Annotated game

Hi everybody,

Our good friend Smiffy has been asking me to annotate one of my games for our forum so I did and now also put it up here for public scrutiny :o).

Basically I am not going to hit you with endless variations but just show you what I was thinking at the time the game was played as this is how I teach live too.

This game was played here on Rhp Game 4670273 and I chose it because I enjoyed it a lot, it was against a good player and we finished the game in a 1 night's session which allows me to remember my thoughts during the game.

1. d4 { I open equally with e4 or d4 and leave all the flank openings to the experts.}
d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 {This is my preferred move in this position, not any better then Nf3 but just avoiding a quick capture on c4 by black.} e6 { Now we enter the Meran variation.}
5. Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 {Again my preferred move, the
other possibility is Bd3 on which black captures on c4 and plays a quick b5 this can lead to very sharp and theorethical battles and after a few bad experiences against strong players in over the board games I now play Qc2.
Bd6 7. b3 {White also has the sharp possibility g4!? intending to answer
Nxg4 with Rg1. The idea behind b3 is to recapture on c4 with pawn and not the bishop which would allow black again b5 with tempo.}
O-O 8. Be2 {Black's main plan is pushing e5 so if the bishop moves to d3 there will always be chances
of a fork on e4.}
dxc4 {Black captures on c4 before playing e5 because after e5 immediately white has cxd5 cxd5 Nb5 Bb4+ Bd2 and the pawn on d5 will become
weak.}
9. bxc4 e5 10. O-O Re8 11. h3 {Rd1 is the most played move here but the idea behind first h3 is that this is a useful move guarding the square g4 and after an eventual e4 not allowing Bxh2 sacrifices. Also Black plans are e4 or exd4 and after the latter the rook is better placed on e1 contesting the e-file.}
Qe7 12. Rd1 e4 13. Nd2 Nf8 { black will now try to play on the king side and white on the queen side.}
14. c5 Bb8 {Black retreats to b8 and not c7 so that the square c7 remains free for the queen to set up a battery along the b8-h2 diagonal.} 15. Rb1 { This is a precise move: white's plan consists of playing Rb1 Ba3 Nc4 and plunking a knight on d6 but after first Ba3 or Nc4 black has the resource b5 fe: Ba3 b5 axb6 hangs the bishop on a3 and Nc4 b5 axb6 Nxb6 allows the Qc7 with the double threat Qxb6 and Qh2+ followed by mate on h1.}
b5 16. cxb6 axb6 17.
Rxb6! {Allowing the double threat Qc7 but with a big difference.}
Qc7 18.Rxb8 Qxb8 19. Ncxe4 {This position is by no means an easy win but with 2 center pawns for the exchange + the bishop pair + a passer on the a-file I definitely prefer white.}
Nxe4 20. Nxe4 Be6 21. Nc3 Qb4 22. Bd2 Reb8 23. Bd3
Ng6 24. f4 {White can also continue with the positional Be4 but with all of
blacks heavy pieces on the queen side I felt it was time to take action on the kingside. Because I now threaten f5 fork so it allows me to play f5 and the f6 breaking up the black kingsides pawn structure after which the absence of the black squared bishop will be felt.}
Bc4 25. f5 Ne7 26. f6 Bxd3 27. Qxd3 gxf6 28. Rf1! { Ne4 is very tempting attacking both the queen on b4 and f6 but after the strong reply Qb5! Nxf6+ Kg7 Qxh7+ Kxf6 and I did not then (and still don't)
see the killer.} Ra3 { Now Ne4 really was a threat so black pins the knight ans activates his rook.}
29. Rxf6 {This move I played after my longest think of the game since I now must willing to sacrifice material. I am not going to give all variations I saw but the main one was: Rxf6 Nd5 Rh6 Rxc3(leaving the knight on d5 protecting important squares around the black king) Qxh7+ Kf8 Qh8+ Ke7 Qe5+ Kd7 Bxc3! and now recapturing with the queen leaves b8 en prise and taking with the knight leaves the black king unguarded. I admit I could not calculate a forced win in all variations but trusted my intuition that a queen and rook swamping the black king would do ;o).} c5 {Apparently my opponent believed my
attacking chances but he still should have gone for it because now after d5 white has a potential lethal passer.} 30. d5 {Now on Rh6 Ng6 defends.}
Rxc3 {This was black's idea forcing an exchange of queens and even picking up the d5 pawn but as the ending won't be in his favor.} 31. Bxc3 Qb1+ 32. Qxb1 Rxb1+ 33.Rf1 { forcing the rook exchange because if the rook retreats simply e4 will follow.}
Rxf1+ 34. Kxf1 Nxd5 35. Bd2 {black has managed to liquidate into an ending however not only is white a pawn up but the combination of the long ranged bishop and the outside passer on the a-file makes this an easy win.} c4 36. e4 Nf6 37. a4 (ignoring the e-pawn and preparing to put the bishop on the best diagonal to help queen the a-pawn) Nxe4 38. Be3 c3 39. a5 c2 40. a6(no stopping the a-pawn and c1 is well guarded so 1-0.

