An interesting finish to the game, with what I think is a rather pretty sacrifice. I made the mistake of running this game through Fritz and it just laughed at me :(
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
A French Defence. Black aims to set up a strong point on d5 and get some counterplay going on the Queenside, but is often subjected to attacks on the Kingside. A very double-edge way of playing. I have problems facing the Winawer as the positions are so chaotic they can turn from apparently easy wins to crushing defeats in a single move.
3. Nb1c3 Bf8b4
A Winawer. This game turns out well for me, but I don't have a good record facing this move either online or over the board.
4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bb4xc3 6. bxc3 Ng8e7 7. Qd1g4
The Poison Pawn variation. It used to be considered suicidal for Black to castle here, but it has since been found to be safe to do so (although you need strong nerves as White usually gets a strong attack going). The other option is not to castle and let White grab a pawn or 2. The idea is that Black develops and gets ready to attack White's King whilst the White Queen is messing around in the far corner.
7... O-O
Black plays safe and castles. I like this as the pawn offer turns the position into complete madness. I've started refusing the pawn on g7 even if Black plays Qc7 and just carried on developing in other games.
8. Bf1d3
Pointing the Bishop at the h7 square. The one that cries out "sacrifice here!" I do sacrifice there, but not yet.
8... c4
Unexpected. This closes the position and also robs Black of much of his counterplay on the Queenside. I considered sacrificing on h7, but convinced myself it achieves nothing.
9. Bd3e2 Qd8a5 10. Bc1d2 Nb8d7
It's hard to see where Black's counterplay is going to come from. All I can think of is f6 to exchange some pawns in the center, but this weakens the King position. So I'm pretty happy here.
11. f4
I can delay castling here as there is no threat to my King. I am intending to castle Kingside, but no need to rush as there is no way for Black to exploit my King being in the center.
11... f5
A double-edged move. It stops my f-pawn from advancing and makes it hard to do anything with my dark-squared bishop, but it leaves e6 rather weak.
Hmm. Should I have played this? The rook looks really odd on a2 and it is out of play. Maybe I should have let him take the c2 pawn as it isn't a significant piece. I was a little worried about the light-squared bishop getting into my position.
