needs to pay attention to two things at the same time. Here, there are two matters for the black driver to solve: how to attack the white king and how to preserve the security of his pieces. It seems clear that the brain has dealt with the first issue, and provided an attack... completely forgetting about the security of his pieces! If he had the habit of asking himself 'Will I lose my Queen with this move?', he definitely would not have done that... } 40. Qxe2 { Bye bye Dama. } 40... Rf7 { O xeque mate é iminente... } 41. Rd8 { ok, jogável } 41... Kh6 { melhor teria sido recuar a torre... se bem que não existe lance quesalve a partida das pretas: a única esperança é que as brancas errem. } 42. Qg4 { bom lance. } 42... Rg7 { A esperança é a última que morre: e se as brancaserram? } 43. Qh4# { The game was good, but with many moments of passivity and plays without objectivity. Every time we have a chance to make a threat or to improve the position of some pieces. If we are under attack, we should think calmly to find a solid defense that doesn't lose too much ground in the position of our pieces. In this game, the whites let their advantage be reduced to just 3 pawns more, and if it wasn't for the loss of the Queen due to mere carelessness, there could have been some difficulty playing the end. } 1-0
[Event "Bishop pair? Knight pair? Why not both?"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "1937.??.??"] [Round "-"] [White "O'Kelly"] [Black "Paul Devos"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "?"] [WhiteElo "?"] { This game displays a brilliant attack courtesy of Black, executed justas White seems to be building up a real threat! Both players undergo adifferent strategy of attack but with one brilliant move Black proves thathe has the better attack! } 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. b3 g6 4. Bb2 Bg7 5. g3 O-O 6. Bg2 d5 { Simple development so far, though I do find White's approachslightly unorthadox. He has gone for a hypermodern approach with the doublefianchetto, yet Black has played a passive sort of opening himself! Here,however, he invokes tension with this pawn advance which also weakens thelight-square bishop on g2. } 7. O-O Na6 { With views perhaps of Nc7 or Nc5- Black is reluctant to block in the c8 bishop as it becomes part of hisnext plan } 8. d3 { Cautiously advancing his pawns, providing support forc4. 8.d5 might be an interesting alternative but probably inferior to this } 8... Be6 9. Nbd2 Qc8 { The development of both sides are nearing its end; Blackfears a possible Ne5 after Qc8 } 10. Re1 { White anticipates Black's nextmove and moves his rook - with the added bonus of perhaps pusing up thee2 pawn... } 10... Bh3 11. Bh1 { ...so that he can preserve his light-square bishop.Of course, that bishop could be disastrous should White lose control ofthe white squares around the king but with the position of that h1 bishopBlack's lsb shouldn't be a problem...right? } 11... h5 { Gutsy; one that I probablywouldn't dare undertake myself! Of course, Black has enough pieces forthis to be a sound enough mood but I'd always be uncomfortable advancingpawns in front of my own king! } 12. Rc1 { Further support for the c4 pawn } 12... Qf5 { Centralising the queen - thoug at first glance this doesn't seem tothreaten much. White could even exploit this with a well-timed Nd4! Onceagain, however, this is planning ahead for Black's next move! } 13. a3 Bh6 { White gives up any sort of battle on the long dark-square diagonal topin the d2 knight - and the queen in the position she is in prevents doublingof pawns with Bxf6 } 14. b4 { The two strategies of both sides are becomingclearer now; White is going for a pawn push, grabbing space queenside.Black is mobilising his pieces on the kingside - but where are the kings? } 14... Ng4 { Black's presence on the kingside really does look threatening now,but all the same there seems to be no immediate breakthrough! } 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. b5 { With the exchange of pawns, White shifts the knight on a6- though the knight isn't doing much there White is forcing Black to cutoff his rooks from each other - though it ought to be noted that otherthan Black castling he never moved either rook once during the game! } 16... Nb8 17. Rc5 { White on the other hand looks to exert a strong influence withhis rooks, threatening to win a pawn with 18.e4 } 17... Ne3 { ! Now it becomesclear just how much control Black has over White's position! Not contentwith a retreating or weakening move (Nf6, e6) Black attacks White's queenwith his knight knowing that fxe3 leads to Bxf3# This move also inhibitsthe advancement of e2. } 18. Qb3 { The most active place for the queen tomove to } 18... Nd7 { Black maintains the initiative with a tempo attack on therook whilst mobilising his knight and connecting his rooks. } 19. Rc7 { Rookto the 7th rank and now Black's b7 pawn is threatened - but Black stillasks questions of White... } 19... e5 { Still playing hardball, Black seizes controlof the centre. } 20. Qc3 { The only counterplay that White may have lieson the long diagonal and suddenly he has a real threat on his hands! Dependingon what Black's next move is he can try an exchange sac - Rxd7 - followedby Nxe5 and the influence that White would have on the a1-h8 diagonal wouldmore than make up for the lost point in material! } 20... d4 { Aware of this threat,Black moves to block the diagonal - but - } 21. Nxd4 { !?? Seems like suchan ingenious - yet simple - move! It seems that White has found a way towin at least two pawns and an extremely strong influence on that dark diagonalwith a great threat to the king! Either Black accepts the sac which wouldonly invite trouble or the sac is declined and the line 21...Qg4 22.Bf3Qxd4 23.Qxd4 exd4 24.Rxd4 looks to be winning for White. Black need notworry about any of this however...since he has a mate in 7! A puzzle ofthis position does exist though I don't know where it may be found - thoughknowing there IS a mate might make the next move easier to spot than itwould have been for Paul Devos... } 21... Qxf2+ { !! Bombshell dropped! All ofWhite's next moves are more or less forced as Black displays just how wellco-ordinated his pieces really are! } 22. Kxf2 Ng4+ 23. Kf3 { 23.Kg1 Be3# } 23... e4+ 24. Kxe4 Ndf6+ 25. Kf3 Ne5+ 26. Kf2 Nfg4+ 27. Kg1 Be3# { Beautiful combination,using the two knights and the two bishops! Brilliant finish by Black! } 0-1
[Event "- - The Annotation Project III - -"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.08.10"] [Round "-"] [White "tofuman"] [Black "dmaestro"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1635"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1384"] 1. e4 c6 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Qxg4 Nxg4 7. Bxf7+ { The thematic position. } 7... Kd7 8. Be6+ Ke8 { If White does not want to tryand force a draw, this is an interesting try. } 9. Bxg4 e5 { Aggressive.Black must try and get mobility quickly. } 10. Ne6 { ?? A miscalculation. } 10... Qh4+ 11. g3 Qxg4 { Now Black has an easy win. } 12. Nc7+ Kd7 13. Nxa8 { Wins the rook, but the N is trapped and Black is now on the offensive. } 13... exf4 14. Rg1 Bc5 { Strong in between move. } 15. Rf1 f3 { ! White's K is theone in danger now. } 16. d3 { Desperate for open lines, but... } 16... f2+ { ! Acrushing blow. } 17. Kd2 { Allows mate in two, but what else? If RxP, BxR+White loses quickly. } 17... e3+ 18. Kc3 Qb4# { The exact opposite of what Whitewas hoping for in this opening, his own King in a mating trap. } 0-1
[Event "Challenge from lazo1914"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.08.09"] [Round "-"] [White "lazo1914"] [Black "biggah"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1577"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1594"] 1. e4 g6 { start of sniper opening with ...bg7 and ..c5 to follow } 2. d4 { taking more control of center } 2... Bg7 { attacking d4 } 3. e5 { ?...shuts mein for now but its early.2 moves with same pawn } 3... c5 { attack d4 if dxcthen ..Qa5 check } 4. Be3 cxd4 { ill trade my c for his d pawn.opens c filefor later rook move hopefully } 5. Bxd4 Nc6 { attacking his bishop.id liketo keep mine and eliminate his } 6. f4 Nxd4 { I trade.Hopefully my blk bishopwill come into play later } 7. Qxd4 a6 { wanting to stop any Ba6 moves whenI advance my d pawn } 8. Nc3 Qa5 { pin his knight and eyeing e5 pawn } 9. O-O-O { releases pin } 9... e6 { wanted to stop any kind of advancing of his epawn.im thinking of ..d5..he cant exd e.p. because of ...Bxd4 } 10. Kb1 { I think he could've developed his minor pieces.i wasn't looking at thea2 pawn.knight covers it.he's being careful } 10... d5 { ...my d5 push } 11. Qa4+ { .good move on his part.should've seen it.now ..Bd7 doesn't work } 11... Qxa4 12. Nxa4 { His knight there is uncomfortable but still early. } 12... Bd7 { clearingback rank..possible Rc8 } 13. Nc5 { ?? I feel better for him Nb7..makes medo a dumb rook move and positively paralyzes my queenside for a bit } 13... Bc6 { I want to keep my bishop and seems more active here..any ...d4 move givesfreedom to my bishop } 14. Nf3 b6 { at the sacrifice of a pawn.i need toget the knight out and it opens files to his king } 15. Nxa6 { of course..itsfree..now Nc7 is a threat!! } 15... Rc8 { protects and Im on an open file...13.Nc5?helped me get here } 16. c3 { ? don't understand...maybe open bank rank wB move } 16... Ne7 { developing and protecting my bishop.and the f5 square if needbe is open for now } 17. Nb4 { attacks my bishop and d5 pawn 2x..i got itcovered for now } 17... O-O { finally finished development! } 18. Nd4 { good move.centralizesand attacks bishop and e6 pawn.. } 18... Bd7 { I want a ...f5 push so I protectfrom Nxe6 } 19. g4 { flank attack } 19... f6 { so I make my move in center..needto free it up some.hopefully put som life into my blk Bishop..attackinge5 twice } 20. Nd3 { protect e5 twice } 20... fxe5 { I take! I need space and opendf file for my rook.i feel like my pieces are coming more alive } 21. fxe5 Nc6 { developing my knoight to better spot..i wouldn't mind the trade ofknights.his d4 knight keeps my white bishop tied to protecting e6 pawn! } 22. Nxc6 Bxc6 { not with rook.im looking at d5 with discovered attack onhir h1 rook } 23. Re1 { ? I would've maybe 23.Bg2 } 23... d4 24. Rg1 { he moves rookfrom attack(should've done it a move ago,i feel) } 24... dxc3 { Break up king'sdefenders } 25. bxc3 Bb5 { frees up c file for my rook and pinning his knightto his bishop } 26. h4 { ?..needed to protect his c3 pawn } 26... Rxc3 27. Rd1 { lookingfor open file } 27... Rf3 { attacks knight 3 times..my pieces have a lot of breathingair and are working together } 28. Nb2 Bxf1 { had to trade..the open boardgives my blk bishop a huge advantage! } 29. Rgxf1 Bxe5 { free pawn.If RXRill be happy trading down.my pieces are more active } 30. Rfe1 { He readmy mind.attacks my bishop } 30... Bg3 { so I attack his rook and h4 pawn } 31. Rxe6 Bxh4 32. Re8+ { i move from check and move to protect my pawns } 32... Kg7 33. Rd7+ { ?? leaves his king unprotected from ..Rf3 check and he has no mateyet,his knought is too far and i have too many pieces to defend. } 33... Kh6 { ifeel better here } 34. Na4 { stops ..Rf8 check with possible trade down ofrooks with ..Rf3+ 35,Rr1 RxR 36.NxR } 34... Rc4 { attack knight and g4 pawn..if35 Nxb6 Rb4 check and i take knight } 0-1
[Event "Collijn defense mini-tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.12.08"] [Round "-"] [White "last_archimedean"] [Black "starkkev"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1343"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1362"] { I decided to experiment with the Collijn defense, an offshoot of the DanishGambit. } 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Bb4+ 6. Nd2 Qg5 7. Nf3 Bxd2+ 8. Nxd2 Qxg2 { All the games begin here. } 9. Qh5 { Threatening10 QxP ch K-Q1 11 Q-B8 mate. Black must select his response with care. } 9... g6 { A mistake. 9... Q-N3 was the best move. } 10. Qe5+ { Now a ferociousKing-hunt begins. } 10... Ne7 { As good or bad as anything else. Black's game islost. } 11. Qxh8+ { Winning back the material, but that is a minor consideration. } 11... Ng8 { Forced. } 12. Qxg8+ { Picking up the free piece. } 12... Ke7 { Again forced. } 13. Qxf7+ { Leaving Black a choice of how quickly he wants to die. } 13... Kd6 { 13... K-Q1 would have ended the torture at once (14 Q-B8 mate.) } 14. Qf6+ { Flushing the game. } 14... Kc5 { Forced again. } 15. Qd4+ { Closing in. } 15... Kc6 { Theonly legal move... again. } 16. Qd5+ { Tightening the noose. } 16... Kb6 { This shouldhave ended things. 17 Q-QN5 mates at once. } 17. Bd4+ { This prolongs thingsone move. } 17... c5 { This is that move. } 18. Qxc5# { Mercifully putting Blackout of his misery. } 1-0
[Event "Open for everyone 1200-1800"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "03-Jun-07"] [Round "-"] [White "helmut2207"] [Black "elyhim"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1525"] [TimeControl "3d+2d, 5d max"] [WhiteElo "1880"] { This game features many opening blunder on my part. However I manage togain a pretty nice middle game attack. In the end I could not see a clearwin so I agreed to the draw } 1. c4 { I have never done well against theEngish opening } 1... c5 { This is not the normal reply. Black's normal responseto c4 is usaully e5 or Nf6. } 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 e6 { I would saythis is too timid. Better is e5 } 5. O-O b6 { Creating a unnecessary weaknesson c6 } 6. d4 Bb7 7. Nc3 Qc7 { This is just stupid. } 8. Bf4 d6 9. dxc5 bxc5 { I now have a major weakness on d6 } 10. Nb5 Qd7 11. Bxd6 O-O-O { I can nottake the bishop because of my weakness on the d file. } 12. Bf4 a6 { Ifwhite wants to exchange the queens this early than I am slightly betterif the exchange happens on d7. A6 is a nice in-between move that discourageswhite from removing the queens. } 13. Nc3 Bd6 { Removing the annoying bishop.This also loosens whites control over the d file a lot. } 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Qxd6 Rxd6 16. Na4 Ne4 { the most active defence for defending C5 } 17. Nh4 { An easily made blunder that tips the balance. White is trying to activatehis bishop but black has an equalizing blow } 17... Nd4 { The hanging knight onE4 is easily parried and black now has a slight advantage in the centre.Notice how my peices are working in harmony. In contrast to white's whoseem to be off on their individual missions. } 18. e3 Ne2+ { This ensuresthe draw. } 19. Kh1 Rhd8 { doubling the rooks and activating my remainingpeice. } 20. Bxe4 Bxe4+ 21. f3 Bd3 { I thought about playing Ng6 but Icould not see a clear advantage so I played the drawish move. } 22. b3 Nxg3+ 23. hxg3 Bxf1 24. Rxf1 Rd2 { for the pawn black has a tempary spaceadvantage. Plus the pawn is easily won back. White's pawn are easy targets } 25. a3 R8d3 26. Nxc5 Rxe3 27. Kg1 Ree2 28. Ne4 { Agreed draw. } 1/2-1/2
[Event "Challenge from drmra4"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.06.21"] [Round "-"] [White "white"] [Black "drmra4"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1420"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1435"] 1. d4 { This game is an example where 'under-promoting' a pawn (the actof traversing the board with one's pawn and having it promoted to any pieceother than the Queen) can lead to a tactical advantage. In this case,I chose to promote my pawn to a Knight, which as it turns out gave me asignificant advantage at the time, and gave quite a twist to the end ofthis game. I would also like to say that by publishing this annotatedgame, I am in no way trying to indicate that I am better than any otherplayer and I do not intend to belittle or humiliate any other player, mostof all my opponent in this game. In fact white is quite a rival, fun toplay against and a gentleman. } 1... d5 2. Bf4 Na6 3. h3 e6 4. a3 g5 5. Be5 f6 6. Bg3 Nh6 7. e3 Bg7 8. Qh5+ { first check was white queen on move 8 } 8... Kf8 9. Bd3 Bd7 10. Qf3 c5 11. Bd6+ { the second check was white bishop onmove 11 } 11... Kg8 12. Bxa6 { First blood. } 12... bxa6 13. Bxc5 Bc6 14. a4 Bf8 15. Nd2 Bxc5 16. dxc5 Kg7 17. Ne2 Rc8 { At roughly this point, I began to very closelyinspect each move and ponder the various possible scenarios that couldevolve with each choice. It made the game very labor-intensive. I couldnot just make a quick move. Every move from then on required my entireattention for sometimes up to 30 to 45 minutes--and even then I'd sometimesput the move off until a later time if I wasn't close to timing out. Tomake a hasty ill-advised or poorly thought out move at this point wouldbe disastrous, and result in the loss of hours of hard work put into thisbattle of intellect and strategy. } 18. Nd4 Bd7 19. c6 Rxc6 20. Nxc6 Bxc6 21. b3 Qd6 22. e4 Qe5 23. O-O dxe4 24. Qe3 Nf5 25. Qxa7+ { the third checkwas white queen on move 25 } 25... Kh6 26. Qxa6 e3 27. Qxc6 exf2+ { the fourthwas black pawn on move 27 } 28. Rxf2 Qxa1+ { the black queen on move 28 } 29. Nf1 Nd4 30. Qe4 f5 31. Qd3 Rg8 32. g4 f4 33. Kh2 e5 34. Nd2 Rc8 35. Nf3 Nxf3+ { the check by black knight on move 35 } 36. Rxf3 Rc6 37. Rf2 Qb1 38. Kg2 Qb2 { It was at this point that I began to realize that I was wastingthe strength of my pieces by having them so spread out, especially sincewhite had managed to have all his most important pieces closely packed. Still I felt that with white's pawns spread out, and mine more alignedto properly protect, I could take advantage of the natural defense thatwhite's pawns were providing me and gradually work my queen back down towhere I had carefully placed my rook to keep the white queen from a verysimple checkmate if I were to leave the sixth row unprotected. } 39. c4 Qa3 40. Re2 Rd6 41. Qc3 Qc5 { I believe that about right here I began tosee some very interesting strategical maneuvers that at least two thirdsof the available moves would put me in the position to checkmate the whiteking. However, the very careful moves by white kept me from gaining thetactical advantage I had hoped at this stage of the game. I had to settlefor trading rooks and advancing my pawns and taking only a one point advancein score. } 42. b4 Qc6+ { then check by black queen on move 42 } 43. Kf2 e4 44. b5 e3+ { then check by black pawn on move 44 } 45. Kg1 Rd1+ { then checkby black rook on move 45 } 46. Re1 Qb6 47. c5 Rxe1+ { Again by black rookon 47 } 48. Qxe1 Qxc5 { This game has never been firmly in hand for eitherplayer. However, the score has, in general, been slightly in favor ofwhite, with brief moments of slight advantage to black and brief momentsof slightly greater advantage to white. But this game is very interestingfrom perspective of how important it is to stay focused and to always considerthe strength of your pieces when they are strategically aligned and takingadvantage of their increased defensive capabilities when kept close tothe side of one's king or a pawn. This game also demonstrates that smallmoves are sometimes the only move available and when coupled with a smallmove in another piece can result in a more drastic change of circumstances. At the time I decided to make this game annotated (following the whiteQueen's capture of Black rook on move 48) I had just for the first timesince move 12 evened the score at -0- again. And both players had exactlythe same pieces on the board. There had been 10 moves to check the king,the first three came from white and the last 7 came from black. From move } 49. Qe2 f3 50. Qxf3 e2+ 51. Kg2 e1=N+ { And now for the crowning move ofmy now certain victory: I advance my pawn at e2 for promotion, or in thiscase, 'under-promotion' to a knight, enjoining white's queen and king ina fork. Any other move, or even the choice of queen for promotion, wouldhave led to my defeat. Given the position of white's queen, I initiallyconsidered moving my queen to c2, which would have protected my pawn whilestill allowing room to guard my king if white chose to put me in checkby moving his queen to f6. But had I done this, white would most likelyhave gone for the ensuing queen trade, since this would have left him witha considerable advantage: I would have no way of protecting my pawn ate2 from capture by white's king, and I would not be able to prevent white'spawn at b5 from promoting. Other than the aforementioned moves, I alsoconsidered one other way to prevent white from checkmating and that wasto move my king to g6. This would prevent the next move checkmate, butit would leave my pawn at e2 unprotected, and it was my only hope of winning,and that little pawn almost won the game for me single-handedly. If anyoneelse could envision another possible way for black to achieve victory followingwhite's move at 51, I would like to know. By the way this game followedthe first game between white and drmra4 in which white won, and his winwas more decisive than mine. I'm looking forward to our next match-up! Chat at the time: white: Great choice, Good job..... That's why i hatehorses drmra4: It did not occur to me that I should go for the knight promotionuntil after I had gone through almost every other possible scenario twiceor even three times and saw that you would have prevailed. And thinkingI am going to check one more time and see if there was something I hadmissed...and there it was...the perfect solution! I was really very fortunatethat the pieces were exactly where they were, otherwise you most certainlywould have won. I am not saying you haven't won yet, just saying you wouldhave definitely won if it weren't for the ability to choose any piece forpromotion. } 52. Kg3 Nxf3 53. Kxf3 Qa3+ 54. Ke2 Qxa4 55. b6 Qa6+ 56. Kd2 Qxb6 57. Kd3 Qb4 58. Ke3 Kg6 59. Kd3 Kf6 60. Ke3 Ke5 61. Kd3 Kf4 62. Ke2 Qc3 63. Kd1 Ke3 64. h4 Qd2# 0-1
[Event "Miniteams Tournament Round Three"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009"] [Round "-"] [White "Micah Losee"] [Black "Blake Rassilyer"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1549"] [TimeControl "30 Minutes 5 second delay"] [WhiteElo "1435"] { When round three began I was extremely excited to see we were facing theSeattle Prep A Team. I was shocked to learn that my rival Karen Marcjanwas not their number one; I was disappointed, but still I managed to havea fun game. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 { Scottish Gambit! Myspecialty! My opponent took an extremely long time for the next move. Afterthe match he admitted that he was very unfamiliar with this opening. Hecountered fairly effectively though, relying on instinct. } 4... h6 { Stopping5 Ng5. When Black plays this, I like to play it like a regular Scotch opening. } 5. Nxd4 Bc5 6. Bxf7+ { ! 6...Kxf7 7 Qh5+ then 8 Qxc5 giving White the advantage. } 6... Kf8 { !? This move completely shocked me. This is probably a much bettermove over 6...Kxf7 } 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 { Fearing 8...Bxf2+ 9 Kxf2 Qf6+10 Qf3 Qxf7 making things fairly equal. It forces Black to develop though.Perhaps 8 Bxg8 would have been better. It would be trading a very usefulbishop away but it would prevent the future pains to come. } 8... Qf6 9. Qxf6 Nxf6 10. Bg6 { At this point I laughed at the fact that we had already usedhalf of our time, with only ten moves complete. His clock had nine minutesleft, and my clock had fourteen minutes left. } 10... d6 { ? Not necessary at all.... } 11. Nc3 Ng4 { Threatening Bxf2 } 12. O-O { ? The natural move. f3 would havebeen much better, even though castling would be spoiled. I seriously considered12 Nd1! which would have given Black no targets, and White time to repelBlack's knight with 13 h3. I dismissed it though, because it was such anodd move and I considered it risky (because it was odd), silly thinkingon my part, but that was my logic at the time. } 12... Ba6 { ! A beautiful move!White should have seen this. This wins the rook, if 13 Re1 then Bxf2+.If 13 Rd1 then Nxf2. } 13. Na4 { Perhaps the best compensation } 13... Bxf1 14. Nxc5 dxc5 { A beautiful sight, tripled pawns are. } 15. Kxf1 Ke7 { ? Why not15...Nxh2+? Black was under considerable time pressure though. His clockread four minutes while mine was seven minutes. } 16. Bf4 { Protecting theh pawn while threatening 17 Bxc7 } 16... Kf6 17. Bf5 Ne5 18. g3 { Preparing for19 Bxe5 Kxe5 20 f4+ } 18... g6 { ? Giving a pawn away. } 19. Bxe5+ Kxe5 20. Bxg6 Rhg8 21. f4+ Kf6 22. Bf5 { Possibly 22 Bh5 would be a better alternative.... } 22... h5 23. Bd7 Rad8 24. Bxc6 Rd2 { Yikes! } 25. e5+ Ke6 { ? Another error. Wewere tied at about three minutes each at this moment. My opponent stoppednotating, but I wished to continue notating. I wasted precious time, butI was able to eventually get someone to notate for me. } 26. c4 { First movethat popped into my mind. At this moment my savior Andrew Selzler arrivedto notate (I just said, 'Hey you! Can you please notate my game? Oh thankyou! Thank you so much!' I didn't know who he was, just a random strangerto me). } 26... Rxh2 27. Bd5+ Ke7 28. Bxg8 { ? Kg1 would have solved things right?Time pressure screws with you... } 28... Rh1+ 29. Kg2 Rxa1 30. f5 Re1 31. f6+ Kf8 32. f7 Rxe5 33. Kf3 Rf5+ 34. Ke4 Rg5 35. Kf3 Rg4 { I offered a drawsomewhere in these moves. He had less than a minute, and I had a littlemore than a minute. } 36. b3 Rd4 37. Ke3 Rg4 38. Kf3 a5 39. a3 { ? this shouldbe a losing move, a4 is much better } 39... Rd4 40. Ke3 h4 { ? Rd1 would have beenmuch more ideal. } 41. gxh4 Rxh4 { 'The offer for a draw still stands, youknow...' } 42. Kd2 Rh3 43. Kc2 Rg3 44. a4 c6 45. Kb2 Rf3 46. Kc2 Rg3 47. Kb2 Rh3 48. Kc2 { 'Okay, a draw?' 'Yeah, good game!' After the match Italked to Andrew, and learned of his identity. I thanked him profuselyand asked him to write 'Notated by Andrew Selzler' because I always keepmy notation sheets. } 1/2-1/2
[Event "King's Gambit, fails again"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.05.20"] [Round "-"] [White "bigdog24"] [Black "cnote9"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1600"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1556"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 { King's Gambit } 2... exf4 { accepted } 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. Kf1 { Salvio gambit, they say } 6... Nh6 { defending f7 } 7. d4 f3 { Knighton h6 it's in danger for a good cause } 8. gxf3 Qh3+ 9. Kg1 Rg8 { preparingambush } 10. f4 { avoiding gf+ } 10... g3 { 'g' pawn is untouchable } 11. Bf1 gxh2+ { double check } 12. Kf2 Qg3+ 13. Ke2 d5 { preparing Bg4 and adding pawn 'd'in the battle } 14. Be3 Ng4 { Knight on e5 must go } 15. Qd3 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Bg4+ 17. Kd2 { unique } 17... Bf3 { very passive } 18. Qb5+ { white counterattack } 18... Nc6 19. Qxb7 Bb4+ 20. c3 Rd8 { Rook seems to be defended but prepares anothertrap } 21. Qxc6+ Kf8 22. cxb4 dxe4+ { Open another column that closes thecircle the white king } 23. Kc2 Bd1+ 24. Kc3 Qxe3+ 25. Kc4 Qd4+ 26. Kb5 Rd5+ 27. Ka6 Rg6 28. Qxg6 hxg6 { immediately surrendered. Black threatensmate: QB6 # } 0-1
[Event "a pair of knight sacrifices"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.10.30"] [Round "-"] [White "x-machine"] [Black "blacke14"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1092"] [TimeControl "4 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1205"] 1. e4 { just a quick game here, but interesting nonetheless. In this game,an early sacrifice from White leads to an immediate advantage, but Blackfights back. White needs to complete the attack - but how can he do that? } 1... e5 { A King's Pawn opening } 2. Nf3 f6 { This isn't the best move in thisposition, as White has a counter that immediately breaks up Black's defence... } 3. Nxe5 { not unheard of, but it is the first time I have been able to dothis :) } 3... fxe5 { recommended in the DB here is Qe7, which at least relievesBlack from the pressure of White's next move... } 4. Qh5+ { ! Both pathslead to imminent danger from Black! } 4... g6 { While this move loses the rookfor Black, the alternative isn't really that much better positionally;4...Ke7 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bf4+ d5 [to stop Qf5+ after the King moves to g6]7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.d4 and White already has a formidable attack } 5. Qxe5+ Qe7 { here, Black now has the ability to counter-attack... } 6. Qxh8 Qxe4+ { ...asshown. Though Black has to deal with a dangerous queen, his own queen providesthe making of a counter-attack } 7. Be2 { ? drops the pawn on g2, and nowBlack's queen may be a thorn in White's side as well... } 7... Qxg2 { such asstopping White from castling (ironically, I played Be2 to keep kingsidecastling a possibility for White) } 8. Rf1 Ne7 { getting his knight out ofharm's way, and protecting the g6 pawn, as it's defender will be gone verysoon.... } 9. Qxh7 Qe4 { ?! perhaps a developing move would have been betterhere, such as 9...d5 (striking a claim to the centre and opening up a pathfor the bishop) or 9...Nc6 } 10. Nc3 { I end up losing the c-pawn here aswell, but that knight has its uses here (though I haven't seen it yet atthis point) } 10... Qxc2 { fortunately for White, the rest of White's pieces arewell protected, so the reign of terror from the enemy Queen is now over(though she is in a strong position) } 11. Rg1 { I guess I could have driventhe Queen away with Bd1, but like I've said I'm not worried about the Queenat this point - I look to exploit Black's weakened kingside } 11... d6 { opensup room for the White bishop, but it never does come out to play. I nowsee a way to relieve Black's control over g6... } 12. d3 { step #1 - cutoff the Black queen. If Black could see what I was planning, he'd playc6. } 12... Nbc6 { nope, Black doesn't see it, and now White delivers the killerblow... } 13. Nd5 { ! one way or another, the knight defender will have togo, and as far as I can see there is no way to save the g-pawn - alt. variation[should Black see the importance of the g-pawn] 13...Ne5 14.Nxe7 Bxe7 15.Rxg6Nxg6 16.Qxg6+ Kd8 17.Qg8+ Bf8 18.Bg7+ Kd7 19.Bg4# ((tell me if I made amistake on this, it's the longest analysis I've ever done)) } 13... Nxd5 { my knighthas been taken, but it was taboo, due to... } 14. Qxg6+ { one move before,Black may have had a chance that I overlooked, but now Black is doomed!There is no way to stop mate } 14... Kd7 { Ke7 and Kd8 both fall to 15.Bg5+ Kd716.Bg4# } 15. Bg4+ Ke7 16. Bg5+ Nf6 17. Bxf6# { and mate! a fun game :) } 1-0
[Event "Chilly Christmas Chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "12/25/09"] [Round "-"] [White "johnnyk12"] [Black "Black"] [Result ""] { Annotated by johnnyk12 with Black, his brother. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bc5 3. Bc4 { Black recommend Nxe5, gaining a piece and a knight on a central square. I disagree, going with the notion that one should develop as many piecesas possible in the opening. } 3... d6 { I think this is a defensive move, butit does open the line for the bishop. } 4. O-O { Black believes that therewas nothing to gain at this moment from castling. } 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 Ng4 6. Ng5 { I made this move then immediately regretted it. I had hung my knight. } 6... Qxg5 { Not only that, but I let his queen get into the game quickly. } 7. Nd5 Qh5 { I see the mate threat by Qxh2. } 8. Re1 { Yuck! } 8... Bxf2+ 9. Kf1 { Blacksays he could have toyed with me badly right there. However, had he movedanything other than taking my rook, I would have moved my rook to e2, tosafety. The only other move that my rook would be in trouble with wasmoving the g4 knight. } 9... Bxe1 { Which is why, he says, he did not toy withme. } 10. Nxc7+ { I forked him almost as bad as he had forked me earlier. } 10... Kd8 11. Nxa8 { Took the rook. Now my knight is trapped, however, so thismove meant nothing. } 11... Qxh2 12. Kxe1 { Much better, both Black and I agree,was Qxe1, which put the queen on an open line. } 12... Qg1+ { I think that it wouldhave been better to take the pawn outright. This would force me to concedemy queen } 13. Ke2 { Forced } 13... Qxg2+ 14. Ke1 { Black recommends Kd3. In retrospect,this was the better move, allowing my queen to get to e1 and get into thegame, which she should have been a few moves ago. It also leaves a fewmore moves in the game. } 14... Qg3+ { Missing the mating move, which was Qf2. } 15. Ke2 { I decided definitely not Kf1 followed by Qf2#. } 15... Qg2+ 16. Ke1 { Ifall right back into the trap like the idiot that I am. I know I am insome trouble, I try for the draw. } 16... Nh2 { And he misses the mate again. But he does change the position, preventing the draw by threefold repetitionthat I was hoping for. } 17. d3 { I should have played d4. Either way, Iwas in deeper than most people can get out, and I didn't make it out thistime. } 17... Bg4 18. Qd2 { I needed to have both of those squares free, and Iwas dumb enough to leave one of them occupied. } 18... Qg1# { They say that ifyou play for a draw, you're going to lose more often than not. That'swhat happened to me this game. Black showboated for a couple minutes afterthis game, but I deserved it because I sucked. }
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.01.12"] [Round "-"] [White "aspiemikey"] [Black "devaunchy"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1325"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1290"] 1. Nf3 Nc6 2. Nc3 Nf6 { I think it's the first time I've moved a knighton my first move: I thought I'd try it out for a change. Interesting thatBlack should do the same on his first move, but then I'd normally play1... Nc6 as a response to 1. Nf3 when I'm black. That influenced my secondmove, which probably influenced Black's: a keenly contested centre. } 3. e4 e5 { We're keeping symmetry here, allowing our kingside bishops somefreedom. } 4. d4 { This move was made to free up my queenside bishop, andto try to get out the queen: if Black takes my pawn, I take the capturerwith my knight, and if black takes my knight, I take back with my queen... } 4... Bd6 { ...but he declines to take my pawn, enforcing the pawn trade... } 5. dxe5 Bxe5 { ...so I agree to go ahead with it... } 6. Nxe5 Nxe5 { ...alongwith a pair of minor pieces: his bishop for my knight. I have one developedpiece to Black's two, but I do have one more long-range piece remaining. } 7. h3 { I made this move was necessary to prevent a knight from campingon g4. } 7... d6 8. Be3 { Now I get out my bishop, hoping to trade it for oneof Black's knights, and get level on development... } 8... Be6 { ...which promptedBlack to develop his only previously undeveloped minor piece... } 9. Bd4 { ...allowing me to line up his knights with my bishop... } 9... O-O 10. Bxe5 dxe5 { ...so I trade my bishop for a knight, to remove another threat fromBlack, and open up the d-file... } 11. Qxd8 Rfxd8 { ...so I can get rid ofthe queens. I may have surrendered the open file, here, but I thought itwas best to remove Black's most powerful piece, for my king's sake, myqueen capturing Black's in making the only queen move in the game... } 12. Rd1 { ...but I can contest the open file with my rook. I'm hoping that Black'sagreeing to go ahead with the exchange, as my king is denied access tothe queenside... } 12... Rxd1+ 13. Kxd1 { ...and Black did agree. He must be tryingto make exchanges for the same reason, to help his own king. } 13... Rd8+ 14. Kc1 { Now Black has control of the open file, again. I moved the king alonghis starting rank along the queenside, to keep his bishop free, so it canallow his rook to contest the open file... } 14... a6 15. Be2 { ...and I developmy bishop to the second rank to free the rook, allow my rook to contestthe open file, and keep the bishop out of harm's way... } 15... b5 16. Rd1 { ...sonow my rook is free to contest the open file. I'm again hoping Black willagree to exchange, which would allow my king more room to roam... } 16... Rxd1+ 17. Kxd1 { ...and Black agrees. The reason behind exchanging the six majorpieces was to allow our kings more freedom on the board. If this was ina newspaper, this looks like a good position to begin analysing from: oneopen file (although open files are probably no longer an issue now thatthe major pieces are gone), with both of us having a light-square bishop,a knight, and seven pawns apiece. } 17... c5 { I'm playing a very defensive gamehere, allowing Black's pawns to come at me, and hoping to catch them, stopthem from slipping through the net... } 18. b3 { ...so I move up my knight'spawn to cover a4 and c4, to try to catch the pawns on those files... } 18... g6 19. a3 { ...and I move my rook's pawn to cover b4, and to help my knight,as I could take the pawn should it land on b4... } 19... h5 { ...so now the pawnsare coming at me down the kingside... } 20. Kd2 { ...so I advance my kingto get him into the arena, and free up another square for the knight, shouldit need to retreat... } 20... Kg7 { ...which prompted Black to move his king, aswell... } 21. Ke3 { ...so I move mine onto a good square: dark (so he can'tbe checked by the bishop), and the squares on which a knight could checkhim are guarded by pawns... } 21... g5 { ...so Black advances a pawn towards meagain... } 22. f3 { ...forcing me to cover its next square... } 22... g4 23. hxg4 hxg4 { ...prompting another pawn trade. I'm hoping Black will take anotherpawn (on f3) so I can take back, and keep mine connected... } 24. Kf2 { ...soI move my king back, instead of capturing, as that would leave me withisolated pawns, while Black's are connected... } 24... Kg6 25. Nd1 { ...and I nowbring my knight into play by retreating it first... } 25... Kg5 26. Ne3 Kf4 { ...butfor the third successive occasion Black declines to capture, waiting likeme... } 27. g3+ { ...so I move my knight's pawn to push the king back... } 27... Kg5 28. fxg4 { ...but than I had no option but to capture the pawn... } 28... Nxg4+ { ...in exchange for mine. Now I'm facing a difficult endgame with weak,isolated kingside pawns, whilst Black's are connected. } 29. Nxg4 Bxg4 { Ifelt I had no choice but to initiate the knight trade... } 30. Bd3 { ...butI decline to trade bishops, as that would leave me with a difficult pawnending, as both kingside pawns wouldn't have been savable... } 30... Be6 31. Kg2 f5 { ...but this turned the game in my favour... } 32. exf5 Bxf5 33. Bxf5 Kxf5 { ...as now we both have an isolated, passed kingside pawn, but mineis closer to the edge of the board, which would allow my king to get nearerthe queenside. I had no choice but to take Black's bishop, otherwise Iwould have either lost the pawn on c2, or it would have been disconnectedfrom the one on b3. } 34. Kf3 e4+ 35. Ke3 a5 36. g4+ Kxg4 37. Kxe4 { Andnow, after an even game throughout, I'm about to win, with my king beingbetter placed, and after my next move, Black's will be three files away,giving mine a head start... } 37... Kg3 38. Kd5 Kf3 39. Kxc5 Ke3 40. Kxb5 { ...allowingmine to clean up two pawns, giving me a passed pawn on c2... } 40... Kd4 41. c4 Kc3 42. Ka4 { ...and Black resigned here, knowing he couldn't stop all mypawns. } 1-0
[Event "Tournament game, 1929"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Walter Thompson"] [Black "Daniel Noteboom"] [Result "0-1"] { The chess world suffered a tragic loss when Daniel Noteboom died at just21 years of age in 1931. He was a certain future grandmaster and possiblefuture World Champion. Here is one of his best games. } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be3 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. h3 O-O { Agarden-variety Sicilian to this point. } 9. Qd2 Bd7 { Noteboom continuesto quietly build his position. } 10. f4 a6 { Keeping Thompson's pieces outof QN5. } 11. Nf3 b5 { Countering the K-side push of White with a Q-sidespace grab. } 12. g4 Rc8 { Taking the half-open file. } 13. a3 Kh8 { Securingthe K. } 14. O-O-O b4 { White 'castled into it', and Noteboom takes immediateadvantage. } 15. axb4 Nxb4 { The pressure begins to build... } 16. Qe2 Rxc3 { A sharp sacrifice to rip open the defenses on the Q-side. } 17. bxc3 Na2+ { Forcing his way to the helpless White King. } 18. Kd2 Nxe4+ { Not only pressingthe attack but clearing the long diagonal. } 19. Ke1 Naxc3 { Continuing thechase and forking two major pieces. } 20. Qg2 Nxd1 { Reaping his just rewards. } 21. Kxd1 Bc6 { Adding force to the attack. } 22. Bxa6 Qa5 { Bringing the Qinto play with tempo. } 23. Bd3 Qa1+ { Continuing to increase the pressure. } 24. Ke2 Qxh1 { Setting up a beautiful tactic. } 25. Qxh1 Ng3+ { Forking theroyals. } 26. Kf2 Nxh1+ { Securing a decisive material advantage. } 27. Kg2 Rc8 { Thompson mercifully elects to 'aufgegeben' rather than prolong theinevitable. A beautiful attack by Noteboom! } 0-1
[Event "Casual Game, http://www.itsyourturn.com"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.08.09"] [Round "-"] [White "RETIRED"] [Black "John Coffey, Chess Player at Lar"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e6 2. f4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 Nc6 { The computer prefers Be7 but I hardlythink that it makes a difference. } 5. c3 d4 { Here Nh6 would be a slightlybetter choice. } 6. Bb5 { For the next couple of moves, Black could playBd7 or ... } 6... Ne7 7. O-O a6 8. Be2 Ng6 { Blunder. Overlooking ... 8...d3 } 9. d3 Nce7 { Minuscule better is ... 9... b5 10. g3 Bb7 11. a4 b4 12.cxb4 Nxb4 13. Bd2 h5 } 10. g4 Nd5 11. c4 { Blunder. White needed to playNe1. } 11... Ndxf4 12. Kf2 { A bizarre king move. 12. Nbd2 Is better. } 12... Be7 13. Nbd2 b5 14. Ne4 Bb7 15. cxb5 { Misses the combo that is coming. 15. Bxf4 Nxf4 16. Qd2 was necessary. } 15... Bxe4 16. dxe4 d3 17. Bxf4 Nxf4 { Now white needs to play Ke3 or Bxd3. } 18. Qa4 { Things just got a littleworse. } 18... Bh4+ { Now the only reasonable response is Kg1... } 19. Ke3 Ng2+ { White resigned. } 0-1
[Event "No queens or knights... how will you do? II"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.02.21"] [Round "-"] [White "ezyaz"] [Black "aspiemikey"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1347"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1215"] 1. Nc3 Nc6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Ne5 Ne4 4. Nxc6 Nxc3 5. Nxd8 Nxd1 6. Kxd1 Kxd8 7. d4 d5 8. e3 e6 { We keep the symmetry, and free our bishops first... } 9. c4 dxc4 10. Bxc4 { ...then we exchange pawns for the first time... } 10... c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 { ...and again, making the board symmetric again. } 12. Ke2 Ke7 { And again, moving our kings. } 13. a3 a6 { And again with our pawnson the far side... } 14. Bxa6 Rxa6 { ...but the symmetry is now destroyed,as I accept the gift of a bishop, giving me the edge. } 15. h4 Bd7 { I bringmy other bishop up... } 16. f4 Bb5+ { ...to attack the king. } 17. Kf3 Rd8 { Now I unleash my other rook. } 18. b4 Bxb4 { I decide it's worth removingthe pawn... } 19. Bb2 { ...but my opponent doesn't take the bait, keepinghis rook concealed. } 19... Bc6+ { So instead, I attack the king again... } 20. Kg3 Bd2 { ...and put the other bishop deep into enemy territory. } 21. Rhd1 { My opponent lines it up... } 21... Bxe3 { ...so remove another pawn, exposingmy rook to my opponent's, although the king is on a neighbouring square.Would my rook be classed as being en prise? } 22. Re1 { My opponent decidesto line up my bishop instead... } 22... Rd3 { ...so I cover it. } 23. Kg4 { The kinghas now exposed a pawn... } 23... Bxg2 { ...so I take it... } 24. Bxg7 { ...but endup losing one myself... } 24... f5+ { ...so its neighbour attacks the king. } 25. Kg5 Kf7 26. Bh6 { The bishop is forced to retreat... } 26... Ra4 { ...so my rooklines up a checkmate. } 27. Kh5 { The king makes his only possible move... } 27... Bf3+ { ...allowing one of my bishops to attack him... } 28. Kg5 { ...forcinghim to make his only possible move... } 28... Bxf4# { ...and the other bishop trapshim. } 0-1
