Learn something from this game?
07 Jul '08 23:27Hey everyone. I just had a win that I wanted to comment a bit about, hopefully some people can learn something from this game. I think my play was fairly solid here.
Whites first mistake was to take blacks knight with his bishop. For all of you who are not yet intermediate players or better, take note. White wasted that opening move developing his bishop because it was traded for a piece that hadn't moved yet at all.
The position at move six shows this. If you count the pieces developed, they are equal, both king side knights. But if you count the pawns developed, black has 3 pawns developed to whites 2.
7...cxd4, black initiates an exchange that accomplishes a number of things. It opens the dark bishop to view the b4 square in order to attack the knight and it creates a 1/2 open c-file for the black rooks to occupy which becomes vital later on.
8.Qxd4 Bxb5 This move forces whites knight to recapture. Now the black queen can be developed with check and tempo, forcing the white knight to retreat.
9.Nxb5 Qa5+ 10.Nc3 Bb5 The pressure is building on the c3 square.
11.0-0 White castles freeing the knight, but black won't let the pressure on c3 escape.
11...Bxc3 This doubles whites pawns. Now white has doubled isolated pawns, a serious disadvantage in this position. Blacks pieces will bear down upon this pawn until it is captured... but as white struggles to defend more opportunities arise for black.
Keep watching and you will see that white, being down a tempo and stuck on defense must yield material. Because white refused to give up the pawn, his position becomes cramped and with a weak back-rank black wins a rook with 23...Qxb5 (also protecting against mate, and threatening mate with 24... Ra1+)
White resigns with mate imminent and the sight of at least a lost queen.
When I exchanged with 11...Bxc3 I never planned on winning a rook. My goal was to win the pawn. It turned out that by white barely defending, the position that arose was detrimental. White should have let that pawn fall and looked for counter-play elsewhere.
Any comments criticisms or corrections?
Whites first mistake was to take blacks knight with his bishop. For all of you who are not yet intermediate players or better, take note. White wasted that opening move developing his bishop because it was traded for a piece that hadn't moved yet at all.
The position at move six shows this. If you count the pieces developed, they are equal, both king side knights. But if you count the pawns developed, black has 3 pawns developed to whites 2.
7...cxd4, black initiates an exchange that accomplishes a number of things. It opens the dark bishop to view the b4 square in order to attack the knight and it creates a 1/2 open c-file for the black rooks to occupy which becomes vital later on.
8.Qxd4 Bxb5 This move forces whites knight to recapture. Now the black queen can be developed with check and tempo, forcing the white knight to retreat.
9.Nxb5 Qa5+ 10.Nc3 Bb5 The pressure is building on the c3 square.
11.0-0 White castles freeing the knight, but black won't let the pressure on c3 escape.
11...Bxc3 This doubles whites pawns. Now white has doubled isolated pawns, a serious disadvantage in this position. Blacks pieces will bear down upon this pawn until it is captured... but as white struggles to defend more opportunities arise for black.
Keep watching and you will see that white, being down a tempo and stuck on defense must yield material. Because white refused to give up the pawn, his position becomes cramped and with a weak back-rank black wins a rook with 23...Qxb5 (also protecting against mate, and threatening mate with 24... Ra1+)
White resigns with mate imminent and the sight of at least a lost queen.
When I exchanged with 11...Bxc3 I never planned on winning a rook. My goal was to win the pawn. It turned out that by white barely defending, the position that arose was detrimental. White should have let that pawn fall and looked for counter-play elsewhere.
Any comments criticisms or corrections?