Annotation Practice For You : A Great Game

I have a truly great Beliavsky game. Unfortunately, the game was pretty well annotated, and I doubt I could add much to it.

If someone else would like a project/game that is really exciting to annotate, this is your lucky day. The game is only 26 moves.

I'd love to see someone's thoughts on this game as it unfolds.

Here is the game, but don't spoil it by playing through the whole game at one time, if you intend to annotate it.



If no takers, just enjoy the game. 🙂

My try for an annotation : White got Pwned.

It's a deadly sin not to castle in time. I'm sure that's the most important lesson white learnt in this game.

Beautiful black play!

1...e6 is not a move I've seen before.
5. Bf4 Pressure is being put on e5
7. ...Bxc5 8. ...Nc6 Black puts pressure on d4
7. Qc2 strengthening c file, aiming at enemy King's fort and center
9. a3 White doesn't want his Queen dislodged with ...Nb4

There's a start.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
1...e6 is not a move I've seen before.
5. Bf4 Pressure is being put on e5
7. ...Bxc5 8. ...Nc6 Black puts pressure on d4
7. Qc2 strengthening c file, aiming at enemy King's fort and center
9. a3 White doesn't want his Queen dislodged with ...Nb4

There's a start.

1...e6 is quite a common move, actually. An attempt by Black to enter into a Nimzo-Indian type of opening or perhaps a QGD. A must study for anyone playing the English as white!

Let me give it a try. I apologize in advance for any mistakes.


1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 - White surrenders the center in exchange for pressure against black's d-pawn. It might look like a bad move at first, but it's a typical strategy in the QGD. In my database, it's the most common move.

7... Bxc5 8.Qc2 - White's best shot at keeping the initiative. He delays castling for a while and prepares for Rd1

8... Nc6 Black's most challenging setup, preparing the e5 push and opening up the possibility of Nb4, attacking the queen.

9.a3 A solid move, depriving black's knight of the b4 square and creating the possibility of a b4 push by white.

9... Qa5 Renewing the Nb4 threat and making room for the rook on the d8 square. The pin on the knight might also prove to be nasty.

10.Rd1 The rook joins the play in an active position and threatens b4, forking bishop and queen. However, the counterintuitive 10. 0-0-0 might be a surprisingly safer option. White needs to start worrying about his king.

10... Be7 11.Rd2?



White underestimate black's strength and makes his first real mistake in the game. Both 10. Be2 and 10. Bd3 are stronger and safer options.

11... Ne4 - A strong pawn sacrifice, trying to open lines against white's uncastled king.

12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Qxe4 Rd8 - Black's best shot at the initiative, building pressure on the pinned rook.

14.Qc2 - A dangerous waste of time. 14. Be2 suggests itself, in an attempt to finish development and castle. 14... e5 15. b4 seems to be the critical line, with 15... Qxa3 16. Rxd8+ Bxd8 17. 0-0 neutralizing black's initiative and giving white a comfortable game.

14... e5 15.Bg3 e4 - A strong sacrifice to bring black's bishop into play without letting white develop his pieces.

16.Qxe4 Bf5 - And the queen is isolated from the defense of the king.

17.Qf4 Rxd2 18.Nxd2 Rd8 - Black's last piece joins the attack. Meanwhile, white still hasn't finished his development.

19.e4 Bg4 - Black threatens to win the knight with either Bg5 and Bb4. The bishop also contributes to a mating net in some variations.

20.c5 - White manages to stop both Bg5 and Bb4. 20... Bxc5 would be met by 21. Bc4, which would solve all of white's problems.

20... Nb4 - A powerful response. Black threatens mate with Nc2 and white is forced to lose material.

21.f3? g5 - Traps the queen, which can't leave the diagonal and can't go to e3 due to the knight fork.

22.axb4 Qa1+ 23.Ke2 gxf4 24.Bxf4 Be6 25.Be5 Qc1 26.Bc3 Bg5 0-1

Originally posted by Heroic Metool
Let me give it a try. I apologize in advance for any mistakes.


1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 c5 [b]7.dxc5 - White surrenders the center in exchange for pressure against black's d-pawn. It might look like a bad move at first, but it's a typical strategy in the QGD. In my database, it's the most common move.

7... Bxc5 [b ...[text shortened]... knight fork.

22.axb4 Qa1+ 23.Ke2 gxf4 24.Bxf4 Be6 25.Be5 Qc1 26.Bc3 Bg5 0-1[/b]

Non-Sub Rec'd

Great Job!

I came across this great game in the book Russian Chess by Pandolfini (pages 46-74!).

It is a great demonstration of developing an initiative for a pawn sacrifice, and how to keep the threats going.

I ran the game through chessmaster - seems like 14. Qc2 was white's major "blunder" - the turning point of the game - it allows black to advance his e-pawn to e5 and then e4 - and then white played 16. Qxe4 which cleared out the e-pawn to allow black to play the devastating Bf5 that forced white's queen to abandon a crucial diagonal.

much better than Qxe4 would have been Ne5 (which would've been followed by Nxe5, fxe5, Rxe5) - limiting the damages.



if white plays 14. Be2, the game stays more or less even (assuming both sides playing "best moves" )