[Event "NZCF Club Game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "05.10.2011"] [Round "-"] [White "A. Lin"] [Black "S. Holdaway"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "unr"] 1. e4 { Another OTB game and the final game of the tournament. I have managedto string together a few wins and am looking pretty close to the top ofthe list of my grade. If I win this game and the current leader doesn'tthen I would at least have a share of the top spot. } 1... Nf6 { Alekhine's defence.I notice that when I play this OTB, my opponents tend to raise an eyebrowand look a bit uncomfortable. } 2. Nc3 { And (unlike on GK) this seems tobe the most common response. I suspect trying to avoid unfamiliar territory. } 2... d5 { Keeping my opponent uncomfortable hopefully! } 3. e5 { Now it becomesthe Spielmann variation. } 3... Nfd7 { Also playable is 3...d4, it often leadsto the violent follow on of: 4. exf6 dxc3 5. fxg7 cxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Qxd2+ 7.Bxd2 Bxg7 after which I think white has the better of it. } 4. d4 { Pokinga pawn out to defend e5, release the DSB and claim some more of the centre. } 4... e6 { Defending d5 and opening some dark diagonals. } 5. Nf3 { Developingand adding some fortification to white's advanced centre. This is a strongknight, which Black is often prepared to give up the bishop pair to remove- however in this line Blacks LSB isn't going to make it anywhere nearthat knight for quite some time. } 5... c5 { Looking to undermine White's advancedcentral pawns. } 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxe5 { White's central pawns have fallen,and Black is a pawn to the good. White does have more development, butI think Black has the edge for now. } 8. Bf4 { Looking to develop furtherwith tempo. } 8... Qf6 { Seems early to send forth the queen while the back rankis looking so full, but in this case I think it is justified. Nd7 wouldhave been the only safe square for the knight and White's massive leadin development would more than compensate for the pawn. } 9. Bg3 Bc5 { Catching up on development. Challenging for the centre, and looking throughthe knight towards White's f pawn. } 10. Ndb5 { Threatening a knight forkat c7. } 10... Na6 { I gave 10...Ng4 piling up on the f pawn, a good hard look,but White can ward off the threat with Qf3 after a check at c7, securinga rook. Nxd3 doesn't fare any better. } 11. Qe2 { This move adds protectionto the f-pawn, creates a threat to the knight at e5, and gives white theoption of castling long. } 11... Nxd3+ { There didn't seem to be an efficientway of defending the knight, nor moving it to safety. This gets rid ofWhite's bishop pair, and maintains pressure on f2. } 12. Qxd3 O-O { Dullingthe threat of Nc7. It seemed that this move needed to happen sooner orlater anyway. } 13. O-O { Renewing protection for f2, and connecting therooks. } 13... Bd7 { Clearing the back rank and asking the knight the question. } 14. Nd6 { The White Knight is happy to swap, but for a different bishop.Also attacking b7. } 14... Bc6 { Defending b7, but more importantly, loading aweapon on the a8-h1 diagonal. } 15. Rfe1 { Seizing control of the e file. } 15... Nb4 { Bringing the knight closer to the action. Threatening the queen andthe rook fork at c2. } 16. Qe2 Qg6 { This move provides support for theknight to jump on c2, but the real threat is after 17...Bxd6 18.Bxd6 d4threatening both the knight at c3 and mate on f2. } 17. Rac1 Bxd6 18. Bxd6 { This fork wasn't feared due to the previously mentioned line. } 18... d4 { Asplanned. } 19. Ne4 { The knight is able to avoid its own threat whilst interposingthe threat of mate at g2, but it isn't enough to save it. } 19... f5 { THe knightis pinned to its fate. } 20. f3 fxe4 21. fxe4 { White doesn't take advantageof the fork yet, and for good reason. If instead BxN or BxR then exf3 andthe pawn is going to be a real problem for White. This is a safer option,and of corse the fork is still there. } 21... Nxa2 { Getting some compensationfor the knight. By attacking the White rook, White must either exchangerooks equally, or spend time trapping the Black knight, allowing the Blackrook to escape. } 22. Ra1 { The better option. } 22... Rf6 { Here I consideredboth Rf7 and Rf6. After considering it quite considerably I decided onRf7. I then proceeded to move my rook to the wrong square... } 23. Rxa2 { White seems to have emerged from the worst of the attack, relatively unscathed.Black does still hold the edge however. } 23... Rf7 { Putting the rook where itwas supposed to go on the last move... Avoiding Be5 of course. } 24. b4 { I think this move may have been to prevent a6 followed by Bb5 for black. } 24... b5 { THis move was probably a bit of a 'knee-jerk' but I don't think itstoo bad. } 25. Qd3 { Threatening to chew up a pawn. } 25... Rd8 { I figured thatthe pawn was safe. If 26.Qxd4, then ...Rfd7 and White's bishop can't besaved due to the pin on the e4 pawn. } 26. Bg3 { Interrupting the Blackqueen's view of g2. } 26... Rdf8 { Piling up on the f file. Although this leavesd4 hanging, this enables Black's bishop to safely take on e4 - If the Whitequeen takes on d4 then she neglects her defence of f1, meaning the e1 rookis powerless to leave the back rank to capture on e4 or else Rf1# } 27. Qxd4 Bxe4 { This also threatens c2, pins the white bishop, and threatensRf2. } 28. c3 { This protects c2, but more importantly it allows the rookto keep a defensive eye on g2. } 28... Qf5 { Piling up on the the f file threateningmate at f1. Bc2 was another option here to refresh the threat of Rf2. } 29. h3 { Giving the king some breathing space. } 29... Qg6 { But leaving the bishoppinned and undefended. } 30. Rae2 Qxg3 { Perhaps it wasn't best to exchange- I just couldn't see anything better. } 31. Qxe4 { Now it's White's turnto have all the heavies lined up. } 31... Qxc3 32. Qxe6 Qxb4 { Black's immediatethreats seem to have been warded off again, but now there are two connectedpassed pawns, that should save the day. } 33. Rf2 { I didn't feel that thismove itsself was really threatening much. Probably in preparation for Ref1after which White looks more dangerous. Black finds himself at a forkin the road - 33...Qxe1+ 34.Qxe1 Rxf2 35.Qa5 and Black will end up with2 rooks and a passed pawn vs White's Queen. I suspect this was probably'right' move by Black, However... } 33... Qc5 { ... I couldn't see how to winthe endgame. This move pins the White rook at f2, and forces White to defendit. The strategy at this point was to create an impenetrable fortress forthe King, and then set about marching the pawns down the board. } 34. Re2 { I'm not sure if this is better than Ref1 or not. Ref1 doesn't immediatelycreate any real threat whilst the f2 Rook is pinned. But this does leavethe option for Black to play Qc1+ at some point to reposition the queenat some point. Qc1 isn't doesn't seem to be useful just now though. } 34... a5 { It doesn't seem that White can break through, so Black starts pushing. } 35. Kh2 { Breaking the pin. } 35... a4 { It seemed that White can only swap offpieces here, which seems just fine for Black with two connected, passedpawns charging towards the end of the board. } 36. Rxf7 Rxf7 { One set ofrook off the board. } 37. Qe8+ Qf8 { The fortress remains and White willhave to exchange more pieces to be able to cause Black any real trouble.The other option of course was 37...Rf8 38.Qe6+ Kh8, but it seemed likeBlack would need to be careful. } 38. Qe6 { Pinned again. } 38... Qe7 { Unfortunatelythis happened. Nothing more than a simple miscalculation. } 39. Qxe7 Rxe7 40. Rxe7 { It was a shame for this game to end like this, I was lookingforward to trying to find my way through a quite an unfamiliar endgametowards what I had hoped could be a win. Thanks for reading my annotation- please leave comments/feedback. } 1-0
[Event "Sacrificing a piece...and my nerves"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014"] [Round "-"] [White "hscer"] [Black "Black"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "~1700"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1762"] 1. e4 { Time to annotate a game I won for a change. I am not a confidentattacker and even less confident when making sacrifices so this game wasa little nerve-wracking for me. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6 { Moves like thisare what it takes for me to try to attack out of the opening, because ifI let someone get away with it, then how grievous could such a waste oftime really be? } 4. d4 exd4 5. c3 { The Göring Gambit of the Scotch Gamegoes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3. Its goal, like the goal of manygambits, is (at least in part) to gain a lead in development. Because Whitealready has a lead in development thanks to each side's third move, I overcamemy aversion to giving away pawns in the opening, with, ideally, an evengreater lead in development as compensation. } 5... dxc3 6. Nxc3 Bb4 { At somepoint here the Game Database comes into play. Here Black picks the mostcommon move in this position. } 7. O-O { As do I in this position. } 7... Nge7 { The position after White's 7th move is in the World database preciselyonce, but has been reached nearly 100 times on Gameknot. 7...Bxc3 is mostpopular here. Black's actual move is played more often than the knightto f6, but I'm not sure why. } 8. Nd5 Bd6 { This is a move I really suspectof being attributable to the database. Even though 8...Bd6 is only in thedatabase twice, Black won both times. However, I don't see how it can begood as it blocks the d-pawn. } 9. Re1 { I leave the database here (earliergames saw 9. Be3 and 9. e5). This move discourages 9...Nxd5. } 9... Ne5 { Blackhas a lot of potential exchanges on the table now, and each exchange helpsBlack. I'm starting to get pretty nervous already. } 10. Nxe5 Bxe5 11. f4 Bd6 12. Qg4 Rg8 { 12...O-O 13. Nf6+ just seems terrible for Black, so heavoids castling. But he is many moves from being able to castle queenside--four,at the very least. This should give White time to build up even more ofan attack. } 13. f5 { Opening the dark-squared bishop's diagonal. Even thoughWhite has quite a bit of time now before Black can get his king to safety,I'm still feeling bad about this. For one thing, where are the open linesto Black's king? } 13... Be5 14. Bf4 d6 { Obviously not 14...Bxb2 when 15. Bxc7traps the Black queen ignominiously. } 15. Bxe5 dxe5 { And here White hasthe 'safe' 16. Rad1 or the more violent... } 16. Nf6+ { Is it good? Probablynot. However, this may be the only chance to play this sacrifice--16...Nc6was on the table. } 16... gxf6 17. Qh5 { Threatening mate. } 17... Rf8 { Black only hastwo options here, and picks what must be the wrong one. I expected 17...Rg7when I made the knight sacrifice, and was planning 18. Qxh6 Rg8 (or Kf8)19. Qxf6 here. I think White has some play there, otherwise I'm not playing16. Nf6+ at all, but when Black played this move instead, I began to feela lot better. } 18. Rad1 Bd7 { Now Black demonstrates a stubborn unwillingnessto give up the queen. While there is no way to do so and stay ahead inmaterial, it would have resulted in an endgame where Black has a rook andknight for it and might still be able to put some play together. } 19. Be6 { I like this move. I saw it after 17...Rf8. } 19... Qb8 { This is the really stubbornmove to save the queen, but it looks absolutely silly hiding over thereon b8. If Black goes with 19...Bxe6 20. Rxd8+ Kxd8 21. fxe6 fxe6 22. Qxh6,it's that losing endgame again, but it's not completely hopeless. } 20. Bxd7+ Kd8 { A stalemated king is never good; even worse when the queen istrapped with nothing to do; and even worse when one rook is stalematedand the other staring at doubled pawns on its file. } 21. Qxh6 Rg8 22. Qxf6 { Black resigns. He could still play on with 22...c5, which loses a piecebut is the only move that doesn't lead to instant annihilation. One variation(hardly forced) that I would very much have enjoyed playing through tothe end was 22... c6 23. Be6+ Kc7 24. Qxe7+ Kb6 25. Qb4+ Ka6 26. Re3 b527. Ra3+ Kb6 28. Qa5+ Kb7 29. Rd7+ Kc8 30. Rxf7# - but the position ofBlack's king and queen in the actual final position is amusing enough. } 1-0
[Event "2013 Pawndemonium XXIV, Round 2, Board 1"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.05.04"] [Round "-"] [White "Christopher Tavernier"] [Black "David Simonsen"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1542"] [TimeControl "G/40"] [WhiteElo "1217"] { The second game I played in the same tournament as my previous annotation.Again, comments and criticisms from everyone! } 1. e4 e6 { French! } 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 b6 { This shocked me, I have never run intoanybody else who plays that, is it a line of the French that I'm not familiarwith? } 6. Bd3 { I played what I thought was best. } 6... cxd4 7. cxd4 h6 8. O-O Nge7 9. Be3 { Be3?? Why did I play that, I'll let you answer that. } 9... Nf5 10. Bb5 Bd7 11. Nc3 Bb4 12. Rc1 { To me it looked like Rc1 was forced. } 12... a6 { I knew he was going to play that. } 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Ne2 { Horriblemove on my part. } 14... Bb5 15. a3 { Sparta (pawn) vs. Athens (2 bishops) } 15... Be7 16. a4 Bd7 17. b3 { b3 again another pointless move. } 17... O-O 18. Ng3 Nxe3 { Amistake on blacks part, he took my bad bishop for his good knight. } 19. fxe3 b5 20. e4 { Breaking the center open. } 20... Rc8 21. Rxc8 { I took too soon. } 21... Qxc8 22. Qe1 { Trying to maybe get my Queen to g3. } 22... Qc2 23. Qe3 { It's justa pawn why guard it? } 23... Rc8 24. Qf4 { My threat is Ne1, sort of. } 24... Be8 { Stopsthat. } 25. Re1 { Why???????? } 25... dxe4 26. Nxe4 { Slowly improving my position. } 26... bxa4 27. bxa4 Qc6 { I don't think he can take that pawn, I think Nf6+ wins,but I did not see that so... } 28. Ra1 { ...I played another useless move. } 28... Qd5 29. h4 { A late attack. } 29... Bc6 30. Rc1 { Stopping his threat. } 30... Ba3 31. Rc2 Rd8 32. Ng3 { Tal knight. } 32... Bxa4 { I think that was a mistake. } 33. Rc7 { Black must defend or die. } 33... Be8 34. Nh5 { Sparta!!!!!!!! } 34... Qb5 35. Kh2 { StoppingQb1+. } 35... Qd3 36. g4 { Stopping Qf5 and...Sparta!!!!!!!!! } 36... Bb2 37. Re7 Kf8 { A blunder on his part. } 38. Rxe6 Bxd4 { Random pawn grabbing. } 39. Nxg7 { BOOM! } 39... Qe2+ 40. Kh3 Bd7 { ????????? } 41. Rxh6 Qf1+ 42. Kh2 { He has a drawhere if he wants it, I should 42.Kg3! } 42... Qf2+ 43. Kh3 Be3 { His final failingstand. } 44. Rh8+ Ke7 45. Qf6# { Checkmate. } 1-0
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.08.25"] [Round "-"] [White "elwoos"] [Black "catacrok"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1486"] [TimeControl "14 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1555"] 1. d4 { A fairly short game though I can't help but feel it could have beena little shorter, any insights would be gratefully received } 1... d5 2. c4 Nf6 { QGD Marshall Defence, not one I have seen all that often. } 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Ne5 { Not a move I have played often but I like the knight here as itcan be hard to shift } 4... Be6 { Blocks the e pawn and limits blacks dsb, sohe is pretty much forced to fianchetto it } 5. Nc3 dxc4 6. e4 Nfd7 7. Nxc4 Bxc4 { Possibly not the best move from black as I can now develop with tempoand black loses his most oactive piece } 8. Bxc4 e6 9. O-O g6 10. Qf3 Bg7 11. e5 { I have a good grip on the light squares, particularly those inthe centre, so I wasn't too worried about this move, it also allows Ne4 } 11... O-O { Castling into potential danger, as some of my pieces are already pointingthat way } 12. Bf4 c6 { I don't understand this move at all as it means blacksb8 knight can only move to a6 where it is no better off than it is now. } 13. Ne4 { I found this irresistable after blacks previous move } 13... f5 { Losesa pawn and also will give me a passed pawn. } 14. Bxe6+ Kh8 15. Ng5 { threatensa royal fork } 15... Nb6 { Another strange move from black, I can't see what thisachieves other than allowing the Nb8 to go to d7 } 16. Qh3 { Threateningmate with Qxh7 means that black has to allow me the Royal fork gainingme a rook for a knight } 16... h5 { About the only option I could see that workedfor black, 16...,h6, Nf7+ piles pressure on h6 } 17. Nf7+ Rxf7 18. Bxf7 { To my mind I was clearly ahead here however I couldn't see a clear win } 18... Qe7 19. Bxg6 { Also tempting was e6 but I felt this was better as it restrictsthe black king to the 8th rank } 19... N8d7 { Kg8 looks better to me. } 20. Qxh5+ Kg8 21. Bg5 { pushing the black queen away from defence of the bishop, Qf8loses to Qh7# } 21... Qe6 22. Qh7+ Kf8 23. Bxf5 { I wasn't thrilled with this movebut couldn't see anything better } 23... Qd5 24. e6 { restricting the black kingstill to the 8th rank } 24... Nf6 { This is a blunder from black as we will see } 25. Bxf6 { the bishop on f6 is immune due to Qf7#. Black resigned Thanksfor reading please comment } 1-0
[Event "The importance of tactics."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "27-Feb-07"] [Round "-"] [White "rafias"] [Black "napehb"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1823"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1804"] 1. d4 { In this game we can study the importance of a strong tactical game. } 1... Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 { Nimzo-Indian } 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 Ne4 { Strangemove here for Black. It was better to develop the other pieces. } 7. Qc2 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 f5 9. O-O Bd7 10. Ba3 Rf6 { An attempt to place the Rook inposition for an attack. } 11. cxd5 exd5 { Here white has all the pieces developed,but black has a well placed Knight. } 12. c4 { White tries to get rid ofthe weak back pawn. } 12... c6 { Another bad move in my opinion. Better was Be6and later develop the Knight to c6 } 13. Qb3 { Now Black is starting to feelthe pressure and is beeing punished for not developing faster. } 13... Be8 { Blacktries to leave a place todevelop the Knight. At this point I saw a wonderfultactical blow. } 14. Qxb7 Nd7 { Do you see it? } 15. Be7 { 15. Be7 ! a superbblow right in the middle of Black defence. A Black Rook is gone. } 15... Qxe7 16. Qxa8 g5 { 16... g3? Black tries to counter but at the same time weakenseven further the position of its King. Here I had a number of options.I decided not to take the advancing pawn because it could pose a threatto my King since lines would open to the remaining Black Rook. That coulsbe dangerous for my King and Black still had a well placed Knight. } 17. cxd5 { So I went for the center where I was stronger. } 17... Nb6 18. Qb8 g4 19. Bxe4 fxe4 20. Ne5 { Now White has a well placed Knight. } 20... cxd5 21. Rac1 { Nowis a matter of bringing the remaining forces. } 21... Nc4 22. Nxc4 dxc4 23. Rxc4 { Black resigned. Rc7 would follow and with the King in bad position itwould be an easy win. Hope you learned something with this game. } 1-0
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.01.11"] [Round "-"] [White "chess_avenger"] [Black "rinaldi"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1511"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1458"] 1. e4 { Ruy Lopez } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Be7 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Nf6 7. Re1 Bb7 8. d3 d6 9. a4 Na5 10. c3 { Instead of c3 I probably should havedone Ba2 to keep the bishop for a longer time. } 10... Nxb3 11. Qxb3 Qc8 { Qc8? I dont see a real significant reason why the opponent would do this move.Engine suggests Bc6. } 12. Be3 { Here I play Be3 to develop the piece andreinforce the centre of the board. Nonetheless I think 12. axb5 would bebetter. } 12... O-O 13. Nbd2 c5 14. axb5 axb5 15. Rxa8 Qxa8 16. Qxb5 Ba6 17. Qb3 Bxd3 18. Bg5 h6 { The move makes some sense trying to a)get rid of the bishopor b)drive it back. The engine claims this to be a mistake on blacks part:(... h6 19. Bxf6 Rb8 20. Bxe7 Rxb3 21. Nxb3 Bxe4 22. Nbd2 Bxf3 23. Nxf3). 18. ... Rb8 is the best move here. Chasing the white queen away. 19.Qd1 would follow with Rxb2 and 19. Qa3 being the best place if such a positionhad arised. } 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 { Again Rb8 is more aggressive. } 20. h3 { Thismove is a waste of time as has very little purpose at this moment. 20.c4! traps the opponents bishop at d3 and gains a few points. } 20... Rb8 21. Qa3 Qxa3 22. bxa3 Rb2 23. Ra1 Bg5 { Black should have avoided this and keptthe bishop as it would be useful in the endgame (Nxg5 is a fair trade forwhite). A move like 23. ... Bd8 would allow it to find a place on theother side of the board where it would be a bigger threat against white. } 24. Nxg5 hxg5 25. Nf3 f6 26. a4 Bxe4 27. a5 Bxf3 { Again here black shouldhave kept the bishop. Instead do 27. ... Kf7 and bring the king closerto action. } 28. gxf3 Rb7 29. Kf1 Kf7 30. Ke2 c4 31. Ra4 d5 32. Rb4 Ra7 33. Rb5 Ke6 34. Ke3 { White is already losing here and this move certainlydoesn't help. Rb6 would be a more clear and aggressive move. } 34... Kd6 35. Kd2 Kc6 36. Rb6+ Kc5 37. Re6 Rxa5 38. Re7 Ra2+ 39. Ke3 { Black has a ratherlarge advantage at this point. Even the slightly better Ke1 wouldn't help. } 39... d4+ 40. cxd4+ { 40. ... exd4+ 41. Ke4 and white loses the Rook and the game. } 40... exd4+ 0-1
[Event "Chess with Bill"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.06.16"] [Round "-"] [White "billdancourtney"] [Black "777spider777"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1301"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1271"] 1. d4 { Sometimes there is no reason to lose a game other than perhaps weare playing more games than we are able to manage, or we are moving laterat night or early in the morning. I lost this one for who knows what reason.The game was fairly even and I basically gave it away by not paying attentionand noticing a really obvious threat. I do a d4 as I can handle a queengame better these days. } 1... e6 { This usually means black is going to pushhis king bishop down and check me. It is annoying really. Not sure if Ido the best thing but I do... } 2. a3 { a3, and that matter is closed, thoughI would have preferred to move my knight out or move my pawn to c4. CAn'talways get what we want in this game. } 2... Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 { He is doing well,with both his knights out. I have only moved out three pawns. Need to startdeveloping some minor pieces. } 4. Nf3 Bd6 { He is going for a quick castle. } 5. Nc3 { I am a little relaxed with the way the board looks for now. Notgood enough to tell who is more developed or not, but everything looksfamiliar enough for me. } 5... O-O { He castles. } 6. e3 { Want to let my kingbishop out. } 6... a6 { Not sure if he had to do that as I usually am not tooaggressive with my knights, but it is a common move. I might have thoughtpawn to b6 and set up a fianchetto but this works too. } 7. Bd3 { set upa castle and develop white bishop a bit. } 7... Ng4 { Getting used to seeing thissort of aggressive type of play, where somebody sets up a few pieces toattack something like a pawn. I am not sure if this is a good or bad playon his part. Seems he has an covered minor piece a bit far down the boardfrom his side. } 8. h3 { Easy to ward of the problem, and he moves his knightto... } 8... Nh6 { h6, where its attack capabilities be come pretty limited. Iseem to be doing okay. } 9. O-O { castle and things don't look too bad foreither of us. } 9... e5 10. d5 Ne7 { In fact here spider777 seems to be gettingimpatient and trying to force something into happening. I know the feelingand I used to be the same way, especially when the center of the boardis all congested. Just trying to chip away at something. Mame somethinghappen. These days I tend to find it is not the end of the world to leta congested board hang around for a while. } 11. e4 c6 12. Bxh6 { This seemslike a good move to me though I usually would not like to trade off a bishopso soon, but it takes away a knight and opens up his castled position.In this aspect I see it as a trade with a bit of gain for me. } 12... gxh6 13. b4 { Now I am starting to feel the pressure of the congestion, but I amnot panicking. } 13... Bc7 { Not sure if this was a good move or not, probablyI wold have done something similar. } 14. c5 cxd5 15. exd5 d6 { I am startingto lose focus I think. I recall beginning to feel impatient about thispoint in the game. Things are even in material and I seem to be in a slightlybetter position and his king has become exposed. Maybe I get impatientand lax at the same time. } 16. c6 { I don't feel like I should have donethis. I am suffering from tunnel vision. Maybe should have laid back andlet him have been the aggressor here. } 16... bxc6 { Yea, don't like it now. } 17. Qc2 { May seem like such an obvious attack that there is no point indoing it, but this sort of set up comes back later to haunt me. } 17... Ng6 18. dxc6 { His pawn is left unguarded and I take it, but I can't really coverthis pawn easily either. } 18... f5 19. a4 { Not sure what either of us are thinkingnow. I am not sure if he is playing well. Seems like we both are not surewhat to do and so we just slam some pawns up, but it becomes a little moredangerous a board in the process. } 19... Be6 { Guess he is blocking a possiblecheck. I tend to not make checks that go nowhere, but many players cannotpass on a check, even if in the process the other guy develops his piecesbetter in warding of the check. I think he may be thinking I will do that.In fact I have no real plan now. } 20. b5 axb5 21. Bxb5 { Even in materialagain though more and more I am comfortable playing a couple point down.Three or more points down worry me however, but sometimes a couple in themiddle game (not end) does not freak me out the way it used to. } 21... d5 { Idon't like this. I get that weird chess headache thing I get a lot lately. } 22. Rae1 e4 23. Nd4 { Things do not seem that bad, but what the hell amI looking at or thinking about to let things go where they go now. } 23... Qd6 { Remember the queen/bishop alignment I said would aunt me later? Here itis on his part, but much worse as his queen leads in the attack formation.So blasted obvious now that I look at it. Can prevent what he is settingup, but what do I do? } 24. Re2 { What is this even going to do? Where ismy head? I do not even want to try and analyze my thinking, since withthe next move... } 24... Qh2# { the game ends and I honestly did not even seeit coming. What happened? Why did I not see an obvious fatal threat? I do not feel I was over confident. Maybe moving too fast, or I was lookingat something else. Him moving his queen was something that should havemade me alert and vigilant. But I let the game go. Not to say I have notdone the exact same thing to other guys. I have. Seems to be a real problemwith guys who hover under 1400 (like myself). I think it is some sort offatigue almost. Tunnel vision and lack of drive in the game we are playing.Maybe focusing too much on another game and thinking of this one as oneof those on the 'back burner' I will get to when it gets dangerous. Sortof depressing to see your message area light up and check it out and seethis. Good game spider777. } 0-1
[Event "122nd GK tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.10.13"] [Round "-"] [White "vmburger"] [Black "shushanta"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1395"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1296"] 1. Nc3 { I haven't played against many knight openers, but I suppose thetheory is the same. Develop and attack center. Dunst opening (just lookedit up on GK database haha)...anyway apparently this is a pretty commonopening. } 1... e5 { Getting boldly into the action! East or west, pawn poweris the best! } 2. e4 { White really likes the d5 square I guess. When someone'sso focused on a square... } 2... Nf6 { ...I go for it too :P Developing knight,attacking d5 and e4 (kinda) } 3. Bd3 { I believe this was a slight blunderin that it blocks the d2 pawn which delays white's LSB from entering thebattle, and at this point the e4 pawn didn't really need any backup besidesthe knight at c3. Perhaps c4 would've been a better development. } 3... Bc5 { Nowthat white didn't focus on the d5 square, I continue developing the DSB. } 4. Nd5 { This threw me off guard for a moment. I was expecting white tocontinue developing his/her pieces. This was perhaps to threaten the knighton f6 and open the c file for the c2 pawn. This move is not availablein the database. Up to this point the opening was called 'Dunst (Sleipner,Heinrichsen)opening (A00)' } 4... c6 { Trying to remove the d5 knight from an attacking position } 5. Ne3 { Refused to exchange, at this point I can't tell if this or c3 would'vebeen better. From c3, the knight would've backed up the e4 pawn... } 5... d5 { ...for this very reason. attacking the e4 pawn while opening the LSB foraction } 6. Qf3 { Backing up the e4 pawn. I still think white should've focusedon development of the g1 knight and c1 bishop, probably after pawn exchangesat this point. } 6... O-O { Bringing the rook into action } 7. exd5 { Pawn exchangeahoy! } 7... cxd5 { Dog eat dog! } 8. Qe2 { Another loss of development. Not surewhy this move was made. Maybe to mobilize the LSB towards black's queenside? } 8... Nc6 { Bringing the knight into action. More attack towards the center. } 9. Bb5 { Exchanging the bishop for knight? } 9... a6 { Forcing white's LSB to exchangeor retreat } 10. Bxc6 { And he/she decides to exchange. } 10... bxc6 { Getting materialback. Okay, after 10 moves. Black controls the middle, castled king, andmost of his pieces are developed or available for instant development.White has no pawn development, 1 active knight, 4 inactive pieces withlocked bishop and rooks. So in short, white is screwed :P } 11. h3 { Preventsblack from moving knight or LSB to g4. } 11... Rb8 { Claiming the open file } 12. g4 { Not quite sure why this move was made. Maybe pushing pawns toward thecastle. } 12... Ne4 { I don't remember why I made this move either. Maybe I wasthinking of getting Queen toward White's kingside } 13. b3 { Setting up forc pawn to c4 perhaps... } 13... d4 14. Ng2 { Pushing the pawns forward...perhapsknight to c4 would've been a better and more aggressive position for white } 14... Re8 { ...and I completely didn't see the undefended knight } 15. Qxe4 { ...butWhite saw it. I made blunders too duh...lol Moving on :P } 15... Bb7 { I guessI was hoping to somehow move the c6 pawn soon to attack the a8-h1 diagonal } 16. d3 { Opens up the diagonal for the DSB } 16... Be7 { Yes, this is a totallyuseless move I intended to trick white with... } 17. Qxe5 { ...and succeeded...hahasometimes I amaze myself with my stupidity turning into good moves } 17... Bb4+ { Discovered check on the Queen } 18. Kd1 { One of a few forced moves } 18... Rxe5 { So taking no risks while claiming the e file } 19. Bf4 { attacking bothrooks, so Black loses one either way } 19... Re1+ { Since I'm losing a rook anywayI try to develop a better position } 20. Nxe1 { Forced! } 20... Qe7 { Keeping matepressure on e1 } 21. Bd2 { Preventing the e1 mate by blocking Black's DSB } 21... Re8 { Threatening e1 mate again by 22... Qxe1+, 23. Bxe1 Rxe1! } 22. Ng2 { Hate them pesky knights } 22... c5 { Trying to remove the backup on e1 from theg2 knight } 23. h4 { ...This move again took me by surprise. It took me awhile to realize that by making that move white gave me the game } 23... Bxg2 { Removing the e1 defense } 24. Rh2 { White didn't see the impending doom! } 24... Qe1+ { Impending doom (ish)! } 25. Bxe1 { Only move! } 25... Rxe1# { Impending doom!muhahaha lol Thanks for reading! Please comment on any blunders I missed(which I'm sure are abundantly available here). Constructive comments arehighly appreciated. Special thanks to vmburger for this great game! } 0-1
[Event "Challenge from blackie_chan"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.01.30"] [Round "-"] [White "blackie_chan"] [Black "klingle"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1819"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1619"] 1. d4 { i am not very sure about what openings are called but i do knowhow to play, so here is my annotate...... As always i start out with d4or c4 to play the English opening, but in this case i did d4 } 1... Nf6 { Blackresponds with Nf6, standard move played by black } 2. c4 { regardless ofblacks first move i usually follow up d4 with c4 unless black plays c5which people have done in some occasions } 2... e5 { A gambit by black so he canbe able to develop his pieces faster if i decide to take e5 } 3. dxe5 { Thereason i decide to do Dxe5 is because i know in the long run he will beable to get e5 back if he is indeed a good player but because i dont reallylike pushing d4 to d5 or play e3 to exchange pawns } 3... Ne4 { Usually some peoplewould play Ng4 to attack e pawn which if i defend with Nf3, the opponentthen usually plays Nc6, but in this case my opponent plays Ne4 } 4. e3 { I decide to push my e pawn in this game to protect my c pawn from attacksfurther along in the game } 4... Bb4+ { Bd2 seem the best option in this case } 5. Bd2 Nxd2 6. Nxd2 Nc6 { Now my opponent attacks my e pawn } 7. Nf3 { Idefend as usual with Nf3 but i know in the long run that its pointlessto defend that pawn much further } 7... Qe7 { Attacking the e pawn as suspected } 8. a3 { Making him force to take the knight.... Ba5 or Bc5 leads to himlosing the Bishop... although i had thought about this beforehand if myopponent had decide to play Bc5 i would push my pawn from b2 to b4 attackingbishop, but i was afraid if he took e3 weakening my king side i would beup plus 2 but both my king side and queen side are both heavily damaged....After Bxe3, fxe3, Nxe5 i feel i am under a lot of pressure although myopponent doesn't have any other develop pieces } 8... Bxd2+ { As i hoped } 9. Qxd2 { recapturing with the Knight wasn't very appealing, because of the b2 pawn } 9... Nxe5 { taking back the pawn which he sacrificed earlier } 10. Nxe5 Qxe5 11. Be2 { I feel i needed to castle at some point } 11... d6 12. O-O O-O 13. Bf3 { just so my opponent couldn't push the b pawn, and puts my Bishop in abetter position than it was } 13... Bd7 { I couldn't play Bxb7 because of Rah8if i defend with Qb4 then my opponent wins a piece by playing Bc6, if idecide to take the pawn and move my bishop back to f3 after my opponentplays Rab8 i lose the B2 pawn and my queen is under attack while havinga weak c4 pawn } 14. b4 { so i play b4 if my opponent misses the move ofBxb7 i win a pawn } 14... Bc6 { here i was wondering why have double pawns in thec file of course Rab8 was something i may have played maybe not, but itook the Bishop thinking i had a better set-up.... } 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Rad1 { i wasn't really sure what to do here so decided that i don't want himto push d6 } 16... a5 { this move here a7 to a5 i decided that this will determinewhether i win or lose, not sure what was going through my mind but i wantedqueens off the board rather than Bxa5 which weakens both my c pawn anda pawn } 17. Qd4 Qxd4 18. Rxd4 { now any mistake could lose either of usethe game } 18... axb4 19. axb4 { i knew i could defend the b4 pawn that's why ilet him take.... } 19... Ra4 20. c5 { if my opponent decides to take c5 with hispawn, i reply back with bxc5 and if my opponent swaps off rooks i knewi am in a better advantage because he has two double pawns in the c file } 20... d5 { my opponent replies with d5 which i feel gave me the advantage here } 21. Rb1 { maybe e4 would of been better in this case } 21... Rb8 { putting my bpawn under pressure but not so much } 22. f3 { was preparing for e4 and releasingmy King from a back-rank checkmate } 22... Kf8 23. e4 Ke7 { I got lucky becausemy opponent made a blunder the mistake which should have won me the game } 24. exd5 { If my opponent decides to take back with cxd5 i can take withmy rook which u will see shortly } 24... cxd5 25. Rxd5 Raxb4 26. Rxb4 Rxb4 27. c6 { this move wins me the c pawn regardless of what my opponent does nextmove } 27... Rc4 28. Rd7+ { Now i am a pawn up and i should of closed this gameout better } 28... Ke6 29. Rxc7 Rc2 30. Rc8 { i was hoping at this point that hisking would go to d6 so i could collect his g pawn or h pawn by playingRg8 } 30... g6 31. c7 { i was hoping for Kd7 so i could win the h8 pawn and stillbe a pawn up } 31... Kf6 { when this move happen i missed the next move which shouldof been Rh7 because the c7 pawn was already lost unless my opponent madea huge error... if i played Rh8 my opponent had to take pawn because iwould promote next move leaving me to take the h pawn } 32. h3 { i realizedtoo late that i could take the h pawn } 32... h5 { as to prevent Rh7 } 33. Kh2 { wasn'tsure what was going through my mind, I was playing poker at the same timeand was rushing my moves thinking i had it won } 33... Kg5 { My next move costme the win } 34. Rf8 { i wasn't paying attention and after i made the movei new that i was most likely going to draw this game } 34... Rxc7 35. Rb8 Rc2 36. Rb5+ f5 { now i was hoping for a mistake by my opponent } 37. Rb6 f4 38. h4+ { If my opponent took on h4 i would reply by taking the g5 pawnand trapping the King on h4 } 38... Kf5 { smart move by black } 39. Rb5+ Kf6 40. Rb6+ Kf5 41. Rb5+ Kf6 { here i was just thinking of taking the draw butsomething in my mind said to give it one more shot } 42. Rb4 Kf5 43. Re4 { was hoping for a mistake which may come later } 43... Ra2 44. Re1 { i was attemptingto play Kh3 if i played that last move his rook could of went to c1 threateninga checkmate on h1 } 44... Rb2 45. Ra1 { playing this first just incase i need tocheck on the a file } 45... Rc2 46. Kh3 { i went through this in my head so manytimes thinking that i have won the game but i forgot my opponent couldplay fxg3 } 46... Rb2 47. Ra5+ { have to move the King to e or f6 to play g4 } 47... Kf6 48. g4 { i thought that he had to play hxg4 forgetting about enpassat ifmy opponent play hxg4 white would win the game by playing Kxg4 threateninghis f pawn which would inevitable be lost } 48... fxg3 { here i realized thatit would be a draw, kicking myself because i should of won if not for themistake on move 32 } 49. Kxg3 Rb4 50. Rc5 { In all it was a very good game,and my opponent played a better end game than i......... } 1/2-1/2
[Event "'98 th Siciliana Fast 'Dragon's Variant'' "] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.12.20"] [Round "-"] [White "ambrosio"] [Black "rromeroh"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1711"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1407"] 1. e4 { contraataque } 1... c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Qxg4 O-O 8. Bd3 a6 9. O-O e5 { She goes, when she goes!! } 10. Nb3 d5 11. Qg5 Bf6 { There is no change. My queen still has to do her job. } 12. Qg3 d4 13. Nd5 dxe3 14. fxe3 { That is better than Ah4. } 14... Bg7 15. Rf2 Be6 16. Nc3 b6 17. Raf1 { The game begins with the two rooks making a double move. } 17... Nc6 { I am developing. } 18. h4 { Attack!! } 18... Nb4 { Distraer por el flanco dama y ataque discreto debilitandosu estructura de peones } 19. Rd1 { mmm } 19... Qc7 20. h5 Rac8 { I am doing all the pressure I can on this side of the board. } 21. hxg6 hxg6 22. Qh4 { He also moved to the other side. } 22... Rfd8 23. g3 Nxd3 { no puedo perder tiempo. quiero llegar primero } 24. cxd3 b5 25. Rh2 a5 26. Nc1 b4 27. N3e2 Qb6 28. Kf2 Rc2 29. b3 Rdc8 30. Rdh1 a4 31. Kf3 axb3 32. axb3 Rb2 33. Qe7 { Finalmente se da cuentaque su ataque de 2 torres y una dama està absolutamente anulado por unsimple alfil bien posicionado y busca otras opciones de atacar o de empezara defenderse definitivamente ,abandonando su plan frustrado de darme mate } 33... Bxb3 34. Rh7 { con la idea de Dh4 ! otra alternativa de ataque que se anulacon Rf8 } 34... Qc5 { I think it is an obligatory move to relieve a bit of pressure and continue with my plan of checkmating. } 35. Qxc5 Rxc5 36. R7h2 Ba4 37. Rf2 Rcc2 38. Re1 Bf8 39. Ref1 b3 40. Kg4 Kg7 41. Rxf7+ Kg8 42. Rxf8+ Kg7 43. R1f7+ 1-0
[Event "Playing down initiative"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.08.10"] [Round "-"] [White "rocowo"] [Black "nyctalop"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1826"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1675"] 1. e4 { This game features the Morra Gambit. It's not really popular athigher levels and perhaps for good reasons. It gives away a central pawnfor two tempi and some open lines. White has some initiative but he hasto be very creative or hope that Black will slip up and make his investmentworthwhile. } 1... c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 { There arequite a few good ways to play against this gambit. Plans with e6 are alsofeasible but this suits my style better. } 6. Bc4 a6 { Black has to be carefulhere since 6...Nf6 could be met with 7.e5 posing some immediate problems. } 7. O-O Nf6 8. h3 { White stops Black's intended 8...Bg4 which could followafter the natural 8.Qe2. Now the Bishop has to stay inside the pawnchain. } 8... e6 9. Bf4 { White's position looks very attractive but I don't think itjustifies a full pawn. Black has no weaknesses and can plan slowly a counter-attackfrom behind his wall of infantry. } 9... Be7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Rfd1 Qc7 12. a3 b5 { Preparing to develop the Bishop on the long diagonal to exert pressureon e4. } 13. Ba2 Ne5 { Presenting White with the possibility to double mypawns. This isn't a real cause of concern as I will have an open file andvery good central control. Exchanging a pair of Knights also means Whitewill have fewer attacking chances. } 14. Rac1 Qb8 { The best place to putthe Queen in the Morra gambit variation. It doesn't look very active butit controls d6 and e5 and aims to push the b-pawn. } 15. Nd4 { White didn'twant to let me exchange the Knight and now threatens Bxe5 and Nc6. } 15... Bb7 { Bringing the last piece into play and preventing a possible Nc6. } 16. Bxe5 { This unprovoked exchange give Black a serious edge. It was betterto withdraw the Bishop so that the Ne5 could be kicked from his activespot with f4. } 16... dxe5 17. Nf3 { Perhaps 17.Nb3 was better with the idea ofNa5. } 17... Rd8 { I'm still a pawn up so I try to exchange as many pieces as Ican. } 18. Rxd8+ Bxd8 { The Queen has to cover e5. The Bishop wasn't veryactive on e7 anyway. } 19. Bb1 { Overprotecting e4. } 19... Bb6 { Taking aim at f2and delaying a possible f3 advance that could secure the e4 pawn. } 20. Rd1 Qc7 { Now that the c-file is clear the Queen can come to a more activesquare. } 21. Qd2 h6 { Preventing from any back rank threats. I think Whitemissed his gambited pawn around here. His initiative is nonexistent andbesides the extra pawn I have pressure on e4 and the Bishop pair. } 22. Rc1 Rc8 { No more running now. } 23. Ne2 Qd7 { Forcing more exchanges. } 24. Rxc8+ Bxc8 { Perhaps 24...Qxc8 was a little more accurate but I wanted tokeep the Queen swap offer on the table. } 25. Qc1 Qc7 { Preparing a littletrap that White went for. } 26. Nxe5 { Trying to win a pawn. } 26... Qxc1+ 27. Nxc1 Bb7 { Now the e-pawn can't be defended a second time and will fall. } 28. Kf1 Nxe4 { Now f2 is under threat. } 29. Bxe4 Bxe4 { Even without the extrapawn, this would be very good for Black. The Bishop pair is much betterthan two Knights. } 30. Ne2 { Trying to activate the Nc1. } 30... f6 { This smallpawn move has many points. It asks the Ne5 where it wants to go, it makesroom for the King to come to f7 and it creates the threat of Bd3. } 31. Nd7 { The intermediate move 31.Nc3 would have been slightly better but after31...Bxg2+ 32.Kxg2 fxe5 Black is two pawns up. } 31... Ba7 { Temporarily trappingthe Knight. Now White has to prepare an answer to Bc6. } 32. b4 Bd3 { Securingan easily won K+P ending. } 33. f3 Kf7 34. Ke1 Bxe2 35. Kxe2 Ke7 36. Nc5 Bxc5 37. bxc5 e5 { White can't even protect the c-pawn so he resigned. It'shard to say where White went wrong. He never made a clear mistake. Black'sgame went very smooth from start to finish. } 0-1
[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "???"] [Black "???"] [Result ""] 1. e4 { hi all its nice Blitz game I've played it discuss the bishop binto queen the 2 pieaces sac for a rook and the h6 as preventive for bishoppin } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 { spanish opening } 3... d6 4. Nc3 Bd7 { the pin is neutralized } 5. d3 a6 6. Ba4 h6 { the h6 as preventive for bg5 which is not very goodas it weaken the king side as u'll see } 7. O-O { king is safe } 7... Nf6 8. Re1 { to protect the e pawn } 8... b5 9. Bb3 { bishop in the place to control a2-g8and prepared to b1-h6 which is powerful attack to the king side } 9... Bg4 { startingto pin the knight } 10. h3 { the usual } 10... Bh5 11. g4 { this move is depatableas it drive the the bishop away making it a negative bishop in g6 but alsoit weaken the king side greatly with the right sac I lost many game becauseof this move } 11... Nxg4 { here a sac a knight for 2 pawns protecting the king } 12. hxg4 Bxg4 { the pin is still there and the bishop is active } 13. Re3 { lucky to have my rook in e1 it protect the knight so i can move the queen } 13... Nd4 { double attack i need to protect with 2 piece and to liberate the queenthe brave king do it } 14. Kg2 Be7 { prepare to castle } 15. Qh1 { the queenfinally liberated to protect the weak king side } 15... Nxf3 { here another tradebishop and a knight for a rook and a knight actually he had were verystrong pieces an the rook and the knight was vulnerable whose winning? } 16. Rxf3 Bxf3+ 17. Kxf3 O-O { is it good to castle now or better to attackwith pawns? } 18. Ke2 { trying to get out of the wind } 18... Bg5 { trading thebishops activate the black queen and the wight rook } 19. Bxg5 Qxg5 20. Rg1 Qf4 { the kingside now is owned bu the wight queen and rook } 21. Nd1 { aiming for d5 through e3 } 21... c5 { attacking the queen side the only option } 22. c3 { prepare to position the LSB on the important fileand protect thecenter } 22... a5 23. Bc2 b4 24. Ne3 { by allowing this moveblack lost the h6 pawnthe weak protected only by the queen due to the pin in g7 } 24... bxc3 25. bxc3 { doesn't change a thing } 25... Qf6 { ??? } 26. Nd5 { attackin the queen and theimp.squares e7-f6-f4 } 26... Qd8 { the only scape } 27. Qxh6 { h6 is taken threatof mate } 27... g6 { a trial to prevent it } 28. Rh1 { no escape black resigned }
[Event "My First Game in Gameknot"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "17-Dec-07"] [Round "-"] [White "rus14k"] [Black "knotheadnky"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "947"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1200"] 1. e4 { This is my first game playing in gameknot. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 { Very common postion. } 3... a6 { Hmmm... Very strange move. } 4. d4 { So I triedto get the centre while my opponent was losing his time. } 4... b5 5. Bb3 Nf6 { Now he is dead. } 6. dxe5 { Other alternative is 6.Nxe5, then 6... Nxe57.dxe5 Nxe4 and 8. Qd4 is very strong. } 6... Nxe4 7. Qd5 Nb4 { There was no goodmove, he was already dead. } 8. Qxf7# { Checkmate. My first game won in 8moves. } 1-0
