Ragnorak's second attempt at annotating

Here's a game which finished today.

I'm sure there are mistakes in the game, but a couple of the moves are quite instructional.

[Event "Clan league"]
[Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"]
[Date "2006.03.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dragofonz"]
[Black "Ragnorak"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "1854137"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e3 e6 4. Be2 Nf6 5. f4 d5 6. d4 cxd4 7. exd4 dxc4 8. Bxc4
Qxd4
{Winning the pawn, and suggesting the exchange, with the forcing Nxd4 to follow} 9.
Qxd4 Nxd4 10. Bd3 Bc5 11. Nb5 Nxb5 12. Bxb5+ Nd7 13. Bd2 a6
{Offering exchange to gain bishop pair and develop bishop} 14. Bxd7+ Bxd7 15.
O-O-O {Poor move. Develops King onto open file} Rc8 {Developing rook onto open King's file.} 16. Kb1 Bc6
{Another forcing move. Develops bishop to a better square} 17. Nf3 Be4+ $3
{Excellent positional move. Forcing king into corner and introducing threat of back rank mate}
18. Ka1 O-O 19. Bc3 Bd5 20. Rhe1 f6 21. f5 Bxf3 22. gxf3 exf5 23. Rd5 g6 24. Re6
Bb4
{Move 17 now pays off, allowing black to win the pawn and exchange off more pieces while 2 pawns up. Exchange also weakens white's pawns by isolating them.}
25. Rd3 Bxc3 26. bxc3 Rf7
{Taking control of the crucial 2nd/7th rank and preventing white from getting 1 (or more) rooks on there to attack the weak backward pawns and trap the king on the back rank}
27. Kb2 Rc4 28. Rd4 Rxd4 29. cxd4 Rd7 30. Kc3 Kf7 {Activating king in endgame}
31. Rb6 g5 32. h3 h5 33. Kd3 g4 34. fxg4 fxg4 35. hxg4 hxg4 36. Ke4 Kg6 37. d5
Kg5 38. d6 f5+ 39. Kd5 Kf6
{Blocking king from attacking black rook via e6 until pawns are more advanced}
40. a4 g3 41. Rb2 f4 42. Re2 Kf5 43. Re5+ Kg4 44. Ke6 Rxd6+
{Sacrificing rook for white's very dangerous passed pawn.} 45. Kxd6 g2 46. Re1
f3 47. Ke5 f2 48. Re4+ Kg3 49. Re3+ Kh2 0-1

Move 17 forces the king into the corner (or else a blunder), away from the action as we approach the endgame, and winning a vital tempo as white has to address the threat of the back rank mate.

I thought I'd blown it by move 42, as I didn't really see a way of protecting my rook and pawns. He could exchange off the rooks on e7 if I moved my king outside the square of the passed pawn, and I tried to retain material parity. I decided to protect the pawns with the king, and sac the rook for his dangerous passed pawn, knowing that my opponent couldn't prevent one of my connected passed pawns from queening.

D

Originally posted by Ragnorak
Here's a game which finished today.

I'm sure there are mistakes in the game, but a couple of the moves are quite instructional.

[Event "Clan league"]
[Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"]
[Date "2006.03.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dragofonz"]
[Black "Ragnorak"]
[Result "0-1"]
[GameId "1854137"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. e3 e6 4. Be2 Nf6 5. f4 d5 6. ...[text shortened]... nt couldn't prevent one of my connected passed pawns from queening.

D

The endgame was very nice. I enjoyed playing through the game and reading the annotations.

I just have a few criticisms:-

On move 8, instead of Bxc4, White could have kept his pawn by playing the obvious 8.Nf3 and taken on c4 at a later stage. Black would only be slightly better.

On move 12, I didn't understand why Black retreated his knight to d7, instead of playing the obvious Bd7, bringing out his undeveloped bishop. Also 12... Ke7 looks better. The King would be quite safe in the centre and would be ideally placed for the coming endgame.

On move 14. White should have simply retreated the bishop to d3 or e2 (the knight on d7 then looks a bit silly). Why let Black have the two bishops?

On move 18, I would have preferred Ke7, keeping the King in the centre, rather than castling.

Overall though, a good game by Ragnorak. Thanks for posting it.