I got bored so I decided to do another annotation. I didn't get much feedback from the last annotation but I think it helps improve and the feedback I did get was positive so here we go...
Black is rated somewhere in the mid-1500s here and I am rated in the mid to upper 1600s
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Rg1
Ok, so like my last annotation this is a Sicilian Najdorf with my move 6.Rg1. Black chooses a more direct move against me in this game which is more common and, I think, more accurate as well.
6...b5
The idea here is pretty obvious, white has already committed to attacking kingside with the move 6.Rg1 so black is free to counter with immediate queenside play. I think 6...b5 is a strong response here very likely to give white more troubles than the 6...Ng4 move that was played in the first game I annotated.
7. g4 Bb7 8. f3
These are all technically book moves, although in my database the move 8.Bg2 is more common than 8.f3. I am not sure I could decide which move I prefer right now. 8.Bg2 has the bonus of being more flexible which 8.f3 keeps those kingside files open for my rooks.
8...Nbd7
Novelty - This move is certainly playable as are many other moves such as 8...Nc6 or 8...e6
9. g5 Nh5 10. Be3 g6
These are all very standard moves, white expands on the kingside, develops and supports the knight on d4 and black continues development looking to adopt a sort of dragon setup.
11.Be2 Qa5 12.Qd2
Still continuing along these same lines, both sides are achieving their respective goals so far and there is plenty of activity on the board
12...Ne5?!
Not the most accurate, black sets himself up to lose a tempo here and there is clearly nothing wrong with the very natural move 12...Bg7
13. f4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 bxc4 15. f5 Bg7
Ok, so both sides have played a pretty accurate game through fifteen moves. Really no obvious advantage for either player here and I think it is fair to say that most players would be happy with either side.
16. fxg6 hxg6 17. Nde2?!
Instead of both moves 16 and 17 it was probably more prudent for white to simply castle queenside. These moves allow black to free his position and gain some initiative
17...Be5 18. Bd4 Ng7 19. Bxe5 Qxe5 20. Nf4 Bxe4 21. O-O-O
Indeed black has managed to get a good position with a small material plus. By castling too late and giving black the initiate I managed to get myself into some trouble here. Black should certainly have a good game after the move 21...Rh4. However, he instead played
21...Rb8??
A very bad move, there is no too much pressure along black's e-file
22. Rge1 d5 23. Nfxd5 Rxh2
And now black is the one who is in horrible trouble. White could have managed to simplify into an easily won game by playing 24.Rxe4 Rxd2 25.Rxe5 Rxd1+ 26.Nxd1, but I was playing white so I went for the more complicated and less accurate move
24.Nf6+
White is certainly still winning in this position but it is much more difficult than the alternative listed earlier. I simply got mixed up in the tactics though so played this inferior move.
24...exf6 25.Qd7+ Kf8 26.Rxe4 Qg5+
When analyzing my twenty fourth move I had failed to notice this check, but it is not enough to give black an advantage
27.Kb1 Kg8??
This ends it for black, his only chance for survival is the hard to see 27...Nf5! when after 28.Qa7 Qg3 29.Ne2 Rxe2 30.Rxe2 Kg7 31.Rd7 Nh6 white will have perhaps just a slight edge over black despite the material deficit. In my opinion this will be a very difficult game for both sides.
28. Qd6 Qg2 29. Qxb8+ Kh7 30. Re2 1-0
These moves were very basic, at this point black saw that playing on was completely hopeless and resigned.
I chose this game despite the inaccuracies because it has some very interesting tactics which I think a lot of players could benefit from seeing. Unfortunately, there is no endgame play here but I think that many people will find this game interesting because of the mistakes made by both sides. Clearly, a very back and forth game through to the end.
Originally posted by gorookyourselfICC offers primarily blitz and STC chess. RHP offers primarily Correspondence chess, so I hardly consider the two sites to be in competition. Please also take into consideration that in the past I have paid for two years of RHP service. Also consider that I have (even quite recently with a game against JunnuJannu in the King's Gambit) annotated games that I played on RHP but do not have any recent games that I found as instructive as the two I have posted from ICC. When another game finishes on here that I deem worth annotating for the public I will immediately annotate and post it.
Annotation is great but games from another site?, a site which I think you pay for, is not cool. Annotate your games from this site.
If I see a great number of members offended that I have posted a game from a different website on here I will be more than happy to keep my annotations to myself.
Well done cms. I didn't see your first thread, maybe I'll go back and look at it after this as I really enjoyed your annotations. I thought they were sufficiently self critical which is a rare amongst chess players in my experience.
A few comments... In this position
you played fxg6?! which I think is way too early. Obviously black is going to have to castle kingside sooner or later so it would be silly for him to ever play gxf5. As it turns out, black never castled at all, which was a "retarded" decision, as they say here in New York. The option to play fxg6 remains while you retain the threat of playing f6 at the right time, entombing his dark squared bishop. A reasonable line might go:
16. 0-0-0 0-0
17. Qe2 (pressuring c4 pawn while also giving the queen more scope) Rfc8 (defending it)
18. Rgf1 (certainly the correct rook move as the d file might prove useful while the g file will probably remain blocked for a while... f6 is beginning to look like a realistic idea at this point) Rab8 (a "natural" move)
Which leads to...
And here white clearly has the superior game. Although there are open/half-open files leading towards the white king, I see no way for black to take advantage of them, and white probably has time to play 19. Kb1 if he so wishes. All of white's pieces are optimally placed while black's knight is "dim" or "grim" as they say and his light-squared bishop is simply in the way.
Why not use the site's new annotation feature
A few quick edits and voila
Your post was good and well done. But lengthy posts can put off some people.
You may get more responses doing it this way plus it's less work. Also programs
like Fritz will let you add notes and format them automatically into the PGN
for you with the { } brackets.
I don't see a problem with games from another site.
I also don't think games get a lot of attention here.In fact,just last week I was thinking the people here don't seem to show much interest in chessgames,and how weird that is for chessplayers.
But then most threads don't get much response.This is a 'fast forward' forum.My theory is the forum serves as an antidote to the slow chess 😉
toet.
Originally posted by DivGradCurlGood call, definitely true. Wish I could explain why I felt such a rush to exchange those pawns when it was better (and even easier) to just castle. Thanks for the feedback.
Well done cms. I didn't see your first thread, maybe I'll go back and look at it after this as I really enjoyed your annotations. I thought they were sufficiently self critical which is a rare amongst chess players in my experience.
A few comments... In this position
[fen]r3k2r/1b2ppbp/p2p2p1/q4PPn/2pNP3/2N1B3/PPPQ3P/R3K1R1 w Qkq - 0 16[/fen]
yo ...[text shortened]... dim" or "grim" as they say and his light-squared bishop is simply in the way.
Originally posted by HabeascorpIt's hard to seize the initiative when you're only attacking with 1 piece...
16 0-0-0 Bxe5
17 Nxe5 Qxa2
not sure if sound by black but seizes initative.
After
16 0-0-0 Bxe5
17 Nxe5 Qxa2
18 Qb4!
white has the material and the compensation. White can force an exchange of queens if he wants but there's no reason - black's queen isn't doing much on a2. Black's forces are terribly discoordinated while white's spring to life after
18...0-0 (I see nothing better)
19. Nc6
19...Qa1+ leads to nothing