[Event "a plan comes together..."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "20-jun-18"] [Round "-"] [White "fiercequeen"] [Black "millicat"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1441"] [TimeControl "3+10 blit"] [WhiteElo "2059"] { in some games, everything works: like in this 3+10 blitz game... } 1. e4 e5 2. f4 { Kings' Gambit: I am starting to like it... } 2... Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bb5 { take out Nc6: it might give trouble at d4... } 4... Bg4 { pinning Nf3 isno problem for White... } 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 { covering f4: we look after thelittle ones... } 6... Nf6 7. h3 { demanding a declaration from Bg4... } 7... Bd7 8. c4 { a bit of a waiting move: d5 is no option for Black... } 8... a6 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 10. b4 b5 11. Nc3 bxc4 12. dxc4 Rb8 13. a3 Bxe4 { winning a pawn, but thepleasure is short lived... } 14. Nxe4 Nxe4 15. Qd5 Ng3 16. Re1 O-O { castlingunder pressure... } 17. Bb2 { e5 is the target: no rocket science involvedhere... } 17... Rb6 { losing control: but there was no saving this... } 18. fxe5 c6 19. Qa5 { the White Queen is safe... } 19... Qa8 { not sure, what happens here:Black cracks... } 20. Qxb6 { Black resigned... } 1-0
[Event "Short Game #1"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "04-Mar-09"] [Round "-"] [White "blake84120"] [Black "chesskarel"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1512"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1507"] 1. e4 { Warning: this gme times out right when it's getting good. It's ateam match and I am playing white. I open with the Open Game. } 1... c5 2. Nc3 { Black makes it a Sicilian, and I try transposing a move or two to throwhim off. 2. Nf3 is by far the more common move here. } 2... Nc6 3. Nf3 { Transposingtoward the Open Sicilian. } 3... e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 { Fully transposed, nowwe're pretty much in a Taimanov Variation. one option for black would beto play 5. d6 next and cement his small center firmly in the Scheveningenline too. } 5... Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 Nf6 8. O-O { The Paulsen Line of the Taimanov.All pretty standard so far, but here's where my reference ends. } 8... Bb4 9. Na4 Bd6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. f4 { This seems to lose the e4 pawn. I found thiscontinuation in GameKnot DB and it looked intriguiging, so I played 11.f4 to see where it will lead: 11. f4 Nxe4 12. Bb6 Qb8 13. Qd4 Nf6 14. Rad1Be7 15. Bc5 Bxc5 16. Nxc5 O-O 17. Rd3 Nd5 18. Rg3 f6 19. c4 e5 20. fxe5fxe5 21. Rxg7 Kh8 22. Rxh7 1-0 } 11... Nxe4 12. Bb6 Qb8 13. Qd4 { Following thelines found in the DB, threatening the knight and the pawn on g7. } 13... Nf6 14. Rad1 Bc7 15. Bc5 { Black deviated from my prepared line (didn't he knowthere was a script for him to follow?) but I follow along a little longer.However, this is when black timed out, as I said earlier, right when itwas getting interesting. 39 days for 14 1/2 moves - this game could havegone on for months... } 1-0
[Event "Gambito #299"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "December 2006"] [Round "-"] [White "me"] [Black "Arthur Taylor"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1719"] [TimeControl "G/45"] [WhiteElo "1742"] 1. e4 { I was White in this game played at a Gambito, which is a weeklytournament at San Diego Chess Club } 1... c5 { The Sicilian Defense is the mostcommon response to e4, but I think Nf6 is strongest } 2. c3 { If you wantto play the customary Nf3 followed by d4, then it requires loads of studyingbecause of Black's MANY possible defenses. Playing a c3-d4 boost is a simpleway to avoid studying Sicilian lines } 2... d5 { This is the easiest line to playagainst c3. More complicated is Nf6. } 3. exd5 { Pretty much forced, sincee5 is overextensive and leaves Black with a good pawn structure. } 3... Qxd5 { A sharper move is Nf6, because if White wins a pawn with c4, then e6 dxe6Bxe6 is fine for Black even though he's down a pawn, White has a majorweakness on d4, a weak d-pawn, and is behind in development. This variationusually yields White a small advantage. } 4. d4 { The point of c3 } 4... Nf6 { Alogical developing move. } 5. Nf3 { Another logical developing move } 5... cxd4 { Black avoids me playing dxc5 later, but I wouldn't have since that lineis so complicated. } 6. cxd4 { Nxd4 moves the same piece twice in the opening,and Qxd4 lets Black trade queens and go into a theoretically drawn endgame. Although I have an isolated pawn, it isn't weak at the moment, and controlsa lot of the centre. } 6... e6 { When your opponent has an isolated pawn, it'sgood to control the square in front of it, like my opponent is doing. } 7. Bd3 { This is the best place for my bishop, because it aims toward thekingside. I would only play Be2 if Black had played Bg4 earlier. } 7... Nc6 { ThisDOESN'T threaten to win a pawn. } 8. O-O { My queen is really defending thepawn also, because I can reveal it with Bb5 if Black tries to win a pawn. } 8... Be7 9. Nc3 { Tempo } 9... Qd8 { Qd6 is a much deeper and more strategic move, whilemy opponent's choice was just simple. } 10. Bg5 { If Black moves his knight,I can trade my bad bishop for Black's good bishop. } 10... O-O { This castles intomy future attack } 11. Rc1 { This was sort of a weak move. I wanted to playBb1 Qd3 to threaten mating tactics, and didn't want my rook stuck on a1,but that would've been fine since my rook isn't needed at the moment. } 11... Qb6 { Black is starting to gain activity, and I got worried here. I thoughtI was totally lost, because Black was threatening b2, plus he would playRd8 and may win my isolani. I thought for awhile here and decided my bestchance was to just give up the pawn right now for some compensation. } 12. Qe2 { Enticing Black to take the pawn } 12... Nxd4 { Black accepts the sacrifice } 13. Nxd4 Qxd4 14. Nb5 { For compensation for the pawn, I have a bigger leadin development, and a lot more control. } 14... Qa4 { Here Black seems fine, despitebeing behind in development. I thought I was losing here, because I couldn'tfind a way to capitalize on my development lead, until I found.......... } 15. Bxh7+ { It was this move that saved me. Now I have a lot of activityonce Black accepts the sacrifice. If Black declines with Kh8, then I'mnot down material anymore, but my lead in development is still present. } 15... Kxh7 16. Rc4 { My queen is really defending the knight because Qxb5 Rh4 wins the queen } 16... Qxa2 { Black greedily snatches another pawn. Perhaps Blackcould've had a better chance if he'd placed his queen on a5, where it canhead to defense, rather than on a2 where it is isolated from Black piecesand has no threats } 17. Qd3+ { Rh4 immediately probably wouldn't have madea difference in the position, just the move order. } 17... g6 { If Kg8 then Rh4and Black would play g6 anyway to avoid Bxf6 removing the only defenderof h7 } 18. Rh4+ Kg7 { Black wants me to play Bh6 because even if I winhis rook, he'll have two minor pieces plus a pawn, which is better thana rook. } 19. Qc3 { My focal point is f6. If I can remove one of Black'sonly developed pieces, his king's position will be much weaker } 19... Rd8 { Blackrealizes the danger his king is in, so prepares to flee. If Qd5 appearingto fork my pieces, then Bh6 followed by Nc7 wins two exchanges, and oncethe smoke clears, I wind up with two rooks against Black's three minorpieces. Two rooks is usually a better attacking force } 20. Rf4 { f6 is dead } 20... Kf8 { fleeing } 21. Bxf6 { Now I'm only down a pawn } 21... Rd7 { This move lookedawkward to me, but I guess it's good since it avoids tactics like Bxe7Kxe7 Qf6 followed by Qxf7 } 22. Bxe7+ { I saw that if Rxe7, Qh8 was mate } 22... Kxe7 23. Qf6+ { I doesn't really seem like I'm down a pawn, because Black'sextra pawn on the queenside is insignificant } 23... Ke8 { If Kf8, then I can playNd6 and f7 is history since Rxd6 Qxf7# Now I can't play Nd6, since Rxd6doesn't get mated } 24. Rc1 { Now every single one of my pieces is active,and Black's jumbled pieces cannot defend properly. I'm still down a pawn,but not for long. Nd6 becomes a threat again, since Rxd6 Qxf7 Kd8 Qf8 Kd7 Rf7# } 24... Qd5 { Black brings his queen back to the action to defend, butit's too late now. } 25. Nc7+ { The first move of my winning attack } 25... Rxc7 { It appears that Black has won a piece, since 26.Rxc7?? would be a blunderdue to Qd1# I'm down a piece again, so the next few moves are critical } 26. Qh8+ Ke7 { If Kd7, then Rxf7 Kd6 Rfxc7 and I'm up an exchange, plusBlack's c8 bishop will fall, leaving me up a rook } 27. Rxc7+ { This waylost faster for Black, but was less obvious } 27... Bd7 { If Kd6 then Rd4 } 28. Qf6+ Ke8 { Obviously, Kf8 gets mated, and Kd6 still loses to Rd4 } 29. Rd4 { Black's position is toast. There's nothing he can do now except resignor wait patiently to die } 29... Qa5 { This was a final desperate move to try fora game steal, because if I carelessly take on d7, then Qe8# would've beenembarassing } 30. Qh8+ { Fortunately I have an easy mate in 2 } 30... Ke7 31. Rcxd7# { Black's underdeveloped position and greedy queen moves didn't seem likedisadvantages when I was down a piece, but now I wind up with an extrarook and Black is mated. Development and king safety are the number onefactors in wide open crazy positions like this } 1-0
[Event "SHOPPING FOR A TOMBSTONE pt 1 By Andrew Martin, http://www.jeremysilman.com/"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "?"] [Round "-"] [White "A Rodriguez"] [Black "E Bricard"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2450"] [TimeControl "?"] [WhiteElo "?"] { Go to your computer, open up the search engine and look for the Blackmar-DiemerGambit. There you will find whole websites, huge areas of cyberspace groaningwith appalling games. Pull out the literature on this aggressive pawn sacrifice.I have the Rev Tim Sawyer's book in front of me; a massive 400 page extravaganza.I admire Sawyer's diligence. It's a labor of love and must be treated withrespect. But really, it's time for the truth to be told: the Blackmar-DiemerGambit is unsound! If you want to learn tactics or don't mind taking arisk then please carry on sacrificing that pawn. For the rest of us, whoare concerned with improving our practical results, it's time to put thisopening to bed. I'll show an easy-to-learn and play defense in this articlethat gives Black a very pleasant position. For the most part, you'll beable to sidestep the tactics and end up a pawn up for nothing. What morecan one ask for? A Rodriguez - E Bricard (2450) [D00] Toulouse CEIT opToulouse, 1998 } 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4 dxe4 4. f3 exf3 5. Nxf3 c6 { THE ZIEGLER DEFENSE Black makes a useful move and keeps flexible withthe Bishop on c8. He's waiting to see what White will do with his Bishopon f1 and react appropriately. } 6. Bc4 { This is probably the most commonmove. I recommend a similar development for Black, just a good sensiblereply. } 6... Bf5 { ! Next comes ...e7-e6, shutting out the Bishop on c4. Deadeasy. } 7. Ne5 { White can hack around: 7.Qe2 e6 8.Bg5 (8.0-0 Be7 9.Bg5Nbd7 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 is comfortable for Black) 8...Be79.0-0 Nbd7 10.Rae1 0-0 favors Black, while 7.0-0 e6 (7...Bg6!? 8.Bf4 e6is also good) 8.Qe1 (8.Be3 Nbd7 9.Qe2 Bd6 10.Rad1 Qc7 gives Black a clearplus) 8...Be7 9.Bg5 Nbd7 10.Qh4 Qb6 11.Kh1 0-0-0 12.Ne5 Bg6 with an obviousadvantage. Black just has to exercise reasonable care. } 7... e6 8. O-O Bg6 { ! SOLID AS A ROCK The safest, negating any thought White might have hadabout Rxf5. Even Sawyer thinks this is good for Black, he says so in hisbook. } 9. g4 { Well, this is the type of caveman response one will haveto get used to if one plays 5...c6 on a regular basis. White hasn't gota clue how to attack the Black position and lashes out! On second thought,for caveman, substitute desperate! Another plausible alternative forWhite is 9.Bg5 PLAUSIBLE, BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Black deals withthis move comfortably with straightforward development: 9...Nbd7 10.Qe2Be7 11.Rad1 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Ne4 Bxe4 15.Qxe4 Qc5+ 16.Rd40-0-0 when White has already run out of steam, and Black's advantage isunquestionable, P Sadilek - S Bakker, Vienna Open 2003. 9 Bg5 onlyseems to help Black in his quest to exchange pieces. } 9... Nbd7 { Bricardis very calm. He has seen a long way - to the end of the game in fact! } 10. Nxg6 { 10.g5 is useless due to 10.Nxe5! 11.dxe5 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 Bc5+13.Kg2 Ng4. } 10... hxg6 11. g5 Qc7 { A novelty that proves to be excellent!Why shouldn't Black have some fun? However, 11...Nd5 may also be good: 12.Qf3 Qe7 13.Bxd5 exd5 14.Bd2 0-0-0 15.Qxf7 Qb4 16.Qf2 Qxb2 17.Rab1Qxc2 18.Nxd5 Qe4 19.Nf4 Bd6 20.Rbe1 Qf5 21.Qg2 Rh4 22.Ne2 Qd3 23.Bf4 Bxf424.Rxf4 Rxf4 25.Nxf4 Qxd4+ 26.Qf2 Ne5 27.Qxd4 Rxd4 28.Ne6 Nf3+ 29.Kf2 Nxe130.Nxd4 Nd3+ 31.Ke3 Nc5 32.Nf3 Kd8 33.Kd4 Ne6+ 34.Ke5 Ke7 35.h4 Nd8 36.Nd2Nf7+ 37.Kf4 Ke6 38.Ne4 b6 39.Ng3 Nd6 40.Ne2 Nf5 41.Kg4 Ke5 42.Nf4 Nxh443.Nd3+ Ke4 44.Nb4 c5 45.Nc6 Nf5 46.Nxa7 c4 47.Nb5 Kd3, 0-1, M Hartwig- C Michna, Germany 1996. } 12. Bf4 { 12.Qe2 Bd6! 13.gxf6 Bxh2+ 14.Kh1Be5+ 15.Kg1 Bxd4+ 16.Kg2 Rh2+ 17.Kf3 Rh3+ 18.Kg4 Qg3 mate. BLACK GOT ACRUSHING ATTACK FOR WHITE’S PAWN A rum turn. } 12... Bd6 13. gxf6 { Psychologicalcollapse. I suppose at the beginning Rodriguez thought that HE would bethe one on the attack. Cold analysis reveals the shocking state of White'sposition: 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Rf2 Nh7 15.Ne4 Qe7 16.Qd2 f5 17.gxf6 gxf6 followedby .0-0-0 and 13.Qd2 Ng4 14.Ne4 Bxf4 15.Qxf4 Qxf4 16.Rxf4 Ne3! 17.Bb3 Nf518.c3 Ke7 are both awful for White. } 13... Bxf4 14. fxg7 Be3+ { 0-1. TheBlackmar-Diemer has to be treated with respect. If you play carelesslyor without respect the open lines and quick development that White getsfor his pawn will cut you to pieces. But don't be AFRAID or OVERCAUTIOUSbecause that is where you will fall down. Take the pawn, develop coherentlyand, like Bricard, look for the counterattacking opportunity that willsurely come. } 0-1
[Event "League division C3 Torre Attack"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "24-Aug-06"] [Round "-"] [White "loveguitarplay"] [Black "mybookrunsdeep"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1872"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "2103"] 1. d4 { This game is a Torre attack, where I played a less critical linethan the line 3...c5, however, still gives Black a solid game after themost trying continuation 4. Bxf6. My 2100 rated opponent, enters intothis line, then let's off the accelerator with 5. e3, instead of the obvious5. e4, with a central space advantage. The position that results featuresa good example of play against an isolated d-pawn. } 1... Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 { The idea behind the bishop move is to exchange the defender of the e4-squareand play e4. } 3... h6 { Modern theory regards inmmediately striking White's centerwith 3...c5 as the most critical test of White's opening strategy. After4. e3 Qb6 5. Qc1 Black gets a good game with 5...Ne4. } 4. Bxf6 { 4. Bh4c5 5. e3 b6 6. Nbd2 Bb7 7. Bd3 Be7 8. 0-0 d6 9. c3 Nbd7, and Black's Hedgehog-stylesetup gives him harmonius development with little pressure from White. } 4... Qxf6 5. e3 { White adopts a modest setup, choosing to establish a stablecenter before undertaking any attack. Not really in the spirit of theopening, but Black doesnt have any immediate attack either. } 5... c5 6. Be2 { Again, 6. Bd3 is more aggressive. } 6... cxd4 { This move could have waited,however, I wanted to get the extra center pawn before White played c3,when the symmetrical pawn structure would have made things less dynamic. } 7. exd4 Nc6 { Now we are really out of book. This knight typically goesto d7, however, with White's unambitious play, I decided to put the knighton a more aggressive square. } 8. O-O d5 { Having established the centralpawn majority, I decided to part with it to play against the Isolanus,if White so chooses. Maybe not the best strategy, however, I think Blackcan hold his own. } 9. c4 { White gets aggressive. } 9... dxc4 { Attempting to keepthe position dynamic and since the position is opening, the loss of tempoin recapturing the pawn will help Black. } 10. Nc3 { White is ahead in development. I need to get moving. } 10... Bd6 { Too slow would have been the typical bishopfianchetto of the Torre systems. Here the dark-squared bishop goes toan active diagonal and fights for the e5-square. } 11. Bxc4 { Still behindin development and with an uncastled king, I am now looking down the barrelof a d5-break. } 11... Qf4 { Utilizing a pin to stop the break at the same timekeeping the f3-knight tied to the defense of h2. An active defense isthe best solution. } 12. Qd3 O-O 13. Rad1 { If 13. d5 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 15.g3 ed and Black is fine. } 13... Rd8 { Preventing d5 again via 14...Ne5 15. Nxe5Bxe5 threatening mate and hitting the queen, and after 16. Qg3 Qxc4 Blackis down a piece. } 14. Rfe1 { Anticipating an opening of the e-file. } 14... Bd7 { The only real problem with the Black position is the light-sqared bishop. Here I clear a space for the a8-rook, but temporarily block any discoverytactics on the d-file from the d8-rook. This was the major trade off. In absence of any active plan, White is going to get a space advantageon the queenside, in addition to his advantage in the center, and I wouldslowly suffocate. Here I can at least develop my pieces and get some counterplayon the open files. } 15. a3 Rac8 16. Ne4 Be7 { Better than ...Bb8, as thepressure against h2 is not as potent as White's queenside and center pressure. Here I can swing the Bishop to f6 and to g7 after ...g6 if necessary. } 17. b4 Rc7 { 17...a6 is also a possiblity, however, I believe this moveis stronger as it prepares to double on either file and 18. b5 Na5 givesBlack control of the c-file. } 18. Ba2 a6 { This is now necessary, as ...Na5doesn't come with tempo. } 19. d5 { The attack commences. } 19... exd5 20. Nc3 { Theonly move, White threatens to recover the pawn and exchance of one of theBlack bishops, which are a substantial advantage in an open position. } 20... Be6 21. Nxd5 Bxd5 22. Bxd5 Rcd7 { White is probably slightly better if thesituation isnt just equal. Black has good play on the d-file, the pawnstructure is symmetrical and there is an opposite colored bishop situation. White has succeded in liquidating his isolated pawn and his only weaknessis on a3, which Black can't exploit. On the other hand, Black has a weaknesson b7 and on g6, which is easier for White to exploit as he has the light-squaredbishop. } 23. Qb3 { White breaks the pin and takes aim at f7. } 23... Bf8 { Blackoverprotects f7 and gets the bishop out of the way of any future tacticsfrom the rook on e1. } 24. h3 Qf6 25. Rd3 Ne7 26. Be4 Rxd3 27. Bxd3 Nf5 { not aiming for d4, as after 28...Nxd4 Qxd4 29. Rd1, Black is in serioustrouble. } 28. Qc2 Nd6 { The plan is to restrict the light-squared bishopand hopefully trade it off, when Black would have some winning chancesdue to the bishop vs knight situation with pawns on both sides of the board. } 29. Qb3 g6 { Preparing to get the bishop to a more active diagonal. } 30. a4 Bg7 31. Re5 { This move took me by surprise, as White increases his pressureand prevents any attempts at swapping queens. } 31... Rc8 32. Rc5 Re8 { After theexchange, the pawn on c5 would kick the knight to a less active square,and White would be clearly better. } 33. Rc1 Qf4 34. Rc7 Qf6 35. b5 axb5 36. axb5 { After 36. Bxb5 Nxb5 37. Qxb5 Qa1 38. Kh2 Be5 39. Qxe5 Rxe540. Rxb7 Re2, followed by ...Ra2 and the game is a theoretical draw. } 36... Ra8 37. Rd7 Bf8 38. Qd5 Ra1+ { Faced with a defensive task, the move that givesyour pieces the most activity is most often the best move. Here the rookcan attack from behind, in addition to keeping White pieces tied down aswell. } 39. Bf1 Rb1 40. Ne5 h5 { Keeping the knight out of g4. } 41. g3 Rb2 { Here White timed out. Good for my rating, but the endgame was just gettinginteresting. } 0-1
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.12.05"] [Round "-"] [White "knight55"] [Black "kaspanatola"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1974"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1879"] 1. e4 { I managed to equalize the game right from the opening and in themiddle game I was able to get a decisive positional advantage that wouldsoon convert in to a promoted pawn... white in his effort to avoid thisended in a mate net! } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 { Ruy Lopez (C67),open Berlin defence } 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ke8 10. Rd1 h6 { let's try a transposition to the 9th game of the matchbetween Kasparov and Kramnik, London 2000, let's see what white has preparedfor us... I'll add some comments by Karsten Muler (KM), to my own commentsabout this game } 11. h3 a5 { preparing counter-play on the a column } 12. Bf4 { KM quotes here: 12.b3 Bb4 13.Bb2 Bxc3 14.Bxc3 c5 15.Rd2 b6 16.Rad1Be6 17.a4 Ne7 18.Ne1 g5 19.f3 Nc6 20.Kf2 Ke7 21.Bb2 Rhd8 22.c4 Rxd2+ 23.Rxd2Bf5 0–1, Fritz5-Anand,V Frankfurt 1998 } 12... Be6 { blocking the e pawn } 13. g4 { white goes after the knight, and my king side is a bit restricted,hence the need to have counter-play on the other wing, eventually playingg5 and activating the h8 rook and black can hold the position... KM: Thistime Kasparov takes energetic steps against the blockade on e6 and f5,which led to a draw in the first game. } 13... Ne7 { Ne7-d5, and black still hassome problems to solve but should be fine } 14. Nd4 Nd5 { blocking the opend column } 15. Nxe6 { no the best option, in fact white exchanges my bestbishop, but also by his best knight, so things are even there, but my e6pawn will block white's e5 pawn severely restricting his remaining darksquared bishop, white derived from Kasparov-Kramnik } 15... fxe6 16. Ne2 g5 { withtempo now white has to remove the bishop from f4 and doesn't have the possibilityof Ng4 } 17. Bh2 { previously Bg3 was played in a drawn game Kindermann Stefan(AUT) - Lalic Bogdan (ENG), Portoroz (Slovenia), 1998 } 17... a4 { freeing a5for my rook, and preventing a4, now if white advances his a pawn it hasto be placed on a dark square adding restriction to his bishop action } 18. a3 { and he does move a3 } 18... Kf7 { I need to get my king closer to the king'swing my weakest spot } 19. c4 { just a little bit annoying nothing further } 19... Nb6 { forcing the defence or advance of the c pawn } 20. Rac1 { so defenceit is } 20... Bc5 21. Ng3 { Ng3-e4 is maybe white's idea } 21... Rhd8 { offering the exchangeof one rook with the possibility of Bd4 or Nxc4... } 22. Ne4 Rxd1+ 23. Rxd1 Be7 { preparing Nxc4 } 24. c5 { ? allows me to block the d column again andon occasion more permanently than before... } 24... Nd5 { again Nd5 block the opendiagonal and now it's even harder to remove from d5, as white doesn't havethe c pawn as a threat to it } 25. Rd3 Ra5 { now the c pawn is doomed... } 26. Rd4 { to get the a pawn, but I've rather prefer the c pawn over my apawn any day } 26... Bxc5 27. Nxc5 Rxc5 28. Rxa4 { a forced sequence } 28... Rc1+ { nowafter Kg2 b6 to prevent Ra5 and have both the b6 and c7 pawns are restrictingwhite's bishop } 29. Kg2 b6 30. Kf3 Rc2 { I've considered also the immediatec5 } 31. b4 c5 32. bxc5 Rxc5 { retaining the connected pawns } 33. Kg2 { Ireally don't see the point of this move by white... he needed more a activemove threatening something } 33... Rc3 { threatening both white's weak rook pawns,I've also considered Ra5 to force the exchange of rooks and the resultingsimplification, but I disliked white's counter play on the opposed wingforcing my king to be fixed to it's defence after which the bishop greatermobility compared to that of my knight might became a decisive favouringfactor for white } 34. Ra7 Kg6 { I needed to remove my king from the 2ndrank in order to be able to advance the c pawn, at the same time this moveallowed me a better defence of the king's wing } 35. f3 { my first thoughtwas Nf4+ with the idea of Kg3 to defend h3 then Ne2+ with the idea of Nd4aimed at f3, but then I realised white had the simple Bxf4 and after theforced gxf4 I might have had lost any chances with a rook endgame withonly one extra pawn... } 35... c5 { ... so I proceeded with my plan to play c5 } 36. Bg3 Rb3 { defends the b pawn and gets out of the way of the more advancedc pawn } 37. h4 h5 { I'll end any counter play white might have here on theking's wing, forcing some pawn exchanges } 38. gxh5+ Kxh5 39. hxg5 c4 40. f4 c3 { now white needs Be1 } 41. Rh7+ { ? does he intended to play Rh6+ afterKg6 or Rh4+ after my Kg4... totally hopeless moves just wasting time! } 41... Kg6 { now white will lose his rook, Rh1 forced then I have c2 forcing white'sreply Rc1 to which I'll answer with Rb1! then Rxc2 forced and Ne3+ witha double attack on king and rook wins the rook... the resulting technicalendgame will pose no difficulties for black to win } 42. Rh6+ { ? } 42... Kf5 { andnow I'm safe Rf6+ meets Nxf6 losing the rook and the game and I have thepowerful threat Ne3+ followed by Ng4 } 43. g6 { oblivious to Ne3+ white keepspushing his pawn } 43... c2 { let's lure him to play g7 } 44. g7 { ?? Now I havea nice move Ne3+ and all white king moves are losing, either allowing apromotion with check any move to the first rank (Kg1, Kh1); or allowingcheck with my next knight move Ng4+ (Kf2, Kh2, Kf3-discovered check) allowingthen Nxh6 preventing white's promotion; or even the more resistant Kh3after which both black and white may promote, but white's king positionis inferior and is easily mated with Qh1+ Bh2 only Nf1+ Qg3 Qxh2++ } 44... Ne3+ { now all ends, white doesn't have any good move, he his lost } 45. Kh3 c1=Q 0-1
[Event "Scandi in 16 (3.Bb5+)"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "white"] [Black "hamis"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1468"] [TimeControl "fr. chess.com"] 1. e4 d5 { Scandinavian Defence aka Center Counter } 2. exd5 e5 { BoehnkeGambit. } 3. Bb5+ { a developing move by the b. } 3... c6 4. Ba4 { in order tomaintain the pin. } 4... Bc5 { developing the b and attacking the f2 pawn atthe same time. } 5. dxc6 Bxf2+ { if 6.Kxf2, then 6...Qd4+ , attacking theBish at a4 and preventing the k from castling. } 6. Kf1 { wonder why he didthis. maybe trying to save the Bish } 6... bxc6 7. Qe2 { thus attacking both theBish at f2 and the pawn at e5. } 7... Ba6 { bet he did not see this. } 8. d3 { forcedmove. } 8... Bd4 { Defending the pawn at e5. } 9. Nf3 Nf6 10. c3 { best move forwhite is Nxe5. } 10... Bxc3 { threatening Bxd3, winning the q. the move culminatesin winning the d3 pawn come move 13. } 11. Nxe5 { defending the d3 pawn. } 11... Bxe5 12. Qxe5+ Kf8 13. Ke1 { to prevent 13...Qxd3+ (white prevented the+ but not the taking of the dpawn) } 13... Qxd3 { anywhere the k moves, blackwins the pawn. } 14. Qc5+ Kg8 15. Nc3 { prevents the mate at e2. } 15... Nbd7 { amove to not only to gain a tempo but threaten the next move. } 16. Qf2 Re8+ { White resigned. mate in 5: 16..Re8+ 17.Ne2 Ne4 18.Qf1 Ng3 19.hxg3 Rxe2+20.Qxe2 Qxe2++ } 0-1
[Event "teramaze's mini-tournament 2"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "28-Jul-08"] [Round "-"] [White "jagson"] [Black "stonebergftw"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1275"] [TimeControl "3d+2d, 5d max"] [WhiteElo "1355"] { fantastic endgame. very exciting! I'm playing black. } 1. e4 c5 { siciliandefense... and since its the only defense i know for kp, i use it. likeit too. } 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 { i dont remember why i did this } 4. d4 Qc7 { protecting pawn } 5. e5 Nh5 { move to safety } 6. g4 Ng7 { move to safety } 7. Bh6 { attacks Ng2 } 7... d5 { attack f4 and opens up bishop } 8. Nxd5 { attacksQc3 } 8... Qd7 { moves to safety } 9. Ne3 { moves to safety } 9... Nc6 { standard development } 10. Bb5 { attacks my knight and queen pins it } 10... a6 { attacks bishop and forcesit to move or trade } 11. Bxc6 Qxc6 { i take the trade } 12. d5 { attacks myqueen } 12... Qb5 { move to safety } 13. b3 Qb4+ 14. Qd2 Qe4 { move to safety andtake a central position } 15. Qe2 Bxg4 { attempt to queen pin him } 16. Nxg4 Qxg4 { i take the trade } 17. Rg1 { attacks my queen at g4 } 17... Qh5 { moves tosafety } 18. Bf4 { moves to safety } 18... Nf5 { bunch of random stuff till aroundmove 30 or so } 19. Rg5 Qh3 20. O-O-O Rd8 21. d6 Nh6 22. Rg3 Qe6 23. Qe4 exd6 24. Qxb7 Nf5 25. Rgg1 Bh6 26. Bxh6 Nxh6 27. Rge1 d5 28. Ng5 Qf5 29. Qc6+ Qd7 30. Qxa6 O-O 31. e6 Qd6 32. Qb7 Qf4+ 33. Kb1 Qxg5 { i finally gainmaterial! } 34. e7 { but at the expense of a rook } 34... Rfe8 35. exd8=Q Qxd8 36. Rxe8+ Qxe8 { 'almost even' } 37. Qxd5 { watch the turn of events over thenext 17 moves... } 37... Qe7 38. Qd2 Ng4 39. Re1 Qh4 40. Qc3 f5 41. Re8+ Kf7 42. Qh8 Qh6 43. Qg8+ Kf6 44. Rf8+ Kg5 45. Rc8 Qxh2 46. Qc4 Qxf2 47. Rxc5 Qe3 { here is where it gets interesting... } 48. a4 Ne5 49. Qb5 Nd7 50. Rc6 Ne5 51. Rb6 f4 { sweet! I advanced my pawn farther than his a4 pawn! } 52. Re6 Kf5 53. Re8 f3 { now for the clincher... } 54. a5 Qe2 { SLAM! } 55. Rf8+ Kg5 56. Qc5 Kh6 57. Qd4 Kg7 58. Re8 f2 59. Rxe5 f1=Q+ { And for the bumble ofthe century... } 60. Kb2 Qf6 { ouch } 61. Qd7+ Qf7 62. Qxf7+ Kxf7 63. Rxe2 { and i learned a lesson from this ... dont set up too many conditionalmoves when you have a significant advantage just because you only havedial up internet... think things out and take it slow. GRRRRR!!!!! Ithink my play at 54 was quite good though. Comments??? } 1-0
[Event "Training Game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.11.27"] [Round "-"] [White "hfsdo"] [Black "ben13"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1945"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1223"] 1. e4 { This was a training game between me and hfsdo. Any constructivecriticism to myself or my opponent is welcomed. } 1... c5 2. Bd3 { I like theoriginality of this opening, but as a beginner I would encourage followingdevelopment rules until they become natural (i.e developing, center control,and king safety). This choice hinders development slightly as white nowhas to make more moves to fully develop his pieces. } 2... Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 { Iam quite fond of playing g6 sicilians because I found that defending theking and developing are generally easier in these variations. } 4. O-O { Quickly getting the king to safety is important, and white has done anice job of that so far. } 4... Bg7 5. Nc3 { This move misses the point of theopening. White's best intentions would have been to play c3 so that thebishop can back up to c2 and white would also get a chance to open up thecenter with the move d4. With this move, it is going to be difficult tomobilize the c and d pawns so that white can attack the center. } 5... d6 { Thismove stops and pawn push to e5 ideas so that my knight can get to f6. } 6. b3 { A very smart way to develop the dark squared bishop. However, whitemust be tactically aware since the g7 bishop may cause problems. } 6... Nf6 7. Bb2 O-O { White has played a fine opening so far. It may not be orthodox,but both sides still have several good ideas in the position. } 8. Bb5 { ? I actually like what white was trying to do here. Trading bishop forknight may have been quite useful for white in order to try and open upthe center with and e5 push. However, this move drops a pawn because ofthe pin on the c3 knight. } 8... Nxe4 { Before moving, it is important to tryand identify the forcing responses (captures,checks) by the opponent thatcould end up winning losing material. Blunder checking every move willdramatically reduce these types of oversights. } 9. d3 { ?? Losing a pawnwas not the end of the world, but this is. Another unfortunate oversightthat now drops a piece. } 9... Nxc3 10. Bxc3 Bxc3 11. Rb1 { It is always smartto play on, even when down a piece. An opponent could very easily be caughtoff guard and make their own blunders. } 11... Bg4 { Developing and temporarilypinning the knight and threatening the move Nd4/Ne5. } 12. Bxc6 { It isusually best not to exchange pieces when down in material, but in the instanceit was necessary to prevent me from taking advantage of the pin on theknight. } 12... bxc6 13. a4 { It is tough to find a good move for white. Probablyh3 was best just to try and get to kick the bishop and try to activatethe queen and knights. } 13... Qd7 { Not the best move, but it was in some waya test to see if white could detect the threat of Qf5 which would causedoubled pawns around the white king. } 14. Qe2 { An understandable movewhich applies pressure on e7. But this still does not address the issueof Qf5, which would have been prevented with the move h3. } 14... Qf5 { Now thereis nothing that white can do to stop the king's position from being exposed. } 15. Qxe7 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Be5 { Rather on f3 right away, I decide to throwin this move which attempts to for checkmate by getting a queen and bishopbattery on h2. } 17. Qh4 { ! A valiant defense that stops the queen fromcoming to f4. } 17... Rab8 { ?! I probably should have just taken the f3 pawn.This move was just a flashy attempt at bringing the rook to b4 to kickthe queen. However, once again I underestimated the defensive ability ofmy foe. } 18. Rbe1 { Another nice resource so that if I play Rb4 whitecan block with Re4, which is exactly what occurs. } 18... Rb4 19. Re4 Qxf3 { Finallysnatching the f3 pawn. } 20. Rxb4 cxb4 21. Re1 { There is still some opportunitiesfor my opponent if I am not careful. For example, Re3 followed by Rh3 isstill a decent try here. } 21... Re8 { A nifty move which at first appears tobe a blunder due to the fact that d4 appears to pin the bishop to the rook.But this is not the case because of the threat of Bxh2+, which would winthe rook. } 22. d4 { The final blunder which allows a checkmate. } 22... Bxh2+ { AfterKxh2 Rxe1 there is no way to stop Rh1 mate. In light of this, my opponentresigned. Overall I saw a lot of potential in hfsdo with his creative ideasand resourcefulness. The biggest problem now is simple tactical oversightswhich can be avoided with more practice and a blunder check system. Thinkbefore each move, 'is there a forcing move that my opponent can play inresponse to this'. Thank you for reading, and any comments are greatlyappreciated. } 0-1
[Event "Club Match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "13/04/2011"] [Round "-"] [White "The Dessert Fox"] [Black "Club player"] [Result "1-0"] [TimeControl "75min + 1 min <90 min"] { This was a game I played at my local club. It was quite even until theendgame. } 1. e4 { My usual opening which I play looking for a Sicilian ora Roy Lopez } 1... c6 { Caro-Kann an opening I had little experience facing. Itseems that the Caro-Kann was one of the most played openings alongsideIndian Defences at the club. } 2. d4 { I may not have faced the Caro-Kannthat often but I knew how to play it. } 2... d5 3. Nc3 { I wasn't a fan of theexchange variation or the Panov-Botvinnik attack or the advance Caro-Kann } 3... dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 { Not 4... Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 or gxf6 which is what I hadfaced in my little experience of playing the Caro-Kann } 5. Bd3 { My Openingbook suggested 5.Ng3 } 5... Qxd4 6. Qf3 Bxe4 { It took some time to decide whetherto capture with the Bishop or the queen. } 7. Qxe4 { I decided to trade queensbecause with a 2 Bishops and the center looking rather open I thought myBishop would be better than a knight and so I wanted to trade. } 7... Qd8 { Interestingmove because Not only does he lose a tempo when he is already one tempodown but he also loses his only developed piece and so loses two tempi.If he had have played Qxe4 Bxe4 Nf6 he could have made me lose a tempo. } 8. b3 { I planned on Castling Queenside and wanted my bishop on the longdiagonal. } 8... Nf6 { Now I had to decide whether to put my queen on e3 or f3. } 9. Qf3 { I decided f3 would be better because with him having no LSB I couldcontrol the light central squares and also with Bb2 and Ne2 I could gainsome control of the dark squares. Also at e3 Nd5 attacks the Queen andforces me to move it again. } 9... e6 { After I made Qf3 I expected e6 straightaway I saw no other good move. g7 to try and fianchetto his bishop butIt gave him no attack on the Light center squares. } 10. Ne2 { This was forcedas Bb2 Bb4+ causes me to weaken the position of my DSB with c3 or losethe right to castle. However this does nothing to stop it but It meansIf I can play Bb2 before Bb4+ I can play Nc3 } 10... Be7 11. Bb2 O-O 12. O-O-O { This threatened Bxh7+ Nxh7 Rxd8 Rxd8 whichg means I lose a bishop androok for a queen. However I would have liked to have Bishop and Rook ratherthan queen but It makes him think } 12... Nbd7 { Now for a long time after thisI was still thinking of a Classic Bishop Sac } 13. h4 { Starting a pawn storm } 13... Qc7 14. g4 Ne5 { I was waiting for this } 15. Bxe5 Qxe5 { I lost my secondBishop and also control of the Dark center squares. This also threatenedBa3 Kb1 Qb2# } 16. c3 { With No DSB I didn't need to worry about this howeverIt also meant I could try and regain control of the dark squares. } 16... Nd5 17. Qe4 { This forced a queen exchange although I was a pawn down I thoughtwith some good endgame results recently I had 3 wins and 1 draw in allend games I had recently including a win when a pawn down and a draw whena pawn down and so I was excited at that thought. I also thought that wewould probably draw with an opposite coloured bishop ending. } 17... Qxe4 18. Bxe4 Ba3+ 19. Kb1 { Know I played this hoping he would play Nxc3+ overlookingthe knight because of the fork of king and rook. } 19... Nf6 { attacking my bishop } 20. Bf3 Rad8 21. g5 { Continuing the pawn storm } 21... Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 { I wantedto Control the d-file and so I didn't capture with Rxd8 the move before } 22... Nd5 { Still threating the fork and offeing an exchange of Knight and bishop } 23. Be4 { Now I played this trying to play f4 and strengthen my pawn storm } 23... f5 { An en passant capture would have weakened my position and I didn'twant to trade a bishop for a knight in an open position. } 24. Bc2 { No tawntingto block the f pawn however I expeceted f4 Just to stop my pawn advance } 24... f4 25. c4 { Trying to force the knight to b6 or c7 } 25... Nb4 { This trapped hisDSB however the effects of this move would only be felt later. Also offeringthe exchange of Knight for Bishop } 26. Be4 { I want to still threaten ag-h pawn attack supported with my bishop as well as attacking f3 } 26... f3 27. Ng1 { I attacked the pawn and was certain to win it } 27... g6 { Trying to stopmy pawn advance } 28. Rd7 { The power of a rook on the seventh rank } 28... b6 { ??Lets me trap his DSB } 29. Rxa7 Rd8 { Threating mate on d1. However onlyafter the event I realised I could have cpatured the bishop first and stillno be checkmated. Although I fell safer I did it the other way becauseotherwise I would have lost A knight and so Didn't gain an extra piece } 30. Bxf3 { Protecting d1 } 30... Rd3 { I believe he forgot about the g1 Knight protectingf3 and wanted to trade bishops } 31. Rxa3 { I go up by 4 now } 31... Rxf3 { ?? thiscost him the game } 32. Nxf3 Nd3 33. Ra6 Nxf2 34. Rxb6 { Black resigns BecauseI was going to win. Lessons to be learned 1.) Don't accept exchanges ofknights for Bishops in open positions. 2.) Don't trap your pieces on thesides of the board the become weaker as well as vulnerable to attack. } 1-0
[Event "A Pawn Fence"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.07.09"] [Round "-"] [White "jimmag52"] [Black "kingzach"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1141"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1191"] 1. d4 b6 2. e4 Bb7 3. d5 Nf6 { I've never seen this opening before, I'mstill experimenting with 'finned' bishops. later in the game, my LSB becomesmy best weapon, and ends up winning me the game. } 4. f3 e5 { White makesa pawn chain, and defends his e pawn. Black strengthens his center. } 5. Bg5 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 { White trades his DSB for a knight, and GKA says blackis up by 2/3 of a point. } 7. g3 O-O 8. h4 { white attacks the king-side,limiting the DSBs movement. GKA says black is up by 1 point. } 8... Qe7 9. c3 { according to GKA, the game's first inaccuracy(black is +1.25). White iscompletely underdeveloped, and his pawn structure is less than perfect.Black is several moves ahead, and has solid pawn structure. } 9... Na6 10. Bxa6 Bxa6 { White has traded both bishops for knights. White's king is in theopen, and black's is tucked away. } 11. a4 Rab8 12. b4 c5 13. b5 Bb7 14. c4 a5 { Several moves later, black is still +1.25. The only change is apawn wall, and black has moved hid rook. } 15. Qd2 h5 16. Nc3 d6 17. Nge2 Bc8 { White has finally devolved something, and the pawn wall has growna few spaces. black is +0.92 } 18. f4 { Another inaccuracy by white, openinga hole in the wall here will cost him. } 18... Bg4 19. Ng1 { First blunder. Here,white should have advanced his pawn, not waist a tempo avoiding a trade. } 19... Rfe8 { Instead of taking the pawn, and capitalizing on the blunder Blackblunders away his huge positional advantage. (from +5.77 to +1.29) } 20. f5 g5 { Black makes a mistake here, restricting his mobility. } 21. Nge2 { White makes a mistake, allowing Black to gain a tempo. } 21... gxh4 22. Qh6 { Black responded correctly to white's mistake, but white makes anotherone. (here black could pick up a pawn putting him at +3.27 through Bg5) } 22... Qf8 { Black makes a MAJOR blunder, that could lose him a bishop. } 23. Qxf6 { White responds correctly to the blunder. } 23... Qg7 24. Qxg7+ Kxg7 25. gxh4 f6 26. Rg1 Rg8 27. O-O-O Kh6 28. Rd2 Rg7 29. Kb2 Rbg8 30. Ka3 { Black fightsa three point deficit, but here white makes the mistake of putting hisking on the sideline. } 30... Bh3 { Black makes an inaccuracy. (it seemed likeit wouldn't hurt to much, but GKA says it loses me 1/2 a point) } 31. Rxg7 Rxg7 32. Rc2 { Rooks are exchanged, then white makes a mistake, better wouldhave been attacking the bishop. } 32... Rg4 33. Rc1 { White makes ANOTHER mistake.Now black is ready to invade, and only down 1.14 points. } 33... Rxh4 34. Rh1 Kg5 35. Rg1+ { Black has taken his pawn, creating an outside passed pawn.GKA says that this, along with with an inaccuracy from white, evens thegame up. } 35... Bg4 36. Rg2 { Black an white both make an inaccuracy (accordingto GKA). } 36... Rh1 37. Ng3 Bf3 38. Nxh1+ { White makes a mistake, and gives blacka major positional advantage. (Black is +0.9) } 38... Bxg2 39. Nf2 h4 { Blackincreases his positional lead to +1. Following this move, white panics,and make a mistake followed by two blunders. Black get's excited by theblunders, and does on fully capitalize on them. } 40. Ne2 h3 { White moveshis knight to help defend, instead of activating his king. Black gets readyto promote. (GKA prefers Bf1, as it gains an advantage in fewer moves.but that is just 'win more') } 41. Ng3 Kh4 { Both mistakes just effect themargin of victory. } 42. Ngh1 { This last blunder effectively destroys White'sgame. (black is +12.2, even with a material deficit) } 42... Bxh1 43. Nxh1 { Blackexchanges his final peace for a knight, and the ability to promote a queen.(Black is +14.6) You can see what I mean by black's most powerful weapon,the LSB trades himself for two knights. This soldier evens the point values,and allows the noble black king to vanquish the cowardly white king. } 43... h2 44. Kb2 Kh3 { In two or three moves, white will lose his last peace,and Black will tear down white's half of the wall. } 45. Kc2 { White realizesthat he is lost, and resigns. This game is interesting to me, a pawn fenceis formed half way through the game and makes an activated king MUCH morevaluable than one who sits on his throne. This game is full of mistakes,but it still describes the importance of using your king. } 0-1
[Event "Indonesian Win, Intl. GM Gunadarma Jakarta"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "24.10.1996"] [Round "-"] [White "GM Joerg Hickl"] [Black "IM Dede Liu"] [Result "0-1"] 1. g3 { From the tournament name International GM Gunadarma, Jakarta. } 1... d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. Bg2 Bg4 4. b3 Nd7 5. Bb2 Ngf6 6. d3 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Qe1 Re8 10. h3 { Hickl is a hypermodern player, even though he has white pieces, all of them only advance to the third rank. } 10... Bh5 11. e4 e5 12. Nh4 Qb6 13. Nf5 { Hickl is known for his defensive play, so he can choose to be aggressive with moves like 13.g4! } 13... Bf8 14. Kh2 Rad8 15. a3 Nc5 16. Rb1 Bg6 17. Nh4 dxe4 18. dxe4 Qc7 19. Nxg6 hxg6 20. Rd1 Rd7 21. Qe2 b5 22. b4 Na4 23. Ba1 a5 { Dede took the initiative on the Queen's side, the side where White is weak. If 23.Red8, Hickl can take the initiative by playing 24.f4 Bd6 25.c4 bxc4 26.Nxc4 exf4 27.e5 fxg3+ 28.Kh1, and White will win a piece. } 24. c3 Red8 25. Nb3 axb4 26. cxb4 Nb6 27. Rxd7 Qxd7 28. Na5 c5 { Black is sacrificing a pawn in order to maintain the initiative. The pawn on c6 will become a pawn on the dark side, which can be used to counterattack when necessary. } 29. bxc5 Bxc5 30. Bxe5 Qd3 { The a3 pawn ispoisonous. 30..Bxa3? 31.Qe3 Bd6 32.Bxf6 (32. Qxb6?! Bxe5 33.Nc6 Re8 34.Qxb5white only won a pawn) 32..gxf6 33.Qxb6 white won a piece } 31. Qa2 Nxe4 { still poisonous to take a3 pawn, 31..Qxa3 32.Qxa3 Bxa3 33.Bc7 white won } 32. Nb3 Nc4 33. Nxc5 { Hickl feels suddenly pressured and takes the natural move. Better is 33.Re1 Nxe6 34.Nxc5 Ng4+ 35.hxg4 Nxc5 in equal position. He senses something is wrong and takes the natural move. } 33... Nxc5 34. Bf4 Qxa3 { now Black is the one with a pawn ahead, and the pawnis the precious free pawn. } 35. Qe2 Ne6 36. Bc1 Qd3 37. Qxd3 Rxd3 38. Re1 b4 39. Bf1 Rc3 40. Bf4 Nxf4 41. Re8+ Kh7 42. gxf4 Nd2 43. Be2 Nf3+ 44. Kg2 Nd4 45. Bg4 b3 46. Rb8 f5 0-1
