help analyse this loss

Here is a game i played and apart from a dodgy opening i cannot see where i went
wrong, there was no great tactical blunders, i thought my play was balanced, can
anyone help where i went wrong. I have been through it with a pc and it only
shows relatively small increments leading me to believe that it was positional rather
than tactical - kind regards, in advance - robbie.

Hi Robbie.

Najdorfs/Sicilians - White always seems to lose the endings.
Don't let the ending happen.

Here:


You played 13. Ng3....Nah.....13. Bf2 let him have g-pawn if he wants.
You play Rg1 & 0-0-0 and you will get the middle game play you never
had in your game.

If he takes the g-pawn (what else?) Then you are now focused on avoiding
an ending so stay in trick/trap mode. That's a nice double-edged position with
the pawn sac. Black will know he is in a game and have to tread carefully.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Here is a game i played and apart from a dodgy opening i cannot see where i went
wrong, there was no great tactical blunders, i thought my play was balanced, can
anyone help where i went wrong. I have been through it with a pc and it only
shows relatively small increments leading me to believe that it was positional rather
than tactical - ki a4 Ke5d5 59. b4 e5 60. a5 Kd5c6 61. Kd3c2 e4 62. Kc2b3 Kc6b5 0-1[/pgn]

This looks like one of those "one playing, one applauding" type of games. Discounting the opening, which is outside my repertoire, I think you have to start looking at which sets of minor pieces you are going to exchange.

At move 15 white is a pawn down with no obvious compensation. After that you exchanged knights when in general exchanges ought to be avoided if material down. This bought blacks light bishop in to a position where it could threaten a discovery against the rook on h1. Your dark squared bishop was then made worse than ever by having to bloackade. If you had played Nf3 with Ng5 ideas, then looked to create complications on the kingside you might have done better. I bet GP will come on here and demonstrate some sequence that would trap blacks Queen or something. As it was you then allowed Black to swap his "bad" bishop for your good one and all the while he was gaining space in the centre and the queen-side. The position with the two rooks and dark squared Bishop and the b pawn restraining the two white pawns after White's 32nd Move show the measure of Black's strategic gains over the previous sixteen moves to me. All he had to do was exchange everything off to leave a won king and pawn ending with almost no risk.

I think it was fairly clear how Black would go about winning this game from quite early on. You needed to avoid the exchanges that improved his position (simplification) as far as you could, and create complications where he might have had to return material to extricate himself.

Edit - Look at that - GP here already - No Q trap yet though....
And that's the difference between an 1800 player and a 2000 player (OTB). He realizes two moves earlier how much white is in the poo - and when to start fighting back.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi Robbie.

Najdorfs/Sicilians - White always seems to lose the endings.
Don't let the ending happen.

Here:

[fen]rn2kb1r/1b1n1ppp/p3p3/3pP3/1p1N1PPq/4B3/PPPQN2P/R3KB1R w KQkq - 0 13[/fen]
You played 13. Ng3....Nah.....13. Bf2 let him have g-pawn if he wants.
You play Rg1 & 0-0-0 and you will get the middle game play you never
had in your ga ...[text shortened]... dged position with
the pawn sac. Black will know he is in a game and have to tread carefully.

thanks GP, i thought for ages of trying to trap the queen, it looks just so, trappable, but
i could not find a way. Bf2 looks better, why i didn't play f5 at one point trying to
disrupt the pawn structure, i dunno. why i then started to play on the queenside, i
cannot say either, i think after my g pawn was gone, my kingside plans lost impetus! I
agree, no more endings 🙂

Originally posted by Ragwort
This looks like one of those "one playing, one applauding" type of games. Discounting the opening, which is outside my repertoire, I think you have to start looking at which sets of minor pieces you are going to exchange.

At move 15 white is a pawn down with no obvious compensation. After that you exchanged knights when in general exchanges ought to be a ealizes two moves earlier how much white is in the poo - and when to start fighting back.

this is also really great, yes i did allow a discovery which i was forced to blockade and
yes I did let my good bishop be exchanged, what was i thinking? I always feel its an
injustice when someone trades down to a winning endgame, how was i to know it was
winning or losing? that's no way to win a chess game! Thank you for kindly looking at
the game, this has really helped me - kind regards - Robbie 🙂


P.S if you ever think of taking on a pupil, im your man, i work hard and listen to
everything 🙂

Hi Ragwort.

Not sure if I realised White was in trouble without the hindsight of the posted game.
But Bf2 was my original choice when looking at the game.

I'm not to keen on the Black position after the Queenside expansion and the Queen
check. I think the pawn sac puts a lot on Black plate and White's game will be
(for me and anyone with a tactical eye) the easier to play.

However good Najdorf players seem to thrive on having a lot on their plate
and it's unbalanced nature is what attracts so many of the top players.
It's an opening that tempts even the most placid players into saccing
things against it.

There is a Sicilian Najdorf, 6. Bg5 Variation tournament going on for 1800+ players.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/tournament/view.php?tid=9496&issummaryview=0&rndid=1

Stacks of examples in there and the games of Ian Maver are
worth a look at. He seems to be have this nailed from both sides of the opening
and has played some super games.

In the first round he steam rollered the weaker players winning all his games
with WHite and Black and now in the 2nd round, facing tougher opposition,
he is knocking those over as well.

Something for would be Najdorf players to look at there.

Just one mouth watering example.

Dragonball - Ian Maver RHP 2011

The opening moves:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7
8.Qf3 Nbd7 9.O-O-O Qc7


It starts here with White to play.

Hi robbie, I'm unlikely to step across into teaching even model pupils. Too much responsibility in a results driven business! Most of what I wrote you've seen before in books you just have to look for it in your own games.

Hi GP
I'Ve seen Nadjorf games like that before. Would frighten me to death trying to play like at my next OTB match or weekender. I'd end up trying to rely on memory and fail the test. I thought the posted game was interestingn though znd it took me a few moments to see why Ka3 at the end wasn't a draw but of course a5 blocks the chimney.

Originally posted by Ragwort
Hi robbie, I'm unlikely to step across into teaching even model pupils. Too much responsibility in a results driven business! Most of what I wrote you've seen before in books you just have to look for it in your own games.

Hi GP
I'Ve seen Nadjorf games like that before. Would frighten me to death trying to play like at my next OTB match or weekender. I'd ...[text shortened]... a few moments to see why Ka3 at the end wasn't a draw but of course a5 blocks the chimney.

its a pity my friend, i would make you famous! thanks so much for advice,
concentrating on planning at the moment, reading art of the middle game, Keres and
Kotov, so far, it makes some sense. 🙂