I hope you enjoyed this game as I did and got something out of it.
Any questions or comments fire away :o).

Greets, S.

Interesting - thanks for posting. I'll take a careful look through it later as this is one of the openings I play.

This was a very good game with excellent notes and analysis. There was a lot of interesting stuff happening 'behind the scenes' around moves 28 and 29, which Stefan has shown in his notes.

On move 28, I was wondering whether Qf1 might have been worth considering? It threatens to take on f6 with the queen, which looks more dangerous than taking with a rook. Moves like 28..Kg7 or 28..Qd6 are simply met by 29.Ne4. I can't see anything better than 28..f5, but that weakens Black a bit more on the dark squares. White could play something like 29.Qf4 (or maybe Nd5) with good attacking chances.

I realise this is all a bit vague, but 28.Qf1 is a move that I would have seriously considered. For one thing it would have avoided the nasty pin with Ra3 that Black played in the game.

Do you want to say that you have made all these excellent moves during one night? 🙄

Why not? I think this very nice game has an 'OTB'-feel to it, with some risks being taken that perhaps would not have been taken in a long CC-game. A pleasure to replay!

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Why not? I think this very nice game has an 'OTB'-feel to it, with some risks being taken that perhaps would not have been taken in a long CC-game. A pleasure to replay!

There were no risks at all - white did play absolutely correct.

Originally posted by Korch
There were no risks at all - white did play absolutely correct.

'correct'? You make it sound as if black made some errors and white just had to find 'the' correct answer. I believe that when black played 15. ... b5, he didn't expect white to give the exchange for a pawn. As white I would have hesitated to jump into that option.

edit. this comment just on top of the analysis and David's remarks

Originally posted by Mephisto2
'correct'? You make it sound as if black made some errors and white just had to find 'the' correct answer. I believe that when black played 15. ... b5, he didn't expect white to give the exchange for a pawn. As white I would have hesitated to jump into that option.

edit. this comment just on top of the analysis and David's remarks

Dont get me wrong - I think white did play exellent without any mistakes preciously exploiting mistakes of black. With such exellent play without mistakes there is no risk at all. And exchange sacrifice (which white had to foresee playing 14.c5 and 15.Rb1) was absolutely correct way to advantage.

I think its awesome analysis i love things like this because i like to see what top players think while playing.The games very well played and its a joy to read and look over 🙂....

I really appreciate it too. As an inferior player I like to see how the best players move, and if I can get an analysis to go with that it's perfect. I hope more of the top 30 players will do as Mr. Docx and post some of their good games with comments. Thanks a lot.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

David your 28.Qf1 is a move I did consider and it is between this move and Rf1 that I doubted. I chose 28.Rf1 because after 28.Qf1 f5(forced I believe)
29.Qf4 (Nd5 Qd6) Qb5 I did find anything convincing although white still has good compensation after Qxf5 (Qg5 simply Ng6) I wanted to keep my queen on d3 because it already participated in the attack by eying h7 and my rook d1 wasn't although it was probable the safer of the two options , because in the game I was forced to sacrifice material but even in corr just like on the board I almost never choose the safe option ;o.