[Event "Malpas & Whitchurch v Chester F Wirral League"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "7-12-2015"] [Round "-"] [White "Claire Kerton"] [Black "Charles Higgie"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "ECF 177"] [TimeControl "35 in 1h15mins then 15mins"] [WhiteElo "ECF117"] { So this was the next game after my disastrous lose to Chris Lewis. I'mplaying an 18 year old girl, much lower graded than me. Nothing could gowrong? Could it? Well, as you will see, I should have lost this! } 1. e4 { She starts conventionally } 1... c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 { We play out the first movesof a main line Sicilian, one of my favourite openings. } 3. Nc3 { This isslightly unusual. 3. d4 is normal. } 3... d6 { I play this, expecting her to transposeback with 4. d4 } 4. Be2 { But she plays this! } 4... g6 { I played this - and almostimmediately regretted it. She could have played 5. d4 and transposed intovariations of the Dragon Sicilian, which I am not too familiar with. } 5. O-O { Bt she played this. } 5... Bg7 { So I stop d4 for now. } 6. d3 { She continuesto develop. } 6... a6 { And I start to mobilize my queen side, like I usuallydo. } 7. Be3 { She develops. } 7... b5 { I continue with my queen side advances. } 8. d4 { And I was now very happy. Surely by playing d3 followed by d4 shehas just wasted a move? } 8... cxd4 { So I take. } 9. Nxd4 { She takes back. } 9... Bb7 { I protect Nc6. } 10. Bf3 { I was very happy when I saw this move. It preventsaggressive thrusts with f3 or f4. Now Rc8 or Ne5 gives black a good game. } 10... Nf6 { OK, stop - work out white's best move now. } 11. e5 { Did you get it?Immediately after playing Nf6?? I saw it. I am now losing a piece, as bothknights are attacked. } 11... dxe5 { And this is the worst way to lose it. Othermoves, such as Rc8, Nxe5 mean that at least I get a pawn for it. } 12. Nxc6 { The best way to take. } 12... Qc7 { I have to save my queen. } 13. Nxe5 { And nowI don't even have one pawn for the piece. } 13... Rd8 { I attack his queen. } 14. Qe2 { Queen moves. } 14... b4 { I am trying to confuse the issue. Against a higherrated opponent I might have resigned. } 15. Bxb7 { So she takes. } 15... Qxb7 { Itake back. } 16. Na4 { With maybe coming into b6 } 16... Nd5 { So I stop that, anduncover an attack on her Ne5. } 17. Nf3 { I'm not sure this retreat is best. } 17... O-O { I finally castle. } 18. Rad1 { She attacks my knight. } 18... Nxe3 { So I whipoff her bishop. } 19. Qxe3 { I prefer fxe3. } 19... Rc8 { As I now gain a tempo attackingc2. } 20. c3 { She gets everything protected. I now rather feared her N goingto b6 then d5, so I decided to stop that. } 20... e6 21. cxb4 { This exchange seemsto lead to me getting pressure. } 21... Qxb4 { I take back. } 22. Qb3 { She seeksa queen exchange - usually the right idea if you are materially up - howeverher pawns get doubled and I get pressure. } 22... Qxb3 23. axb3 { So we exchange. } 23... Rc2 { Rook attacks! } 24. Rd2 { Rook defends! } 24... Rfc8 { At least all my threemain pieces are now working well together. } 25. Nc3 { She blocks the c file. } 25... Rxd2 26. Nxd2 { So I exchange rooks. } 26... Bxc3 { and now win a pawn, and my remainingrook is still active. This must be better for white though. } 27. bxc3 Rxc3 28. h3 { This is a mistake. She needed to develop her rook. } 28... Rd3 { She hasa problem now - if the knight moves, b3 goes. } 29. Rd1 { So she tries tohang on to that pawn. } 29... a5 { And I tie that pawn down. } 30. g3 { Another mistake.Kf1 was needed. Now I wanted to play a4 and if she takes the pawn, Ra3and I get the pawn back. But I was afraid of her meeting a4 with b4! andshe is winning easily. So I dropped my rook back a square to prevent b3-b4. } 30... Rd4 31. Kf1 { At last her king comes over. } 31... a4 { I advance. } 32. bxa4 { Shetakes. } 32... Rxa4 { I take back, and at last I feel I have a chance of holdingthis game. With all the pawns on the king side it is hard for white toconvert. But surely white will not lose? } 33. Nf3 { So her knight comesup. } 33... Kg7 { My king improves its position. } 34. h4 { She has a plan of Ng5and attacks on my pawns on h7 and f7 } 34... Kf6 { So my king goes up } 35. Ng5 { Knight comes in. } 35... h6 { And I attack her knight. We have both reached thetime control. We were playing with electronic clocks. She continues tomove fast, not realising that she has another 15 minutes to come on whenher time runs out. I didn't realise her comprehension until a few moveslater, when I explained the situation to her - but by then her positionwas lost. } 36. Nh3 { The knight drops back. } 36... e5 { I improve my pawns. } 37. g4 { And this move throws away a couple of pawns, and then she has a difficultposition. } 37... Rxg4 { I take. } 38. h5 { This is a nice try by her. } 38... Rh4 { I forkher knight and pawn. } 39. Rd3 { She protects the knight. Round about hereshe offered me a draw, which I instantly turned down. I commented thatif she had offered me it about 10 moves ago I would have accepted. Theposition is easier to play for black, but white should be able to drawit. } 39... Rxh5 { I take the pawn. } 40. Rf3+ { This check only makes things worse. } 40... Rf5 { I block. } 41. Rxf5+ Kxf5 { The rook exchange helps me. } 42. Kg2 Ke4 43. f3+ Ke3 { Her knight is tied up, her position completely passive, butit is not lost yet. } 44. Nf2 f5 { I think here maybe the knight should getsome freedom with Nd1 check. } 45. Kg3 Ke2 { I don't give it another chancenow. } 46. Kg2 g5 47. Kg3 h5 48. Nh3 f4+ { Driving her king back before advancing,keeping my pawns together. It is hard for white, but not impossible. } 49. Kg2 g4 50. fxg4 hxg4 { At the time I thought this position hopelessly lostfor white. However, a look at a free on-line ending database shows me thatactually white can draw with Nf2, with careful play. All other moves lose. } 51. Ng1+ Ke1 { The knight is now without any sensible moves.White can'tdo anything about the e pawn marching down the board. She plays on to mate,but further annotation is not necessary. } 52. Kh2 Kf2 53. Kh1 e4 54. Kh2 e3 55. Kh1 e2 56. Kh2 e1=Q 57. Nh3+ gxh3 58. Kxh3 Qe6+ 59. Kh4 Qg6 60. Kh3 Qg3# { Many thanks for reading, please rate my annotation with the starsystem, leave a comment or two, and until next time dear reader! } 0-1
[Event "CheckMate in a lucky 13 moves"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.06.04"] [Round "-"] [White "tosuraj"] [Black "esampaio"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1456"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1451"] 1. e4 { A very short game where black gets checkmated in just 13 moves.An entertaining game none the less . } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 { The scotch game.It leads to open positions and is somewhat more favorable to white, althoughblack can equalize without too much difficulty too -- i guess. } 3... Nxd4 4. Nxd4 { Black decides to exchange knights and a pawn. This position generallygives an advantage to white in development. } 4... exd4 5. Qxd4 { Now white hasa developed queen and control of the center. Black has zero developmentand would like to drive away the white queen. The crucial queen-side blackknight that could have driven her away has already been sacrificed though. } 5... c5 { This could be the first blunder from black ? Advancing the c pawnseems too aggressive too soon ? } 6. Qe5+ { White could have retreatedthe queen to a more defensive spot -- white however decides to take a moreagressive square. The only way to defend the king for black would be withthe bishop/knight or with the queen. I would have been hesitant to tradequeens so defending with queen might have been a good idea. } 6... Ne7 7. Na3 { That seems to be a very odd position to develop the white knight. I wasthinking of putting my knight on the d6 square ( since the attack pawnson the c and e file did not threaten d6 ) and hence took this route formy knight. } 7... d6 { Black now wants to drive away the white queen but she hasother ideas. } 8. Bb5+ { This is a good move for white. The only way to protectthe king would be with its own black bishop. White has taken the opportunityto advance even more of its important pieces and increased the pressureon the black queen. } 8... Bd7 { As expected. } 9. Nc4 { Now another move that mightseems surprising. I found this move as an after-thought and consideredit a really cool move to try. I was hoping for black to take my queen(bxe5. Nc6#) and affect a real rare checkmate for the black king with nowhereto move. } 9... Qc7 { Black saw through my plans though and did not take my queen.:). } 10. Nxd6+ { Nxd6+ to check the king and also for a discovered threatto the black queen. I had to re-inforce my queen though. } 10... Kd8 11. Bf4 { Thebishop adds more weight to the queen threat and gives rise to checkmatechances. } 11... Ng6 { Clearly a blunder from black. } 12. Nxf7+ { Black resignsat move 12 -- as the next move was a lucky 13 move checkmate with 13. Kc8,Qc7# } 1-0
[Event "Chess game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "25-8-15"] [Round "-"] [White "me"] [Black "mikilschreenan "] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2037"] [TimeControl "5 mins + 10 secs"] [WhiteElo "2061"] { This is a Gameknot quick play game that I played against a player of aboutmy standard. The interesting point is that black had a chance to win queenfor bishop - but if he had gone down that path his king would have goneon a little walk and lost. Enjoy! } 1. d4 { So I start conventionally.. } 1... d5 { He replies with the same. } 2. c4 { Standard Queen's Gambit. } 2... Nf6 { Thisis a weak way of continuing. Better is e6 or c6 or just taking on c4. } 3. cxd5 { I exchange, giving me a pawn majority in the centre. } 3... Nxd5 { Myopponent recaptures. } 4. e4 { I seize the centre. } 4... Nb6 { The knight retreats. } 5. Nc3 { I develop. } 5... Nc6 { Very provocative! Challenging me to advance mypawns again. } 6. d5 { I don't shirk this challenge! } 6... Ne5 { So the knightcomes up. } 7. f4 { I hit it again. } 7... Bg4 { He hits my queen. } 8. Qc2 { Queenmoves. Be2 was possible, but I don't want to encourage the exchange ofpieces, as I have the big pawn centre and its cramping effects are stringerwith more pieces on the board. } 8... Nec4 { So the knight is forced to move yetagain. } 9. h3 { I hit his bishop. } 9... Bd7 { Bishop drops back. } 10. Nf3 { I developmy other knight. } 10... e6 { Black starts to try to undermine white's pawn centre. } 11. b3 { I hit the knight again. } 11... Nd6 { It retreats. } 12. dxe6 { I take thepawn. } 12... Bxe6 { The bishop recaptures. Presumably black wants to keep thef, g and h pawns together to allow king's side castling with an intactpawn formation in front of the castled king. Taking back with the f pawnalso gives black an isolated e pawn. } 13. Bb2 { This seemed the best squarefor the bishop. } 13... a6 { I think a6 is a mistake. Black should concentrateon getting pieces developed and king safely castled. Black has a plan toexchange some minor pieces, to lessen the cramping effects of White's powerfulpawn centre, but Black just don't have time for this. } 14. O-O-O { Withthe threat of e4-e5 winning the knight on d6 as the White rook on d1 pinsit against the Black queen. } 14... Bd7 { So the bishop drops back, breaking thispin. } 15. g4 { I want to play e4-e5 without allowing the Black knight ond6 onto the f5 square. } 15... Qe7 { Queen moves to break the potential pin onthe d file, but I am not sure this is best. I think Black must just acceptfurther cramping with 15.... Be7 16. e5 Nc8. Black is horribly cramped,but is still in the game and maybe can play 0-0 if necessary, althoughWhite seems to have a ready made attack on the king side, with Bf1-d3 attackingthe pawn on h7 and White's king side pawns are already advanced and soready to open up files if Black weakens the king side with g7-g6 or h7-h6.Basically Black has got a bad position, due to faulty opening play, goingback as far as move 2! } 16. e5 { So I push on. } 16... Nb5 { Encouraging the exchangeof minor pieces. } 17. Nxb5 { I was tempted to take with the bishop, butI wanted to open up the c file. } 17... axb5 { I rather expected the bishop torecapture, to exchange a pair of bishops, which may ease the Black positionslightly. White would still be better, but Black is still in the game.Note that White can't take on c7 immediately, as Black as Ra8-c8 wins theWhite queen. Notice how although White is better, I still have to be verycareful! } 18. Kb1 { So now I really am threatening the c7 pawn, and at thesame time I protect my a pawn. The downside is that I put my king on awhite square, with interesting consequences. } 18... g6 { This is a mistake. Ithink Black need to play c7-c6. the Knight on b6 can then come back intoplay onto d5 - although not immediately as white can play Bf1 x b5 andif Black captures the bishop on b5, the knight on d5 is capture by therook d1. But Black can prepare Nb6-d5 with Bd7-e6. Now White's simplestwin is e5-e6, attacking the bishop on d7, but also opening up the diagonalfor my bishop on b2 to attack his rook on h8. Unfortunately, I had becomefixated about taking the c pawn with my queen. This is quite a common mistakein chess. One gets a plan in the head and doesn't spot another opportunitywhich has arisen. } 19. Qxc7 { So I take on c7. Having played it, I suddenlythought 'oh dear, he can now win my queen with 19.... Bd7-f5 check, andafter 20. gxf5 Black wins the White queen with Qxc7.' But then in my mindI started to study that position. White is actually still winning, eventhough I have just lost my queen! I can play 21. Bf1xb5 check. Now if Blackblocks this check with Nb6-d7, then 22. Rxd7 wins, for instance, 22...Qxd7,23. Bxd7 check, and if Black recaptures on d7 with 23.... Kxd7 then Whitehas e6-e7 check, opening up the long diagonal for my bishop on b2 to takethe Black rook on h8, and White is materially ahead. After 19. Qxc7 Bf5+20. gxf5Qxc7 21. Bxb5 check, apart from just throwing away the queen withQc6 or Qd7 the only other way out of check by Black is to play Ke8-e7.But then the king is starting a march up the board which will be disastrous.22. f6+ Ke6 23. Ng5+ Kf5 24.Bd3+Kxf4 25. Rhg1 and Black's king is caughtin a mating net! } 19... Ra6 { Unfortunately, he didn't play it and found a wayto protect his knight. However this move just loses. 19..... Qe7-c5 isprobably the best move, but White is still winning, as I have e5-e6 atsome stage. Notice that now that White has moved the queen from c2 to c7,e5-e6 is no long so good, for instance 20. e6 Qxe6 21.Bxh8Qe4+ 22. Ka1Qxf3 and Black is still in the game. } 20. Bxb5 { This is crushing! I pinhis bishop on d7 against the Black king, so that Bf5 check is no longerplayable. The Rook on h6 is attacked. If the rook moves the knight on b6drops. It is just hopeless, but what if the bishop is just taken? } 20... Bxb5 { So he takes the bishop. OK stop - what did White play now? } 21. Qb8+ { Andhe rather unsportingly disconnected as he is getting mated. Many thanksfor reading this annotation, please leave a comment or two and rate iton the star system! } 1-0
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.06.14"] [Round "-"] [White "rookyking"] [Black "bsearle"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1197"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1272"] 1. e4 { 5 moves from here and it's CM } 1... e5 { Standard } 2. Nf3 d6 { He didn'topt for the knight c6 so instantly thought about bringing Bxg5 } 3. d4 Qf6 4. dxe5 { Threat to his Queen allowing me to move my intended plan bishopon g5 } 4... dxe5 5. Bg5 { one wrong move from here and it's over } 5... Qc6 { The wrongmove I hoped for } 6. Qd8# { within 6 not bad for me } 1-0
[Event "The Perils of the Rushed Scandanavian"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2014.03.15"] [Round "-"] [White "zhudan"] [Black "mm3308"] [Result ""] [BlackElo "1249"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1369"] 1. e4 { MOVE BY MOVE ANNOTATION: This is a move by move annotation andthe outcome is unknown at this time. Trying something a little new.I amannotating this game as I play it to avoid a rushed annotation later. Also,I do not like to skip ahead lots of moves. I usually pass on annotationswhere several moves leading to a crucial position are skipped over. I don'thave time to figure it out and I will figure from comments I have readI am not the only one with this issue. So starting now all my annotationswill show every move, however trivial, to make viewing easier. I will publishthe game after it is completed as to avoid getting comments while the gameis going on. I only open with D4 or E4 as white. I try to do about 50/50with each opening. And it is E4's turn this time. } 1... d5 { Here is a move byblack that should be a sound and aggressive response to E4 but it neverseems to pan out for black, at least at level I play at, the 1250 to 1550range usually. I never play it as black myself. I am not sure what theobjectives are really but it always evolves into a board setup I do notlike. Where black and white's pieces are stuck behind their pawns too longand a big open battle field sits empty between the two sides. Oh well.It seems a popular reply to E4 at GK so I am a little used to it and handlewell these days winning most games that start in this position, accordingto my personal database. } 2. exd5 { I think this is the standard way togo. } 2... Qxd5 { Queen takes pawn. } 3. Nc3 { Knight to C3. This move forces hisqueen to do something, letting her know she is not welcome to roost onD5 as she pleases. It also develops a piece on white's side. The book responsestend to be queen back to her station on D8 or moving to A5 and establishinga formidable outpost for a possible flanking attack later. } 3... Qe6+ { Buthe does what 75% of players do in this position and he checks the king.Why? They seem like they cannot resist that early check either on E6 orE5. In my early games I did get myself tied up with the queen jumping aroundmy king side and it can get messy and I lost a few early games with thisone. But with a little experience you will find that this usually thisworks against black since he seems to try to win the game with a queenalone. As he jumps around trying to check you or get the G2 pawn you aredeveloping pieces and often corralling his queen little by little. Whitejust needs to take a breath and relax and let it play out. } 4. Be2 { Bishopto E2. This works better, I think, than putting your knight on E2. A queentrade only leads to a long and boring game from the get go. Even if I winI have won a long and boring game and there is little thrill. He probablywants a queen trade off but I am not interested. Players who rush in earlywith queen attacks tend to run out of steam and I will move my lady outwhen the time is right. } 4... b5 { I do not know what is up here. Maybe he wasthinking that because my LS bishop was pinned he could advance that pawn.Maybe he wants to attack the G2 square with his bishop, but pawn to B6would have worked better for that. I hesitated thinking it was sort oftrap but decide it was a blunder. } 5. Nxb5 { Knight takes pawn. } 5... Ba6 { Ithink I can see what he is thinking here. Or maybe not. Seems he may beattacking the LS bishop on E2 with his bishop and queen? Not sure. It isdouble guarded anyway by my queen and knight. Or he got antsy because hejust lost a piece and wants to be aggressive and takes the ' in your face'approach. I don't know, but I have found a queen loss is common for blackwith the Scandinavian if he is not cautious and patient. His best movewas to move his queen back to protect the vulnerable C7 square. But sometimespeople see this as 'retreating' and giving up gained (though worthless)territory. } 6. Nxc7+ { Black often can lose his queen with the Scandinavianif he is not careful, but it is usually not this quick and easy. I havemade goofs like his too and I would have resigned the game and flagellatedmyself. My opponent is not disturbed by this turn of events, as if it isall in the expected course of events. } 6... Kd7 { King gets out of check. } 7. Nxe6 { Queen is butchered on move 7. } 7... Bxe2 { My opponent seems to thinkthe loss of a queen so early on is nothing to prevent him from continuingattacks and trading off material. I think hanging on to that bishop wouldhave been better but I would not even be playing any longer, so I don'tknow. I do not play what I see as 'lost' games. } 8. Qxe2 { Move my queenout. Want my knight on F3 for some reason, not on E2 slowing down my queendeployment and blocking my rook on the E file later. .... Maybe takinghis DS bishop and checking him last move and then taking his LS bishopwould have been better, but I am not worried really. } 8... fxe6 { He takes theknight and doubles up pawns. Note the big expanse of board between thetwo sides, a common formation with the Scandinavian and one reason I loatheit. } 9. Nf3 { Develop knight. } 9... Nc6 { Knight to C6. } 10. O-O { I castleand plan on getting my rook out to the soon to be semi-open E file ASAP. } 10... h6 { I guess he is trying to prevent my knight from going to G5, but Ino longer have any reason to go to that square with my knight. His kingis open and in the center of the board and off the 8th rank. } 11. d4 { Maybenot a great move. Want my bishop out and want to pressure him as well.I tend to move by instinct more than some deep logic. } 11... Nf6 { Moves hisknight to F6 defending, I think, against my pawn advance. Or he is limitedin what he can move or do now and so he has to just move something. } 12. c4 { I just figure I will claim territory and try to control as many squaresas I can for now. No major plan in the works. Just sitting things up forlater. } 12... g5 { He still seems to envision he has 2nd strike capabilities.He is advancing to attack my F3 knight. Also freeing up his DS bishop laterto harass my rook. } 13. Ne5+ { I figure I will just move the knight andtrade off equal points in material which is always better for the guy withthe larger material lead. } 13... Nxe5 { Trade off. } 14. dxe5 { I take it withthe pawn rather than queen as I am fairly conservative with queen movesand I want to open the D file, upon which rests his exposed king. His knightis attacked. } 14... Ne8 { Has to move his knight somewhere. It does not matterwhere I guess so long as it is saved. } 15. Rd1+ { Take control of that openfile and remind him his king is vulnerable. } 15... Kc7 { King moves. } 16. b4 { Further advancing towards enemy territory with the intention of seizingand occupying unprotected squares. } 16... Bg7 { Okay. Actually trying to attackmy rook I feel. } 17. a4 { This is not looking good for black really. } 17... Rd8 { Amazingly despite his weak position and loss of material he attacks myrook! Is he throwing the game or does he feel this shows bravery? Of coursein the end ( the game is currently ongoing) he may win if I get too cockyor complacent. It is not likely though and by trading off a rook he onlyweakens himself further. } 18. Rxd8 { Of course I trade off. } 18... Kxd8 { Takesrook. } 19. b5 { Pawn push with the pressure on him to prevent promotion.He cannot ignore those pawns. } 19... Nc7 { Okay. } 20. Be3 { I want my other rookto be active and I do not give a hoot about that pawn on E5. If he capturesI will get my material back by taking his pawn on A7. } 20... Bxe5 { He takes it. } 21. Rd1+ { Check his king again. } 21... Ke8 { One of two doable options is taken.I do not see one move any better than the other. Can develop an attacklater with my queen to H5, but in no hurry. No need to rush a check. } 22. Bxa7 { Get my material back and now have three passed pawns. One passedpawn can signal danger. Two signals imminent doom. But three signals infernaldamnation. } 22... Bf6 { This means nothing to him I guess and he prepares foranother assault. I look to see if I am missing anything. I appear okay.Sometimes when one is ahead it best to step back and be sure over confidenceis not making you miss a threat or danger. I lost a couple games whereI was as much as 14 points ahead and got careless. Man that hurts. } 23. Bd4 { Decide to get rid of that pesky bishop. He has to trade or lose hisrook. What will he do? I wait to see. } 23... Rf8 24. Bb6 { The move of his rookto F8 (to take my bishop should I take his I guess, though using his pawnwould be a little better I think)makes me now change plans a bit. I wasup to trading off pawns but I see a checkmate now if he moves his knightto A8 to fend off my bishop taking it. I hope to go to H5 with my queen(which I have held off on for a bit as well timed check is better thana wasted one where your opponent only strengthens his defense) and check.I have only moved my queen once in the game so far. She seems inactivebut she is like a predatory cheetah, waiting to pounce at the right moment.And that moment has come. Food. His only move will be rook to F7 as F8is now taken by the rook, then my rook to D8 and checkmate. Will it workout? Will he see the set up? We have to just wait a bit and see. Thereis always a bit of excitement and worry at these moments. My opponent ison line now and I set up conditionals moves to see if I can predict hismoves now. } 24... Na8 25. Qh5+ { He moves his knight to A8 as I hoped. Not sureif his other options were that charming and I had not even explored whatthey might be. The game is over now. Will he let me have the checkmate? ...... No. He fights all this way and resigns. To be frank I hate thatand it leads me to think that players in his position may actually thinkthey have a chance of winning or stalemating a game like this. It is possibleof course, but not likely. Can at least let the other guy have the mate,but the only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner. So an interestinggame and an interesting way to annotate it. }
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.10.21"] [Round "-"] [White "pdhudson"] [Black "nevhelp"] [Result ""] [BlackElo "1011"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "971"] 1. e4 d5 { Scandinavian defense. } 2. e5 h5 3. d4 c6 4. f4 Bg4 5. Be2 f5 6. Bxg4 { White could also have played exPf5 e.p. though not necessarilybetter than Bxg4. } 6... fxg4 7. e6 Nf6 8. g3 Ne4 9. f5 Qa5+ 10. c3 Nd7 { Knightsactually are more valuable than pawns. This sacrifice does not help black. } 11. exd7+ Kxd7 12. h4 { Black could play gxPh4 e.p. Nxg3 is probablybetter. } 12... Nxg3 13. Rh2 Rg8 14. Rf2 Ne4 15. Rf4 Nxc3 { Knights are more valuablethan pawns. Bears repeating. } 16. Nxc3 g5 { White could play fxPg5 e.p. } 17. Rf2 gxh4 18. Qe2 h3 { Bg7 defends Rg8 from Qe6+. } 19. Qe6+ Ke8 20. Qxg8 Qb6 21. f6 Qxd4 22. fxe7 { Re2 first should protect that pawn. } 22... Kxe7 23. Re2+ { Rf7+ Instead gives white Bf8. } 23... Kd7 24. Qe6+ Kd8 25. Bg5+ Kc7 26. Be3 Qb4 27. Qf7+ Kd6 28. Rd1 d4 29. Bf4+ Kc5 30. Re5+ Kd6 { Rb5# isdiscovered checkmate. Kd6 should be avoided simply because white can placethe interposed rook anywhere he wants to take a piece, such as at Rb5. }
[Event "Chropshire & Friends 1 v Atticus 4NCL Online"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "Feb 8, 2022"] [Round "-"] [White "Charles Higgie"] [Black "Steve Kee"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2054"] [TimeControl "45mins 15 secs increment"] [WhiteElo "2052"] 1. e4 { This win came after a long poor run of form. I hadn't won any gameson Lichess for at least two months, I had lost my last three serious over-the-boardmatches. I was playing on top board against someone of a similar rating.We had the better ratings on the other boards. I would be content to drawif that is how the game went. However, as you will see, I won this, andI was very pleased with my play. After the game I used Stockfish on theLichess account to analyse the game, and I was pleased to see that Stockfishfelt that I hadn't made any mistakes. } 1... c5 { He } 2. Nf3 { I play the mainline } 2... g6 { Steve plays the Hyper Accelerated Dragon } 3. d4 { I continue withthe main line. } 3... cxd4 { He takes. } 4. Nxd4 { I did consider taking with thequeen, but it comes to nothing 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. e5 Nc6 } 4... Bg7 { He completesthe fianchetto. } 5. c4 { I opt for a Maroczy Bind formation. The MaróczyBind (Hungarian: [ˈmɒroːt͡si]) is a pawn formation in chess, named afterthe Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy and primarily played against theSicilian Defence and sometimes played against the King's Indian Defence.It is characterised by white pawns on c4 and e4, with White's d-pawn havingbeen exchanged for Black's c-pawn. White's c- and e-pawns control thed5-square, making it difficult for Black to free their position with ...d5;Black often settles for the less active ...d6 instead. Black often employsa Hedgehog formation against the Bind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%B3czy_Bind } 5... Nc6 { Attacking my knight. } 6. Be3 { Protecting my knight. } 6... Nf6 { Attackingmy e pawn. } 7. Nc3 { Defending my e pawn. } 7... b6 { This is rarely played andto my mind a bit passive. 0-0, d6, Ng4, Qa5 and a6 are all more popular.If black now plays a6 and b5 he has now lost a tempo. } 8. Be2 { So I continueto develop. } 8... Bb7 { So he completes the fianchetto of his white squaredbishop. } 9. O-O { I castle. } 9... O-O { As does he. } 10. f3 { Giving extra supportto my e pawn, making Nc3-d5 possible. } 10... Rc8 { Logical development, puttingthe queen's rook on the semi-open c file. } 11. Qd2 { I connect my rook,and open up the possibility of Be3-h6 and exchanging black squared bishops. } 11... Re8 { He avoids that. Bh6 can now be met with Bh8. } 12. Rac1 { The naturalsquares for the white rooks are c1 and d1 } 12... Qc7 { I find this a slightlystrange manoeuvre, but there doesn't seem much for black to do. } 13. Rfd1 { The rook goes to its natural square. } 13... Qb8 { And black completes the queenmanoeuvre. } 14. Bf1 { Bringing the bishop back can aid the protection tothe king and also open up the 2nd rank for Qd2-f2-h4. } 14... Nh5 15. Nde2 { Withthe threat of Qxd7. I was expecting Ne5 protecting d7 and attacking c4. } 15... Be5 { I personally think this is a mistake, allowing me to win a pawn fornothing. However the Stockfish on Lichess doesn't give it as a mistake. } 16. f4 { Hitting the bishop. } 16... Bd6 { Bishop drops back. } 17. e5 { Hitting thebishop again. } 17... Bc5 { So it comes out here. } 18. Bxc5 { I take. } 18... bxc5 { Hetakes back. } 19. Qxd7 { And I bag a pawn. } 19... Rcd8 { I was expecting Re-d8 instead- surely the rooks belong on the c and d files? } 20. Qh3 { Queen dropsback. } 20... Nd4 { His knight jumps in. Here I was thinking about starting a king-sideattack with 21. g2-g4 with the idea of ...Nh5-g7 and 22. Qh6 and r to thethird rank then rh3 and Qxh7 mate. but he has 21....Nxe2+ or 21....Nf3+both of which could cause problems, but then I noticed a far stronger move. What do you think it was? } 21. Qe3 { A powerful centralisation! Threateningto take three times on d4. If he doesn't want to lose another pawn it seemshe has to either exchange or retreat his Nd4. In fact he did have a goodmove at his disposal, which I think both me and Steve missed at the board.Can you find it dear reader? } 21... Ne6 { He should have played Ng7 and if 22.Nxd4cxd4 23.Rxd4Nf5 wins for black. After Ng7 Stockfish says that Qf2is best for white. } 22. g4 { now my king-side attack does get under way. } 22... Nhg7 { Knight drops back. } 23. Nd5 { A strong, central square for my knight. } 23... h5 { No doubt hoping for 24. gxh5 Nxh5 and his Ng7 is back in the game. } 24. h3 { But I am not allowing that. } 24... Qc8 { Stockfish thinks Kf8 is better. } 25. Bg2 { Contesting the long white diagonal, and also dreams of Kf2 andRh1 if he opens up the h file. } 25... hxg4 { I was delighted to see this move,but Stockfish doesn't give it as a mistake. } 26. hxg4 { I naturally recapture. } 26... Nd4 { This is his plan, a discovered attack on my pawn on g4 } 27. Nxd4 { SoI take. } 27... cxd4 { He takes back. } 28. Qg3 { Rather than take back, I protectmy pawn. } 28... Ne6 { His knight comes into play. } 29. Qh4 { And I threaten Nxe7+forking king and queen and winning the exchange. } 29... Qd7 { Stockfish givesthis as a mistake, and gives 29....d3 as best for black and 30. Rxd3 aswhite's best reply. Presumably Stockfish is then thinking of 30.....Qc5+to protect e7 and then 31...Kg7 to meet Rh3 with Rh8. If 29....Qc5 immediatelythen 30. b4 wins for black. If 29....Kf8 then Qh8#. I was expecting 29....Rd7,but black's position is pretty crummy. 30. Rd3 planning Rh3 and matingdown the h file looks strong, but black has got 30....Kg7 and 31....Rh8so maybe 30. f5, as in the game, is best. } 30. f5 { As I said, 30. planningRh3 and mating down the h file looks strong, but black has got 30....Kg7and 31....Rh8, so this is better. } 30... Bxd5 { He gets rid of the powerful knight. } 31. Bxd5 { I bring the bishop into the attack. } 31... Nf4 { He attacks my bishop.OK, find white's best move. } 32. Bxf7+ { Did you find it? Kxf7 33.Qh7+Kf8 34.e6Nxe6 35.fxe6Qxe6 36.Rf1+Qf6 37.Rxf6+exf6 38.Qxg6is hopelessfor black. 32.....Kf8 allows 33. Qh6 or Qh8 transposing into the abovevariation. That leaves only one move. } 32... Kg7 { Which of course my opponentfound. } 33. Bxe8 { So I took the rook } 33... Rxe8 { He takes back. } 34. Rd2 { ThreatRh2. 34.....Rh8 35.f6+exf6 36.Qxf6+loses his Nf4. 34.....Rh8 35.f6+Kg8 36.f7+Kg7 37.Qxh8+ loses too. } 34... d3 { So he tries this. } 35. Rh2 { Icarry out my threat. } 35... Qd4+ { He throws in a check } 36. Kf1 { Out of check. } 36... Nh5 { He blocks the h file. } 37. gxh5 { So I take. } 37... d2 { Even at the latestage I have to be careful. 38.Qxd4dxc1=Q+ and he is back in the game. } 38. Rd1 { So I block the pawn. } 38... Qd3+ { He checks. } 39. Kg1 { I move. } 39... Qe3+ { He checks. Again I have to be careful 40.Rf2Qe1+ and he is back in thegame. 40.Kf1Qf3+ is another mistake to avoid. 40.Kh1Qf3+ losing myRd1 with check would also not be smart. } 40. Qf2 { But this move snuffsout Black's counter-play. Many thanks for reading. Please mark this withthe star system and leave a comment or two. Until next time, dear reader! } 1-0
[Event "MADE UP Chess game 1 - Use queens wisely. -"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Subway1"] [Black "????"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1980"] [WhiteElo "1084"] 1. e4 { Normal Starting move. } 1... e5 2. Nf3 { Normal Kings Knight opening. } 2... c5 3. Nxe5 { White gains a free pawn as black opens out a new one. } 3... d5 4. exd5 { Black brings out a new pawn. White takes it. } 4... Qxd5 { Black takes itwith his Queen! } 5. Nc3 { A knight attacks the queen. } 5... Nf6 { Black takeshis knight out to protect it. } 6. Nxd5 { The queen is captured! } 6... Nxd5 { Blacksknight takes back. } 7. Bb5+ Nd7 8. Bxd7+ Bxd7 9. Nxd7 Kxd7 10. Qg4+ Ke8 11. Qe4+ Kd7 12. Qf5+ Kd6 13. Qf4+ Kc6 14. Qxf7 Kb6 15. Qxd5 Kb5 16. Qxb7+ Ka5 17. Qxa8 Kb4 18. Qe4+ Kb5 19. O-O Kb6 20. Qe6+ Kb7 21. Qd7+ Ka8 { Itall ends badly. } 22. Qc8# { Checkmate. } 1-0
[Event "A tactical breakthrough in the center leads to a positional advantage."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.12.05"] [Round "-"] [White "klacsanzky"] [Black "trouble25"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1770"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1658"] 1. Nf3 { I like to start games slow and safe. Losing in the opening is nevera satisfying experience. } 1... d5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 e5 4. d3 h6 { I found thismove immediately odd - developing the minor pieces seems much more logical.I see Black's idea though: he wants to cut off my knight from the flightsquare g5 in the case of a future e4 push and to take away the g5 squarefrom my dark-squared bishop. But then again, the dark squared bishop isnot used early in the game in the King's Indian Attack. } 5. O-O Be6 6. Nbd2 Qd7 { I thought this was an interesting choice: it almost appearedthat black was wanting to castle queenside. } 7. Re1 Rd8 { Well, the ideaabout castling queenside is finished. I wondered why he activated his queensideearly instead of his kingside - seemed a bit counter-intuitive. } 8. e4 { The standard break in the center with the King's Indian Attack. The openingmay look harmless, though it can become aggressive and flashy in an instant,with crazy tactics flying everywhere. } 8... d4 { This determines the nature ofthe game for a while - a closed position. I think he didn't want to activatemy e-file and put pressure on his e-pawn. } 9. a3 { A prophylactic: youcan tell I enjoy Petrosian's play. I didn't want any distractions fromBb4 and Nb4. Also, the queenside seemed like the most desirable place toattack since the center was closed and the kingside appeared to be well-guarded. } 9... Bd6 { Black may have more space, but his play is rather limited. } 10. Qe2 { Offering protection when posting a knight on c4, and also lettingthe rooks to eventually unite. } 10... Nf6 11. Nc4 O-O 12. b4 { Starting the queensideadvances. Now the knight c6 looks a bit awkward. } 12... a6 13. Bd2 b5 14. Nb2 { Though this appears to be a rather poor place for the knight, pawn advancessuch as a4 and c4 can be quite powerful with the knight's help. } 14... Ne7 { Thecritical mistake. It allows a tactical combination centered on e5. I didn'tsee the tactic just yet, only seeing it the following move. I continuedinstead with my expansion on the queenside. } 15. c4 c6 { Another mistake.Black needs to play Nc6 or Qa7 to stop the tactical flourish that happenson the next move. } 16. Nxd4 { The combination that I missed the previousmove that provides me with a fork on e5. } 16... exd4 17. e5 Bxe5 18. Qxe5 { Ihaven't won any pieces, but I have a distinct positional advantage: greaterspatial power and an opening up of my light-squared bishop. } 18... Ng6 19. Qc5 Rc8 20. Qb6 { The freedom of extra space I was given after the tacticalcombination has culminated in an irresistible pressure. } 20... Ne7 21. Qxa6 Rfd8 22. Qb6 Rb8 23. Qc5 Re8 24. Bf4 { The key piece to follow up the attack.Black has to be careful about his center after Be5, and even his kingsidewith tactics possible on h6. } 24... Rbc8 25. Be5 bxc4 26. Nxc4 { The knight isquite powerful here, vying for d6 and b6. } 26... Nfd5 { Black saw the attackon b6, but not on d6. Bishop takes knight was absolutely necessary. } 27. Nd6 Rb8 28. Nxe8 Rb5 29. Qxd4 f6 30. Bxf6 { An interesting tactic can ensurewith knight takes bishop or pawn takes bishop, with an eventual fork ofthe queen and king by my knight. } 30... Nxf6 31. Qxd7 Bxd7 32. Nxf6+ gxf6 33. Rxe7 Bf5 { Lesson of the game: always check the board for tactical tricks,even for ones that are not so obvious. } 1-0
[Event "Witney 1 v Didcot 1 Bd 6"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "13/05/2019"] [Round "-"] [White "Derek Edwards"] [Black "Bob Jacobs"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "126"] [TimeControl "All in 90 mins each"] [WhiteElo "147"] { Last game of an exciting and successful season for Didcot 2, filling inlast night for the 1st Team against an opponent who has beaten me in ourlast few meetings and is graded much higher. After fumbling my way throughan unfamiliar opening, I got into a beautiful position and pressed hardfor victory but nearly threw it all away and was lucky to emerge with atime-assisted draw. } 1. c4 { The English Opening. I've always had troublefinding a consistently successful response but recently 1... e5 seems tohave served me best, so... } 1... e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 Nc6 { Seemed sensible todevelop the QN to its most active square before deciding where to put myKB. } 4. Bg2 Be7 { Happy at this stage to develop quietly onto squares thatseem most natural and defensively strong. } 5. d3 { ... as is White, it seems. } 5... O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. O-O d6 { I was falling behind on the clock by now and thenext move caused me to think even longer. } 8. Rb1 { !? Interesting and unexpectedbut I'm not sure it's any better than (eg) 8. a3 or 8. Bd2. EventuallyI decided that the probably planned pawn to b4 needed to be discouraged. } 8... a5 9. a3 { Confirming my suspicion ... } 9... d5 { I decided to counter-attackin the centre before White could progress his Q-side plan. This move notonly demands a response but also opens up the KB's view of b4, again discouragingWhite's planned advance. } 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 { By now I was aheadon the clock slightly and remained so for the rest of the game. I hadbeen slightly chary of this exchange as it left my Q in the line of a revealedattack from the fianchettoed B but I couldn't see any seriously injuriousway that White could exploit it. } 12. Bd2 { White reverts to his plan forthe b4 advance. } 12... Qe6 { I decided that discretion was the better part ofvalour and retreated the Q from the long white diagonal. } 13. Be3 { !? Seemed an odd move, after the previous B move. Eventually, I decided thatit was either to support a d-pawn advance or to enable a knight manoeuvrevia d2 to either b3, c4 or e4, depending on how I responded... } 13... Rd8 { developingthe KR to the half-open d-file. All White's attention seems directed towardsa Q-side attack so I decided the R wasn't needed to defend the K-side. } 14. Qc2 { White gets his Q out of the R's sights. } 14... Bd7 { Developing the Band connecting the Rs. } 15. Nd2 { as expected, eventually ... } 15... Rac8 { Completingmy development by putting the QR on the c-file. } 16. Ne4 { Now the N landson a beautiful central square, threatening to attack my Q. } 16... b6 { a naturalmove getting the pawn off the long white diagonal and preventing the WN'sthreatened move to c5. } 17. Rbc1 { White ratchets up the pressure on thec-file } 17... Nd4 { virtually forcing an exchange that will leave me with thebishop pair vs N and B. } 18. Bxd4 exd4 19. Qc4 { Interesting response ... } 19... c5 { I decided that if we were to exchange Qs it would be best to do itin a way that improved my position rather than White's. this pawn movegives me more room and creates a strongpoint on d4. } 20. Qxe6 Bxe6 { NowI was well satisfied with the scope of my Bs and Rs. My position seemedharmonious and full of potential for an winning attack. } 21. Nd2 { A surpiseretreat but I soon worked out that the N was probably heading for c4 toattack b6. } 21... b5 { Mobilising - and nullifying the previously noted threat. } 22. Rc2 { Threatening the double Rs on the c-file. } 22... Rc7 { responding likewise... } 23. Be4 { preventing my king escaping from back row checks via h7. } 23... Rdc8 24. Rfc1 f5 { forcing W to retreat his B. I wasn't concerned about exposingmy K at this stage as there didn't appear to be any scope for W to exploitthe opened up lines. } 25. Bf3 Bg5 { exploiting the fact that W has preventedhis f-pawn from moving by pinning the N against W's R. } 26. h4 { White immediatelychallenges me to decide what to do with the B. } 26... Bxd2 { Sad to give up theadvantage of the B pair but swapping that advantage for disruption of W'sposition by undoubling his Rs. } 27. Rxd2 c4 { pressing forward with my attack. } 28. dxc4 Rxc4 { Necessary to protect the isolated d-pawn, rather than retakingwith the b-pawn. } 29. Rcd1 { W piles on the pressure on the d-pawn. } 29... Rc2 { Rather than defending the pawn for a very drawish-looking position, Idecided to offer to swap it for the b-pawn so that I'd have a q-side pawnadvantage with potential to queen. } 30. b4 { A sensible response. Whitenow looks certain to capture the d-pawn. } 30... axb4 31. axb4 Rxd2 { After W recaptures,I intended ...Rc4, defending the d-pawn and threatening the b-pawn. } 32. Rxd2 Rc4 33. Rb2 { So I'd saved the d-pawn but not yet managed to obtaina winning passed pawn. } 33... Bf7 { ?! I had picked up the B, intending to playit to d2, to support the b-pawn, but belatedly realised that I would losethe exchange after the response Bd5+, so I hastily rerouted my hand topark the B on f7. An unfortunately wasted move as its only use was toobstruct the freedom of my K. } 34. Rb1 { probably to prevent a back-rowcheck and enable W to centralise his K } 34... Kf8 { Now my K starts its own centralisationa move later than it should have done. } 35. Kf1 { White responds likewisebut his K is obstructed by his pawns, so Black gets the positional advantageover the next few moves. } 35... Ke7 36. Ke1 Kd6 37. Kd2 Ke5 38. e3 { White attacksthe d-pawn and threatens to skewer the R and b-pawn from e2. } 38... Rc3 { a necessaryresponse. Now, if 39. Be2 then ...Bc4 defends while maintaining the pressure. } 39. exd4+ Kxd4 40. Be2 Bc4 41. Bd1 { W avoids the exchange while cedingfurther territory - but Black's attacking options are limited by lack ofresources. } 41... Rd3+ { testing White's awareness of potential discovered checksetc } 42. Kc2 { Of course, 42. Ke2 would have been a horrendous mistake allowingRb3+, winning the rook. Retreating onto a black square would have avoidedthat bu ceded more space. } 42... g5 { Wanting to avoid repetition, I decided toinitiate action on the other side of the board to limit White's options. } 43. hxg5 hxg5 44. Rb2 { Just about White's only move... } 44... g4 45. Rb1 Ra3 { hoping to win the f-pawn. } 46. Rb2 Ra2 47. Rxa2 Bxa2 { Now my advantageis dissipated and my pawns are all on white squares, giving White a slightadvantage, despite his apparently cramped position. It took me a whileto realise this ... } 48. Be2 Bc4 49. Bd1 Bd3+ 50. Kb3 Bc4+ 51. Kc2 { NowI might as well have conceded the draw by repetition but I wanted to exploitmy considerable time advantage: I had about an extra 30 minutes on theclock by this stage. } 51... Bf1 52. Kb3 Kd3 { ?? Trying to gain access to thef2 pawn, I missed the fact that White could now mop up my f and g pawns. } 53. Bc2+ Ke2 54. Bxf5 Kxf2 55. Bxg4 Kxg3 56. Bd7 Kf4 57. Kc3 { !? Whitesp in the hope that he might be able to force a win.urned the opportunityto force a draw by 57. Bxb5, leaving me with insufficient mating material } 57... Ke5 58. Be8 Kd6 { and I offered the draw, which was gratefully accepted. I had 27 minutes left, my opponent just over 4. } 1/2-1/2
