Annotated Game - Cludi vs Weyerstrass

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed, I'll probably get called names, others will
certainly jest... Some still will accuse, and many will provoke.


The game choice is interesting, certainly, and thats why I share it. The game is played
by two very good chess personalities. No matter how any player tries to slice it down,
no matter how any person calls it black, false, disgusting, incorrect, wrong, cheating,
or any other of the millions of possible lewd terms; these two players represent a pinnacle
of chess play with each set of pieces. That in itself, makes the game worth mention,
and certainly worth study.

Where did this come from? It was a choice for my clan Knightmare - where I'm
sharing annotated games and analysis. This game was a selection for one of my new
threads titled "RHP's best" which I intend to include games of well educated play.
I'll do my best to disect all of them, and annotate them as simply as possible. These
annotations are intended for players circa 1400-1600. There are a few dishes to
stronger and weaker players, but the overall intention is meant for the aforementioned
group.

Without any further ado; this is my annotation of Cludi vs Weyerstrass.
Played in Long Haul Grouped X - Game 2580861 and is one of four matches. This
is the only draw, the other 3 were won by Weyerstrass.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2
{French defense - Tarrasch} c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4

{Tarrasch Open} Nf6 6. exd5 Nxd5

{Transposition! With Nxd5, black has opted
for a Sicilian with e6!} 7. N2f3 Be7 8. g3

{White shows that more than one
transposition is possible! - g3 plays into a Queens Pawn open game with the
fianchetto.} O-O 9. Bg2 Bd7 10. O-O Nc6

{With this, Black has built a Sicilian
Taimanov.} 11. c4 {Brave! Resembling the catalan-closed!} Nf6 12. Qe2 Rc8 13.
b3

{With this, White has built a neo-catalan (A14 English Catalan Declined)
with the dual fianchetto's. Here whites d4 becomes a focal point, a
centralization point for his minor and major pieces, and thus white's plan
will be to coordinate his pieces towards d4.} Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Qb6 15. Bb2

{
Complete Hyper-Modern central dominance, dominating the center with pieces
rather than pawns, and supporting central posts with rooks - to come.} Rfd8 {
Black has quietly played into Taimanov theory - the bishop pair will slice
across the board like a pair of scissors, and the rooks bare down an open, and
semi-open file, with a perfect pawn structure.} 16. Rad1 {The central square
d4 is over-protected, and the posted knight is more powerful - and valuable.}
Bc5 {Black must respond to the posted Knight, and the domination of the center
squares.} 17. Rd2 {Preparing to load the d-file, pointing yet more energy
towards d4.} Be8 {Opening the d-file, quietly keeping the bishop active, and
protecting the back rank from tactics.} 18. Rfd1

{coordinating all of whites
pieces towards the center.} Rd6 {Black intends to respond with his own attack
on d4.} 19. Nf3 {Defending d2, and opening the d-file - attacking the knight
on f6.} Rcd8

20. Rxd6 Rxd6 21. Rxd6 Qxd6
{After the exchange, whites
fianchetto is still effective! White is dominating the e5 square - A knight
can once again radiate!} 22. Ne5 {Posting the Knight to a defended square in
the center of the board. Opening a discovered attack on b7.} b6

{Creating a
Queenside pawn chain, and removing the attack on the b7 pawn. Protects the
Bishop, making it a posted central piece.} 23. h3
{The engines like Qd3 here,
but Jensen is right! h3 creates a pawn fortress, and opens up Kh2 releasing
the pin on f2 for f4 to protect the central knight. h3 quietly improves
whites position.} Bd4 {Creating more pressure on e5, and attacking the square
before it can be defended again, or the posted knight becomes more problematic.
} 24. Bxd4 Qxd4 25. b4

{An odd choice - weakening whites Queenside pawn
structure, and creating an endgame liability with queens on the board - Jensen
is being gutzy... slightly better is to get the knight to c6, forking the a
pawn and the queen - Bc6 Bxc6 Nxc6.. and best is Qd7 defending the pawn and
attacking the knight. This would leave an extraordinarily even endgame.} Ba4 {
Getting behind whites pawns, looking to punish the pawn liability on the
queenside, black develops a piece into white space.} 26. b5 Bd1 27. Qe3 Qxe...

... Qxe3
28. fxe3

{Black quietly leaves the bishop in white space, dominating his
opponents light squares.} Ne8 29. Nc6

{Posting the knight powerfully in the
enemy camp, attacking the a7 pawn.} Nd6 30. Bf1 Nc8 31. Bd3 f6 32. Kf2

{
Defending whites light square weakness.} Kf7 33. g4 {Defending the light
squares, and shutting in the light squares bishop.} g6
{clogging the kingside,
and dominating the 5th rank.} 34. e4 {disputing the 5th.} e5 {Shutting in
whites light sqaured bishop - making the piece nearly non effective. Greatly
diminishes the pieces value.} 35. g5