S.

this is not exactly the move order from the game:
Nxe4 20. Nxe4 Be6 21. Nc3 Qb4 22. Bd2 Reb8 23. Bd3
Ng6 24. f4

Don't know that I'm a "top player" but i do alright, here is a game recently against an engine.

The annotation isn't nearly as nice as the previous game.



Deep Shredder (2707) - Jaquette,Glen (2210) [D10]
Unleashed, 05.03.2008
[Glen Jaquette - Shredder Classic]

1.d4 c6 2.c4 d5 better may have been 2...Nf6 but the exchange in 4 cxd5 cxd5 evens up play for both sides. [2...Nf6 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4 e5 6.Be2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qc2 a6 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bg5 Re8 11.Rac1 b6] 3.Nc3 g6 Once again catch myself wishing I had played Nf6 to control the center, but 4 cxd5 will save this small error [3...Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3] 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Bf4 e6 7.Bg5 Bf6 8.h4 h6 9.Bf4 Bd7 10.e4 Ne7 11.Qb3 and the relentless queenside attack begins. Key to develop as many pieces as I can while still maintaining the initiative. Interesting tactical variations are everywhere here.
11.Qb3 3...Nf6 likely eliminates possible Qb3 lines. 11...Bc6 12.e5 Bg7 13.Qb4 a5 14.Qc5 Nd7 15.Qd6 Nc8 16.Qa3 decline outpost... Nb5 with Na7 16...Na7 17.Qd6 b5 b5 is important in that it leads to the fork b4! which is the precursor to blacks downfall. 18.Rc1 Nb6 significant as the exchange on d6 will remove the e pawn, white chooses to decline and walks into a fork. 19.Qa3 with b4! the fork forces white to choose taking a poisoned pawn. After 20.Qxa5 bxc3 21. Rxc3 and the queenside becomes too open to control for white whose developed pressure on the kingside is nearly non-existent. 19...b4 20.Qxa5 bxc3 21.Rxc3 0-0 22.Qb4 Re8 23.Ba6 Bf8 24.Qb3 Qc7 25.0-0 Nc4 26.Rfc1 Reb8 27.Bxc4 Rxb3 28.Bxb3 Qb6 29.a4 Rc8 30.Bd2 Bb4 A small blunder, with 31. Rd3 I must trade away my bishop, or give away initiative to a continuing attack. 31.Rd3 Bxd2 32.Nxd2 h5 33.Nf3 Kg7 34.Rdc3 Kh6 35.R1c2 Kg7 36.Rc1 Kf8 37.Kf1 Qa6+ 38.Kg1 Ke7 39.Ng5 Qe2 40.R3c2 Qa6 41.Nf3 Rf8 42.a5 Kd7 43.Rc5 Qb7 and now late in the game we see why Nf6 may have been a great move, as my pawn chain renders my bishop useless, and forces me to break it for any hope of kingside counterplay. 44.R5c3 f6 45.exf6 Rxf6 46.Ng5 Kd6 47.Re1 Nb5 48.a6 Qxa6 49.Nh7 Nxc3 The sacrafices probably wern't needed, however i saw that the position with them was almost forced, and I chose the guaranteed win over hoping for proper play. 50.Nxf6 Ne4 51.Nh7 Ba4 52.Ra1 Qe2 Again, against a Human I would choose to hold my lead. Against a machine I just didn't feel confident enough that I wouldn't blunder, and I knew it wouldn't. 53.Rxa4 Qxf2+ 54.Kh1 Qf1+ 55.Kh2 Qf4+ 56.Kh3 Qe3+ 57.Kh2 Qxb3 58.Ra6+ Kc7 0-1

I must say this is what I was looking for a long time ago, Thanks for this game I am understanding a lot better now.

Great to see this sort of info being posted in the Chess forum - thanks to Stephane and all those participating.