[Event "Blitz against Pogo's 'Master' Level CPU"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "9-10-06"] [Round "-"] [White "punkkus1"] [Black "Master CPU"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2000+"] [TimeControl "10 minutes"] [WhiteElo "1728"] 1. e4 { This is a blitz game vs. pogo.com's Master Level CPU (2000 supposedly)program. SO either Black couldn't cope with the barrage of unrelated movesor computers are getting soft. } 1... Nf6 { Alekhine's defence } 2. Nf3 Nxe4 { Apawn for rapid development. } 3. Nc3 d5 { The GK game database doesn't exceedhere past move 3. } 4. d3 { So from here on we're out of white's known openingbook. } 4... Nc5 5. Be3 d4 { a pseudo-fork perhaps feeling that giving the pawnback will help balance out for lack of development } 6. Bxd4 Ne6 { attackingwhile retreating, but blocking in the e7 pawn. } 7. Be5 Nc6 8. Bg3 Nb4 9. a3 { a wasted tempo unless drawing out wing pawns is apart of it's plan. } 9... Nc6 10. Be2 Nc5 11. O-O Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. Nb5 { Double attack on c7 } 13... Bxf3 14. Bxf3 Na5 15. Nxc7+ Kd7 16. Bg4+ e6 17. b4 { White is too hasty, as the17.Nxa8 should have come before the b4 fork. } 17... Rc8 18. bxc5 { Capturing thebetter positioned knight } 18... Bxc5 { 18....Bxc5? Perhaps black felt the solidpawn, bishop development, & f2 pin was worth more than the added valueof Whites knight & Black-squared bishop for a rook. } 19. Nb5 Qg5 { ThreatingBxf2 , Qxb4. } 20. d4 Bb6 21. Nd6 Rcg8 { Blocking in the other bishop, blacklimits it own powers even more. } 22. Nxf7 Qb5 23. Rb1 { NOT 23.Nxh8 as Whitedoesn't want to trade an active knight for blacks inactive rook as thatwould only help black, perhaps black's 21st move assumed the fork was towin the h8 rook. } 23... Nb3 { 23. Nb3?? Black must have forseen a greater threatif the queen had retreated otherwise this move is an outright blunder. } 24. Rxb3 Qa6 25. d5 Ke7 26. Bxe6 Bxf2+ { 26...Bxf2 ?? Sacraficing the bishopfor what? temporary relief of dark-squared pressure on the king? Anotherblunder unless... } 27. Bxf2 Kf8 28. Qf3 Ke7 29. Bc5+ Ke8 30. Nd6+ Kd8 31. Qf7 { mate in 1. } 31... Qxf1+ { ...Unless 27...Bxf2?? was in preperation for thisdesperate last attempt at pinning the queen, that almost worked, but blackis down too much material for it to have a made difference. } 32. Qxf1 Rf8 33. Qb5 { mate in 1. } 33... Rf1+ 34. Qxf1 Rg8 35. Qf7 { mate in 1. } 35... Rf8 36. Qd7# { And resign is niether in a CPU's vocabulary nor programmed as a validoption living up to the adage that 'no ones ever won by resigning.' } 1-0
[Event "Walking the Walk and Learning to Run MT Part 4"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.01.19"] [Round "-"] [White "lesplay"] [Black "ptitroque"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1649"] [TimeControl "5d+5d<10d"] [WhiteElo "1178"] 1. d4 e5 2. Nf3 { White doesn't take... Gambit refused } 2... e4 3. Ne5 { Probablynot a good move (the knight has got to move twice and it gives black onetempo) } 3... f6 4. Ng4 d5 { Now black has 3 pieces out against 2 for white, although,black plaid twice the e pawn. Furthermore, black controls the center. } 5. Ne3 { This move is another loss of time } 5... Nc6 6. b3 Be6 { Black carrieson develloping toward the center } 7. Ba3 Nge7 { It was not a problem forblack if 8. Bxf8, at the condition to be able to take back with somethingelse than the king. It's not the best place for the knight but it's ok.It protects d4 which is weak. } 8. Nc3 { Attacking d4, allowing the largecastle but the knight is in the moment unprotected which is not too seriousbecause black's Dark Square Bishop is blocked. } 8... Qd7 { To allow the castle } 9. f3 Bf5 10. Nxf5 Nxf5 11. Qd2 { Allowing the castle, protecting the cknight but blunder. } 11... Bxa3 { Winning a bishop and forbidding white to castlelong } 12. Nb5 { The knight alone is not very dangerous } 12... Bb2 { So that whitedefinitely cannot castle long and to bring the bishop back at the center } 13. Rb1 Bxd4 { Black is now very strong at the center } 14. g4 Ne3 { If 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Qxd4 Nxc2+ queen is lost (the same if 16. Qxe3) } 15. fxe4 dxe4 { Very seriously menacing the white queen 16. ... Bc3 and the queenis lost but the b knight prevents it } 16. c3 Nxf1 17. Rxf1 { Now the whiteking cannot castle and it will be very hard for white to join the two rooks. } 17... O-O-O { Bringing the rook on the central open file, very menacing for thewhite queen } 18. h3 { Doesn't prevent black's attack on the center } 18... Bf2+ 19. Rxf2 Qxd2+ 20. Kf1 Qc2 { To attack the white rook and enable the blackone to come line 2 or1 } 21. Kg2 { From now on, white can little, but tryto avoid the mate } 21... Qxb1 22. Rf4 Rd1 23. Kg3 Rg1+ 24. Kh4 Qe1+ 25. Kh5 Rh1 { White submits there He can't anyway not avoid the mate on the next2 moves. } 0-1
[Event "I beat my coach in 11 seconds"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "Nov 22"] [Round "-"] [White "Cyrus Lakdawala"] [Black "Me"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1967"] [TimeControl "G/1"] [WhiteElo "2552"] 1. e4 { This is an online 1-minute match I played with my coach. He normallycrushes me in online blitz games, or he'll flag me when I'm winning, buttoday I got the satisfaction of crushing him brilliantly, using only 11seconds of my time. } 1... c5 { Pre-move, I often pre-move c5 on the first move,but it is risky in case White plays b4 first move, but I knew my coachwouldn't do that, so I just pre-moved c5. } 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 { The openingmoves were played very rapidly, I'm not even sure if either of us had useda second yet. This is the Grand Prix Attack, where White goes for a bunchof cheap attacks on the kingside, which can be dangerous against an unpreparedplayer. I do not recommend playing Grand Prix against a player with bookknowledge. } 3... g6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Nf3 e6 { This blocks the diagonal and preparesfor a future d5-boost, but I didn't need to spend a second on this move,this is still book and blocking the bishop's diagonal is a logical move. } 6. f5 { This is out of my opening repertoire, I've never had a grand prixgame where my opponent sacs their pawn this early, most players wait untilafter castling to play the f5 sacrifice. I didn't really want to go intocomplications in a 1-minute match, so I just played Nge7 almost instantly.In bullet games, you shouldn't go into complications when you're the onegetting attacked, it makes you think more so that your opponent has a betterchance of flagging you even if you're winning. I'll just make very quicksolid moves. } 6... Nge7 7. fxe6 fxe6 { pre-move, on ICC pre-moves only take 0.1seconds away from your time, it would take longer than that just to movethe mouse, so I always pre-move captures. } 8. O-O d5 { I saw the chanceto gain central space and gain tempo chasing the bishop, so I played thismove almost instantly without calculating. Playing bullet chess can oftenscrew up your chess and make you play bad in long time control games, butit can also improve your instincts and ability to think quick and movefast. But don't get addicted to 1-minute chess............. one time ona night before a tournament, I played over 100 bullet games in a row, anddid very badly in the tournament because I made so many quick, 'unthoughtout'moves. } 9. exd5 exd5 { pre-move again } 10. Bb5 { Playing a6 here would requiresome calculation and is a waste of move to me, so I just castled sinceit is most logical and no calculation is necessary. } 10... O-O 11. Kh1 Nd4 { Thisjust seemed most logical and most aggressive, so I played it without muchthought. Nd4 is a typical move in Grand Prix lines, since the knight onc3 prevents a pawn from chasing away the knight, and Nxd4 lets me havebetter control of the centre, even though I have doubled isolated pawns,they are not an issue } 12. Nxd4 cxd4 { pre-move } 13. Ne2 Bg4 { Once againthis is the most aggressive move, and I played it without much thought,if you know how to play logical chess, then it is easy to find good movesin less than a second. } 14. h3 { I sort of considered h3 in my mind whenplaying Bg4 instantly, but I knew it would be weakening, and that I wouldhave 'some tactic' to exploit it. I know that kind of analysis isn't goodfor your chess, and that being a good bullet player isn't very important,but it can improve your instincts in regular chess so that you can findand analyse good moves quickly. } 14... Nf5 { I didn't really spend any time onthis move, moving the bishop is a waste of tempo so I won't do it, thisbrings the knight to an aggressive square and prepares Qh4 if White acceptsthe bishop. I didn't have time to analyse, I just assumed that I shouldhave 'some tactic' if White weakens his position and allows the tempo queencheck, and my instincts were correct. } 15. hxg4 { ?????????????????????????totally losing now } 15... Qh4+ 16. Kg1 d3 { This clears up space for a Bd4 idea,but I can't do it with the knight there. My coach is just lost here, ignoringthe pawn with a move like gxf5 allows dxe2 follwed by Bd4 Rf2 Rxf5 justcrushing, but I wasn't analysing all that during the split second it tookfor me to move, it's all instinct based on the logic that makes sense tome. } 17. Bxd3 { c3 holds on a little longer here, but White is still lostafter dxe2 followed by Ng3, with the threat of Qh1 and assault on the f-file.White's underdeveloped dark bishop prevents him from countering my controlof the f-file. } 17... Ng3 { Threatening Qh1#, White is just busted here. If hetakes knight, then Bd4 should mate in a few moves. Bf5 here is a trickyway to defend my f-file assault, but it takes away defense from the knight,which would allow a rook to come to the e-file to double-attack the knightthat is stopping Bd4 , } 18. Rxf8+ { A temporary sense of security, but tradingrooks does absolutely nothing, I didn't have time to pre-move this recapture,but time isn't an issue anymore, I could probably win this position with10 seconds left. } 18... Rxf8 { Once again, Bf5 is the only move that doesn't getmated next, but Qh1 wins the queen and white drops a bunch of materialafter that, so the game is basically over, I totally annihilated an internationalmaster using only 11 seconds of my time, while my coach had spent 34 seconds. } 19. Nxg3 Bd4# { A lot of players don't respect bullet chess, and think itis just a contest of who can click the fastest, but being good at fastgames comes in handy often, quickens your thinking ability, sharpens yourinstincts, and teaches you not to panic when time pressure situations happen.Just don't get addicted! } 0-1
[Event "Team match (Charlie's Revenge!!!)"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "06-Jul-07"] [Round "-"] [White "gothicgirl"] [Black "abe66"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1502"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1507"] 1. e4 { I'm pretty sure everyone who plays on this site regularly is familiarwith gothicgirl. She is a true warrior and fine chess talent. She is alsolegendary for the number of games she has played - and that is no understatement.Gothicgirl is also a fine team captain and all around good blokette:) Afew days ago, abe66 contacted me - he had read many of my annotations andliked them, so he asked me to annotate this game of his vs. gothicgirl.Evidently, it was a sweet win for him because she had been getting thebest of him as of late. So, without further ado, I dedicate this annotationto abe66, gothicgirl, Caissa, and the rest of you who love GameKnot. Ihope you enjoy:) } 1... e5 2. Nf3 d6 { Black employs the Philador Defense. I'vealways thought of Philador players as a truly demented bunch:) Black locksin his dark squared bishop and commits himself to a passive game. His hopeis to counter-punch at the big center that white can obtain by playing3. d4 followed by logical development. } 3. Nc3 { !? Hmm....3. d4 or 3. Bc4seem much stronger. I don't totally discredit this move, as it develops,but this is one of those situations where the Nb1 is best placed on c3after c4 has been played. I mean, why retard the c pawn for no reason?Maybe marin or ion can explain the dynamics of this move better than I.It just doesn't feel right to me at this juncture. } 3... Nf6 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. d3 h6 { ? Black must really be fearful of some sort of sac on f7 or white playingBg5. Due to white always having the opening initiative, black shouldn'tsquander the chance to keep up in development. Much better was Bg4 or Be7IMHO. } 6. Be3 { White gets her last minor developed to a good square andprepares to castle. She is enjoying the superior position at this point,and is preparing to coordinate her offense. } 6... Be7 { Down some developmentaltempo, black hurries to catch up and hastens 0-0. } 7. h3 { ?! There is noreason for white to fear 7...Bg4 here. My immediate thought is 7. Qd2 (preparing0-0-0) Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. Nh4! and white has a strong attack.Having said that, I do agree that 7. h3 secures the g4 square into white'sreal estate. I guess it just depends on how aggressive you want to be:) } 7... b6 { Consolidates c5 and gives the light squared bishop another option. } 8. Qd2 { Gothicgirl and I may be thinking the same thing here. White cannow castle either way (a nice option if you can get it) and may very wellbe thinking of a kingside assault. Notice the firepower she has pointedthat way, and since she is out-hitting d5, it just may be a good launchingplatform. } 8... Bb7 { ?! I didn't like this move for black. He makes a prematurecommitment in my opinion. With all of the ammo white has pointed at hiskingside, I feel it is better to keep this bishop on a closer diagonal.I see the idea of him playing 0-0-0, but it seems to me that this moveis a little slow. 8...Be3 9. BxB fxB should not be dismissed out of handbecause of the doubled pawns. They would be central and black would havean early bead on the f file after 0-0. } 9. O-O-O { Not content to wait aroundfor black to tip his hand, white castles long and prepares for kingsideaction. } 9... Qd7 { OK - 0-0-0 it will be. These two players are going to beslugging it out on the kingside. } 10. Kb1 { Curious. I can only wonder whatthis was all about. 10. Nh4! would have been sweet, as it puts the Nf3one step closer to the natural outpost on f5 AND hastens f4! } 10... O-O-O { Asplanned, but not best right now as black's f pawn is hanging. What about10...Na5!? which would instigate a favorable trade getting rid of whitesstrong light squared bishop? } 11. g4 { White doesn't take the free f pawn.Instead, she starts pushing the kingside. Good idea, but I still like theidea of playing Nh4 first. } 11... a6 { Prevents intrusion on b5. } 12. a3 { Doesgothicgirl not see the free pawn? or is she wisely creating an escape squarefor her Bc4 first because she sees the threat black has of Na5? I'm bettingshe sees it:) } 12... Rhf8 { Black shores up the hanging f pawn. Was it the rightrook? Most likely, as the other one will be useful on the d file shouldconflict occur on the potentially volital g5 square. } 13. Nh2 { White isanxious to play f4, but I STILL like Nh4! C'mon gothicgirl! Go for thethroat! } 13... b5 { Black makes his first truly aggressive move of the game, andthreatens white's powerful light squared bishop. That's the thing aboutthe Philador - it usually is very passive early on, but if black can weatherthe opening, opportunities eventually arise. } 14. Ba2 { Validating white's12th. } 14... Nb8 { Black just can't seem to make up his mind whether to be passiveor aggressive. A natural continuation to his 13th would have been 14...b415. axb Nxb. Black has now weakened his position by this retreating move. } 15. f4 { ! White is ready to roll. Time to rev up the action. } 15... c5 { Blackis playing a dangerous game here. Of course he wants to bring his Nb8 toc6, and he does have a strong pawn chain on the queenside, but he is openingsquares around his monarch and is basically daring white to attempt anattack at some point. } 16. fxe5 { Quite an interesting choice. I would havefigured gothicgirl would have simply pushed f5 and then concentrated onpushing her g and h pawns next. } 16... dxe5 17. Rhf1 Nc6 { Getting this knightback into the game and re-establishing the threat of b4. } 18. Nd5 { Whitehas shown great patience for many moves, and puts this knight on it's naturalsquare. } 18... Nxd5 { Nobody likes a stranger camped out in their backyard, soblack eliminates this intruder..... } 19. Bxd5 { .....and is rewarded byanother. Remember black's 10th? He had the opportunity to kill this bishopback then and opted not to. Now he will pay for that decision, as white'sBd5 is very nicely posted on a great square. } 19... b4 { ! Black doesn't panic,and goes for some space. } 20. a4 { ? White panics a little. 20. axb Nxb21. Bc4 and white still has good play. As played, white may be giving blackher a pawn as a target. } 20... Na5 { Black looks to rid himself of white's peskylight squared bishop, and eyes white's a pawn. } 21. Bxb7+ Qxb7 { ?! PerhapsKxB with the idea of getting the Rd8 to c8 or B8 was stronger. } 22. b3 { Protecting the potential hole on c4. } 22... Nc6 23. Rf5 { I liked g5 better here.White made a commitment much earlier to pushing the kingside, and seemsto have forgotten about it. Of course this move allows her to double upon the f file, but I think pushing pawns would be more effective. } 23... f6 { !Shutting down g5. } 24. Rdf1 Nd4 { Black jumps on the strong outpost withboth feet. } 25. Bxd4 { While not strictly forced, leaving the opposing knightposted like that is very uncomfortable for white. } 25... exd4 { An interesting,if not outright tough decision for black. 25...cxd and black could pounceon the c file first while maintaining the block on white's e pawn. Nowwhite's Rf5 has a little more scope and she may be able to push her e pawn. } 26. Qf2 { Qe2 or Re1 should also be considered, as either would reinforcean e pawn push. } 26... g6 { Repelling the intrusive rook. } 27. Rf3 Bd6 { Blacksets a small trap. White may think she can win a pawn via 28. Rxf RxR 29.QxR, but black would of course win the Nh2. } 28. h4 { White doesn't fallfor it and continues to push the kingside. } 28... c4 { Black is playing a littlerisky. He may think d pawn is safe from capture because the enemy queenis tied down protecting her Nh2, but consider 29. Qxd BxN 30. Qxc Kb831. Rxf and black has a nice attack. } 29. Re1 { Supporting the advancede pawn, but just as importantly creating a square for the Nh2, which freesup her queen. } 29... cxb3 { Black starts killing defenders, and the c file willnow be open for business once his king can get off of it. } 30. cxb3 Be5 { Protecting two pawns, and maintaing control of the h2/b8 diagonal. } 31. Rc1+ Kb8 { Shredder 10 puts this game as dead even right now. } 32. Nf1 { Itfeels natural to get this knight back into play, But Qd2 would force theissue against black's kingside pawns. } 32... Rc8 { Nice move - black will ownthe c file now. } 33. Rxc8+ Qxc8 34. Qc2 { A miss-step by white that dropsa pawn. } 34... Qxg4 35. Qf2 Qe6 36. Kb2 { Protecting the b pawn. } 36... Rc8 37. Nd2 Rc6 { Rc3! was much stronger. } 38. Nc4 { The most natural square for thewhite knight. } 38... h5 { Why not g5 try to eliminate any threat of the outsidepawn? Now black's g pawn is weak. } 39. Qg2 { Attacking the weakness. } 39... Qe8 40. Qf1 { Perhaps Rf1 was better, as white's rook is currently pretty weakand not accomplishing much. } 40... Qe6 { Black regains a strong position, as f6is now amply protected from the threat of NxB. } 41. Rf2 Bg3 { ? This moveonly assists white. Consider 42. Rg2, which attacks a piece that wouldbe tough to protect and also threatens black's g pawn. } 42. Rc2 { ? Whitemissed her chance to regain material equality. } 42... Bxh4 { ? Premature.......consider42...Qg4 43. Qg1 Qxh and black has the chance for some awesome pawn rollers. } 43. Qg1 { ?? ARGH! White misses the opportunity to win a free piece. 43.Qf4 ! Ka7 44. QxB. } 43... g5 { Black protects both his g pawn and bishop, andstarts the race up the board on the kingside. } 44. Qxd4 { Gothicgirl getssomething for her troubles while centralizing her queen. She now has acheck threat. } 44... Qc8 { Blocking the potential check threat. } 45. e5 { As whitehas strength in the center, she decides to push it. She certainly mustworry about black's connected outside passers, of course, but if she cancontrol the initiative she may just be able to force the issue down themiddle. I like black better here, but he is by no means out of the woods. } 45... f5 { Black pushes his own advantage, and plans to win the pawn race. Atthis point, it is not necessarily a race to promotion, but a race to thethreat of promotion. If black can divert white's pieces over to the kingsideto defend, he should be able to press his pawn advantage. } 46. e6 { ? Blunder.46. Re2 g4 47. Nd6 and white has much better chances. } 46... Qxe6 { The correctcapture. If 46...Rxe then 47. Nd6 QxR 48. KxQ. } 47. Qh8+ { Wins the h pawn.White is now valiantly fighting to regain the initiative. } 47... Kc7 { ? Rc8 wasthe far better move. 47...Rc8 48. Qxh Qf6 49. Ka2 and black maintainshis initiative. } 48. Qxh5 { This is such a twisted game. Both players arehaving good ideas, but acting on them too prematurely. Better for whitewas 48. Qh7 Kb8 THEN 49. Qxh Qf6 Kb1. With the black king further removedfrom it's pieces, it would make an easier target to check in the future.Now, black has some tempo to force the issue. } 48... f4 49. Qh7+ { The white rookis so incredibly passive right now. It was probably better to get him intoplay by the tempo gaining 49. Re2 (it would be safe from capture becauseit would have been protected by the white queen.) } 49... Kd8 { ? Kb8 would bean easier position to defend. Black has the wonderful threat of pushingthe kingside, but is allowing white too many check threats. Better to justsuck it up, waste a move if needed to secure his king, and then let thefireworks start by pushing the kingside. } 50. Qb7 { ? White is losing touchwith reality (sorry gg:) Her rook is just screaming to get into the game,and while she targets the black b pawn valuable time is being wasted thatwill allow black to roll up the kingside. } 50... Rc7 { ? Black joins white inLa La Land (sorry Charlie:) Be1 protects the b pawn and hastens Bc3 , andthe text only threatens the queen that was moving anyway. } 51. Qxb4 Qf6+ { Black emerges from his fog and rightfully gets things into gear. } 52. Ka2 { Interesting choice. Qc3 may have been better, as it would encouragea queen swap. White's defensive priorities would be cut drastically tojust stopping the black pawn advance. The text is not all together bad,however, as it puts the king on the opposite color of the black bishop. } 52... f3 { Black has had enough, and commits to winning straight away. } 53. Qb8+ Kd7 54. Qg8 { White ignores the promotion threat, and sets up another checkthreat. } 54... f2 55. Qd5+ { ? hmm....55. Qh7 Kc8 56. Qg8 Kd7 57. Qh7 Kc8 58.Qg8 Kd7 and white is right in it. } 55... Ke7 56. Re2+ { White FINALLY gets therook involved. Now, she MUST keep up the check pressure to avoid blackgetting another queen. } 56... Kf8 57. Qa8+ Kg7 58. Ne3 { White's poor rook isso passive. This knight move was the only real possibility to snag thepromoter. } 58... Rc1 { ? Black continues to give white too much hope. Better tojust promote, take the knight, and start nailing the coffin shut. } 59. Qb7+ { White continues to hang on. At first glance, black appears to beclearly ahead. I ran this position through Shredder, and got the most fascinatingline that I wanted to share here: [ 59. Nf5 Kh7 (59...QxN 60. Re7 Qf761. RxQ KxR 62. Qd5 Kf6 63. Qd4 Kg6 64. Qe4 Kf6 65. Qd4 Kg6 66. Qe4 Kf6 67. Qd4 =) 60. Re7 Kg6 61. NxB gxN 62. Qe4 Kg5 63. Qe3 Kg4 64.Re4 Kh5 65. Re5 Kg6 66. Q Kf7 67. Qb7 Rc7 68. QxR Kg6] Now, I find absolutelyno fault with gothicgirl's last move - I mean, there is little possibilitythat a fellow human of non-titled strength could have seen that sequence.I just it was too pretty not to mention:) As it is, white is taking advantageof the reprieve black has given her and continues to keep up what littlepressure she can in this position. } 59... Kg6 60. Qe4+ Kh5 61. Qg4+ { White keepsfinding ways to hang on! } 61... Kh6 62. Nf5+ { ! Yeah baby! White sees the chanceto get her rook in on the action! } 62... Qxf5 { Once again, black has had enoughof this and pins his hopes on the promotion on f1. } 63. Qxf5 { ?? NO! Re6! saves the game! Follow this line: 63. Re6 QxR 64. QxQ Kh5 65. Qe2 Kh666. Qe6 Kh5 67. Qe2 Kh6 68. Qe6 . } 63... f1=Q { Black now has the goods, andmust simply evade a few annoying checks. } 64. Re6+ Kh5 65. Qh7+ Kg4 66. Re4+ Kf3 67. Qf5+ Kg2 68. Qg4+ Kh1 { Black is now temporarily safe fromcheck. } 69. Ka3 { White is out of ideas. Black now pours on the pain. } 69... Ra1+ 70. Kb4 Qf8+ 71. Kc3 Be1+ { With this bishop now in the game and controllingdark squares, white is seriously on the ropes. } 72. Kd4 Qf2+ 73. Kd5 Qf7+ 74. Ke5 { ?? White's best chance was 74. Kc6 Rc1 75. Rc4 Qf6 76. Kb7 RxR77. dxR } 74... Bc3+ { Very workable, but Bg3 wins, as if the bishop is takenblack wins the white queen after Qc7 . } 75. d4 { Nice! White is desperatelytrying to get the one tempo she needs to do some attacking herself! } 75... Qe7+ 76. Kf5 { ?? Yikes! What about 76. Kd5 Qf7 Kc6?????? Black now marks a'1' on the wall chart. } 76... Rf1+ 77. Kg6 Rf6+ 78. Kxg5 Qg7+ 79. Kh4 Rh6+ 80. Kg3 Rg6 { And white has had enough. I thought was a thoroughly entertaininggame. Both sides made mistakes, of course, but it was interesting to mehow the outcome was not decided until very late - after both sides hadsquandered chances yet were let off of the hook almost immediately by theiropponent. I replayed it a few times just to watch how the tempo and initiativekept passing back and forth. I felt like I was at a tennis match:) I takenothing away from these two fine players, and I hope my annotation didnot appear harsh. It's always so much easier to armchair quarterback someoneelse's game when you have the benefit of an engine:) Many thanks to abe66and gothicgirl for the game, and I hope you have enjoyed it:) - Thomas } 0-1
[Event "An open unrated game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.04.16"] [Round "-"] [White "matpalm"] [Black "aandersen"] [Result ""] [BlackElo "1154"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1334"] 1. e4 { my fav opening and covers all the classics, control of middle, openingfor kings side bishop } 1... c6 { Should you always start off with a plan, evenright from the start? I've never been sure about this and in fact I don'tsee how it would be possible. Surely, for at least the first few moves,things are dictated by what your opponent does. Okay then, here's the plan.Somehow I'm going to win, but the downside is that so far I have no ideahow this will be done. I got a little bored by e5 as a response to e4,so I'm experimenting along the c file. I have used c5 a few times but Ithink here, I will have a look at c6. Both of which are with the idea oftaking a chunk out of the centre if possible. } 2. d4 { no threats so whynot take more of the middle! in these games have found it hard to maintainthese two pawns but it's worth it. } 2... d5 { I would have played 2.d4 too, sono complaints so far. I feel my next has to be 2.d5 otherwise I would begiving away far too much of the centre. I'm thinking now that c6 is notthe best response to 1.e4 . I have refined the plan slightly. What I'mgoing to do is watch my opponents early moves carefully to see if I canspot any stray moves which might give me a chance to seize the initiative.So you see, already the plan is taking shape. } 3. Nc3 { piece developmentand protection for e pawn. i think this is better than f3 which after dxe4fxe4 leaves my king a little too exposed this early. } 3... dxe4 { Rememberinga piece of advice I was given some time ago. 'In the opening, taking theoffered piece is the strongest move'. So that's what I've done here. Iguess it would be good if I understood why, but I don't. I guess it forceshim to recapture, so does that then give me the tempo? Is that why it shouldbe done? (Suddenly remembers that it would be a good idea to actually makethe move instead of just talking about it). } 4. Nxe4 { capture back pawn.have the feeling the N on e4 will be chased away soon enough but it's asolid enough middle for the moment. } 4... Nd7 { Already I have gone off of the1.c6 idea. I think I need to do a lot more work before i try it again,if ever. He now has a good position in the centre which is just what Iwas hoping to avoid. I have been looking around here for a decent moveand I would like to play d5 to try to get a foothold on the centre andalso prepare the way for some movement in my king side pieces. However,I feel that before I can do that, 4Nd7 has to be played. Note the way thisneatly boxes in my light bishop. I will have to try to sort that problemout as we go along. } 5. Bc4 { first off there is no immediate threat oneither my pawn or knight so i'm happy to leave them hanging in the veryshort term since there are a few options for backing them up. you playingf5 would be a hassle since i'd have to waste a move retreating my N. i'mkeen to castle kingside asap so i need to get my king side pieces active.my options are Nf3, Bd3 or Bc4. i'm usually quite aggressive so i'll play5. Bc4 which can be followed up with the threat of 6. Qf3 7. Qxf7#. thereis no d pawn to threaten my B on c4 and if you play 5... b5 i can retreatwith 6. Bb3 and still have the pressure on f7, always a weak square forblack } 5... Ngf6 { Before calling it a day yesterday, i had a long look at thisgame and tried to predict the next few best moves for both sides. The littlesequence I came up with was 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Ng3 e6 7. Bd3 c5. However, thismorning I am faced with Bc4, which Mat at least mentioned in his comment.This I reckon, is another point against early plans. How can you possiblypredict what your opponent will consider to be the next best move? Anyway,I think sticking with 5. nf6 is still an okay move. It connects my knightswhich might be useful. It doesn't immediately help with the f7 weaknessbut I still think I can deal with that by 6. e6 if he decides to go downthat route. 6. e6 also opens a line for my dark bishop and prepares theway for king side castling, which I would like to do asap given the waythis game seems to be heading. I don't think there is any value in tryingto chase the bishop away just yet. It would only waste time which I shouldbe spending on development. Looking around the board, I can't see any othermoves I like better, so I'm going to stick with 5. Ngf6 } 6. f3 { Nf6 presentsan immediate threat on my unguarded N at e4 so i have to deal with it.retreating it seems a waste of development opportunity and goes againstthe classic don't move the same piece twice in the opening. i think eitherf3 or Qe2 is viable. normally i hate defending a minor piece with the queenso i might defend with f3. an exchange of N's, 6... Nxe4 7. fxe4 is inmy favor i think since it gives strong pawns in the center and after aking side castle an open f rank for the rook can be quite powerful. } 6... Nxe4 { I take your point about the attacking possibilities for the rook alongthe f file but I also think that the open f file creates a weakness inthe kings defences. Always assuming that you go for king side castling.It is true that your position in the centre would look solid and my lackof development worries me. Having said that though, I think it has to bedone so my choice is 6.Nxe4. } 7. fxe4 { pretty much forced to get back thematerial, nothing else gains more in the immedidate move. the pressureis now on to get the knight out for the king side castle. i think 8.Nf3is a better choice than 8.Ne2 since it keeps the N close. 8.Qf3 is alsoa possibility threatening 9.Qxf7# but it seems any black development movenext will stop it. no matter what i need to be careful since all my pieceson the 4th rank are effectively hanging at the moment. i expect somethinglike 7..e6 from black next to open up the bishop and queen and help f7 } 7... e5 { Well, white is expecting 7.e6 which is a move i had been wanting toplay and spoke about before. I think in the current position 7.e5 wouldbe better. It still opens the diagonal that I wanted for my bishop anda possibility of the queen giving check on h4 and white would then haveto further weaken the king side defences to counter it. In my view, thethreat to f7 is no longer immediate now that the knight is out of the way.It really has to be either e5 or e6 but which one? Okay, e5 it will be.I'm not going too make any predictions yet about the next few moves asI feel that there are just too many possibilities here. } 8. Qf3 { alreadyi'm reconsidering whether taking with the f pawn and leaving my f fileopen was a good idea... i need to defend the d pawn and can do so in anumber of ways. ( it's already protected by the queen but i always findallocating the queen to pawn protection at any time of the game is a badidea. the only time this seems ok is if the exchange, in this case exd4Qxd4 is guaranteed soon and would put the queen in a good position, andi think neither is the case here) c3, Be3, Ne2 or Nf3 would all developa piece with an extra defender on d4 but i'm going for something a bitmore agressive, defence by threat, Qf3. if the threat is ignored 8...exd4 9. Qxf7# if the mate is directly blocked 8... Nf6 9. dxe5 wins theknight (i think) 8... f6 9. dxe5 fxe5 10. Qf7# 8... f6 9. dxe5 Nxe5(more likely) 10. Qh5+ will cause a ruckus. lots of interesting linescoming out of this one, including the ones i missed that will no doubtwin the queen for black ;P } 8... Nf6 { My apologies for the delay, been awayfor a few days. I enjoyed the break but was horrified to get back to thisgame and see the enormous threat to my f7 square. Of course, this mustbe dealt with before I can think about too much else. I think my two mostrealistic options are 8. f6 or 8. Nf6. I read White's comment about Nf6losing the knight but I think I may be able to get around this with a counterthreat to his queen. (assuming 9. d x e5 Bg4 or even 9.Qe7). Also, f6 wouldmean moving one of my king defending pawns, (assuming I get a chance tocastle king side at some point), and I prefer not to move the pawn justyet. After another look around to make sure I'm not missing anything else,I have come down in favour of 9. Nf6 as I'm now getting more confidentthat I can hang on to said knight. } 9. Bg5 { i didn't pick the counter threatof Bg4 and it's more than just a threat on the queen! for a moment i wasthinking it could be avoided by playing 9. dxe5 Bg4 10. Qf4 but the threatchanges from against the queen to against the king after 10... Qd1+. ialso need to consider the additional pressure the black queen puts on d4now the N has moved. i'm not sure how to keep d4? 9. c3 exd4 10. cxd4 Qxd4doesn't look nice for white. 9. Bg5, a pin on the queen, looks interestingas by NOT taking with the d pawn i don't allow the open d file as wellas exposing my R as a defender for d1. if 9. Bg5 exd4 10. e5 threatensthe N again. if 9. Bg5 Bg4 10. Qf2 exd4 11. e5 and we're back to the threatenedN. if 9. Bg5 h6. 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 the pin is gone but the king sidepawns are all over the place. if 9. Bg5 Be7 i think that 10. Bxf7 wouldbe very interesting! since 10... Kxf7 pins the N to king } 9... Qxd4 { So manypossibilities. I had a long look at 9.exd4, however, I have a feeling blackmight castle long and this would leave the d4 pawn needing to find protectionfrom somewhere. I have decided that, to me at least, 9. Qxd4 looks thestronger move. After that, I'm fairly sure that white will play 10. Bxf6to which I would reply Q xc4 which leaves me just one pawn down. If thisscenario is followed, then I have just one unprotected pawn on e5 and Idon't see how to defend it just yet. Also, I'm pleased to still have abishop pair even though they are not in the game too much just yet. Theyalso both currently have nice open diagonals to work along. If once againmy little scenario is followed, if I were white, I would then choose 0-0-0and this is the move that worries me a lot because it would then give thewhite rook control of the now open d file. }
[Event "Quick, but effective"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "23-Jan-07"] [Round "-"] [White "bassking12"] [Black "narayan703"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1314"] [TimeControl "5d+2d, 7d max"] [WhiteElo "1206"] { I'm annotating this game because of the wonderful, unusual, and quickending position of it. } 1. e4 { My standard. } 1... e6 2. Nf3 g6 { ? This playsseems suspect to as my opponent just gave the middle to me without a fight. } 3. d4 { Gaining more material in the center. } 3... b6 { ?! I do not understandthis move. It accomplishes almost nothing, at least the way I see it. } 4. Nc3 { This is a nice defense I like to set up if given the chance. Itis a nice way of controlling the center with plenty of back up, and leavesroom for the bishops to get into the fight. } 4... Qf6 { Not a great move as thequeen can't do much from that position and is quickly forced away to whereit is even more useless. This, to me, is the deciding move of the game. } 5. Bg5 Qg7 { Forced to where it is completely useless. } 6. Nb5 { Now my opponenthas two fronts to worry about. With my knight about to grab a rook my opponenthas a very critical decision to make. } 6... h6 { Worst possible move to make.With my knight one move away from nabbing the rook and the black king pinned,6...f6 would save the game and force the bishop away. Or, if I chose tograb the rook, my opponent would gain my bishop. } 7. Nxc7# { Thats all folks.I'm sure there's some brillant statement I'm supposed to make but I reallydon't have much. A series of bad moves ment an early shower for my opponent. } 1-0
[Event "Rushall v Kidderminster"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "19/03/12"] [Round "-"] [White "Charles Higgie"] [Black "Richard EJ Parker"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "ECF156"] [TimeControl "30in65m,15mins finish"] [WhiteElo "ECF156"] { This was an interesting game. Post match opening database analysis showedthat I was first to deviate from what had gone before - but I think mymove is an improvement. I would very much like your view dear reader. Avery interesting game, we eventually go into a level ending, but ratherthan drop a pawn he marches his king up the board, where although I onlyhave king, pawns, a bishop and a rook, he manages to succumb to an interestingmid-board, mate, a mating position which is an interest mate-in-two! } 1. d4 { So I start conventionally } 1... f5 { He plays the Dutch Defence. } 2. g3 { Iplay the main line. } 2... Nf6 { Very conventional! } 3. Bg2 { The logical follow-upto my last. } 3... g6 4. Nc3 { I threaten e4, but I found out later that thismove actually scores very badly in practice. } 4... Bg7 { He ignores my 'threat',but d5, stopping it, scores better on the opening database. } 5. e4 { SoI continue with the logical move. } 5... fxe4 { He correctly takes, rather allowme to eventually get in e4-e5, see Charles Higgie (BCF158) vs. TimHilton(BCF141), where I gained a massive opening advantage, but eventually lost. } 6. Nxe4 { So I take back. } 6... Nxe4 { He takes again } 7. Bxe4 { I take back } 7... d5 { This scores badly on the databases, and I am not surprised - it leavesblack with a backward e pawn on the semi-open e file (in other words, giventime I can pile up my rooks against it. While in some openings, black canlive with a backward pawn in a semi-open file (for instance e7-e5 systemsin the open Sicilian), it is dubious here. } 8. Bg2 { So I drop back. } 8... c6 { He re-enforces the d pawn. He can't immediately play e7-e5? as I can takeon e5 followed by taking on d5. } 9. Nf3 { Now this is where we leave theopening databases. In both the games where this position can up, whitehas played Ne2. But my move seems to me more logical - preventing e7-e5and leaving the e file open for my rooks. What do you think dear reader? } 9... Bg4 { A logical move from his, if he wants to get in e7-e5. } 10. O-O { Thismove prevents e7-e5 as I can exchange on e5, followed by Rf1-e1, and winthe Be5. } 10... O-O { So he castles } 11. Re1 { and I prevent e7-e5 again. He startedto play very slowly now, perhaps a sign he was concerned with his position. } 11... Nd7 { Logical development, threatening e5, relieving his position } 12. Bf4 { So I stop it again. } 12... Rf7 { He protects Pe7 and prepares to play Qb6. PerhapsI should have play c2-c3 to reduce the power of the move. However I decidedto grab the two bishops while I can. } 13. h3 { Hitting the bishop. } 13... Bxf3 { He takes } 14. Bxf3 { I take back } 14... Qb6 { He attacks pawns on d4 and b2. } 15. c3 { I save the more important one. } 15... Qxb2 { He takes. } 16. Qd3 { I protectc3 and also threaten a2-a4 followed by Re1-b1 winning his queen. } 16... Qa3 { Sohe prevents that, and also protects pe7 in some variations. } 17. Bg4 { Aswell as threatening the knight, I also threaten Be6, so his reply is forced. } 17... Nf8 { and I have compensation for the pawn, with the two bishops, more activepieces, and his pe7 still weak. But he does have the extra pawn. I'd saythe position is finely balanced. } 18. Re2 { So I protect pa2 and free myRa1, maybe to go to b1 and/or e1 } 18... c5 { He threatens c5xd4. There is a dangerhere of Bg7 coming to life, so I put a stop to that. } 19. Be5 { Securingthe black squares in the centre. } 19... Bxe5 { He takes } 20. Rxe5 { Of course,taking back with the pawn relieves all the pressure on e7 } 20... Qb2 { He attacksRa1 and pf7 } 21. Rf1 { So defensive measures are called for. } 21... cxd4 { He takes } 22. Qxd4 { I take back } 22... Qxa2 { He takes. } 23. Rxd5 { I take - of course withthe rook - I don't want to exchange queens a pawn down. } 23... e6 { He at lastmove the pawn } 24. Re5 { I pile up on e6 } 24... Rd7 { He attacks my queen, butmaybe he overlooked the forthcoming little combination, which wins my pawnback. Now Bxe6 looks good, but is refuted by Qxe6! winning. However I canplay a similar idea. What did I play? } 25. Qxd7 { Of course. I lose my queen,but I can win it back. } 25... Nxd7 { He takes } 26. Bxe6+ { I now take on e6. Ofcourse, he has to avoid Qxe6? Rxe6 and he is the exchange down. } 26... Kg7 { Hecorrectly moves his king. } 27. Bxa2 { I get the queen back } 27... Nxe5 { And sowe reach a position with level material again. } 28. Bd5 { Of course I can'tplay Rf1-e1?? losing to Nf3+ winning. So I protect f3 first. } 28... Rb8 { He defendsb7 } 29. Re1 { I attack the knight } 29... Kf6 { He protects } 30. f4 { I hit the knight } 30... Nc6 { He retreats the knight. He said afterwards that he moved this veryquickly - it was the last move before the time control. He thought thatNd3 was stronger. I am not convinced though } 31. Re6+ { I throw in a check.Now I think he should give up a pawn here with Kg7. After I play Nxc6 followedby Rxc6 or Re7 followed by Rxa7, he has Rb2, and I would have thought hemay well be able to draw a pawn down. But he played... } 31... Kf5 { I think heis losing now } 32. Kf2 { Threatening Kf3 followed by g3-g4 mate! } 32... Rd8 { Hehits my bishop } 33. Bc4 { I retreat. Of course he can't hit it again withNa5? which loses to Re5+ winning the knight. } 33... g5 { So he tries to preventthe mate } 34. Kf3 { I threaten mate! } 34... gxf4 { He takes } 35. gxf4 { I take back.OK find the best move for him? } 35... a5 { This certainly isn't it! I think hehas to play 35....Rd3+ 36. Bxd3 Kxe6 37. Bxh2 and he may still have drawingchances, a pawn down. } 36. Rh6 { Threat Be6 mate. He now picked up his rook,realised that he was in serious trouble, and eventually moved it. The onlyway to fight on is Ne5+ but he is surely lost, a piece down. } 36... Re8 { So heprevents the mate in one. Find my move now! } 37. Bd3+ { Of course, the bishopcan now check on this diagonal. He resigned here. I hope you like the annotation,please rate it, and leave a comment or two.... } 1-0