{intending to break apart blacks strong
kingside pawn chain.} a6 {looking to return the favor - break up the queenside
white pawn chain. Also, upon acceptance releases blacks light squared bishop
into space.} 36. bxa6 Ba4 37. Nb4 fxg5
{Accepting the pawn exchange, at the
cost of disseminating blacks pawn chain.} 38. Nd5 {Whtie posts his knight to a
central square, perhaps its most dominant square yet.} Bd7 {Placing the bishop
on the most open light diagnals in the black camp.} 39. Kg3 {Defending the
attacked pawn.} h5

{taking space on the kingside, where black has a pawn
majority.} 40. Nc7 {Intending to get to b5, this move briefly attacks many
light squares in the black camp.} Ke7 41. Nb5 Kd8
{The kingside is shut, but
black must be weary of white queenside possibilities.} 42. Bc2 {Making a once
useless piece - active.} Bc6 {Tying whites bishop to its diagnal, and stopping
the c pawn.} 43. Kf3
{Untying the bishop from its defensive duty.} Ne7 44. Nd6
{Intending to fork the King and g5 pawn.} Kc7

{Attacking the Knight, removing
the forking possibility, and nearing the white Queenside pawn majority for
defense.} 45. Nf7 {A new fork! g5 and e5!} Bd7 {attacking the h pawn, but
most importantly defends the g pawn, as it also defends g4 allowing the push!}
46. Kg3 h4+ 47. Kg2 g4 48. hxg4 Bxg4
{Blacks kingside pawns are beginning to
march.} 49. Nxe5 {attacking the bishop, and gaining the pawn.} Bc8 {Gaining
the pawn.} 50. a7 Kb7 51. Nf3
{Attacking the nearly problematic h pawn.} h3+ {
walking into the defense of the bishop} 52. Kg3 Kxa7 53. Ng5
{Once again
threatening the pesky pawn.} Nc6 54. Nxh3 {Finally extinguishing a nemesis.}
Bxh3 {The light bishop will no longer be valuable in this space, as the pawns
near the edge of the board, the bishop leaves central space and becomes weaker
- a knight is more valuable now.} 55. Kxh3
Ne5 {The value of a knight in the
center, and attacking seperated isolated pawns, becomes apparent.} 56. Kh4 Kb7
57. Kg5 {Both sides share liabilties, but after black loses g6, white loses e5,
and black can defend the a and c pawns easily.} 1/2-1/2


-GIN

No flaming from me. Thanks for posting this great game and analysis. I have been going through some of the games like this on the site, too, looking for how the big boys get things done.

I'm also fascinated by the transition between middle and end, move 32, when they both play Kf2 and Kf7 in unison. Somehow they were both prepared to play this move at the same time. Then you look back and see how they've been planning it for 10 moves. Fun, and thanks again for putting the time into the analysis and posting all the FEN's. Keep them coming.

Originally posted by allostery
No flaming from me. Thanks for posting this great game and analysis. I have been going through some of the games like this on the site, too, looking for how the big boys get things done.

I'm also fascinated by the transition between middle and end, move 32, when they both play Kf2 and Kf7 in unison. Somehow they were both prepared to play this move ks again for putting the time into the analysis and posting all the FEN's. Keep them coming.

These moves are pretty simple - not something that takes long term focus to plan them
out either. When the material starts falling off the board, its time for the king to
become an active piece.

Was it planned? - Yes, but no. It certainly wasn't a move that took extensive analysis
to be named as a candidate. It was foreseen however, it was understood long before
the endgame began. Bringing the king into the game was a move on principle, along with
allowing the pawns to take space in the moves to follow.

If there is anything to be mentioned with Kf7, its the sheistyness of it. Kf7 leaves a
pawn En Prise! White won't make such a silly mistake as Bxh7 though... as g6! traps
the piece. This is what makes the move mentionable at all I'd say. Having the
familiarity, and confidence in the endgame to knowingly make such moves, and to look
for them to gain time... many rookies might play h6 to release the pressure, but this
gains black nothing, as white will play Kf2 and gain proximity to the center. However
playing Kf7 gains space, and allows black to bring his pawns to the 6th rank, and
dominate the space on the 5th rank. Black here probably had a feeling of "stopping
the queenside pawns, and countering with his own march" This is why black should
have, and did, adopt such a pawn structure. A structure which would be impossible
with h7 - but became a reality with the King move.

P.S - Your response is appreciated, glad to see someone read through the game and
stood to gain from it. Very much appreciated friend.
-GIN

Originally posted by Nowakowski
However playing Kf7 gains space, and allows black to bring his pawns to the 6th rank, and dominate the space on the 5th rank. Black here probably had a feeling of "stopping the queenside pawns, and countering with his own march" This is why black should have, and did, adopt such a pawn structure. A structure which would be impossible with h7 - but became a reality with the King move.
-GIN

Yeah, uh, right, I was going to say that, but didn't want to show you up too much on your own annotation 😉

I have relatively little experience with that sort of calculated end-game play. Most of my games here are decided/resigned before this, or are blundered very quickly into them, leaving me no way to distinguish Kf7 from h6. Usually I just hit the analyze board and slide pieces around for 20 min or so until I'm convinced my move choice isn't a mistake.