[Event "Rublevsky Game #1 Dark Square Holes"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Rublevsky"] [Black "Volkov"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2640"] [WhiteElo "2680"] 1. e4 { Rublevsky is a very powerful GM, but he has a very narrow (but wellanalyzed) opening repertiore. I've heard claims that this has stoppedhim from passing the 2700 mark, but I can't really say. } 1... e6 { The frenchdefense, a favorite of Volkov. } 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 { Rublevsky always choosesthe tarrasch against the french. The most natural move is 3.Nc3, thismove also develops the knight without blocking the c pawn. This also avoidsthe winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4) as 3... Bb4? is easily parried by the strong 4.c3. } 3... Nf6 { The knight comes forward with pressure. } 4. e5 { And white pushes theknight away with tempo. The pawn on e5 guarantees a nice spacial advantage. } 4... Nfd7 { However, black's knight can become active on d7, it controls c5 (whichis black's standard pawn break) and pressures e5. As happens later inthis game, it also can return to f6. } 5. Bd3 { A good square for the bishop,the d2 knight will eventually have to move (to let the c1 bishop into thegame), and f3 seems the ideal square, thus a plan needs to be found forthe g1 knight. It's best square (besides f3) is e2, so the bishop shoulddevelop first, instead of being blocked in. } 5... c5 { Black's standard pawnbreak. } 6. c3 { And white defends, making a pawn chain that gives greatspace on the kingside. } 6... Nc6 { Black continues to develop while pressuringd4. } 7. Ne2 { White follows his chosen scheme of development while defendingd4. } 7... cxd4 8. cxd4 f6 { Black chooses to underming white's center, he hopesto leave white with an isolated queen's pawn, and white is forced to obligedue to the pressure on e5. } 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nf3 O-O { Bothsides have gotten well into development, and both seem reasonably placed. White's weakness on d4 is offset by black's backwards pawn on e6. White'sa little more aimed at the kingside and black has an awful bishop on c8. I think white has a definite advantage here, but black is perfectly playable. White should try to gain control of the dark squares (as black has hugeholes there). } 12. Bf4 { White's dark squared domination plan begins withexchanging off black's 'good' bishop. } 12... Bxf4 13. Nxf4 Ne4 { This move comeswith a discovered attack on the f4 knight, it also places black's knighton a momentarily active square, however it's not well supported and itwon't stay there long. } 14. Nh5 { White's knight looks very threateningon the kingside, but it's also on the edge, and it isn't immediately threatening,so I think black should ignore it instead of the following move. } 14... g6 { Allbut one of black's pawns are on light squares making dark squared penetrationfrom white very dangerous. } 15. Ng3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 { And black has lost hispowerful outpost. White has the far better bishop, the space advantagehas stayed and there are potential dark squared problems for black. } 16... Qb6 17. Qa4 Bd7 { ? This is a definite inaccuracy, but it's subtle. However,it's not because he should grab on b2, after 17... Qxb2 white can play18.Bb5 (there may be better, but this is VERY strong) this combines threatsof Bxc6 winning back the pawn with an excellent position and the even morepowerful Rab1 where after ...Qc3 the move Rfc1 wins at least a piece. The reason this move (17... Bd7) is bad is because of which pieces areimportant, black's got a bad bishop and his knight is clearly black's strongestpiece. On the other hand, while white's got a great bishop it's his knightthat can access the holes like e5 and g5 in black's position. } 18. Bb5 { !! A great positional move designed to gain an advantageous knight vs.bishop position. Later Volkov played 17... a6! in order to stop this move,though I still have a definite preference for white- all of black's pawnsare on light squares. This means if white's queen can find a good squarefor dark square control black'll be filled with weaknesses. } 18... Rac8 19. Rac1 { Both sides bring rooks the ever important c file. } 19... a6 { And black's pawnsare now ALL on light squares. } 20. Bxc6 Bxc6 21. Qa3 { ! As I've pointedout, the important squares for white to attack are the dark squares, withthis move, white gets good control of the third rank and threatens infiltrationto e7. } 21... Bb5 { Black tries to get his bishop into the game. } 22. Rfe1 Rxc1 { Black has an interesting plan. It doesn't actually work, but he triesto either trade his bishop for the knight, or at least win one of the twoweak pawns (b2 and d4). This move wins a tempo, and draws the rook awayfrom the e file, where it attacks the backward e6 pawn and covers the e2square where black wants to put his bishop. } 23. Rxc1 Be2 { How does whitedefend the pawn without allowing his strong knight to be traded off? Heutilizes his advantages, the weak black e pawn and the pressure on darksquares. } 24. Ng5 { ! The knight pops into and aggresive (dark) square,hits e6 and indirectly defends the d pawn due to the pretty tactic 24...Qxd4 25.Qxf8 ! Kxf8 26.Nxe6 forking and queen and winning a rook overall. Also the infiltration of Qe7 is looking VERY strong. } 24... Re8 { Black defendse6 and covers the e7 square. } 25. Qe3 { Another strong move, it attack e2,piles on the e6 square and prepares the following combination. Where'sthe bishop going to go? } 25... Qxb2 { Instead of retreating the bishop black grabsa pawn, so what does white have in compensation? Black is STILL filledwith holes, he has three pieces that easily enter the attack to black'sone on defense, how does he utilize this... } 26. Rc8 { White's going towin e6 and the black is going to be ripped apart. Until now white hashad a solid advantage and he's played for solid positional game, now itculminates in a powerful attack. } 26... Rxc8 27. Qxe6+ Kg7 28. Qe7+ { Until now,it looked like white was going to regain material, but this move startsan attack that leads to mate 8 moves later, it's amazing what GMs can see! Note that this check is on a dark square, the dark weakness is still veryimportant to this attack, and white utilizes the h4-d8 diagonal. } 28... Kh6 29. Nf7+ Kg7 30. Ng5+ Kh6 { This kind of repetition is common in GM play, ittests the waters to see if somone'll screw up (29... Kh5? 30.Qg5#) andgains a little time. Now white plays the right move. } 31. Ne6 { ! It'svery difficult to spot this type of move, when you sacrifice a rook it'svery risky (and scary) to play moves that aren't checks, this threatensmate on g5 and locks the black king on the edge. } 31... Qc1+ { The check coversthe g5 square with win of tempo. } 32. Kh2 Rc6 { This is the one time whenblack gets time for a move in the defense, so I'm tempted to think theremust be better than this move, but I see no defense to the following attack. Black hopes to play ...Rxe6 ending the attack up a piece. } 33. Qg7+ { It'stoo bad that Qh4 is blocked by ...Bh5 and Qg5 is covered by the blackqueen. However with this move the black king is driven farther into theopen. } 33... Kh5 34. f4 { ! Another excellent quiet move in the attack! Thislocks out the queen's defense of h6 and white now threatens to take onh7 without black being able to block, here's a sample line: 34... Rxe635.Qxh7 Kg4 36.Qh3#. } 34... h6 { The only move to cover h6, but the dark squares(as always) prove a weakness for black. } 35. Qf6 { ! A third quiet movethat white had to see when he sacked the rook. The threat of Qh4# is ALMOSTunstoppable. } 35... g5 36. Ng7+ { And black resigns in view of 36... Kg4 37.Qf5#. I think this was a wonderful attack, white played excellent moves to coverthe dark squares at the end, but all along white was creating holes, bymove 19 black had all SIX pawns on light squares. I think the bishop forknight exchange was the best move of the game, it led to black's inabilityto defend dark squares, and made black lose his one strong piece. Thiswas also a surprisingly powerful attack for so few pieces, but black'sholes made up for the lack of pieces. I hope you enjoyed this game! Pleasecomment if you have any criticism, idea, or just want to say anything. } 1-0
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "26-Dec-06"] [Round "-"] [White "tekoahbaer"] [Black "alloutwin"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1610"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1617"] { My first match against tekoahbaer. This one ended rather quicker thanI would I have liked due to a stupid error. } 1. e4 e5 2. d4 { Centre counter,should give white open lines to attack with, and better centre control } 2... exd4 { Accepting the pawn, the better move. Trying to protect the pawn giveswhite the option to push the d-pawn to d5 cramping blacks position. } 3. c3 { White is now offering an extra pawn for speedier development. Acceptingmeans black has to be accurate with his defence as white has better attackingoptions } 3... dxc3 { I always take the extra pawn, although it hasn't broughtme much success in the past. White now has the options of Nxc3 or Bc4. } 4. Bc4 { The danish gambit, offering a 3rd pawn to allow white to get 2bishops aimed at the kingside, and a lot of room on his queenside. } 4... Nc6 { I decide I need to do some developing. More usual is cxb2, but a pawnup I feel no need to grab extra material at the minute. I go back on thisdecision next move, but with the night on c6 I have the option of Ne5 protectingthe weak f-pawn if things get difficult } 5. Nf3 { Still ignores the pawnand continues development } 5... cxb2 { I take the pawn allowing white to developea 3rd piece to my 1. } 6. Bxb2 { Naturally recaptures the pawn. In this positionwhite although 2 pawns down looks in a very strong position. } 6... d6 { Playedto allow me to move the g8 knight out without the annoying e5 push fromwhite. } 7. O-O { Castles to safety and brings out a rook which, when thequeen moves, has 2 open files to use. } 7... Bd7 { I cannot play an immediateNf6 as Ng5 will cause a number of problems. So I play a quiet move andwait for white to show his hand } 8. Nbd2 { White continues development,bringing out his final minor piece. He moves the knight here to keep itout of the line of his bishop on b2. The move seems awkward, and blocksthe queen, but I would think the main aim of it is to allow the rook somemovement. With three open files to use two well placed rooks could be amajor asset for white. } 8... Be7 { A terrible blunder, leaving the g2 pawn completelyundefended. Such a simple mistake, and brings up a major point I was alwaystelling the novices I taught. Always, before making a move, consider whatyour opponent will play. Whether this is a threat you need to block ora weakness you create with a move. After a move like that it's crucialto maintain focus and keep fighting, even if you have given your opponenta winning advantage. } 9. Bxg7 { Winning the pawn and the exchange } 9... Bf6 { Naturally to win back the bishop after it takes the rook. My hope in thisposition is that the extra pawn and bishop pair will give me some chanceof defending the game } 10. Bxh8 Bxh8 { At this point I badly need to rearrangemy forces and castle. My opponent however continues to make small threatsthat I need to defend, giving me no time to achieve anything I want to. } 11. Rb1 { A subtle move, but very clever. As I mentioned before I badlywant to castle, and can only do this queenside. Whites move forces a verydifficult choice. 1) 11...Rb8 giving up castling rights, and trapping myking in the centre 2) 11...b6 weakening the white squares on the queenside,making it less safe to caslte. eg Ba6 gets behind the pawns and opens upmating threats on b7 with either the queen or by pushing the a-pawn toopen up the pawns } 11... Rb8 { Relatively best, but my play needs to be accurateto avoid a swift checkmate with my exposed king } 12. Qc2 { A quiet move,setting up the threat of 13. e5 and 14. Qxh7, with major complications. } 12... Nge7 { Played with the intent of Ng6 if white pushes the e-pawn. Howeveragain goes against my own policy of checking what your opponent can play.Better would have been Qf6, then if 13. e5 dxe5 14. Qxh7 Qg7, and I canimprove my position with a queen trade, or by moving out the d7 bishopif the queen retreats. } 13. Qb3 { My knight move however means my queencan no longer move to defend the f7 pawn. This pawn will now fall, andmy king driven away from the pieces near it. Notice that having so manypieces around the king actually ends up smothering him, and he's drivenaway and out of their protection } 13... Na5 { A desperate attempt to force a mistake,however it will be in vain as white plays solidly. } 14. Bxf7+ { Winningthe pawn and pushing the king around } 14... Kf8 { Forced } 15. Qa3 { Offering thetrade of bishop for knight, my knight move meant the queen couldn't stayon the bishops diagonal. } 15... Nac6 { I chose to avoid the exchange, which inhindsight is probably a mistake. 1) The bishop plays a large role in trappingthe king, keeping him exposed 2) My knight is too far away to play anyreal role in defending the king, and had white played correctly the knightwouldn't have moved from c6 3) In generaly fewer pieces on the board makea quick checkmate less likely, although the king does expose himself furtherin capturing the bishop. } 16. Ng5 { Again a simple threat to the h7 pawn,although I saw another threat Ne6 aswell. Looking back on the positionI had considered 17. Ne6 Bxe6 (forced to protect the queen) 18. Bxe6 wastotally winning with an impending Qf3 . However I had overlooked the resource18...Nd4, controlling the f3 square, allowing me time to re-organise. } 16... Qc8 { Played to prevent the knight moving to e6 } 17. Bh5 { Another quietmove that is very clever. The bishop stands ready to support a checkmateon f7, and prevents my king from running to the queenside by covering thee8 square. } 17... h6 { A futile attempt to push the attackers away, but not muchis playable here. Perhaps Nd4 holds the attack for a move or two, but Qg3is almost as crushing followed up with moves like Nxh7 and a rook lift. } 18. Qb3 { Qf3 would have been better, this move allows me to move my queensideknight round, giving a glimmer of hope to shielding the king. } 18... Nd8 { Defendingthe checkmate, but a look at the position tells me that my chances of holdingthe game are very small. 1) I have no pieces beyond my 2nd rank 2) My queenand rook are completely out of the game 3) White has 3 pieces lurking aroundmy king,and open files to bring the rooks into play. } 19. Qf3+ { White finallyplays the crushing blow, it's pretty much curtains now } 19... Kg7 { Almost forced,the only other alternative is Kg8, which allows 20. Bf7 Kf8 21. Ne6 Bxe622. Bxe6 and again the queen is set to swoop in with a telling attack } 20. Nf7 { Another very clever move. I cannot take the knight with 20...Nxf7due to 21. Qxf7#, and not taking it means 21. Nxd8 and I can't take backagain because of 22. Qf7#. The best move in the position would be Ne6,so that after an exchange on h8 the knight can move across to give theking some cover, however it is a badly losing position } 20... Be6 { Not seeingthe resource Ne6, I thought I had to defend f7 with something other thanthe knight, which I had assumed would be taken next move. However my opponentonce again finds a crushing blow to remove all hope of resistance } 21. Qc3+ { There is simply no defence, and I will lose the bishop, the bestI have is Kf8 then Ng8 to prolong the match, however I have seen enoughand trust my opponent would not throw away the advantage. Well played tekoahbaer,a good example of how to win in a won position. } 1-0
[Event "bigpeta's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.05.15"] [Round "-"] [White "zed2"] [Black "bigpeta"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2078"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1630"] 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 { standard opening } 2... Nf6 3. Nc3 { Pretty much the standardline here. } 3... Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. g3 { I ummed and ahhhed about NxNbut in the end opted for developing my major pieces so g3 making roomfor Bg2 } 6... Qb6 7. e3 { Nxc6 wasn't an option as his queen would end up onc6 compromising my Rook on h1 } 7... Bb4 8. Bd2 { Candidate moves were Ne3 orBd2 so Bd2 developed the game } 8... Nxd4 9. exd4 { Not much option here } 9... Qxd4 10. Qe2 { The Q needs to get into the action. I suspect Pete move his Ninto the attack next. } 10... d5 11. O-O-O { It seems the expedient thing to movethe King from the Q's line of fire and put the rook in its place.....Petehas advised this was a mistake! } 11... Qxc4 12. Qxc4 { Well I figure a Q swapis my best option here.... } 12... dxc4 13. Nb5 Bxd2+ 14. Rxd2 { The decision waswhich to take with ...King or Rook? I decided not to block the rook inand it also gives me a line on an open file. } 14... Ke7 15. Bxc4 Bd7 16. Nc3 { I don't want to do an exchange which would leave Pete with a N and mewith a B in the end game. Nc3 to give me time to move the king who is vulnerableon c file } 16... Rac8 17. Bd3 { Pete's going to attack with Nd5 now..... } 17... Nd5 18. Rc2 { If Nxc3 then Rxc3 I'm on the defensive here...not good. } 18... Nb4 19. Rd2 { this is a sad sad game now! If I didn't move my Rook it was lostand now my K is pinned by the N. I had thought of Nd5+ but would have endedup losing my N for nothing } 19... Nxa2+ 20. Kb1 { I'm going to lose the pawn afterNxN b2xN Rxc3 } 20... Nxc3+ 21. bxc3 Rxc3 22. Kb2 { I figure that I need to getmy king out of the corner and off the white squares ....thought about Rd2or Rc1. } 22... Rc5 23. Rc2 { a new day a new perspective. I needed to get theB and Rook off the same file ....offering again a Rook swap. } 23... Rxc2+ 24. Bxc2 a5 25. Rc1 { Want to get the rook out and on an open file also geta barrier his king can't move over as all the action I suspect will initiallybe on the Queen side of the board. } 25... b5 26. Bd3 { I needed to get the B andR off the same file. If he moves Rc8 then RxR BxR and Bxb5. } 26... Rb8 { As allthe action is on the Queen side every plan I had could be countered easilyby Pete so it was a no win situation (3 pawns down) so resigned at thisstage as believed I wouldn't learn anything more by going through the pain.....ofcheckmate! } 0-1
[Event "zakopane rule"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.08.04"] [Round "-"] [White "bigmacdaddy"] [Black "maxjermo"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1293"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1254"] 1. f4 { I am playing as black. The Bird's [Thanks chessboard12] openingfrom my opponent. Computer Score: book } 1... f5 { Score: -0.15 } 2. Nf3 { Score:-0.14 } 2... d5 { Score: -0.51 } 3. d4 { Score: -0.12 } 3... e6 { Score: -0.12 } 4. Ne5 { Score: +0.05 } 4... Bd6 { Score: -0.18 } 5. Nc3 { Score: -0.18 } 5... a6 { Score: -0.38 } 6. g4 { The computer calls this move a mistake. Iagree and I will capitalize soon. Mistake: +1.26 » 6. g4 Qh4+ 7. Kd2Nf6 8. Qe1 Qxe1+ 9. Kxe1 Nxg4 10. Bh3 Bxe5 11. fxe5 Nc6 12. e3 Bd7 Best:-0.39 » 6. e3 Nf6 7. Bd2 O-O 8. Qe2 Nbd7 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Qf3 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Ne4 12. Nxe4 fxe4 } 6... Bxe5 { Score: +0.76 } 7. fxe5 { Score: +1.07 } 7... Qh4+ { Only one option here, and I take his pawn, and the lead. Score:+1.16 } 8. Kd2 { Score: +1.07 } 8... Qxg4 { I am not sure why the score actuallydrops here. Perhaps fxg4 would have been better, but I didn't want toblock my queen. Score: +0.13 } 9. e3 { Score: +0.20 } 9... Qg5 { I wasn't readyto trade queens at this point. Score: +0.11 } 10. Kd3 { Score: +0.52 } 10... Bd7 { Score: +0.49 } 11. Be2 { Score: +0.78 } 11... g6 { I figured he would putmy queen in check and I didn't want to have to protect the g7 pawn withmy queen. Score: +0.51 } 12. Rg1 { Score: +0.72 } 12... Qh4 { Score: +0.38 } 13. Qe1 { My opponent still wants to trade queens, but I can take another pawn,and leave two free pawns in the h and g files. This will be critical inthe end, although I risk getting my queen stuck. Score: +0.40 } 13... Qxh2 { Score: +0.01 } 14. Qg3 { My opponent still wants to trade queens. Thecomputer calls this a mistake, but in the end I think that we would havetraded queens after some dancing in the corner. Mistake: +1.91 » 14.Qg3 Qxg3 15. Rxg3 Ne7 16. Rh3 Nbc6 17. a3 Na5 18. b3 c5 19. dxc5 Nec6 20.Bb2 Nxe5+ 21. Kd2 Nac6 22. Rg1 h5 Best: -0.01 » 14. Rh1 Qg2 15. Rg1 Qh316. Rh1 Qg2 } 14... Qxg3 { Score: +1.81 } 15. Rxg3 { Score: +1.85 } 15... Nc6 { Score: +1.89 } 16. b3 { Score: +2.05 } 16... Nb4+ { Score: +1.87 } 17. Kd2 { Score: +1.56 } 17... Bb5 { The computer calls this a mistake. If it is,it isn't a big one to me. Mistake: +0.63 » ... Bb5 17. Bf3 Ne7 18. a3Nbc6 19. a4 Bf1 20. Ba3 f4 21. exf4 Nf5 22. Rg5 Bh3 23. Rh1 Best: +1.92» ... Ne7 17. Ba3 f4 18. exf4 Nf5 19. Rh3 Nc6 20. Rah1 h5 21. Rg1 Rh6 22.Kc1 O-O-O 23. Bc5 Ncxd4 } 18. Nxb5 { Score: +0.55 } 18... axb5 { Score: +0.75 } 19. Bxb5+ { Score: +0.94 } 19... c6 { Score: +0.94 } 20. Be2 { Score:+0.94 } 20... Rxa2 { I was willing to trade rooks and take the pawn with me. The computer calls it an inaccuracy, I guess because I get my knight trappedafter the trade. Inaccuracy: +0.36 » ... Rxa2 20. Rxa2 Nxa2 21. Ba3b5 22. Rg1 b4 23. Bb2 Nc3 24. Bxc3 bxc3+ 25. Kxc3 Ne7 26. Ra1 Kf7 27. Ra7h5 Best: +1.12 » ... Nxa2 20. Bd3 Kd7 21. Bb2 Ne7 22. c3 Ra5 23. b4 Ra424. Bc2 Ra7 25. Bb1 Rha8 26. Bd3 h5 27. Rf3 h4 } 21. Rxa2 { Score: -0.74 } 21... Nxa2 { Score: -0.82 } 22. Ba3 { Score: -0.82 } 22... Ne7 { Score: -1.36 } 23. Rg1 { I know that I am going to lose my knight, but it will takea couple moves. This gives me time to advance my pawns. Score: -1.42 } 23... h5 { Score: -1.20 } 24. Ra1 h4 { Score: -1.20 } 25. Rxa2 { Score: -1.20 } 25... h3 { Score: -1.20 } 26. Bf3 { Score: -1.01 } 26... g5 { Score: -0.91 } 27. Bc5 { Score: -0.69 } 27... Kd7 { I sniff out the upcoming check, and clear out ofthe way. The computer calls this a move a mistake, but I already havemy plan to promote a pawn. Mistake: -2.37 » ... Kd7 27. Ra7 g4 28. Bh1Ng6 29. Rxb7+ Kd8 30. Ke2 g3 31. Rg7 Rh6 32. Kf1 f4 33. exf4 g2+ 34. Bxg2hxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Nxf4+ 36. Kf3 Best: -0.67 » ... Nc8 27. Bh1 g4 28. Ke2 Rg829. Kf1 Kd7 30. Bb4 g3 31. c3 Ne7 32. Bf3 h2 33. Kg2 Rg7 } 28. Bb6 { Thecomputer calls this a blunder. It certainly didn't hurt my plan. Blunder:+1.24 » 28. Bb6 g4 29. Bh1 g3 30. Bf3 g2 31. Ra1 f4 32. Ke2 Rg8 33. Rg1fxe3 34. Kxe3 h2 35. Rxg2 Nf5+ 36. Kf4 h1=Q 37. Rxg8 Best: -2.22 » 28.Ra7 g4 29. Bh1 Rh7 30. Rxb7+ Kd8 31. Ke2 Rg7 32. Rb8+ Kc7 33. Rh8 Kd7 34.c4 Kc7 35. Bd6+ Kd7 36. Kd3 dxc4+ 37. bxc4 } 28... g4 { Score: +1.85 } 29. Bh1 { Score: +1.85 } 29... Ng6 { The computer calls this a mistake as well, butI am still the plan I started a few moves ago. Mistake: +0.01 » ... Ng629. Ra7 Rb8 30. Ra1 Rg8 31. Rg1 Nh4 32. Rg3 Ra8 33. Rg1 Rg8 Best: +1.76» ... g3 29. Ra1 g2 30. Ke2 Rg8 31. Rg1 Ng6 32. Bxg2 hxg2 33. c3 Nh4 34.Kf2 Ra8 35. Kg3 Rh8 36. Kf2 } 30. Ra7 { This doesn't hurt my plan. Score:+0.55 } 30... Rb8 { Score: +0.20 } 31. c4 { The computer calls this a mistake. I agree this time. Mistake: +1.78 » 31. c4 g3 32. Ke2 Nh4 33. Ra1 g234. Bxg2 hxg2 35. Kf2 Rc8 36. Rg1 Rg8 37. Bc5 b5 38. cxb5 cxb5 Best: +0.23» 31. Ke2 g3 32. Bc5 f4 33. Bd6 g2 34. Bxg2 hxg2 35. Kf2 fxe3+ 36. Kxg2Nf4+ 37. Kf1 Rg8 38. Rxb7+ Ke8 39. Rb8+ Kf7 40. Rxg8 Kxg8 } 31... g3 { Score: +1.78 } 32. Ra1 { Score: +2.19 } 32... g2 { My plan is working well, so far Score: +1.87 } 33. Bxg2 { Score: +1.91 } 33... hxg2 { Score: +1.88 } 34. Rg1 { Probablyan unnecessary block at this point. Score: +2.05 } 34... Nh4 { Score: +2.08 } 35. c5 { This move sealed my win. Blunder: +7.57 » 35. c5 Nf3+ 36.Ke2 Nxg1+ 37. Kf2 f4 38. exf4 Ne2 39. Kxg2 Nxd4 40. b4 Rf8 41. Kg3 Ne2+42. Kf3 Nxf4 43. Ke3 Ng2+ 44. Kd4 Rf4+ 45. Kc3 Best: +2.26 » 35. Ke2 Rf836. Bc5 Rf7 37. cxd5 cxd5 38. Ba7 b5 39. Bb6 f4 40. exf4 Rxf4 } 35... Nf3+ { Score:+7.90 } 36. Ke2 { Resignation. This was a fun game. Score: +8.20 } 0-1
[Event "Glenda on h6 - Pipped at the Post"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.02.23"] [Round "-"] [White "jstevens1"] [Black "ionadowman"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "2096"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1771"] 1. e4 { Hi everyone! In several of my recent games Glenda the Defenderhas found herself on h6 - wow that is in the enemy camp! Well, her excursionsinto the enemy camp have brought me various types of outcomes. This isthe worst one so I will get this one out of the way now. This is a mini-tournamentwhich featured the International Master Beafyness, who I will remind youscored 1-1 against Coach Ion. This game is a Sicilian Dragon. SicilianDragons and Sicilian Naijdorfs can be quite hairy because they can involvewhite castling long and black castling short. Pawn storms on both sidescan ensue. The question is, who will Cop Old Matey first? I think youcan guess the answer here..... } 1... c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 { 4. Nxd4- these are pretty standard early Sicilian moves. } 4... Nf6 5. Nc3 { 5. Nc3 -development and supporting the attacked pawn on e4. } 5... g6 6. Be3 Bg7 { 6....... Bg7 - black's last two moves are characteristic of the Dragon branchof the Sicilian Defense. As in the King's Indian and the Robatsch Defensethe bishop on g7 will rake down all the way to a1. That bishop will disappearbut alas not my problems! } 7. f3 Nbd7 8. Qd2 a6 { 8. ...... a6 - preparinga b5 pawn roll and preventing a white knight or bishop settling in on b5. } 9. O-O-O b5 10. Bh6 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 { 11. Qxh6 - this capture of Ion's dsbfirst brings Glenda to h6. } 11... Bb7 12. g4 Rc8 13. Kb1 b4 14. Nce2 e5 15. Nb3 { 15. Nb3? - this is the start of my problems - Ion pointed out that I shouldhave played g5 here. Now Ion steals a pawn in broad daylight. I cannotrecapture with the f3 pawn because the pawn on c2 and the h1 rook willbe forked. Also, I have the possibility of a knight fork on f2 to contendwith ....... aaargh! There is only one thing to do ...... } 15... Nxe4 16. Qe3 { 16. Qe3 - Glenda to the rescue! At least she does have a threat of hoppingon her broomstick to a7 and attacking that lsb on b7. The Wicked Witchof the West scotches that plan, not only defending that turbulent prelatebut piling up on my poor c2 pawn forcing my rook to defend it. } 16... Qc7 17. Rc1 Nec5 18. Nxc5 Nxc5 { 18. ....... Nxc5 - knight trade. } 19. Rg1 { 19.Rg1 - I now unpin the f3 pawn. } 19... O-O { 19. ..... 0-0 - has Ion castled intoit though? We shall see. } 20. h4 { 20. h4 - I start a pawn roll of my ownto try and open up Ion's draughty king. } 20... d5 21. Qh6 { 21. Qh6 - now Glendareturns to h6 where she will stay for the remainder of the game. } 21... d4 22. f4 { 22. f4 - onwards and upwards! } 22... b3 23. axb3 Nxb3 { 23. ...... Nxb3!!- a stunning knight sacrifice. I decided to ignore the attack on the rookby playing f5 because if Nxc1?? then f6 may well cook Ion's goose for him. } 24. f5 Qa5 { 24. ...... Qa5 - the killer! It is now mate in 4. Pleasesee Puzzle #21641 to work out how this will come about. I decided to finishthings on my own terms. At least it looks in the final position as thoughI have just been pipped at the post. I hope you have all had a good read. Bye for now. Joanne } 25. f6 Qa1# 0-1
[Event "Toerneo Mayor"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.06.09"] [Round "-"] [White "Amadío, Mauro"] [Black "Migliorero"] [Result "0-1"] [TimeControl "120+2"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. O-O Bd7 5. Bxc6 Bxc6 6. d3 e6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 Be7 9. h3 h6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Nh2 e5 12. Ne2 Qc7 13. c4 b5 14. b3 Rad8 15. Ng3 bxc4 16. bxc4 Bd7 17. Qd2 Nh7 18. Nf3 f5 19. exf5 Bxf5 20. Ne2 { Alternative variation: [Fritz 11:] 20. Nxf5 Rxf5 21. Rab1 Bg5 22.Nxg5 Nxg5 23. Rb2 Ne6 24. Rfb1 Qc6 25. Rb7 Rf7 26. Rxf7 Kxf7 27. Qe2 Rf828. Qg4 Nd4 29. h4 a5 30. Bxd4 [0.42/19] } 20... Bxh3 { He has what I lost due to the passivity of the whites, the blacks apply this tactical strike and win the pawn and clearly have the initiative. } 21. Bxh6 { Alternativevariation: [Fritz 11:] 21. Ng3 Rxf3 22. gxf3 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 Ng5 24. Qe2Rb8 25. Ne4 Qd7 26. Bxg5 Qh3+ 27. Kg1 Bxg5 28. Nxg5 hxg5 29. Qe4 Kf7 30.Qg4 Qxg4+ 31. fxg4 Rb2 [-1.53/22] Y este es el error de cálculo de lasblancas, claramente pierden material y en condiciones normales, tambienla partida. } 21... Rxf3 { Alternative variation: [Fritz 11:] 21... gxh6 22. Qxh6Qd7 23. Ng3 Rf7 24. Qe3 Bg4 25. Nd2 Bg5 26. Qe1 Nf6 27. Nde4 Bf4 28. Rb1Qa4 29. f3 [ -2.81/20] } 22. gxf3 Bxf1 23. Kxf1 gxh6 24. Qxh6 Bg5 25. Qh5 Qf7 26. Qg4 Rf8 27. Kg2 Qf5 { Alternative variation: 27... Qg6 [Fritz 11:] 28. Qe4 Kg7 29. Ng3 Nf6 30. Qxg6+ Kxg6 31. Rb1 Nh5 32. Nxh5 Kxh5 33. Rb7a5 34. Rb6 Rf6 35. a4 Kg6 36. Kf1 Kf5 37. Rb5 Bd2 [ -2.87/23] } 28. Qxf5 Rxf5 29. Ng3 Rf8 30. Rb1 Bf4 31. Ne4 Rd8 32. Rb7 d5 { Alternative variation:[ Fritz 11:] 32... a5 33. Rb6 Ng5 34. Nxd6 Kf8 35. Rc6 Rd7 36. a4 Bd2 37.Kg3 Be1 38. Ra6 Ne6 39. Ne4 Rg7+ 40. Kh4 Rg6 41. Rb6 Kg7 42. Rb7+ Kh6 43.Rb6 Nf4 [-1. 33/21] } 33. cxd5 Ng5 34. Nf6+ { Alternative variation: [Fritz11:] 34. Rxa7 Kf8 35. Nxc5 Rd6 36. Rc7 Rh6 37. a4 Rh2+ 38. Kf1 Rh1+ 39.Ke2 Nh3 40. d6 Ng1+ 41. Kd1 Nxf3+ 42. Kc2 Nd4+ 43. Kb2 Rh2 44. Ne4 Be345. a5 Bxf2 46. a6 [0.11/20] } 34... Kf8 35. Rc7 { Alternative variation: [ Fritz11:] 35. Nd7+ Ke7 36. Nxe5+ Kd6 37. Ng6 Rg8 38. Rxa7 Ne6 39. dxe6 Rxg6+40. Kf1 Kxe6 41. a4 Rg8 42. a5 Rd8 43. Ke2 Rb8 44. a6 Rb2+ 45. Ke1 Rb346. Ke2 Ra3 47. Ra8 Ra2+ 48. Ke1 [-0.46/0] Alternative variation: [Fritz11:] 35. Rxa7 Rd6 36. Nd7+ Ke8 37. Nxc5 Rxd5 38. Rc7 Rd6 39. a4 Rg6 40.Rc8+ Ke7 41. a5 Ne6+ 42. Kh3 Nxc5 43. Rxc5 Kd6 44. Rb5 Rg8 45. a6 Kc6 46.Rb2 Rg7 47. Kh4 [-0.51/21] } 35... e4 36. Rxc5 exf3+ 37. Kf1 Bd6 { Alternativevariation: [Fritz 11:] 37... Ke7 38. Ke1 (38. Nh5 Rb8 $19) 38... Rh8 39.Kd1 Rh1+ 40. Kc2 Rc1+ 41. Kb3 Rxc5 42. d4 Rc8 43. Nh5 Nh3 44. Ka4 Bd6 45.Ng7 Nxf2 46. Nf5+ Kd7 47. Nh4 Rf8 48. Ng6 Rf5 49. Nh4 [-10.38/21] } 38. Rb5 Ke7 39. Ng4 Rc8 40. Ke1 Bf4 41. Ne3 Kd7 42. Nc4 Nf7 43. Rb7+ Rc7 44. Rxc7+ Kxc7 45. d4 Nd6 46. Nb2 Ne4 47. Nd3 Bd6 48. Kf1 Nc3 49. Ne1 Nxd5 { Alternative variation: [Fritz 11:] 49... Nxa2 50. Nxf3 Bf4 51. Ke2 Kd652. Kd3 Kxd5 53. Nh4 Nc1+ 54. Kc3 Ne2+ 55. Kb4 Nxd4 56. Ka5 Bd6 57. Ng2Bc5 58. Ne3+ Ke4 59. Nd1 Kf3 60. Ka6 Ne6 61. Kb7 a5 62. Kc6 [-4.07/0] } 50. Nxf3 Nc3 51. Ke1 Nxa2 52. Kd2 Nb4 53. Kc3 a5 54. Nd2 a4 55. Nc4 Bf8 { Alternative variation: [Fritz 11:] 55... Nd5+ 56. Kb2 Bb4 57. Kc2 Kc658. Nb2 Kb5 59. Nd1 Bd6 60. Kd3 a3 61. Nc3+ Nxc3 62. Kxc3 Kc6 63. Kb3 Kd564. Ka2 Kxd4 65. Kb3 Ke4 66. Ka2 Kf3 67. Kb3 Kxf2 [-4.65/22] } 56. Nd2 Kd6 { debe ser Rc6 } 57. Nb1 Kd5 58. Na3 Be7 59. Nb5 Na2+ 60. Kd3 Kc6 61. Kc4 Nb4 62. Nc3 a3 63. Kb3 Nd3 64. f3 Nc1+ 65. Kc2 Bb4 66. Ne4 Ne2 67. Kb3 Nc1+ 68. Kc2 Ne2 69. Kb3 Nxd4+ 70. Ka2 Nxf3 71. Nf2 Ne1 72. Nd1 Nd3 73. Kb3 Nc1+ 74. Kc2 Bd2 75. Kb1 Kb5 76. Ka1 Kb4 77. Kb1 Kb3 78. Nb2 Na2 79. Nd1 Nc3+ 80. Nxc3 Bxc3 81. Kc1 a2 82. Kd1 a1=Q+ 0-1
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2015.04.21"] [Round "-"] [White "rhgutter"] [Black "nevhelp"] [Result ""] [BlackElo "1086"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1044"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 { Queen's pawn, Chigorin Variation. } 2... e6 { Black usually playsNf6 here for good effect, though this is the second most popular response. } 3. Bf4 g5 4. Be5 f6 5. Bg3 Bb4 6. Qd2 Bxc3 7. Qxc3 h5 { Wait, white cantake Pc7 essentially for free here. Bxc7. } 8. Bxc7 Qe7 9. h3 Nc6 10. Bh2 e5 11. O-O-O g4 12. hxg4 f5 { I think Pxg4 would have been better. Thiswould pin white's black bishop against the rook. } 13. gxf5 Bxf5 14. e3 Nb4 { Clever threat. If white moves Pa2, Na2+ gives black the white queen. } 15. Qb3 { White counters. Black's pawn @ e5 is at risk. } 15... Rc8 16. Bxe5 { Ooh,BxPc2 forks white's rook and queen. On the other hand, black now facesthe prospect of BxRh8, a free rook, while black's fork involves an exchange. } 16... Rh6 17. Bf4 Rxc2+ { A move fraught with potential. White could trade queenand bishop for both black's rooks and a knight or bishop. But Kb1 is answeredby Rc3+, and black trades rook for queen. } 18. Kb1 Rxf2+ { I still likeRc3+. Yes, white gets a rook, but a rook for a queen! Here black justpicks up one pawn. } 19. Kc1 { To save Rh6, Rc6+ would work. Oh, how pretty. White is stuck interposing pieces black can pick off. Looks like Qc3is white's best bet. Very painful. Because Bc4 would be followed by RxBc4+,and then Qc3, and black trades rook for queen. So Rc6+, Qc3. Black makesout like a bandit! } 19... Nd3+ { Nope. Here white responds with BxNd3. BxBd3,QxBd3... Actually BxRh6 and white comes out ahead. } 20. Bxd3 Be6 { Insteadof Be6, Rf6 would protect that bishop. Now white is bound to trade bishopfor rook. } 21. Bxh6 Nxh6 22. Nh3 Bxh3 { I kind of like RxPg2 better. Afterwhite takes the bishop Pd5 is undefended. } 23. gxh3 { White would have beenbetter off playing RxPh3, to protect Pe3--specifically QxPe3+. } 23... Qxe3+ 24. Kb1 Qxd4 25. Rhe1+ Kd7 { Oh, no! Disaster! Black should have played Kd8or perhaps Kf8 (which would let white force a rook trade). Kd7 gives whitethe black queen free and easy with Bb5+. :( } 26. Bb5+ Kd6
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "16-Feb-07"] [Round "-"] [White "almageccom"] [Black "madd"] [Result ""] [BlackElo "1569"] [TimeControl "4 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1503"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 a6 5. Bxc6 bxc6 6. Nxe5 Bb7 7. d3 d5 8. Nf3 d4 9. Na4 c5 10. O-O Be7 11. Bg5 Bc6 { It might look liek Blackhas adequate defense here, but the Black Square Bishop is over worked defendingtwo pieces. Only one will survive. } 12. Bxf6 { If Black's White Square Bishoptakes the Knight, White's Bishop takes the Pawn on g attacking the Rookand then escapes. If Black takes the Bishop he loses the Pawn on c. } 12... Bxf6 13. Nxc5 O-O 14. Nb3 Rb8 15. Na5 Ba8 16. b3 c5 17. Nc4 Qc7 18. a4 g6 19. Qd2 Qe7 20. Rae1 Bg7 21. Qf4 h6 { He spent a lot of moves building his littlefortress and now has weakened it? } 22. Qd6 Qe6 { Trading Queens was nota winner for Black, but losing a Pawn is not better. } 23. Qxc5 Rfd8 { Thereis a bit of danger that the White Queen might have to struggle to escape,so she needs to get back quickly now. } 24. Qa5 { Looks like it will be asuccessful sortie that won a Pawn with a safe retreat back behind friendlylines. } 24... Bf8 25. Qe5 Bb4 26. Qxe6 fxe6 27. Re2 a5 28. Nfe5 Kg7 29. Nd2 Bd6 30. Nec4 Bb4 31. f4 Re8 32. Nf3 Rbd8 33. Nce5 Rf8 { That Pawn on d is atempting target once he moves that Rook from defending it, but I must becareful as long as he has that Black-Square Bishop that could pin the Knightthere. } 34. Nh4 Rg8 35. Nhxg6 Bd6 36. Nh4 Rdf8 37. Rf3 Bxe5 { The thingI have been watchful of is the two Bishops he has. I have been carefulnot to give them an open diagonal toward my King's side. Now he has tradedone Bishop, so I will be less worried about the other. I also may go afterthat pawn on d now that the dangerous Bishop is gone. } 38. fxe5 Bc6 39. Rg3+ { SInce I have a material advantage now, I only need to worry aboutsome clever attack by his Rooks and Bishop. I can force trades to eliminatehis offensive capabilities which will leave me to methodically drive forwardto a win. } 39... Kh7 40. Rxg8 Rxg8 41. Nf3 Rd8 42. Nd2 Be8 43. Nc4 Bh5 44. Rf2 Rc8 45. Nxa5 Bd1 46. Nc4 Rc7 47. h3 h5 { I had intended to move the Pawnon g to g4 in order to trap his Bishop, but he saved me the trouble. } 48. Rd2 Bxc2 49. Rxc2 { Black resigned with the quip: 'I finally got one ofyour Pawns'. I hadn't actually though about it, but that was the firstWhie Pawn taken. What an unusual game! }
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "15-Nov-07"] [Round "-"] [White "jeremyrayross"] [Black "richmond73"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1584"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1449"] 1. d4 { This game involves me playing a horrible opening and a terrificendgame. I have a habit of bizzare opening . But I like to experimentwith new stuff. It sometimes throws off better players. Even playing whiteI am the underdog. } 1... d5 2. g3 { Went with a hyper modern opening- controlingthe center with less pawns. } 2... Nf6 3. Bg5 { 3.Bg5? Horrible move!!! } 3... Ne4 4. Bd2 Nc6 5. e3 { Now you see why... moving the same piece twice.... trappedon one side by pawns.... } 5... Bf5 6. Bg2 e6 7. Nc3 Bd6 { Good development byblack, about to fix my bad opening. } 8. Nxe4 dxe4 9. f3 exf3 10. Bxf3 { NowI got some room to work with. Need to finish the development. } 10... Qe7 { 10......Qe7? Causes a double pawn. No good for black. } 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. c4 { Nowthe more traditional c4 to match the d4 pawn move... just the 12th moveinstead of the 2nd. } 12... Be4 13. Nf3 Bb4 14. O-O { 14.O-O! Brilliant. Got outof two pins in 1 move. Now to go on the offensive at last. } 14... O-O 15. a3 Bxd2 16. Qxd2 Rab8 17. b4 Rfd8 18. c5 { Notice that black controls two halfrows- but is countered by my superior pawn structure. Do you see the threeway fork? } 18... h6 19. Ne5 { 19.Ne5! The c6 square is ohhh so dangerous forblack. I will use that pressure to trap black's bishop - then do my dirtywork. } 19... Rf8 20. Rf4 Bd5 21. e4 { In this position he is forced to sacrificeto save the queen/rook. } 21... Bxe4 22. Rxe4 Qe8 23. Rg4 { Play on 24.Qh6 nextmove. } 23... g5 24. h4 f6 25. hxg5 { 25. hxg5!! My best play of the game. Horsesacrifice to lead to mate in 9. I will be truthful and say that I didn'tsee the exact mate , but I knew opening the f-h files would lead to a mate,just not exactly how yet. } 25... fxe5 26. gxh6+ Kh8 27. Rg7 { This move sets upbringing in my queen then other rook to take advantage of the open rowsand that critical h6 pawn. } 27... Rg8 28. Qg5 Qd8 { I think 28.....Qf8 would bebetter... } 29. Qxe5 Qf8 30. Rf1 { The last straw . Blacks position is over!!! } 30... Qxg7 31. hxg7+ Rxg7 32. Rf7 { 32.Rf7! Another good pin. } 32... Rg8 33. Qh5+ Rh7 34. Qxh7# { One of my best game endgames against a better player, JeremyRoss } 1-0
[Event "The regret game."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.06.26"] [Round "-"] [White "stefanm"] [Black "damalfi"] [Result "0-1"] { Wild tactic and big mistakes, as in blitz. This one gives me a matingposition very difficult to step on in real games, a not-so-common variationof the (oh, my, I miss the name in English... well, you'll have to go throughit to find it! :-) } 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. dxe6 Bxe6 { ClassicIcelandig gambit position. } 5. Bd3 { EH??? Well, this is one of those badmoves that create the inmediate challenge to prove they are bad. If youfail, you'll feel as the stupidest of men... :-) } 5... Bd6 { ...and I wasn'table to find anything better, provided Qe7 is not such a threat now. } 6. Nf3 c6 { If I can't go on quickly, let set a defence against Nb5 so myqueen is free to dominate the black squares with my bishop, taking advantageof the fact white's dsb is trapped. Like a manual... isn't it? } 7. O-O { Well, not quite so. For a start, white castled, and I didn't. White hasno pawns in the center, but neither do I (thanks, c6!). Our pieces arepassively developed, and my only possible break in is by pinning the Nf3and threat Bxh2+. But I have clearly in mind that this will not lead tomuch more than that, and it won't suffice against white's counterattackin the center. } 7... Qc7 8. Ne4 { I thought about a way to save the dsb: Bf4,and if g3, Bh6. But this is no victory, either. Of course, without my knight,my attack on the kingside loses steam. } 8... Nxe4 { This exchange has anotherdownside: it unravels white's bind of his pieces, freeing the dsb. The'horrible' Bd3 wansn't punished as it should be. So I felt pretty bad aboutthe game. } 9. Bxe4 h6 { My weak point is e6. Can you see it? Against Ng5,I miss a tempo to defend the bishop with my rook, and I won't like to exchangeit leaving a weak isolani in e6. I want it in g4, but not to be kickedwith h3. The real unbalance in the position has still to be created, andthe chance is, from my side, f5. But in order to play it, I have to castleand to defend e6. So I can't do it right now. Would it be possible to findanother way to attack without playing f5? Maybe g5-g4... } 10. d4 { Of coursewhite doesn't lose time. I can't avoid this move. } 10... Bg4 { The same reasonthat I didn't do it before hold still now. But I felt I must do something,or just slowly die. Nd7 was good, of course, but it is on the agenda anyway. } 11. Qe2 { Uh oh. That shows that my previous one was a mistake. Becauseotherwise I could have confidently castled queenside now, without dangerfor my king. Now I have to prove it was not a mistake. } 11... O-O { 'I neverthought about queenside castling' :-) } 12. g3 { White must have simply playedh3, more in order not to lose the h pawns that to attack the black's lsb.Still I don't see the unbalance. } 12... Nd7 { Now I want to put a rook on e8,of course. } 13. Bxh6 { White throws the game away, but I can understandhis loss of nerves (even if we are still at move 13.!). He thought thatmy open king would be punished by the bishop that was a prisioner. Buta sac like that needs accurate calculation, and probably some preparation,like Be3, Qd2. But white doesn't have time for it, because f5 is coming.I didn't play it before because of Qc4+, with some risks I wasn't ableto calculate, but 'smelled' in a bad way (as an Italian would say). Sothat's the reason - I guess - white opted for the sac. In similar positions,where the knight check allows the white queen to take the bishop, it wouldwork. But not now. } 13... gxh6 14. Bh7+ { This was the right sacrifice whiteshould have played! Not that it would have worked: I'm not sure that whitecan even try a perpetual, but surely not more. But the 'spirit' was this.Now, if KxB, nothing happens, since after Qe4+, the ominous f5 preventsblack from any kind of danger. } 14... Kh8 { And I just wanted to play with myenemy, showing-off my self-confidence. It was only a blitz, you know. Anyway,I was very curious about what my opponent would do. } 15. Qe4 { Oh, yes,he gave me the excuse for... } 15... f5 { White's nemesis was called, and it camewhen it should, winning a tempo and the bishop in h2. If Bxf5, white casha pawn for the bishop, but the queen can't penetrate. } 16. Qe3 { Now Ican't play anumore. If Qxh6, I can be in danger, so let's play seriously. } 16... Kxh7 17. Nh4 { Now the threat is Qd6 (MY nemesis! :-). } 17... Rae8 { Too juicynot to play it. But it was not wise. It was necessary (Rf6 left the otherrook unable to occupy e8), but allows... } 18. Qd3 { As you probably havealready realized, black has just a single way to break into white's position(despite the material advantage): f4, planning a bishop's sac on g3 (oncethe white queen gets distracted from guarding it). Not an easy plan. } 18... Kg7 { It may seem strange, but I thought this was the best place for myking, guarding g3 (but not really unpinning the pawn, because after f4,Qg6+). My Nd7 can move to f6, then to h4, to sac against g3... but stillslow and not winning. But in fact, It would be much harder for me to winthe game, dued to the open position of my king (all this because of notfollow the common sense to play Nd7 at the right move in the opening...do you remember?). Let's see white's resource at work in this inferiorposition. } 19. d5 { White, for the second time, throws the game away (aftera quite good position, being a piece and a pawn behind!). This move providesmy knight the freedom to join the fry... and now white will feel the powerof my extra piece. But it was not so easy as it seemed. } 19... Ne5 { As soundas it looks, this move is a mistake. Can you see why? } 20. Qc3 { Now, don'ttell me this is not funny!! Maybe I should have played the knight to c4,instead, so to answer Bd5 if the queen checks. But I was obsecate withattack on the white king, so I overlooked the power of this move, becauseit threats f4. I thought that... } 20... Kg8 { ...was enough. But it isn't. Incrediblyenough, white is returning me the same move I did to him before! I playedhorribly, and I couldn't find the right way to proceed, and now I am farfrom winning the game. } 21. f4 { I should never have left white do thismove. I couldn't see all its implications, then. It is rare that a singlemove can accomplish so many tasks at the same time: It seems to compellthe knight to go to d7. If it does, five things happen: 1) allows the whiteknight to go to g6, 2) allows the queen to 'look' into the black nearbyarea, 3) avoids black to play Be4 'forever', 4) the knight deprives thesecond row of the queen's 'look' 5) the black's f pawn can't advance anymore!!!! } 21... Qb6+ { I had to improvise. The only conterside of f4 was that it leavewhite's king unshielded, too... } 22. Kh1 { Ok, but the knight's problemis still there. Attack, attack, attack... it's incredible: I am strugglingto retaing my advantage. Can you believe my mistakes were so big? :-) } 22... Bh3 { Please note: at a first sight, this doesn't work. White will takethe knight and the bishop for a rook. But you have to analyze all the possibleoutcomes. It is not difficult: white can't allow a black bishop on e4,period. And one must think about the 'Re2 factor', once the column isopen... a juicy position. But... a winning one? I think yes. Look for itand then turn the page... } 23. Rg1 { White can't realize that he 'can'tallow a black queen on f2, specially if the knight exists and is able togo to g4 (now open. This, of course, was the bishop move's purpose)'. Theoption was fxN, but then black has plenty of attack lines, staring withBxe4. It has to be explored where does this lead. But black can chooseBxR, and if exB, Qf2 - supporting the bishop. If white RxBf1 instead, againBxe4 or Rxe4 are both good. White is suddenly in very serious danger, thetables turned again... } 23... Ng4 { White should never have allowed this, in return,once more... it is the game leitmotiv! Now, white allowed a piece bindaround his king that is very 'puzzlish', isn't it? Can you see the finish? } 24. Raf1 { I hoped for this move! } 24... Qf2 { White fell for the SMOTHERED mate(I remembered the name, at last!). But otherwise, I can imagine a lot ofnice lines to mate. And maybe this can be a puzzle. Thank you for reading. And, by the way: the 'professor-like' mood is only for amusement. I ama teacher myself, and I take teaching very seriously. I wasn't 'serious'in my annotation, and probably better players than me would assess theposition or the move in a very different way and for better reason. Imean: if you are a beginner, don't think that I am accurate. Dont' 'trust'my point of view... Note: I tried the position at move 24..., and, believeit of not, the way white escapes is Qd2, that generate a plethora of matelines, but too many for the software. So I modified a little the position...here it is: http://gameknot.com/chess-puzzle.pl?pz=103301. It seems to'hold' and classify for a 'not-too-easy easy one! :-) } 0-1
[Event "Team match - Jo's Endgame Success - Part 2"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "24-Jan-08"] [Round "-"] [White "jstevens1"] [Black "negoflor"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1538"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1520"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 { 4. Nxd4 - the first four movesare standard moves of the Sicilian Defence. } 4... e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 h6 { 7. .......... h6 - over the last few moves the white knights havedone a bit of a dance. Next move I develop a piece with 8. Be3. } 8. Be3 Nf6 9. Nc4 { 9. Nc4 - an aggressive outpost for my knight. Black decidesto develop rather than attack my knight with 9......... b5. } 9... Be7 10. f3 O-O 11. Be2 Nd4 { 11. ............ Nd4 - over the last few moves both sideshave continued to develop. Black overreaches himself here as this moveis going to leave him bereft of a pawn. } 12. Bxd4 exd4 13. Qxd4 Nd7 14. Nd5 Bf6 { 14. ........... Bf6 - after my aggressive 14. Nd5 black attacksthe WQ with Bf6. The IQP will now drop off. } 15. Nxf6+ Nxf6 16. Qxd6 b5 17. Qxd8 Rxd8 18. Ne3 { 18. Ne3 - the queens have been swapped off, anotherblack pawn has fallen and I now retreat my knight to e3. This gives extrasupport to the d1 square. } 18... Nh5 19. Rd1 Be6 20. Kf2 Nf4 21. Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Rd1 Rxd1 23. Bxd1 Bxa2 { 23. ......... Bxa2 - after a plethora of exchangesblack wins back one of his pawns but I hang on to my pawn plus right intothe endgame. } 24. Nf1 Bc4 25. Ng3 f6 26. Ne2 Ne6 27. g3 Bxe2 28. Bxe2 { 28.Bxe2 - after a bit of pawn and piece positioning it now becomes anotherB v Kt endgame. } 28... Nd4 29. Bd3 Kf7 30. Ke3 Nc6 31. c3 Ke6 { 31. ....... Ke6- both kings centralise themselves. I next try and shore up the queenside. } 32. b4 g5 33. h3 h5 34. f4 { 34. f4 - now comes an intricate piece of pawnplay which will lead to my eventual victory. } 34... Kd6 35. Be2 { 35. Be2 - theh pawn is en prise. Black misses this by playing 35....... Ne7? so I regainmy 2 pawn advantage. } 35... Ne7 36. Bxh5 gxf4+ 37. gxf4 Nc6 { 37. .......... Nc6- I now have a passer on the h file and this pawn will seal the victoryfor me. Over the next two moves black shunts his steed from c6 to e7 whileI amass my forces. } 38. Bg4 Ne7 39. h4 Nc6 40. h5 Ne7 41. h6 { 41. h6 -passed pawns must be pushed!! } 41... Ng6 42. h7 Kc6 { 42. ........ Kc6 - defendsthe queenside pawns but I am not to be denied. I now back up my h7 passer. } 43. Bf5 Nh8 44. Kd4 Nf7 { 44. ......... Nf7 - black is reduced to shuntinghis knight between h8 and f7. } 45. e5 fxe5+ 46. fxe5 Nh8 47. c4 bxc4 48. Kxc4 { 48. Kxc4 - another two pawns are exchanged. The only potential matingmaterial black now has is the a pawn. Black moves his knight to f7 forthe last time. } 48... Nf7 49. e6 Nd6+ { 49........... Nd6 - this knight forkwins the bishop on f5. I now move my king to d3 out of range of any furtherspite checks from the steed. Black cannot prevent h8/Q next move so hethrows in the sponge. Another much needed victory for my team! } 50. Kd3 1-0
[Event "Eventually I got to make the move I wanted"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.02.02"] [Round "-"] [White "chuckbo"] [Black "recklessattack"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2069"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "2019"] 1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. c4 Nf6 4. e3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nc3 a6 7. Nxd5 Qxd5 8. Nf3 b5 { I wanted to play Bc4, but he didn't give me the chance. } 9. a4 { It seems like opening the a-file might be good for me since my rookand queen are both on the back row and the bishop's already out of theway. } 9... Rb8 10. axb5 axb5 11. Be2 Bd6 12. O-O O-O 13. d4 { I've got that opena-file but nowhere really to put the rook. I'm worried about him playingNb4 eventually, and his queen is making it hard on my queen because ofthe pawn on b3. d4 is a theme in this opening, so let's see if it helpsout. } 13... e4 14. Ne5 Ne7 { I'm worried about him playing f6 to trap the knight. } 15. Ra5 { I don't see anything better, and this might work out okay. Now,if he plays f6, I can meet it with Bc4 and skewer the queen. } 15... Bb4 16. Bc4 { He says he missed this move. } 1-0
[Event "charleshiggie's Christmas/New Year Tournament 2016"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2016.12.28"] [Round "-"] [White "archduke_piccolo"] [Black "charleshiggie"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "2049"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "2103"] 1. d4 { In this game, we enter a doubled-edged, but known position, wherewhite has sacrificed a pawn but in return has ample compensation. My opponentis the first to deviate from the opening databases I am using. I try toprove his deviation wrong, by a bold attack on his rook by my bishop. Heignores this attack and offer the rook which I take. He offers a secondpawn which I also take, and then a third which I also takes. He then findsa stunning bishop sacrifice, which leads to mate in 5 if I take. I declinethe bishop, and he quickly regains all his sacrificed material and my positionis a wreck. I struggle on, but it is hopeless! } 1... Nf6 { If you want annotationon these early moves see this game. http://gameknot.com/annotation.pl/shropshire-2-v-wood-green-mm3?gm=62262 } 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 { So it starts out as a Grünfeld Defence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BCnfeld_Defence. } 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 { Which white has countered with the exchangevariation - the most popular way of meeting it, but certainly not the onlyway. } 6... Bg7 { Reuben Fine in his excellent book 'The idea behind Chess Openings'(1943) stated that black had to play 6....c7-c5 before white could stopit with Ba3. However soon afterwards it was found that Ba3 could be metwith Nd7! followed by c7-c5! and white's pawn formation is shattered ifthe pawn is accepted. Playing Bg7 and 0-0 before c7-c5 does also have theadvantage of avoiding lines where white checks on b5 with the Bf1 - notthat those lines are particularly good for white - but it saves me fromhaving to learn the theory! } 7. Nf3 { For decades, theory held that thecorrect method of development was with Bc4 and Ne2, often followed by 0-0and f4–f5, playing for a central breakthrough or king-side attack. It wasgenerally thought that an early Nf3 was weak in the Exchange Variationbecause it allowed Black too much pressure on the centre with ...Bg4. Inthe late 1970s, however, Karpov, Kasparov and others found different methodsto play the Exchange Variation with White, often involving an early Rb1to remove the rook from the sensitive a1–h8 diagonal, as well as attemptingto hinder the development of Black's queen-side. So this move rather signalsthat he will adopt one of these more modern approaches. } 7... O-O 8. Be2 c5 9. Rb1 { From my point of view, we are now moving into the second phaseof the game. Up to now I had been playing what I always play in this position,but now my moves are guided by the opening databases. Incidentally thisvariation is officially known as 'the modern exchange variation'. } 9... cxd4 { This is the most popular. } 10. cxd4 { Clearly the strongest recapture,otherwise the pawn on c3 is weak - isolated and open to attack on openc file. } 10... Qa5+ { Similar to this game. http://gameknot.com/annotation.pl/shropshire-2-v-wood-green-mm3?gm=62262 } 11. Bd2 { White boldly sacrifices the a pawn rather than submit to an exchangeof queens - and the loss of attacking possibilities which goes with it- by Qd2. } 11... Qxa2 { This is a known pawn sacrifice. White has attacking chancesin return for the pawn. The position is unbalanced with opportunities forboth sides. If black can weather the storm, the extra pawn may be vitalin an ending. } 12. O-O { White completes the development. } 12... Bg4 { I decideto offer the return of the pawn, in order to activate my pieces - a decisionbased on the fact that this seems to be the most widely played move inthis position. } 13. Bg5 { He attacks my e pawn. } 13... Qe6 { Queen hurries backto defend. h6 is actually the most popular move in this position, but Qe6is second most popular and seemed to score better. } 14. Re1 { He centralisedhis rook as in San Segundo Carrillo, Pablo (2483) vs. Alonso, Salvador(2339). From my point of view, this is where I had to start to think formyself - I didn't want to follow the game above, with h6, as white won!Of course I can't take on e4 as he has Ba6! discovering an attack on myqueen and after my queen moves he has Bxb7 and BxRa8. I wanted to developmy knight to c6, but of course to play it immediately allows the fork d4-d5,so how about Qe6-d7 keeping the protection of e7, protecting b7 and preparingto develop the knight to c6. } 14... Qd7 { So I played it! } 15. d5 { And he stopsit again. } 15... Bc3 { This seemed to me to be a very logical move - I thoughteither he was forced to move his rook back to f1 or to block my attackwith knight or bishop to d2, allowing exchanges which are favourable tome, the side with the extra pawn. Foolishly I didn't even consider othermoves where white sacrifices the exchange. Gameknot gives 15. Bc3 as amistake and recommends Na6 and I think its right. archduke_piccolo: H'mmm.Bold and unexpected. There are so many ways to respond to this aggression.Which to choose...? Big think time me-erm-thinks... } 16. Qb3 { So this isthe stunning offer of an exchange. Now if I don't take he will play hisrook on e1 to d1 or c1 with advantage. } 16... Bxe1 { So I took. } 17. Ne5 { Thisis another excellent move by my opponent, which again I hadn't really lookedat. I had rather expected him to take back on e1 with his rook, and thenwhite hasn't got compensation for the sacrifices material. } 17... Qc7 { Gameknotgives this as another mistake and recommends Qd8, and is probably correct,but I wanted to keep b7 protected. archduke_piccolo: Fascinating position.I have very active pieces, plenty of space , all sorts of possibilities...charleshiggie: Yes, you have! But you have given me the Christmas presentsof an exchange and pawn... (I think it was about 26-12-2016 now) } 18. Nxg4 { So he recaptures this bishop rather than the Be1. } 18... Ba5 { And my other bishopruns away. Ideally I would have loved to return to c3 and then g7, but18....Bc3 runs into 19. Rc1 (win with the pin!) Rc8 20. Bd2 and I'm losingmaterial. } 19. d6 { archduke_piccolo: Here, have another pawn. } 19... Qxd6 { charleshiggie:Many thanks! It would be rather rude not to accept Christmas presents.. } 20. Qb2 { At this point I was rather concerned about him playing Bh6 threateningmy rook and a mate on g7. } 20... f6 { So I played this - my third mistake. Ishould have returned a pawn with e5! Gameknot gives the line e5 21. Bf6Re8 22. Bxe5 Rxe5 23. Nxe5 Qb6 24. Nc4 Qxb2 25. Rxb2 Nc6 26. Rxb7 Nd4 27.Bd3 with a slight advantage to white of 0.61 Generally I was far too over-confidentin this position. I didn't realise that Bc3 had been a mistake and thatwhite actually had an advantage here - I thought that white didn't haveenough for the sacrificed material. Knowing when a side has sufficientcompensation or not is a key skill that separates somene like me - a goodclub player - from a master. } 21. e5 { Another excellent move by my opponent! } 21... fxe5 { charleshiggie: And another, you really are too kind... This in factis my fourth and final mistake and white soon proves to have a winningposition. Gameknot gives Qe6 22. exf6 exf6 23. Bxf6 Rf7 24. Nh6+ Kf8 25.Nxf7 Kxf7 26. Qxb7+ Kxf6 27. Qxa8 Qxe2 28. Qxb8 Bb6 29. Qh8+ Kf5 30. Qxh7Qxf2+ as the best continuation for black - but still white has an advantageof 2.56 } 22. Rd1 { He hits my queen. } 22... Qc7 { My queen runs. } 23. Bc4+ { Myfirst thought when I saw this was it was a mistake, and I could just takeit. Then I realised that if I took it, it is mate in 6. http://gameknot.com/chess-puzzle.pl?pz=183350It now dawned on me, that far from having inadequate compensation for thesacrificed material, white was winning easily. I have to start giving backmaterial, starting with the e pawn so that my queen can protect along the7th rank. charleshiggie: Bc4+! is a wonderful move! Congratulations onfinding it! } 23... e6 { So the e pawn goes. } 24. Bxe6+ { He takes with check. } 24... Kg7 { King comes up. If it went to h8 instead, then 25. Nxe5 threatens Nf7or Nxg6 mate. } 25. Bh6+ { Throws in another check. } 25... Kh8 { King retreats tothe corner. } 26. Bxf8 { White now has a material advantage and a much betterposition - all his pieces are in play and my Ra8 and Nb8 are still unmoved.However, Gameknot says even better was 26. Nxe5 Bc3 27. Nf7+ Kg8 28. Qa3Bg7 29. Bxg7 Nc6 30. Bxf8 Rxf8 31. Ng5+ Kg7 32. Rd7+ Qxd7 33. Bxd7 Rf634. Ne4 Rf4 35. Qb2+ Kh6 36. Qxb7 } 26... Nc6 { My knight finally comes out. } 27. Rd7 { Looks good - attacking my queen - but Gameknot says even better was27. Bd6 Qg7 28. Bxe5 Nxe5 29. Nxe5 Rf8 30. Rd3 Rf6 31. Rd7 Rxe6 32. Rxg7Kxg7 33. Qxb7+ Bc7 34. Qxc7+ Kf6 35. Ng4+ Kg5 36. Ne3 h6 37. Qxa7 } 27... Rxf8 { The position is completely won for white. I played on, but no furthercomment is needed. According to Gameknot neither side made any more mistakes. } 28. Rxc7 Bxc7 29. Bd5 Bd6 30. Bxc6 bxc6 31. Nxe5 Bxe5 32. Qxe5+ Kg8 33. Qe6+ Rf7 34. Qxc6 Kg7 35. f3 Re7 36. Kf2 Kg8 37. f4 Kg7 38. g4 Rf7 39. Kf3 Kg8 40. Qe8+ Rf8 41. Qe6+ Rf7 42. Ke4 Kg7 43. f5 gxf5+ 44. gxf5 Rf6 45. Qe7+ Rf7 46. Qg5+ Kf8 47. Qd8+ Kg7 48. Ke5 Rb7 49. f6+ Kh6 50. Qd2+ Kh5 51. Qe2+ Kh4 52. Qe4+ { With my rook on b7 falling, it is time to giveup. Many thanks for reading. Please rate this annotation on the star systemand leave a comment or two to let me know how I am doing. Until next timedear reader! } 1-0
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2013.09.14"] [Round "-"] [White "oleole16"] [Black "reachforgold"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "687"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "664"] 1. e4 { king pawn opeaning } 1... e5 { same } 2. d3 { trying to have control of thecenter } 2... Bb4+ { check } 3. c3 { block check } 3... Ba5 { moves back } 4. Nf3 { buildingminor pieces } 4... Nf6 { same } 5. b4 { attacking my bishop } 5... Bb6 { moved back } 6. Ba3 { moves bishop } 6... O-O { castle king side } 7. g3 { moves pawn } 7... Nc6 { 3 ofminor pieces out } 8. Bh3 { moves bishop } 8... d6 { moves pawn } 9. Bxc8 { lost bishop } 9... Qxc8 { takes bishop } 10. Nbd2 { moves knight } 10... a5 { movespawn } 11. bxa5 { takespawn } 11... Nxa5 { takes knight white times out i win } 0-1
[Event "Never give up"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2012.08.22"] [Round "-"] [White "ianuk"] [Black "ardvark2345"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1151"] [TimeControl "7d+2d<15d"] [WhiteElo "1156"] { For me, this has been a remarkable game. Proof that you should never giveup hope. } 1. e3 { Standard opening to a game which turned out to be oneof the best I have played } 1... d5 { and response } 2. f4 Bf5 3. Bd3 Bxd3 { Exchangeof bishops } 4. cxd3 e6 5. g4 { Forming a diagonal defence along the rightside } 5... g6 6. g5 f5 7. Nf3 { Now moving the knight out with a view to forcingthe opposing king out. } 7... c5 8. Ne5 { Knight advancing on the king } 8... Bg7 { Idlethreat from opposing bishop } 9. Nf7 { Knight has now forced the king totake action } 9... Kxf7 { Now out of place this has eliminated the kings abilityto 'Castle' } 10. b4 { Looking back, I cannot see why I made this move. Ican only assume I didn't see the bishop. } 10... Bxa1 { The bishop now at a1 willpose a significant problem later. } 11. bxc5 h5 12. gxh6 Qh4+ { Queen advancingon me prompting evasive action } 13. Kf1 Rxh6 { rook following queento advance on my right side } 14. Qb3 { I push out my queen to offer supportto pawn at c5 } 14... b6 { Opposing pawn at b6 threatens } 15. cxb6 { I advance mypawn } 15... Qh3+ { First check } 16. Ke1 { Defensive retreat } 16... Qf3 { Queen clearingpath for rook to follow on down } 17. Rf1 { Defensive threat on opposingqueen } 17... Qg2 { Reposition } 18. b7 { Placing my pawn at b7 threatens a vulnerablerook and sets me up for a possible promotion. } 18... Rxh2 { Rook now advancingto back up the queens attack } 19. Kd1 { With the threat of checkmate ifthe queen moves to e2 I retreat to the safety of an escape route. } 19... Qxf1+ { Of course this means I lose a rook and get into check again. At this pointbeing 12 points down I was thinking that the game was pretty much overand slowed down my moves focussing on other games. Had this been a casualgame I might well have resigned at this point. But this was a mini tournamentand every half point counted. Eventually I started to look seriously ata plan of recovery and used the 'Analyse' facility to structure a way out. } 20. Kc2 { First I needed to get out the way whilst being mindful of thebishop at a1 } 20... Rh1 { Rook now backing up Queen along the first rank } 21. Bb2 { With nowhere for my king to go I needed to try and eliminate the bishop } 21... Qxb1+ { Another piece gone and 15 points down, but I still have an escaperoute planned. } 22. Kc3 { My bishop at b2 will go, but the close proximityof both queens and my king secures their parts in this game } 22... Bxb2+ { Simplecheck but now takes me to 18 points down } 23. Qxb2 { Countered } 23... Rc1+ { Rooknow comes along to increase the pressure. } 24. Kb3 { Need to keep the kingclose to protect the queen } 24... Qxd3+ { Permanent pressure from opposing queencausing a frantic dance. 16 points down but still I have a strategy planned. } 25. Ka4 { With the queen no longer under attack I can retreat a little further } 25... Qc4+ { Another check } 26. Qb4 { Blocked again } 26... Rb1 { At this point my opponentmade an error by threatening my queen. Retrospectively I think he shouldhave put me in check with his queen at c6 or c2. This would have givenhim the advantage of threatening my pawns at b7 and a2 and also capturingmy queen with his rook. Instead the rook was placed at b1 which allowedme to eliminate his queen. } 27. Qxc4 { Queen gone } 27... Rxb7 { OK. So now I havereduced his attacking power dramatically whilst sacrificing my plannedpawn promotion. The focus now is on destroying as many pieces as I canand advancing the pawn from a2 to secure a future promotion. } 28. Qc8 { Movingin on the rooks } 28... Rb2 { Rook retreat } 29. Ka3 { Bringing my king back to protectthe pawn } 29... Rxd2 { Simple loss of pawn enables me to work on the rook at a8 } 30. Qb7+ { Tables turning now, this check has enabled me to take the rook } 30... Nd7 { Knight moves to protect } 31. Qxa8 { Rook gone, now to work on everythingelse } 31... Re2 { Clearly the opponents rook is intent on doing the same } 32. Qxa7 { Getting queen in position for check } 32... Nf6 { Counter move, protectinghis knight } 33. Qd4 { An idle threat from my queen } 33... Ng4 { which forced anevasive move, not sure why } 34. Qa4 { Getting back in position for checkat d7 } 34... Rxe3+ { In check again with the loss of another pawn } 35. Kb2 { Evasivemove } 35... Nf2 { The knight is brought in to assist the rook } 36. Qxd7+ { NowI am able to eliminate another piece and threaten the king } 36... Kf6 { Littlebit of dancing now to keep up the pressure } 37. Qd8+ { Reposition my queen,watching for opportunities } 37... Kf7 { with the knight poised to attack at d3or d1 I need to move the king to safety } 38. Kc2 { advancing on the rookand knight places me in a better defensive position to retreat } 38... Re2+ { check,but easy to retreat } 39. Kb3 { Now out of harms way } 39... Rd2 { Not quite surewhy this move was played, but it has given me a good opportunity - withthe current position of his king and the move just made gives me the chanceto move in on the rook } 40. Qc7+ { Check - with only 4 moves for the kinghe chooses to go under cover of the pawns } 40... Kf6 { This, however, was allpart of my plan } 41. Qc3+ { check and capture of rook } 41... Ke7 { king retreat } 42. Qxd2 { rook gone } 42... Ne4 { attack on queen } 43. Qb4+ { counter attack onking } 43... Kf6 { At this point my opponent must have seen the obvious move andoffered a 'draw'. Having come back from -18 to +4 I was not going to dothat. With this in mind I did not see the checkmate with my queen at f8.Instead I focussed on promoting my pawn up the left side. } 44. a4 { It wasonly after I had submitted my move that I saw the missed checkmate. Thisbecame a little frustrating as my opponent tends to use nearly 15 daysper move when he is losing. } 44... g5 { response to attack pawn } 45. Qf8+ { check } 45... Kg6 { The next few moves are made looking for opportunites to eliminatethe last knight } 46. Qe8+ { check } 46... Kf6 { defense } 47. a5 { advance pawn again } 47... gxf4 { lose pawn, Still part of the plan } 48. Qf8+ { check } 48... Ke5 { king nowin good position to be attacked from h8 and h2 } 49. a6 { advance pawn } 49... f3 { counter advance } 50. a7 { still moving up } 50... f2 { still moving down } 51. Qh8+ { time now to eliminate the pawn at f2. In this attack the king can onlymove on the diagonal which can also be threatened from h2 } 51... Nf6 { knightblocks threat } 52. Qh2+ { and there we have it. Another pawn going down } 52... Ke4 { defense } 53. Qxf2 { pawn gone } 53... Ng4 { counter attack } 54. Qb6 { now toget the 2nd queen } 54... f4 { but first a little more elimination } 55. Qxe6+ { andthreatening } 55... Ne5 { now with the knight locked in place } 56. a8=Q { my 2ndqueen } 56... f3 { still advancing } 57. Qaxd5+ { moving in } 57... Kf4 { Nearly there } 58. Qdxe5# { Finally. Its a real shame that the points earned are not proportionalto the effort put in. But a good game which I thoroughly enjoyed. } 1-0
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2018.02.14"] [Round "-"] [White "alvexisback"] [Black "e4newman"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1641"] [WhiteElo "1738"] 1. e4 { Just won 9 in a row. I’ve been pretty “streaky” lately. Opponentfrom Portugal. His games don't include many normal Sicilians. } 1... c5 2. c3 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. h3 Nf6 5. Qc2 e6 { Game note: “5...e6 my 7 vs his 4in centre. I’m pretty happy with my development.” } 6. Bb5 { Game note:“6.Bb5 seems typical but his B will need to retreat right back to whenceit came. I think d4 would have been good.” } 6... Bd7 7. O-O a6 8. Ba4 { Gamenote: “8.Ba4? nope. Needed to exchange to maintain initiative or retreatto keep the LSB.” } 8... b5 9. Bb3 c4 10. Bxc4 { Game note: “Check out 10.d4also.” } 10... bxc4 11. Na3 d5 12. exd5 { 12.e5 pretty annoying too. } 12... exd5 13. Re1+ { Avoids ...Bxa3. } 13... Be7 { Game note: “13...Be7 not a critical move buthow to decide over ...Be6. The latter controls a central square but reducesit's scope. The text move maintains or 'improves' scope and allows for...O-O. I’m +2 material. I control 5 in the centre vs his 6.” } 14. d4 cxd3 { Is it worth the isolated pawn to maintain initiative and eliminateanother one of his pawns controlling a central square? I thought so. } 15. Qxd3 O-O 16. Nh2 { Or develop his DSB to connect his rooks. } 16... Qc8 { Leavesmy isolani a bit weak but creates an immediate threat on his K-side. } 17. Qg3 { I really like his move 17.Qg3 } 17... Ne4 18. Rxe4 { Game note: “18.Rxe4?!really!! Here come the fireworks.” Checking now afterward and I thinkit’s unsound. But as the game plays out he’s able to use it to his advantage. } 18... dxe4 19. Bh6 Bf6 20. Nc4 { Game note: “20.Nc4 sets up a Q/R fork on b6. Can I still get in ...Bf5.” } 20... Bf5 { In hindsight, how did I not realizethere was no time for ...Bf5. I missed 20...Nd4 ...Ne2+ solving all my problems. If 21.cxd4 then I have the discovered capture 21...Qxc4 and his pawn toboot. } 21. Ne3 { I don’t get it. Did he not see Nb6 or Nd6. } 21... Bg6 { Andmy K is safe. ...Be5 also looks decisive. } 22. Bf4 Qe6 { Game note: “22...Qe6and ...Rd8 would also be nice.” } 23. a3 { Planning to advance his c-pawnmaybe?? } 23... Rfd8 24. Nhg4 Rd2 { Game note: “24...Rd2 is a powerful post butdangerous on account of discovered attack from his DSB.” } 25. Nxf6+ Qxf6 26. Ng4 { Game note: “26.Ng4 and there is the discovered attack. Nice move!(worried). Guess I should have recaptured with the ugly 25...gxf6.” } 26... Qd8 27. Bxd2 Qxd2 { Amazingly I’m still +2 material. } 28. b4 { 28.Qc7 is veryimmediate. } 28... Qb2 { Game note: “28...Qb2 check that one out.” Yes in hindsight...h5 or ...f5 to push the N and threaten his Q. } 29. Rf1 Qxa3 { Game note:“29...Qxa3 gives me some relief on the Q-side. Also hoping to get in ...h5of ...f5 for K escape.” } 30. Qc7 { Game note: “30.Qc7! wide open game. I need initiative again. (worried)” } 30... Nd8 31. f4 { Game note: “31.f4 isthis a trick? Sure opens up the f-file for him. I still have ...Qc8+in my back pocket if Rxf3”. Playing through afterward I can’t see anytrick or benefit. } 31... exf3 32. Rxf3 Qc1+ { Buys me time. ...Ne6 also good. } 33. Kh2 Qd2 { Playing around too much with my Q. } 34. Re3 h5 { SomehowI thought this was a simple choice but I was wrong. } 35. Re8+ Kh7 36. Ne5 { Game note: “36.Ne5 at first this move scared me but I'm starting tolook at some good possibilities involving ...Qf4 pinning the N; ...Ne6attacking the Q and discovered attack on his R; ...f6 pushing the N anddiscovered attack on his R. So maybe I actually have an advantage here(plus material so yes I do). 36...Qf6 maintains the possibility of theothers. Good tactics but at some point I still need to mind the structuralimbalance on the Q-side.” } 36... Qf4+ 37. Kg1 f6 { The culprit move? } 38. Rh8+ { Game note: “38.Rh8+! wow!! 38...Kxh8 forced.” } 38... Kxh8 39. Nxg6+ { Gamenote: “39.Ng6+ a brutal fork. What the heck happened? I thought f7 wasoverprotected, but I might as well resign.” In hindsight, I guess theinnocent looking 36...Qf4+ ...f6 were faulty. But it looked so good at thetime. Let’s insert 27...Ne6 and force him to move his Q first maybe...? Atleast that also reveals a discovered attack on his R. } 39... Kh7 40. Nxf4 Kh6 41. Qc5 g5 42. Qf8+ Kh7 { I resigned 1-0 well played “alvexisback” } 1-0
[Event "Glenda on h6 - It all fizzled out!"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.02.21"] [Round "-"] [White "jstevens1"] [Black "oldgus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1720"] [TimeControl "5d+1d<7d"] [WhiteElo "1776"] 1. d4 { Hi everyone! This game is against another buddy of mine, Warren. We are participating in the King's Indian Defense 4 pawns attack mini-tournament. In some ways for the white player, it is like facing a Sicilian Dragonexcept that white usually castles short here. I did castle long in my4 pawns attack game against Master Freddy but sadly I lost that game. I will take the action on to move 6 which is the first of the non-forcedmoves. } 1... Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f4 O-O 6. Nf3 { 6. Nf3 - themost popular choice in the World DB and it does support the d4 pawn. } 6... c6 7. Be2 Nbd7 8. e5 Ne8 9. O-O { 9. 0-0 - here I castle short. } 9... Nc7 10. Be3 f6 11. exd6 exd6 { 11. ...... exd6 - pawn trade. } 12. Qc1 { 12. Qc1 - Glendais preparing for an eventual advance to h6, but that will be a few movesaway yet. } 12... d5 13. b3 { 13. b3 - supporting the c4 pawn. } 13... Nb6 14. Bd3 Ne6 15. c5 { 15. c5 - trying to put a crimp on Warren's position. } 15... Nd7 16. f5 gxf5 17. Bxf5 Qe8 { 17. ...... Qe8 - supporting the e6 knight. } 18. Bh6 Rf7 19. Bxg7 Rxg7 { 19. ....... Rxg7 - this rook is gonna be a right pain. It covers Warren's exposed king and puts an end to my mating attack. } 20. Re1 Ndf8 21. Qh6 Qf7 { 21. ..... Qf7 - after Glenda's incursion on h6,the Wicked Witch of the West defends the f6 pawn. } 22. Bxe6 Bxe6 { 22. .......Bxe6 - bishop for knight trade. } 23. Qe3 Bd7 24. Qf2 Bh3 { 24. ....... Bh3- attacking the pinned g2 pawn and forcing it to advance to g3. Thankgod my rook wasn't on f1 at the time! } 25. g3 Ne6 26. Qd2 Bg4 27. Rf1 Re8 28. Nh4 { 28. Nh4 - over the last few moves I have been drifting. I nowtry and bolster my defense with this move. With the absence of the g pawnmy knight cannot be assailed by an enemy pawn. } 28... Ng5 29. Rae1 Rxe1 30. Qxe1 { 30. Qxe1 - rook trade. } 30... Qe6 31. Qxe6+ Nxe6 { 31. ...... Nxe6! - queen trade. This move is stronger than Bxe6 because my pawn on d4 cannot be defended. The only way to avoid dropping a pawn is to play Rxf6 which I do. thepositional imbalance looks very much in Warren's favour I fear. } 32. Rxf6 Nxd4 33. Kf2 { 33. Kf2 - Henry gets into position for the endgame. } 33... Rf7 34. Rxf7 Kxf7 { 34. ..... Kxf7 - rook trade. } 35. Ng2 b6 36. cxb6 axb6 { 36....... axb6 - this keeps the 3-2 majority on the queenside. I am reallyconcerned about the black passer on d5. I still feel that I can defendhere though so I do refrain from waving the white flag! } 37. Ke3 { 37. Ke3- Henry tries to become active but unfortunately Warren's steed and thepasser on d5 have other ideas. } 37... Ne6 38. Ne2 c5 39. Nef4 d4+ { 39. .....d4+ - that black passer advances. } 40. Kd2 Ng5 41. Ne1 { 41. Ne1 - thismove is necessary to prevent a decisive check by Warren's knight on f3. } 41... Ne4+ 42. Kc1 { 42. Kc1 - Henry retreats to c1. Apart from my knight onf4, Henry and the other knight look really passive. Will my defense hold? I decided to hold out the olive branch here and Warren kindly took it. Thankfully Warren's rating was 1695 when he accepted the draw offer andit only set me back by 2.3 rating points. After he got his well earnedHigh Draw against me his rating advanced to 1724! I did tell Warren thatI am bracing myself for a very tough return match in this mini-tourney. I hope you have had a good read. Bye for now - Joanne } 1/2-1/2
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2017.08.21"] [Round "-"] [White "mmoody95"] [Black "themissinglink"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1500"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1854"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 c5 4. b3 { I've been experimenting with this Zukertortsetup. } 4... cxd4 5. exd4 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. Bb2 Nc6 8. a3 Bd6 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. O-O { Both sides have completed development. White controls e5, while Blackcounters with control of e4. } 10... Qc7 11. h3 Bh5 12. Rc1 Ne7 13. Ne5 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 { White has planted a N on e5; Black will try to remove it. } 14... Ng6 15. Ndf3 Nh5 16. Nxg6 fxg6 { I was expecting hxg6. The text drops a pawn. } 17. Qxe6+ Kh8 18. Qe2 Rae8 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Rf5 { This sets up a pawnfork, at the cost of exposing White's K. } 21. g4 Rg5 22. Qe3 Rf8 { I wasexpecting h6 to protect the R. This has to be classified as a blunderas it drops an entire R. } 23. Qxg5 Nf4 { There are two good threats here:1) Nxh6, forking K and Q, 2) Ne2+, forking K and R. } 24. Qh4 Qc6 { Whitedealt with the Nxh3+ threat, but Black decides to play for a g2 checkmate. Ne2+ wins the exchange and recovers some of the material deficit. } 25. Rfe1 { Preventing Ne2. } 25... d4 { Threatening Qg2#. } 26. Qg3 { The checkmate threatis easily countered. } 26... h5 27. Bxd4 Ne6 28. Be3 { The Be3 dominates the Ne6. } 28... Rf3 29. Qg2 { Black resigned here. Black has a significant material deficitand White can now exchange down into a comfortably won endgame. } 1-0
[Event "mocirllos's mini-tournament"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.07.09"] [Round "-"] [White "darkrai123"] [Black "athos75"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1531"] [TimeControl "3d+2d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1616"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ { Sicilian Moscow } 3... Nc6 4. O-O a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. c4 e5 7. d3 Nf6 8. Re1 Be7 9. Nbd2 O-O 10. Nf1 Rb8 { I assume the pointof this was to immobilize the bishop for some time. } 11. Ne3 d5 { This moveloses a pawn, but left me an isolated d-pawn and got black's pieces active. } 12. exd5 cxd5 13. Nxe5 Qd6 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. cxd5 Qxd5 16. Nc4 { To threatenthe e7 bishop. } 16... Bb7 { To do Qxg2# } 17. Ne3 Qc6 18. Qg4 { To do Nf5. Notethe queen is also defending g2. } 18... g6 19. Nf5 Qxg2+ { This looks like a goodmove, but I have an intermediate move. } 20. Qxg2 Bxg2 21. Nxe7+ Kh8 22. Kxg2 Rfe8 23. Bd2 { To threaten a mate in 2 and connect my rooks to freethe knight from it's pin. Perhaps Bf4 was better or seemed better, attackingthe b8 rook, but I just wanted to get the game over with. I probably wouldhave played Bf4 in a real tournament. } 23... Rxb2 { My opponent thought he gota pawn here. } 24. Bc3+ f6 { Here, I have two options. Take the rook or thef6 pawn. If you are under 1000 rated, think about my next move. } 25. Bxf6# { Checkmate. The lesson here is to find intermediate moves, Always thinkbefore taking 'free' material, and try to block the opponent's threats,and pose your own. } 1-0
[Event "Queen' gambit"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "24-Jan-08"] [Round "-"] [White "valeriuzaharia"] [Black "elyhim"] [Result ""] [BlackElo "1984"] [TimeControl "5d+2d, 7d max"] [WhiteElo "2026"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. e3 c6 7. Nf3 Be7 { This is Black's most solid reply. The idea of this move is that it rendersthe exchange varation harmless. } 8. Qc2 { Rubinsteins move, the main ideais that if black does not take active counter measures whites will castlequeenside and launch a pawn storm } 8... Nh5 { This is a familiar manoeuvre thisknight will eventually find a home on d6. } 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. O-O-O { whitecan also try h3 or Bd3. } 10... Nb6 { this move allows black to develop the bishopto e6 or g4 } 11. Bd3 g6 { limits the scope of the light coloured bishopand makes room for black to manoeuvre the knight to d6. } 12. Kb1 { slightlyincreases the safety of the king } 12... Be6 13. Rhg1 { intending g4. However,Rc1 or Re1 are more optimistic } 13... Ng7 { I could have waited for white to playg4 but why give your opponent an excuse to grab space with initative. } 14. Rc1 { This move along with Ne5 can create alot of preasure on c6 } 14... Bf5 { This trade is to Black's advantage it eliminates whites stronger whitebishop. As well, it assists the knights manoeuvre to D6 with a plus intempo. } 15. Bxf5 Nxf5 { With the bishops of the board black has equalized. } 16. Ka1 { a waiting move. } 16... O-O { castling queenside is also possible butmore risky. The text move allows me to start a pawn storm on the castledking. } 17. g4 Nh4 { Nd6 may have been more positional } 18. Ne5 f6 { My firstreal concession This lsighty weakens the king } 19. Nd3 Rae8 { Not ...Nc3when 20. Rg3 gives a real advantage on the kingside. } 20. Rg3 Nc4 21. Re1 Nd6 22. Rh3 g5 { Sets up a block aid and allows the knight to escape tog6 if need be. } 23. f3 { I do not believe that this is whites best move.It creates a serious weakness on e3 } 23... Qg7 { moving my queen off of the e-fileso that I can attack e3 } 24. Re2 f5 { I played this so that I can utilizethe f5 square to put more preasure on e3. } 25. gxf5 Ndxf5 26. Qc1 Kh8 { sidestepingany pins on the g-file. } 27. Ne5 Ng6 28. Ng4 Nfh4 { Now I have the a newthreat created on f3. } 29. Qh1 { It is hard to believe that this is a goodmove. White all but abandons the king. } 29... b5 { with all of whites peices onthe opposite wing my chances of success are very good. } 30. Rg3 Nf5 31. Rgg2 b4 { now I cash in my space advantage in classical style. I slowlysqueeze white into an unbearable position until he not stand it anymoreand force him to make a concession. Then I breakthrough with a decisiveattack } 32. Nd1 b3 { forcing the concession } 33. Re1 bxa2 34. Kxa2 Qe7 35. Rge2 Qb4 36. Nc3 Nfh4 { creating a distraction. } 37. Rf1 c5 38. Rd2 Rb8 39. Rc2 cxd4 40. exd4 Nf5 { Black needs three to mate and the knight ison it's way. } 41. Ne2 { White must not allow ...Nxd5 but can he preventit? } 41... h5 42. h3 Qa5+ { black does a bit of manoevureing to create a matethreat on the a-file. } 43. Kb1 Rb4 44. Rfc1 Ra4 45. Rc3 Nf4 { deflectingthe defender of D4 } 46. Nxf4 Nxd4 { The calvary has finally arrived andthe show is over. White has a few spites checks then he is done. } 47. Ng6+ Kg7 48. Rc7+ { white has a few spite threats but i } 48... Rf7 49. Rxf7+ Kxf7 50. N6e5+ Ke6 51. Rc6+ Nxc6 52. Nxc6 Ra1+ 53. Kc2 Qc5+
[Event "Team match"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "10-Aug-06"] [Round "-"] [White "aikendrum"] [Black "aschoeman"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1581"] [TimeControl "5 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1524"] { This is my first annotation here on GK. I must thank my opponent herefor his aid in this game. Hope you'll enjoy! } 1. e4 { Starting the RuyLopez } 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 { The Ruy Lopez achieved. Hoerah for me! } 3... a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 { Pretty straightforward moves till here. } 5... h6 { Very conservativemove... maybe a bit too... } 6. O-O Bd6 { A bit questionable, coz it blocksthe d pawn and the bishop is restricted by the e pawn... } 7. Bd5 { Timeto test the waters... let's just start with a pin on the knight } 7... Nge7 { Guesshe doesn't want my bishop there } 8. Nc3 { Maybe he'll like my knight more... } 8... Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Ne7 { Or maybe not... } 10. d4 exd4 { The move that gave me theadvantage to exploit the underdeveloped center } 11. Qxd4 { aiming at g7 } 11... O-O { the king in the line of fire... I smell trouble...! } 12. Nf6+ { Kablam!If he takes the knight, a inevitable mating combination would follow withQxf6 followed by Bxh6 } 12... Kh8 13. Bxh6 { 2nd Kablam! Now the bishop is joiningthe attack. If black takes one of the pieces with the pawn, checkmate willfollow. Victory is close! } 13... Nc6 { Hmmm... this is actually the ONLY moveblack could make that would prolong his life in this game. Damn... Butwhat about..... } 14. Bxg7+ { Exactly!... Bishop g7! Just sacrifise the bishop... } 14... Kxg7 { Forced } 15. Nh5+ { Luring the king to the centre of the board } 15... Kh6 { Kinda Forced... } 16. Qg7+ { And now it's time for another sacrifise } 16... Kxh5 { Accepted... but now a forced mating combination will follow. } 17. Qh7+ Kg4 18. Qf5# { Game, set and match! Thank you for watching! } 1-0
[Event "How not to win, part 2"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Beauty"] [Black "Baron"] [Result "1-0"] 1. b3 { So once again, I get the chance to play my Goddess, the most perfect,wonderful being that ever walked on Earth. Now I have to be careful, Ineed to avoid winning, a draw would be best, leading to another game, butI must be careful and not make it too obvious. } 1... e5 { But why did she haveto play such rubbish openings and make it hard for me? } 2. e3 d5 3. Bb2 Bd6 4. f4 exf4 { Oh gosh, here we go again, she is playing the same rubbishset-up. Even with the extra move, White has problems. } 5. Bb5+ { At leastshe avoids 5. Bg7 Qh4 check and Black is winning. } 5... c6 { Quite an instinctiveway to meet the check, but in fact simply Kf8 protecting g7 seemed better,but I wanted to play good - but not winning - moves! } 6. Bxg7 Qh4+ 7. Kf1 { Now the White king has f1 to go to, it is not so bad for White. Quitehonestly, I am not sure what is going on in the position, it seems prettywild! } 7... cxb5 8. Bxh8 f6 { I am the exchange down, I have her bishop and shehas my rook, but her bishop is now out of play and vulnerable. } 9. Nc3 fxe3 { Threatening mate on f2 after nine moves - can't be bad! I am sureshe will see it..... } 10. Qf3 Be5 { I thought that this stopped the knightfrom moving, but..... } 11. Nxd5 Bxa1 12. Nc7+ Kf8 13. Qxe3 { And now itswhite's turn to threaten mate - on e8! I can't allow that. } 13... Ne7 14. Nf3 Qh5 15. c3 { And now it is her turn to trap in my Black squared bishop! } 15... Nf5 { Now that my queen covers e8, I can move this knight again. } 16. Qc5+ Kg8 17. Kf2 { White had to avoid Ng3 winning. } 17... Nd7 18. Qd5+ Kxh8 19. Nxa8 Bb2 { Now the easiest way for White to win is just to round up the bishopon b2, with moves like b4 and Rb1. Qxb5, threatening Qc4 looks good too.My opponent played something else though. } 20. g4 Qxg4 { Taking is forced,otherwise I lose the Nf5 } 21. Rg1 { This position looks hopeless for Black,if the queen moves off the g file there is Qg8 or Rg8 mate, so I counter-attackedher queen. } 21... Ne7 22. Qf7 { Now if the Black queen leaved the g file, g8 iscovered by the Ne7, but Qg7 is mate. I did spot a way I could turn thetables. Can you spot it? Message charleshiggie if you can. But she satin front of me, so lovely. Krystal now thought she was winning and wasobviously becoming excited. She smiled broadly and her eyes shone brighterthan ever. Instead of playing the winning move, I said ''You have me there.I must lose my queen or get mated. I resign.' To see the joy in her prettyface was well worth it. } 1-0
[Event "How small details make a huge difference "] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.12.18"] [Round "-"] [White "jkarp"] [Black "lancillotto77"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1215"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "992"] { In this particular game, I did not learn but remembered important informationthat small details could make a huge difference in a chess game. } 1. e4 { The King's Pawn Play. } 1... e5 { I am used to the King's Pawn Play. } 2. Nf3 { I transpose the King's Pawn Play into the King's Knight opening to developminor pieces so that I am not pushing pawns, (Jack Stockel's advice.) } 2... Nc6 { He responds by brings out his knight on the Queens side and playingthe Morphy's Defense. I learned about the Morphy's defense from this opponentduring the game. This is, BTW, is a Knights Of Honor Chess Club game,but he and I do not know how to start a club game. Therefore, I challengedhim to this game which is why it is a, 'Challenge from jkarp'. } 3. Bb5 { I react by threatening his knight. I learned, from Jack Stockel, thatit is the best response in this situation, and the Game DB agrees withthis. } 3... a6 { Now, he brings out the pawn, and threatens me with axb5. JackStockel has told me that one cannot take the knight with a bishop if thepawn comes out. Otherwise, the opponent might get a, 'pass pawn'. } 4. Ba4 { Therefore, I must move my bishop away from danger, even though thisparticular move is not forced. } 4... Nf6 { Now, he, transposes, the Morphy'sDefense into the Double Knights Defense. } 5. O-O { My favorite move, whenpossible, is castling on the King's side, so I take advantage of the opportunityto do so. } 5... Bd6 { I am not sure why } 6. Re1 { Because he brought out the bishop,I responded by bringing out my rook in order to put pressure on his e square. } 6... b5 { In this position, he threatens to capture my bishop with bxa4, soI must move my bishop away from the, 'Danger Zone'. } 7. Bb3 { Unlike lasttime, this move is forced. } 7... O-O { He also castles on the Kings side, whichis more often then not, a good place to castle. } 8. c3 { He was trying toforce an exchange because he was originally going Nd4 which would havecaused an inevitable exchange with Nxd4 followed by exd4, but I was notabout to let this happen. Therefore, I prevented him from playing Nd4with this pawn move. } 8... Bb7 9. d4 { I figured that I would put more pressureon the e square by threatening him with dxe5 followed by a forced exchange,but this does not happen. } 9... Re8 { Instead, he reacts by putting pressureon the e square with his rook. } 10. Bg5 { I decided to counter the moveby pinning his knight on f6 and threatening to force an exchange, startingwith Bxf6. } 10... Be7 { He breaks the pin by bringing his bishop back. } 11. Bd5 { I could and should have taken have taken his knight and forced anexchange with Bxf6 followed by Bxf6, but I don't. Instead, I also threatento capture his other knight with Bxc6, but this was a strategical blunderwith one detail that I missed since I was not completely accurate in myjudgement. Therefore, it will not be an even exchange, but he will getan extra free piece, after the exchange. In this position, I learned thatone must have complete and precise judgement 100% of the time. } 11... Nxd5 12. Bxe7 Ndxe7 13. Qb3 { I figured that I would bring my queen out to preventhim from playing Nb4 as well as a fork between my two rooks, but I wasnot in a, 'danger zone', in this position. That is because it was protectedby my queen on d1, so I do not know what I really accomplished with thiscandidate. } 13... h6 { I think he chose that move because he was worried aboutgetting mated in one move, but I am not sure and could be wrong. } 14. d5 { I thought that I would get something for free, if I did not capture thepawn with dxc6. I also did not want two bad pawns on the e square, soI did not make the capture. Instead, I threatened to capture his knightwith dxc6 because I was hoping that it would lead to a captured piece. However, this was not the case. In fact, this was a bad choice and aserious blunder because he will now threaten to capture my queen with Nxb3. } 14... Na5 { Now, I must find a way to protect my queen, and it is not goingto be easy. } 15. Qb4 { This saves my queen, but it also threatens to capturehis knight with Qxa5. } 15... c6 { He wants to force an exchange, and I allowhim to do this because I enjoy even exchanges. } 16. Nxe5 cxd5 17. Qd4 { In this position, I should have forced the exchange with exd5, followedby Nxd5. Instead, I play Qd4 to protect my pawn, but I will, 'rue', thischoice. } 17... dxe4 { That is because I cannot recapture his pawn because of hisbishop on b7. } 18. f3 { At this point, I decide to force another exchangewith exf3 but miss an important detail. } 18... exf3 19. Nxf3 { I force an exchangewith Bxf3, followed by gxf3. } 19... Bxf3 20. gxf3 Nec6 { Now, he threatens tocapture my queen and rook, with two different pieces. } 21. Qd2 { This moveprotects the queen, as well as, the rook. } 21... Nc4 { He responds by threateningmy queen with Nxd2. } 22. Qf2 { By choosing this candidate, I moved my queenin the only spot that prevents him from capturing the rook and queen, forfree. } 22... Qb6 { He forces another exchange with Qxb6, followed by Nxb6 (ourqueens). } 23. Qxb6 Nxb6 24. Nd2 { He still threatens to capture a freerook with Rxe1, but I move my knight to prevent this from happening. Inaddition, I only have two options, as to, where I move the knight. I didnot play Nb3 since I do not like to put my knight on the, 'end zone' unlessit is necessary which is sometimes the case. That is because placing knightson the a or h files make them less valuable, and give them less room toescape from danger. } 24... Na4 { Now, he threatens to play Nxb2 by capturing myknight (if possible). Even if I do not allow him to take the free pawn,he would still threaten to capture my rook with Rxe1, so I respond by forcingan exchange with Rxe8+, followed by Rxe8. } 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 { Although, Ienjoy even exchanges, I learned an important fact about them, in this game. Even exchanges are ok, if the player has the same amount or more materialthen the opponent. However, they do not work, if the player is, 'downmaterial'. In addition, he threatens to play a fork between my king androok with Re1+ due to the exchange. If this happens, he will win a freerook with Rxa1, but I am not about to let that happen. } 26. Ne4 { I believedthat I was forced to bring out my knight in order to stop this threat,but I misjudged. He would not have been able to get a free rook due tothe position. } 26... d5 { At this point, he threatens to capture my knight withdxe4, so I am forced to pull my knight away from danger. } 27. Nd6 { In response,I threaten to capture his rook with Nxe8. } 27... Re2 { Now, he wants my free pawnon b2. } 28. Rb1 { I thought that Rb1 would protect this pawn, but I waswrong because he will capture it with Rxb2. } 28... Rxb2 29. Rxb2 { I figured thatcapturing his pawn with Rxb2 would address this problem immediately byexchanging the piece. However, this was my biggest mistake because I forgotabout his knight on a4, (another important detail), so there was no exchangehere. Instead, he got a free rook. } 29... Nxb2 { That mistake forces me intoresignation because he has both of his knights, six pawns, and his king,but I only have a knight, three pawns, and the king. Therefore, he isgoing to get at least one pawn promotion, and there is nothing that I coulddo about that since it is inevitable. This game proves that every supportingdetail matters in chess, even the minor supporting points. } 0-1