It's fun to watch replays of Mark McGwire's home runs, too.

Originally posted by Nowakowski
I'm sure I'm going to get flamed, I'll probably get called names, others will
certainly jest... Some still will accuse, and many will provoke.


The game choice is interesting, certainly, and thats why I share it. The game is played
by two very good chess personalities. No matter how any player tries to slice it d ...[text shortened]... and is one of four matches. This
is the only draw, the other 3 were won by Weyerstrass.

Flame on! Black? Or something else lewd?

Originally posted by no1marauder
It's fun to watch replays of Mark McGwire's home runs, too.

Especially if Sammy Sosa is doing the commentary.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
Especially if Sammy Sosa is doing the commentary.

Always nice to have the respect of the minor league players.

Originally posted by Nowakowski
Always nice to have the respect of the minor league players.

finally! i can post on this thread.
I've wanted to, but forum bans make that rather difficult.
Excellent analysis Nowa, it was a fun read all the way through.
he also annotated a blitz game i had on this site.
It was a good game to the end where I made a time-control mistake and he returned the favor. The difference was, I already had a healthy advantage and could afford my mistake (which was more of a missed opportunity than anything else. I will post the game with Nowa's analysis asap.

[Event "RHP Blitz rated"]
[Site "www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2010.02.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Big Orange Country"]
[Black "sami vuori"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e6 {A French defense type pawn structure}
5. c3 {The colle system - pawn structure} c5 {Tarrasch type pawn structure -
possible transpositions into sicilian systems} 6. Nbd2 {Typical colle -
attacking e4, looking to reduce the possibility of an outposted knight on the
e4 square.} Qb6 {Threatening b2, and perhaps more importantly, attacking d4.}
7. Rb1 {Protecting b2} Bd6 {Black doesn't want to trade his strong bishop for
whites bad bishop - which is isolated on the kingside outside of his pawn
structure. Bd6 is a slight -} 8. Ne5 {posting a knight - black must be weary,
white may recapture with a pawn and fork blacks pieces if Nxe4, or be forced
to exchange a good bishop for the Knight.} Bxe5 9. dxe5 Ng8 10. Bd3 {Bd3 is a
good developing move - it activates the bishop, and accelerates a Kingside
castle. Perhaps better however - is Qg4, attacking the Black kingside, and
entering a poison pawn type system where white leads in development, space,
and has no queenside pawn liabilities. Bd3 begs black to play c5, which may
be a bit clogging for whites current piece coordination.} Ne7 {Black must play
this, he must castle soon, and he must develop his pieces or risk falling
further behind in development.} 11. Qf3 {O - O seems a more natural
continuation} Ng6 {An attempt to gain a tempi by relocation, and centralize
the knight} 12. Qg3 {Better may be Bxg6, removing blacks ability to castle -
however its rather equal, blacks strong pawn structure certainly allows the
king to remain uncastled, and attacking lines on the h file would then be open.
A personal decision must be made - Qg3 quietly freezes the g6 knight.} Qc7 {
Beginning to focus on e5, and the c file - Blacks relocation here, should
probably be in attacking form - Qa5, forcing white to either create a
backwards pawn in b2, or relocate his rook.} 13. Nf3 {Adding yet more pieces
and power to the kingside, coordination, and attack.} b6 {Nothing is
threatening c5, it must be assumed black plays b6, in an attempt to develop
his light bishop, however black is failing to respond to whites mounting
attacking possibilities.} 14. h4 Nxf4 {This seems to defeat the point.
removing a piece which many tempi's have been wasted on, for a bad bishop, and
strengthening whites center, all in one stroke. Furthermore, this deflates
the effectiveness of the fianchetto, blacks only possible contestation will
come from c5! A push black does not have to fear after d4! black violently
attacks back - white will of course steer clear of this, and leave his pawns
attacking d4 - blacks pieces are becoming nullified by lack of options.} 15.
exf4 O-O 16. h5 f5 {What the? - h6 seems much better - ill advised pawn push,
creating a backwards pawn on e6, and greatly diminishing king safety} 17. exf6
{Failing to punish black for his carelessness - Black created a liability in
the backwards pawn e6 - white should attack it! Ng5!} Rxf6 18. Ne5 {Rook h4
creates attacking chances - white is in control} Nf8 19. h6 g6 20. Qg5 Rf5 {
Better is Qe7...} 21. Bxf5 *

At this point, immediately following Bxf5, the server disconnected the game, and we couldn't finish. However it is clear that white is easily winning. The mistakes mentioned on both sides towards the end of the game by nowa are somewhat due to time pressure (I think the game was a 5/5). Very good example of white's objectives in the London System. Everything pivots on e5 for white, and though Nowa suggests 11. 0-0, I still like 11. Qf3. Activating the queen on the kingside is thematic and important to a lot of London System lines.