[Event "World Chess Championship Challenge 1921"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date ""] [Round "-"] [White "Dr.M. Euwe"] [Black "G.Marozzi"] [Result "1-0"] { In the 20th and 30th of the last century the Hungarian number one grandmasterwas famused by he's great defense game that was hard as a rock , in 1921he played a match of 12 games vs the duch grand master and world championDr.Max Euwe . the match ended draw 2-2 and 8 draws here is one of Euwe'sVictory . } 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 { Marozzi was one ofthe great experts of the french defense ,usualy he played 4...Be7 in thispositions . } 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6 9. h4 { intrestingmove , the idea of white is to bring the rook to the game by 10. Rh3. nowblack must defend well. } 9... c5 10. Bd3 Nxd2 11. Kxd2 { now white wishes tosacrifies he's LSB by Bxg6, after Rh3 and start massive attack on the blackking . } 11... Qa5 { mistake : the best move for black was 11...Nc6!.12.Rh3-cxd4!.and if white plays 13.Bxg6?-Nxe5!. and if 13.cxd4-Bd7.14.Bxg6?-Qa5+!.15.c3-fxg6.16.Qxg6+-Kd8.17.Qf6+Kc7and the black Rook is protected on h8. } 12. Rh3 cxd4 13. Bxg6 { good move, now capturing white's LSB will cause black to lose he's rook after 13.Bxg6!-fxg6.14.Qxg6+-Kd8.15.Qf6+withfork on the king and the rook on h8. and if 14...Kf8.15.Rf3+Ke7.16.Qg7+.... } 13... Qc7 14. Rf3 Rg8 { maybe 14...Rf8 was better move however , white could play.15.Bxf7+-Rxf7.16.Qg8+with powerful attack. } 15. Rxf7 { great move , ofcourseif black playes 15...Qxf7?,white will capture the black queen with check!.16.Bxf7+Kxf7.17.Qf3+... } 15... Qxc3+ 16. Ke2 d3+ { not 16...Qxa1?.17.Rg7+Kf8.18.Qf4+orQf3+and mate on 2 moves. } 17. cxd3 Qxe5+ 18. Kf3 Rf8 { now it seems thatblack was saevd however theworld champion restart the attack . } 19. Rf5+ Kd7 20. Rxf8 Qxa1 21. Rf7+ Kd8 { maybe 21...Kc6 could gave the black somemore time but still white pressure have been to strong for example :21...Kc6.22.Qa4+Kb6.23.Qb4+Ka6.24.d4..... } 22. Qb4 { threatin double mate on f8 and e7 . 23.Qf8#or 23.Qe7#. } 22... Nd7 23. Qd6 Qh8 24. Ne2 e5 25. Nf4 { briliant move , the idea of knights sacrifiesis avoidig capturing the white rook on f7 with check } 25... exf4 26. Bf5 Qe8 27. Bxd7 { that was the idea of 25.Nf4!!, now after 27..Qxf7 there is nocheck on the white king and after 27.Bg6+ black loses he's queen , therefor black resigns . beautiful game of the world champion .thank you ,and i hope you enjoy the game , Daniel . } 1-0
[Event "faisalraza's mini-tournament I"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.10.28"] [Round "-"] [White "kaspanatola"] [Black "fluido"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1754"] [TimeControl "7d+2d<10d"] [WhiteElo "1816"] 1. d4 { my pawns advanced in the centre of the board conditioned blacksmobility, then and well timed attack on the castled king allowed me towin an exchange and one pawn, after which I exchanged as many materialas possible to reach an 2R vs R+N endgame that was easily decided by mypassed pawn on the a column } 1... Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 { Nimzo-Indian defence(E20) } 3... d5 4. Nf3 c6 5. e3 Bb4 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. Qc2 h6 8. O-O O-O 9. Bd2 { untilthis move I'v found 14 games (11 w / 0 l / 3 d), black tried several movesbut was never able to win! } 9... Be7 { N here I can try cxd5 to transpose fora Carlsbad pawn structure, My dark squares bishop is behind my pawns, andmy knight is placed in front of the f pawn, so an f pawn push is hard toget now, black has no weakness in his camp just a closed in light squaresbishop, with a Carlsbad structure he will have that solved for him, plusis not certain black will recapture with the e pawn, he can also recapturewith the c pawn and with the knight transposing in to a slav pawn formation...,or e4 an uncommitted move to let him decide were would I move next, plusI'll be threatening e5... } 10. e4 { I'm trying to get my pawn to e5, blackshouldn't allow this or his castled king would be in trouble } 10... dxc4 11. Bxc4 { we've reached a Slav pawn formation, now I need to eventually playe5 to stop black from playing it and also to vacate the b1-h7 diagonal } 11... Nb6 12. Bb3 { with this manoeuvre I can get the light bishop behind my queenand threaten mate on h7, but first e5 is in order } 12... Ne8 13. e5 { e5 to openthe b1-h7 diagonal and add further restriction to black's pieces } 13... Nc7 { tocontrol d5, but now the action already shifted to the king's wing and blackhas to hasten his defence, or get mated } 14. Qd3 Nbd5 15. Bc2 { and hereit is my bishop behind my queen and a threat black can't ignore } 15... f5 16. exf6 { I can now destroy black's castle } 16... Nxf6 17. Bxh6 { with the idea gxh6Qg6+ Kh8 Qxh6+ and bring in the knights for a complete offensive } 17... Ncd5 18. Qg6 { threatens Qxg7++ and wins a quality } 18... Rf7 { forced } 19. Ng5 { threatensQxf7 Kh8 Qxg7++, so black is forced to protect the rook with the queen } 19... Qf8 20. Nxf7 { wins the quality } 20... Qxf7 21. Nxd5 { now in advantage I'll exchangematerial, if Qxg6 then Nxe7 forks the Queen and King, then Kf7 Bxg6+ Kxe7Bxg7 wins another pawn and keeps the bishop pair } 21... exd5 22. Qxf7+ { exchangingmaterial, and after Kxf7 Bg5 pins the knight and blocks the g pawn } 22... Kxf7 23. Bg5 { to pin the knight } 23... Be6 24. Rfe1 { the idea is to try and play Bg6+Kxg6 Rxg6 Rxe6 and leave black the option of exchanging the dark squaresbishop also } 24... Bd6 25. Bg6+ { I'll still have the chance to exchange bishopsand if black plays Bxh2+ I'll play latter Re7 with a double attack on b7and g7, wining back the lost h pawn } 25... Kxg6 26. Rxe6 Bxh2+ 27. Kxh2 { expectednow after the forced Kxg5, I'll play Re7 attacking g7 and b7 } 27... Kxg5 28. Re7 g6 29. Rxb7 { wins back the lost pawn (26...Bxh2+) and limits somehowblack's available moves, as he can't move the rook right away from a8,unless to give an unconsequent check } 29... Ne4 30. Kg1 { to support f2 and backaway from the open h column, now I need to consolidate my position beforemoving on to attack, also Rc7 may not be a bad move... } 30... Rf8 31. f3 { opensa hole on g3 but black can't do nothing with it: Ng3 (with the idea Rh8-h1+)Rxa7 (wins another pawn) Rh8 Kf2 is safe enough } 31... Ng3 32. Rxa7 { loses anotherpawn, but he can get one of mine in exchange } 32... Ne2+ 33. Kf2 Nxd4 { and hedoes just that, grabs a pawn } 34. Rc7 Kf5 35. a4 { now I'll advance my apawn to get the king to come to the queen's wing or to get one of black'spieces committed to block it } 35... Rb8 36. Ra2 { Rb1? with Rb6-a6 and Nb3 blackcan solve some of his problems and threats Nd2 to win the b pawn } 36... Ke6 { black'sking is rushing back to the other wing... } 37. a5 g5 { ? facilitates mytask after exchanging rooks, because black is already late to block mya pawn, I'll get my king to the g column to grab the g pawn that now iscloser } 38. a6 Kd6 39. a7 { surly black expected Rg7 Ne6, but now, I'llsacrifice a pawn to get rid of black's rook, his counter-play will be greatlydiminished, next I'll grab the g pawn, and will advance my g and f pawns,while black's king is away from them } 39... Ra8 40. Rb7 { It's a pity after Kxc7I had a surprise axb8=B+!? and black should capture... } 40... Nb5 41. b4 d4 42. Ra6 { pins the c6 pawn, so threatens Rxb5 } 42... Kd5 43. Rb8 { If Rxb8 axb8=Q IfRxa7 Rxb5+ wins the rook next move If Nxa7 Rxa8 enters an 2R vs N endgame } 43... Rxa7 44. Rxb5+ Kc4 1-0
[Event "Niedfeldt Christmas Party Pick-up Game"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2007 12 01"] [Round "-"] [White "David Oliver"] [Black "Erle Pettus"] [Result "0-1"] 1. d4 d5 { I was going to open with an Indian system (1. ... Nf6) but Ithought that it would scare him or annoy him no end, since I'd told himthat I wasn't 'that good.' } 2. c3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 { Preparing for 4. ... c5 } 4. Nf3 { This may not be the actual move; in fact, except where otherwisenoted I'm just playing rough transpositions of the actual move order. } 4... c5 5. Bb5+ { Perhaps no brilliancy, but a sound move. David is no halfwitopponent. } 5... Bd7 6. a4 { Again a sound move that most novice players wouldnot think of. } 6... Qa5 7. Bd2 Bxb5 { But, he is not well-versed in pins. Iquickly grow overconfident. } 8. Na3 Qxa4 9. b3 Qa6 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. b4 Be7 12. Nxb5 Qxb5 13. Qa4 Qc6 { I didn't feel like trading queens; I thoughtI might be able to mount a spectacular center attack and finish the gamequickly if I was patient. } 14. b5 Qc7 15. b6+ Nc6 { I missed that my queenwas en prise and instead blocked with the knight so as to develop simultaneously. } 16. bxc7 O-O { From this point, I do not remember move orders or board positionsuntil what is here Move No. 24. I do remember swearing at myself silently,blocking the passed pawn, and being forced to exchange my knight. } 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. c4 Nxc4 19. Rb1 b6 20. e4 Bc5 21. Bf4 Nxe4 22. Qxc4 h6 { Ino longer recall where in the move orders this fell, but it was close towhat is here Move No. 24. This was not played to relieve pressure on theking, per se, but rather to let my king attack. I figured that if Davidinvested the time to get his queen deep in my backfield (as he had, onoccasion, considered - at one point even playing Qc3, but withdrawing ita few moves later) I could safely run my King out for a moment and perhapseven regain material. } 23. Qa4 Rfe8 24. O-O Rec8 { This board position wasreached later in the evening. David had made various probing attacks intomy backfield with his queen, and I had summoned up the confidence to tellhim that my pieces were all guarded, and that this was the problem withbeing up a queen but down in minor pieces. I negelected to mention that25. Ra1 ... 26. Qxa7 Rxa7 27. Rxa7 can force queening, or that he couldblow the exchange and still be ahead, ignoring a few pawns. } 25. h3 { Ithink David played this move to mirror my h6. I don't believe that hesaw a direction for this game to go with my defenses not budging, and hemay have played this to avoid a theoretical future back rank mate and stalluntil a draw was offerred. } 25... Nc3 { I however did see a direction which wouldgive me much better chances than I had been staring at until moments before. } 26. Qa1 Ne2+ { A decoy attack on the queen! I do not plan to win the exchangeand fall apart in a rapidly approaching endgame, but rather win a bishopcomplements of the house. } 27. Kh2 { I would have recommended Kh1, but thisis not bad until later moves make it so. } 27... Nxf4 28. Qe5 { Not bad, but Isee a way to make it so... } 28... Nd3 { My poor heart was going a mile per minutehere. } 29. Qc3 { A solid move. He is trying to force me to release hispassed pawn and give up my knight and bishop for the cost of a rook onb4. } 29... Nxf2 { My only forward move. If he accepts the exchange I can notfathom where the game would go, but fortunately for me he plays conservatively. } 30. Qe5 Ne4 31. Qf4 { ? He doesn't see what I saw on Move No. 28. } 31... Bd6 32. Qxd6 Nxd6 33. Rbc1 { Trying to save the passed pawn. } 33... Nc4 { Of the lastnine moves, this knight has made eight. He has killed 13 points of material,and attacked another rook, king, and two pawns on top of that. He hasattacked more than 3/4 of the squares on white's side of the board, andnow he secures white's passed pawn. This ends the game, and David's subsequentplay shows it. } 34. Rf4 { Again, the precise move orders may not be correct. The board positions are, however, roughly correct. } 34... Rxc7 35. Kg1 a5 36. Ra1 a4 37. Rf3 a3 38. Rb3 Rb7 39. Kh1 d4 40. Rd3 e5 41. Rb3 b5 42. Rbb1 b4 43. Rd1 b3 44. Kh2 b2 45. Rab1 a2 46. Kg1 axb1=Q 47. Rxb1 Ra1 48. Rxa1 bxa1=Q+ 49. Kh2 Qf1 50. Kg3 Qf4# { This was a very fun game. David is agood player and has some strong non-theoretical ideas, which really givesme a run for my money in fast paced over-the-board play. I probably won'tplay him much anymore since I know I can win from Queen over bishop odds,but still - a very solid player and an excellent game. } 0-1
[Event "TOUGH AS NAILS"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "12-Dec-06"] [Round "-"] [White "floppyjoe"] [Black "paulplatinum"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [BlackElo "1340"] [TimeControl "3d+1d, 5d max"] [WhiteElo "1526"] 1. e4 { e4 Standard opening. } 1... e5 { e5 Standard reply. } 2. f4 { f4 Kings Gambit } 2... Bd6 { Bd6 I don't like this move because it blocks the advance of the d-pawn. } 3. Nf3 { Nf3 White develops a knight. } 3... h6 4. Bc4 { Bc4 White develops a secondpiece putting pressure on the f7 square and exerting influence in the center. } 4... exf4 { exf4 King's Gambit Accepted. } 5. O-O { 0-0 White castles to the kingsideputting more pressure on the f7 square. } 5... Bc5+ { Bc5 Black is not developingproperly but has a king check here. } 6. d4 { d4 Check refuted. } 6... Bb6 7. Bxf4 { Bxd4 White has three pieces developed now as he recaptures a pawn. } 7... g5 { g5 Whites dark square bishop is attacked. } 8. Bd2 { Bd2 White makes a blunderhere. He should have moved the bishop to g3 or maybe e3. } 8... g4 { g4 Blackcontinues pushing the g-pawn and forces the knight to move. Another blunder,perhaps White should have let the pawn take the knight and recapture withthe queen putting more pressure on the f7 square. } 9. Ne5 Bxd4+ { Bxd4 Black capitalizes and gets a free pawn with check. } 10. Kh1 Bxe5 { Bxe5Free knight anyone? } 11. Bxf7+ { Bxf7 The f7 square is sufficiently weakenedand White draws out the king. } 11... Ke7 12. Nc3 { Nc3 White develops his remainingknight. } 12... Nf6 { Nf6 Black develops a knight and tries to trap the white-squarewhite bishop. } 13. Bg6 Qg8 { Qg8 Black keeps pestering the white-squarebishop. } 14. Bf5 Nc6 { Nc6 Black develops another knight. } 15. Bf4 Bxc3 { Bxc3 Black messes up White's queenside pawn structure. } 16. bxc3 d6 17. Qd2 Be6 18. Bxh6 Re8 19. Bf4 Bxf5 20. exf5 Kd7 21. a4 Nh5 { Nh5 Black makesa couple of good knight moves here. } 22. Be3 Ng3+ { Ng3 Kiss the rook goodbye. } 23. Kg1 Nxf1 24. Rxf1 Kc8 25. f6 { f6 White advances the passed f-pawn tocause black some trouble in the back ranks. } 25... Rh7 26. c4 Qxc4 27. a5 Nb4 28. Bxa7 Nxc2 29. Rc1 { Rc1 White tries to trap the Black knight. } 29... Re1+ { Re1 Black forces a swap and loses some of his gained material. } 30. Rxe1 Nxe1 31. Qxe1 Qg8 32. Bf2 Kb8 33. Qe3 { Qe3 White threatens a check at a7and then a possible free queen with a check at a8. } 33... c5 34. Bg3 Qd5 35. Qf4 Qd1+ 36. Qf1 Qxf1+ 37. Kxf1 Kc7 38. Ke2 Rf7 { Rf7 At this point Blacksuggested that the game was over. } 39. Bh4 Kc6 40. Kd3 Kb5 41. Be1 Rxf6 42. h3 Rf1 43. Ke2 Rf4 44. h4 d5 45. h5 d4 46. h6 Rf8 { Rf8 White's passedpawn seems to be causing black some grief. } 47. Bd2 Ka6 48. Kd3 Rf2 49. Kc4 { Kc4 White leaves his bishop undefended in hopes Black will take itand allow the h-pawn to queen. } 49... b6 50. axb6 Kxb6 51. g3 Rf3 52. Bf4 { Bf4Again white tries to trap the rook and make queening along the h-file possible. } 52... Rf1 53. Kd5 d3 54. Kc4 Rxf4+ 55. gxf4 d2 56. h7 d1=Q 57. h8=Q Qa4+ 58. Kd3 Qxf4 59. Qb2+ Kc6 60. Qg2+ Qf3+ { Qf3 It looks like Black has a winningadvantage here. } 61. Qxf3+ gxf3 62. Ke3 Kd5 63. Kxf3 Kd4 64. Ke2 c4 65. Kd2 c3+ 66. Kc2 { Kc2 White blocks the Black pawn advance and a draw isinevitable. } 66... Kc4 67. Kc1 Kd3 68. Kd1 Kc4 69. Kc2 Kb4 70. Kc1 Kb3 71. Kb1 c2+ 72. Kc1 Ka2 73. Kxc2 { Draw } 1/2-1/2
[Event "Apocalypse Attack on the Caro-Kann"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "11-May-08"] [Round "-"] [White "freeman8201"] [Black "delmore"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1500"] [TimeControl "4 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1594"] 1. e4 { This is an attack I use against the Caro-Kann. I found it whilesurfing the web on chess games. If you google Apocalypse attack, you willfind more information on The Kenilworthian: Apocalypse Attack web page.I pick it up because, it takes both the players out of the book moves andI needed a system. Before playing the apocalypse attack I knew of theClassical, Advance, exchange, etc., and etc. But I like this better! InEuorpe, several grandmasters have played this line in tournaments hencewhy I also play it } 1... c6 2. Nf3 { And I saw heaven opened, and beholda white horse... Revelations 19:11 } 2... d5 { The Caro-Kann is a solid defense.I play it. Playing the caro kann has taught me to play defensively, forgocastling and staying in the center with my king and teaching me how tomove my king as a combative piece! Capablanca and Karpov played this aginste4. } 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5 { lo and behold this is the apocalypse attack. If you also notice white has broken classical theory, making two pawnand knight moves in first four moves! The knight on e5 is safe. Black cannotplay f6 due to: Qh5 ;...g6 and I think you know the rest. Notice the opene file, the diagonal a4 to e8, and the Knight attacking c6, d7, f7, g6,g4. } 4... Nf6 { good move. Bad for black is d4 } 5. d4 { Anything that black playsyou ought to play d4. Now if you were to play the classical exchange Caro-Kannand on the fifth move you played nf3 black has the option of playing Bg4pining it against your queen. } 5... g6 { excellent move } 6. Bb5+ Nbd7 7. O-O a6 8. Bxd7+ Nxd7 9. c4 { the neo Panov-Botvinik attack deferred! Joking.There is a neo Panov-Botvinik attack but I just added deferred. } 9... Bg7 10. f4 O-O 11. c5 { ! } 11... Nxe5 12. fxe5 { forming a wedge into my enemies territoryalso a deferred advance, if you will. } 12... e6 13. Bf4 { over proctecing thee5 pawn } 13... Bd7 { Black could have made better use of his light square bishopbut he did not. The bishop remained a bad piece through the whole game } 14. Nd2 { Again over protecting the e5 pawn. The noble knight destinationis f3 then to e5 } 14... b6 15. b4 a5 16. a3 f6 17. Nf3 fxe5 18. Bxe5 axb4 19. axb4 bxc5 20. bxc5 Rxa1 21. Qxa1 Qa8 { ?! Is this dubious? Then I thought.I will do the exchanges, clear the f file for my rook, a centralized knightof e5 and a passed c pawn } 22. Qxa8 Rxa8 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Ne5 Bc8 25. c6 { The power of the passed pawn is its lust to expand! } 25... Ra4 26. Rf7+ Kg8 27. Rc7 { And black resign. I believe premature too. Caro-Kann players tendto have the edge in the endgame and there was game left in this game tobe played. } 1-0
[Event "Israeli 1/8 championship"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "5.10.2010"] [Round "-"] [White "M. Portnoi"] [Black "matsany"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1872"] [TimeControl "2hours +30sec"] [WhiteElo "2210"] { I cant remember any annotation of my that I was showing you that I lostin a game , I am only remember one game that I was drawn in a bad game. but today I choose game that played very well by my opponent and thesad thing of it hat I still could not find my blonder that caused all thismess in the game ,hope you can find it and show me . hope you enjoy thegame . } 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 Bf5 4. Nd2 h6 5. h3 e6 6. Ngf3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. Be2 a6 { Until now , I like my position , my pieces developedwell , the character of the opening doesn't make serious problems for black,and I don't see how white is going to find a way of create any seriousweakens or develop a powerful attack on my king .whites position also finehere , he have a strong pawn structure and he finished his developmentvery fast ,and as I was playing with the black Pisces I also couldn't findan immediate plane to equal the game with more comfy position or get betterposition here . some masters and even IM's told me that a very strong playerin the level of GM who plays this opening as white , if he wants the gamewill be finished in a draw , he will do it with no problem . } 9. O-O c4 { It is similar in positions like Queens gambit , french defense , ext ext... , which black try to get some space in the queens side and limit whiteslight Pisces moves for example ,Nd2 cant move to b3 and than to c5, andBlack is un able to move to d3 to challenge the black bishop on f5 (afterthe knight moves from d2) , however that kind of move have some disadvantageslike it puts down the attention of whites pawn center and its going tobe very hard to break it , and another thing is that I made this move tosoon , it was better to finish my development first and protect my king. } 10. b3 { After blacks 9...c4 , black create some strong pawn structureon the queen side , (e6-d5-c4) and the idea of 10.b3 is to break this structure, there are some rules in chess that explain how to destroy opponents pawnstructure and the best way is from the base of the structure like a housewhich you about to destroy , you strike in the base of the house first, in this case is to attack f7or e6 pawn , but this is impossible hereat the moment , so the other possibility is to attack the first pawn infront which is c4 , usually in order to break pawn structure or ''pawnchain '' we use it in Russian or Hebrew we attack it by pawns only . anotheridea is to open the B file for the rook .the problem with the 10.b3 movethat it creates weakness on the dark squares on whites queens side . } 10... b5 { The idea is to defend c4 pawn and keep the powerful ''chain'' on the queensside , and here I started to wonder if I will be good here when my kingis still un protected . } 11. Ne5 { good move , after white accomplishedhis development , protected his king , white starts to invade blacks camp,black doesn't have time to finish his development (move out his bishopon f8) because of the black knight on c6 which his under attack, and nowthe other knight can go to f3 followed by Qd2 Bh2 g4 f4 .... it seems thatwhites attacking plane on the king side is starting to be clear when theblack king stuck on the center . } 11... Nxe5 12. Bxe5 { Maybe 11...Qb6 was betterwith the idea of protect the knight on c6 and than Be7 and finally 0-0and move out the king from the center , and if 12.Nxc6-Qxc6 13.Nf3-Ba3with the idea of Bb2 and the white rook will be trapped . } 12... Ba3 { As I say before the idea of 12..Ba3 is 13...Bb2 and trap the rook on a1 , althoughit seems that white cant do much to stop that , white find a nice way tostart a very power full attack because of the fact that blacks king stillon the center . by the way that I didn't mention is the another idea of12...Ba3 is to make room for castling and may be the reason that i didn'tcastled is that I thought that whites compensation for the exchange willbe not enough and I was wrong . } 13. bxc4 { good move , white cant avoidblacks threat Bb2 , so he starts capturing some pawns instead , not onlyhe breaks my chain , and even capturing my bishop for his rook , the positionstarts to be exposed .and the black king is going to suffer , here I wasstarting to deep thinking , I saw that if I will wait with 13..Bb2 andmove 13...dxc (not 13...bxc .14.Qa4+followed by Qxa3 and I lost a piece)I realised that after 14.Bf3 -Rc8 (14...Nd5 .15.e4 and whites forks thebishop and the knight ,and the rook can retreat from the attack to b1)now white can decide between 15.Bb7 and do the same thing that I was goingto do in the first place , trapping the rook or 15.e4 attacking the bishopon f5 and close the diagonal h7-b1 which gives white rook an escape sqaureon b1 . } 13... Bb2 { Maybe that was a mistake ,trapping the rook was the beginningfor the end to my position , the fact of the poor position of my king andmy broken queen side gives the idea that blacks exchange advantage is irrelevant. better was 13...0-0 .14.cxb-axb.15.Bxb5-Bb2.16.Bc6 -Ra7 would still giveWhite a nice compensation but here at least I could have some use the factthat exchange advantage it is still vital . } 14. cxb5 Bxa1 15. Qa4 { whiteeven doesnt capture the bishop , the threat is 16.b6+Kf8(16...Qd7.17.b7-Rb8.18.Qxd7+Kxd719.Bxb8-Bxc3.20.Be5-Bxd2.21.b8Q-Rxb8.22.Bxb8 or 19...Rxb8.20.Rxa1 ... if 17....Qxa4?.18.bxa Q+Ke7.19.Qxh8.... } 15... Bxc3 { One mistake leads to another !! better was 15...0-0.16.Rxa1-Qd7.17.Rb1-Ne4...withunclear position . } 16. bxa6+ Nd7 { 16...Kf8 also a playble , but I wantedto keep my castleing chancses,and in case of 17.Bxg7-Rg8 following by Bxh3...,I was also peparring the move f6 Kf7 Re8 Kg8 . } 17. Nb1 Bxb1 18. Bxg7 { It's looks funny that instead of capturing piesces white capturing pawns, however both of the black piesces are under attack .which piesc Blackshould give back ? well it is logical to keep the stronger and lose theweaker , the rook is better than a bishop , but after I made up my mind, I understood that I made the wrong descision . I should gave up my rookand retreat with my bishop to g6 withthe idea to keep out the white rookfrom b1 and stop it to invade to my 7th rank . } 18... Rg8 19. Rxb1 Rxg7 20. Rb7 f6 21. Qc6 { Attacking the bishop on c3 and the pawn on e6 . } 21... Rc8 22. Qxe6+ Kf8 23. Qd6+ Re7 24. Bb5 { Attacking the knight which its pined to protectf6 pawn , It is amazing that even black have big materiel advantage , arook and a knight vs 4 pawns , black can do nothing to use it . } 24... Ke8 25. Qxf6 Rf7 { Black must trade queens , and maybe give up a piesce for thepassing pawn a , thats the only way to survive the attack . } 26. Qe6+ Kf8 { the only right move , not 26...Re7??.27.Qg8#, and if 26...Qe7.27.Bxd7+andblack is losing evrything . } 27. Qxh6+ { Black resigns ... I couldn't takeit any longer , because of the fact that I was going to lose all my pawnsone by one , I didn't see any way how to stop the a pawn advancing to queenwith out losing big material . I felt simply lost here , what could blackdo here ? if 27...Rg7.28.Rxd7 attacking the queen and the pined rook ong7 , if 27...Ke8.28.Qe6+Kf8.29.Bxd7, 28...Qe7.29.Bxd7+, 27...Re7??.28.Qg8#, 27...Kg8.28.Qg6+Re7.29.Qe6+Kf8.30.Bxd7...and , thank you hope you enjoythe game , remember , losing it is also part of the game , but the importantthing is to learn from my mistakes and always try to find when I can dobetter next time , this lose was very pain full but it showed me thatI should not always hurry to make moves with out checking 100 times thatit will be OK , I always need to take care of my king firs and than attacklatter if I can , and analyse the position more carefully and if it takesspend more time , thank you :) } 1-0
[Event "Let's play chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.01.19"] [Round "-"] [White "rainbow6"] [Black "thechill"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1194"] [TimeControl "3 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1200"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Nxd7 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 { The gamestarts with a series of sacrifices, and white with a slight developmentadvantage. } 6... g6 7. b3 Bg7 8. Bb2 { Both players want to capture the opposingrook with their bishops. } 8... e6 9. Nxe6 { White threatens the queen while revealingthe bishop, looking to attack while the queen retreats... } 9... Qa5+ { ...butthe queen forces white to make a defensive move instead. } 10. Qd2 Qxd2+ 11. Nxd2 Bxb2 { Black gains a tempo, and material. } 12. Rb1 Bc3 13. Nc7+ { However, the threat to the bishop results in a knight fork, and blackloses a rook. } 13... Kd8 14. Nxa8 Ngf6 15. f3 d5 16. exd5 Re8+ 17. Kd1 Nxd5 18. Re1 Ne5 19. h3 Kd7 20. Re4 { White is very cramped. He decides to move therook into play. } 20... f6 21. Ra4 Rxa8 22. Ne4 Ne3+ 23. Ke2 Nxg2 24. Nxc3 Re8 { A clever move; the knight will be moved to reveal the check from behind.White must move his king out of the way. } 25. Rd1+ Kc6 26. Kf2 Nf4 27. Rxf4 Re6 28. Ra4 a6 29. Rb4 b5 30. f4 Nd7 31. Re4 Rxe4 { White, ahead inmaterial, offers a rook exchange. Black, not wanting to retreat, accepts. } 32. Nxe4 f5 33. Ng5 Nf6 34. Rd8 Nd7 35. Rh8 Nf6 36. Nxh7 Ne4+ 37. Kf3 Kc5 38. Ra8 Kb6 39. Ng5 Nd2+ { A pointless check; it achieves nothing. } 40. Ke2 Nb1 41. Rg8 Nc3+ { A much better knight fork. } 42. Kd3 Nxa2 43. Rxg6+ Ka5 44. Rf6 Nb4+ 45. Kc3 { Possibly the worst move available. It opens thedoor for the knight fork, Nd5!+ } 45... Nd5+ 46. Kd4 Nxf6 47. Ke5 Nh5 48. Kxf5 Ng3+ 49. Kg4 Ne2 50. h4 Kb4 51. h5 Nd4 52. h6 Nxc2 53. h7 Kxb3 54. h8=Q Ka4 55. Qe5 a5 56. Qe4+ Nb4 57. f5 Ka3 58. f6 { The second pawn is now unstoppable.Faced with the prospect of two queens, Black resigns. } 1-0
[Event "Guarituba Master Challenge M.T."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.08.17"] [Round "-"] [White "foulway"] [Black "mariodag"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1342"] [TimeControl "5d+2d<7d"] [WhiteElo "1299"] 1. c4 { Write comments or rate the game if you want... } 1... e5 { i played e5to have more opportunities later...i don't think c4 help white at all. } 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. e3 Nc6 { i'm trying to be typical withno mistakes in the opening. } 6. Nge2 Nb4 7. d4 { d4 did not help whiteat all. } 7... exd4 8. exd4 Bb6 9. O-O O-O { After 9 moves the game is still equal.Maybe he slightly has the upper hand. } 10. a3 Nc6 11. d5 { Bad move forme. he did not win anything and my horse's mobility rises. } 11... Ne5 { With Ne5my horse is becoming more energetic. } 12. b3 c5 { i wanted to have spacein the centre. } 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bf4 Re8 15. Qc2 Neg4 16. h3 Ne5 17. g4 { g4again is a bad move. a move with no reason. } 17... g5 18. Bg3 Ng6 { now i wantedto sacrifise my horsie. } 19. Rad1 { The castle is moving with no reasonagain. } 19... Nh4 { That is what i wanted to do. } 20. Bxh4 gxh4 { and now the h4pawn is really strong. } 21. Nf4 Ba5 { i wanted to eat horsie } 22. Rfe1 Bxc3 23. Qxc3 a6 24. b4 b6 25. Re2 Bd7 26. Rde1 { worthless effort withthe castles. } 26... Ba4 27. Nh5 Nxh5 28. gxh5 Bd7 29. bxc5 bxc5 30. Bf3 { REallybad move. Now i'm starting my attack. } 30... Qg5+ 31. Bg4 { bad defence. it wouldbe better for him to move the king. } 31... f5 { for me f5 is one of most importantmoves in the game. also white's queen is just looking and she's not participatingat all. } 32. f3 fxg4 33. hxg4 Rf8 { THe castle is moving for support. } 34. Re7 { Bad move with no reason. instead he'd have protected his king better. } 34... Rf7 { Typical reply. } 35. Rxf7 Kxf7 36. Qd3 { i really don't know what he'sthinking. } 36... Rg8 { i move the castle there for my king's protection. } 37. Qc3 { Definately worthless move again. } 37... Qf4 { with that move i'm going forcheckmate. Still his queen is sleeping. } 38. Re4 { No reason to do thatas i'm going for check anyway. } 38... Qg3+ { check and checkmate is so close. } 39. Kf1 h3 { this pawn made the difference remember? } 40. Re2 { Bad replyagain. and also he's blocking his king. } 40... h2 { i wanted another queen. } 41. Qe3 { now is too late. } 41... h1=Q+ { and another queen and the game is over.ckeckmate with just a queen and a pawn. and then he resigned. } 0-1
[Event "No queens or knights... how will you do? III"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2009.03.24"] [Round "-"] [White "aspiemikey"] [Black "tootsie"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1226"] [TimeControl "3d+1d<5d"] [WhiteElo "1349"] 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 Rf8 10. Bc4 Rxf2 { I get put under pressurehere... } 11. g3 d6 12. d3 Bg4+ 13. Ke1 Kd7 14. h3 Bf3 15. Rf1 Re2+ 16. Kd1 Rf8 17. Rxf3 Rxf3 18. Kxe2 { ...but manage to relieve some of it. } 18... Rxg3 19. h4 Rh3 20. Bg5 a6 21. Rf1 Rh2+ 22. Kd1 Kc6 23. Rf7 Rh1+ 24. Kd2 h6 25. Bd8 Rh2+ 26. Kc3 Bd4+ 27. Kb3 { My king gets some shelter here } 27... a5 28. Rxc7+ Kb6 29. Rxg7+ { Rook and roll! } 29... Ka7 30. Bd5 Rh1 31. Rxb7+ Ka6 32. Ka4 Ra1 33. b4 Rxa2+ 34. Bxa2 Kxb7 35. bxa5 { A tactic which paid off! } 35... Kc8 36. Bf6 Kc7 37. Bg7 h5 38. Bf7 Kc6 39. Bxh5 Kb7 40. Bg6 { My pawn isin the clear here } 40... Ka6 41. h5 Bc3 42. h6 Bd2 43. h7 Bf4 44. h8=Q Kb7 45. Qd8 Be3 46. Qxd6 Bd2 47. Qd5+ Ka7 48. Qd7+ { My opponent decides enoughis enough } 1-0
[Event "I looked surprised but..."] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "29-Nov-08"] [Round "-"] [White "mrvroom"] [Black "fatcat2"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1388"] [TimeControl "7 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1190"] 1. d4 { Watch me being laid low by a well-planned attack on the king! } 1... Nf6 2. Nc3 { Not the most common move, but perfectly playable. } 2... d5 3. Bg5 Nbd7 { I have a feeling that wasn't a common move either. But I was planningto fianchetto my light-squared bishop and this move seemed fine. } 4. Nf3 e6 5. e4 dxe4 6. Nxe4 { I can already see the shadows of an attack gathering.But as yet there is nothing I can't easily defend against. } 6... Be7 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Nfg5 { My opponent is clearly coming in for an attack.Obviously 9...Nxf6 will make me lose a pawn, so I try to prevent that. } 9... h6 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. Nh7 { I can see that this isn't looking OK for Blackany more. But I am still confident. } 11... Re8 12. Qg4 { I could at the time see2 options. One was to blunt the queen's attack line with 12...g6, and after13.Nxf6 Qxf6 White has no attack left. Or I could have played a 'waitingmove' - I had 12...Bd7 in mind - and Black's position is sound. } 12... g6 13. Bxg6 { Ah. Perhaps I should have gone for the waiting move. White's queenhas an unobstructed attack line, so I decided to take the bishop, whichwould give me a win IF White's attack failed. } 13... fxg6 14. Qxg6+ Kh8 { My onlymove. } 15. Nxf6 { Let's face it, checkmate is inevitable in a maximum of2 moves. I just want to hang on as long as possible. } 15... Re7 16. Qxh6+ Rh7 17. Qxh7# { Congratulations to you, mrvroom - you thought that attack outreally well. } 1-0
[Event "The Runaway Queen"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2011.07.21"] [Round "-"] [White "gamebob"] [Black "rich_sposato"] [Result "0-1"] [BlackElo "1587"] [TimeControl "Blitz Time: 5 min + 10 sec"] [WhiteElo "1701"] 1. g4 { I rarely see this opening, and I think the last time I rememberseeing it was from studying a 19th century game. I'm sure the pawn is bait... } 1... d5 { ... but I think I can play this to my advantage, so I move outto the center and threaten to take the baited pawn. } 2. Bg2 Bxg4 { I takethe bait and ... } 3. c4 { ... white offers another poisoned pawn. Havingstudied this opening in a 19th century game, I know not to take the secondpawn. If I do, the white bishop takes b7 and then takes a8 one move later.For the gain of two pawns, black loses a pawn and a rook. } 3... Be6 { I pullthe bishop back to protect my own pawn. This move block's the king's pawnand hence makes it harder for my dark square bishop to get out and jointhe fight. } 4. Qa4+ { I guessed white would bring the queen out early toput me in check. Possible responses are to bring back the bishop to d7and threaten the queen, move the knight to c6 to block the queen's attack,block with my own queen, or use a lowly pawn. Regardless of black's move,I suspect white will move the queen to b4 and threaten the unprotectedb7 pawn. } 4... c6 5. Qb4 { I'm not surprised at the queen move. My options areto push the b7 pawn or move the queen to protect it. } 5... b6 6. cxd5 Bxd5 7. Bxd5 { White decides to take out black's bishop, take control over the center,and have a momentary advantage in material. Here, I can retake white'sbishop with the pawn and be 1 pawn up, but that advantage is too momentarysince white can go Qb5+ Nd7, Qxd5 followed by either e6 or Nf6. } 7... e6 { Surprise#1! I can threaten the bishop and queen in one move. } 8. Bxc6+ { A logicalway for white to regain tempo and avoid losing the bishop when moving thequeen. } 8... Nxc6 { Now I have two threats on the white queen. A goal for thenext few moves is to get my queen onto the main diagonal where I can takeout the exposed rook on h1. } 9. Qb5 Qc7 10. Nf3 { White moves pieces toput pressure on the pinned black knight. } 10... Bc5 { Move the bishop out so Ican use the other black knight for support. } 11. Ne5 Ne7 { Not only ismy second knight ready to provide support to the first but the king cannow castle to safety. } 12. Nxc6 Nxc6 { A predictable exchange of knights. } 13. e3 O-O { And the king moves to safety thus allowing the pinned knightto move freely. } 14. f4 a6 { Black develops a pawn and puts pressure onthe white queen. } 15. Qd3 Rfd8 { The rook takes control over the half-openfile and puts more pressure on the white queen. } 16. Qe4 Nb4 { The knightmoves towards the tempting c2 square where it can fork the king and rook.Unfortunately, there is a queen protecting that spot, so I shall have tomove the bishop out of the way of my own queen first. } 17. a3 { But whiteobviously doesn't want my knight that close. } 17... Nd5 18. Rg1 { Looks like whiteis planning a kingside attack with the rook and queen. } 18... Nf6 { I move theknight over to kingside. In retrospect, I could have left the knight ond5 and sacrificed the bishop with an attack on e3. If white retakes e3to prevent me from taking the rook on g1, then my queen has an open shotat the white bishop on c1. That would force the white king to move to f2to protect the rook against another queen attack. I could then have movethe rook from d8 to d1 to further threaten the white rook on g1. } 19. Qg2 { White lines up the queen for a mate threat. } 19... g6 { So I have to push thepawn forward. } 20. h4 a5 21. h5 Nxh5 { Woohoo! Free pawn! } 22. Qg5 { Butthe cost of taking the free pawn is the loss of tempo. If I don't movethe knight now, white will take it for free with the queen. The pinnedpawn on g6 offers no support for the knight. } 22... Ng7 23. Qh6 Bf8 { Move thebishop out of the way of my queen. } 24. Rh1 { Very serious mate threat here. } 24... Qxc1+ { Surprise #2! This is the move I should have done 6 moves sooner- if I saw the bishop sacrifice back then. } 25. Ke2 { King moves to safety. } 25... Qxh1 { I must must sacrifice the queen by taking the rook to remove themate threat. If Qc4+ instead, the king would just move to safety againand my own queen would have no recourse for stopping the mate threat. } 26. Qxh1 { At this point, both sides are 'even' in material in that bothhave the same sum of points of pieces on the board. However, I'd say blackhas two advantages. One advantage is that black has more pieces, and thereforemore ability to project power. The second advantage is that black has developedmore pieces. } 26... Nf5 { Move the knight out so it can go to the g3 square andfork the king and queen. } 27. Qc6 { I guess white saw the fork and alsosaw the unprotected pawn on b6. } 27... Rab8 { Move rook to protect pawn. In hindsight,I could have also move the bishop out to protect it, but at the time Iwas thinking of moving the bishop to g7 so it can attack white's unprotectedpawn. } 28. Nc3 Rdc8 { Once again, I move a rook to take over an open fileand to scare the queen away. } 29. Qe4 { With the queen there, I can nowdo my knight fork like I planned 3 moves ago. I guess white didn't seethe knight fork potential back then. } 29... Ng3+ { After Surprise #3 white decidedto honorably resign. Upon reviewing the game, I noticed white moved thequeen in 11 out of 29 turns. White's tactics depended on using the queenoften, and thereby placing the queen in high risk positions. I usuallyresponded to the queen moves by developing rooks, minor pieces, and pawns.6 of the white queen moves were in response to threats against her so shewas often moving defensively. By move 26, white still had two undevelopedpieces while black's pieces were projecting power over many squares. } 0-1
[Event "Quick Chess"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/"] [Date "2010.07.19"] [Round "-"] [White "soccer14"] [Black "asam"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1255"] [TimeControl "2 days per move"] [WhiteElo "1321"] 1. e4 { Here is another quick win! Ended in 20 minutes! Anyways, as always,I play the e4 opening. } 1... e5 { Standard response. } 2. Nf3 { Sometimes I playthe Ruy Lopez, but here I am aiming for a 4 knights game. } 2... f6 { Huge mistake!This opens the floodgates. } 3. Nxe5 { But first i need to get the knightout of the way. And not only did I manage to get it out of the way, butnow I have made it possible to launch an attack. Now don't misinterprete,I never!!! attack early. But it was a game for fun, and I decided to tryto attack his weakness. } 3... fxe5 4. Qh5+ { Now this move forces him to do oneof two things. Either play g6, and Qxe5 claims the rook, or he can movehis king forward. Personally, I would prefer to keep material where possible,and I would move ke7. } 4... Ke7 5. Qxe5+ { Now I am going to force him all overthe board. This is similar to another one of my annotations, but this onerequires more work. } 5... Kf7 { ... } 6. Bc4+ { Now the bishop comes out, forcinghim to move to g6, he is now defenseless, with no developed pieces. } 6... Kg6 { ... } 7. Qf5+ { Now, had I played d4 before this it would be a checkmate.But I saw a semi-forced checkmate, and I didn't want to give him a freemove to improve his position. So force him there, then put him in checkagain. } 7... Kh6 { ... } 8. d4+ { Take more centre control in case my attack fails,while putting him in a revealed check. He could always play Qg5, but thenQxg5 is a checkmate. His only viable option is g5. } 8... g5 { As I said, hisonly option... } 9. h4 { Now I am challenging the pawn. Here I hope he triesto protect the pawn, so that the revealed check with the rook would sendhim into disarray, and a possible checkmate. } 9... Be7 { He falls for it, notseeing the revealed check. There is now a forced checkmate in 2. } 10. hxg5+ { His only legal option is kg7, and I can mate him in this position. } 10... Kg7 11. Qf7# { Here the bishop protects the king. Another fast checkmate.Let me know what you think. } 1-0