In this interesting game in which I was checkmated in 22 moves, I had a huge lead in material but was positionally lost because I sacrificed my development in order to gain the material advantage.
Probably my most intriguing game at this site, and one that burns, because it is my only loss. I was cocky due to my large material advantage, and I just never saw the forced mate coming. I guess it proves that development/time are just as important.
Obviously 21. dxe4?? was my major blunder; was there anyway to unravel this position and gain time to develop, while avoiding his threat of checkmate? Should I perhaps have exchanged queens earlier? Any comments on this game are greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Game 926820
Originally posted by Ashley BlueI have a hard time believing that Black has enough compensation.
In this interesting game in which I was checkmated in 22 moves, I had a huge lead in material but was positionally lost because I sacrificed my development in order to gain the material advantage.
Probably my most intriguing game at this site, and one that burns, because it is my only loss. I was cocky due to my large material advantage, and I just ne ...[text shortened]... eens earlier? Any comments on this game are greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Game 926820
20.Qg4+!? intending Qxe4 is one idea. White's idea is to give back some material (allowing black to play ...Nc2) to get the Queens off.
21.f4! shuts down the diagonal, thanks to the pin on the e-pawn.
White position by move 9 looks lost to me. Black has 3 pieces developed to your none. Your material advantage definately means very little if the said pieces are not activated.
Im not good at suggesting moves or analysis but the "feel" I got by move 9 was similar to how black looks after going down the Danish Gambit road. He gained material but has 0 pieces out to whites 4.
Look at the bright side it was a good lesson to learn from so you have gained something. And your opponent is happy too.
See Now were all happy!
Happy happy happy happy.
Man this is one happy post!
Originally posted by WeadleyI disagree. To me, white's position looks completely winning at move 9. I don't think it will be too much trouble for White to get pieces out and prove a win. In other words, White's material edge means more than you might think.
White position by move 9 looks lost to me. Black has 3 pieces developed to your none. Your material advantage definately means very little if the said pieces are not activated.
Originally posted by AkashicI don't have a problem with 10. d3 it forces a response from black meaning the 0-0 can be played next. That knight on e4 is something white wants to remove.
10. 0-0 and there should not be any way white cannot defend black's attack. 10. d3 was too greedy and you should not forfeit king safety for one pawn.
Playing Qh5+ was not the most accurate I think. 0-0 here would work. So would Be3 according to Fritz (Fritz has white at +2.1 pawns here. So it would seem white is ahead however accurate play is required for white to hold the advantage).
However saying this the game is easily won by white after 21. f4 (+5 pawns).
Originally posted by Ashley BlueThe first thing that jumps out at me is that I don't like 12. Qxh7. The earlier moves that got you material were all good, but that one bothers me on a gut level. A non central Pawn is not worth sacrificing development for. It's a general rule I picked up in Nimozvich's My System. However, the next few moves don't seem to punish you for it particularly, so maybe it was a good move after all.
In this interesting game in which I was checkmated in 22 moves, I had a huge lead in material but was positionally lost because I sacrificed my development in order to gain the material advantage.
Probably my most intriguing game at ...[text shortened]... this game are greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Game 926820
You missed your opponent's combination winning your Rook; this made 14. O-O a mistake. It was a good move in principle but tactically it was poor. 14. c3 looks promising. 14. Be3 looks even better, as you develop while protecting against that threat.
But no! You got out of it and won the Knight! So you were fine there.
17...Rh8 looks scary. Combined with the Bishop aiming in that direction, the Queen and Knight ready to jump in, you need to start looking hard at developing while defending, and being really careful not to get mated. Even though you need to defend, it looks like 18. h3 was premature. You need to develop, and that threat hasn't matured yet. 20. Re1 isn't great I don't think. You need to get the Bishop and Knight into play immediately. 21. dxe4 is way too greedy. Your King is in serious trouble, you're undeveloped, and you're nabbing Pawns! Obviously it led to the checkmate.
Overall, I think you put way, way too much emphasis on Pawn nabbing. Development is more important. The only fairly common exception is center Pawn nabbing, which is pretty important. You also need to keep an eye on tactical dangers and possibilities. Black was telegraphing that attack a mile away and you totally ignored it except when it wasn't yet a threat.
I didn't spend a lot of time in analysis, so I may have missed some tactical stuff. That's my first glance analysis though.
If your hP was still on h2, you could have pushed g3 to stop the mate without losing it (the hP).
As of the beginning your 20th move, I think you still had a won game. Your 18th, 20th and (obviously) 21st moves led to your downfall. You really needed to get your minor pieces into play.
I feel that your ONLY blunder is to capture the pawn on h7. C'mon, think about it: Your position is OK- you are ahead in material, and giventime, you will develop and end up better. However, instead of a developing move, you grabbed a pawn in a combination starting with Qh5 Check, and a crucial h-pawn in fact, which allowed the opponent to attack the kingsideeasily due to the weakness on the h-file and the poor development of your pieces!!!!!
I would recommend Nc3, developing your pieces and aiming for the d5 outpost, or the e4 outpost preventing e4 which led to mate.
Originally posted by ChEsSExPeRt58Capturing on h7 isn't a blunder. It's perfectly fine.
I feel that your ONLY blunder is to capture the pawn on h7. C'mon, think about it: Your position is OK- you are ahead in material, and giventime, you will develop and end up better. However, instead of a developing move, you grabbed a pawn in a combination starting with Qh5 Check, and a crucial h-pawn in fact, which allowed the opponent to attack the ...[text shortened]... ng your pieces and aiming for the d5 outpost, or the e4 outpost preventing e4 which led to mate.
The only major blunder is 21. dxe4 allowing mate in two. Up until that point white controlled the game.
Originally posted by ilywrinWell, you 2 both made a few little mistakes, and black blundering at the begin.
21.f4! or even 21.g3 preserve the advantage for the White.
So the only real blunder is indeed 21.dxe4.
9.Nf7xd6 was a mistake IMO, you could just play 9.d3 (you are then also attacking the knight on e4).
but I guess I have to agree with ilywrin. Although I do not think 21.g3 is a good move, cause white will lose some of its advantage.
First of all, thanks very much to everyone for their thoughful analysis. This is an important game to me, I am really putting a lot of time into the post-mortem.
Some comments:
9. Nxd6+. schakuhr, you were the first to mention this move and I'm surprised nobody else called me out on this crazed knight foray.
starting with 5. Nxf7, 9. Nxd6+ was the third knight move in four plies. This gained material but lost major tempi and development.
My main concern after 5. Nxf7 and 6. Nxh8 was how in the world I was going to hang on to that knight. He is trapped in the corner after 6. Nxh8. I saw no way to extricate the knight and decided to at least sacrifice it for a central pawn. Was this really a mistake? should I have left the knight on h8, treating it as lost to the Exchange?
AThousandYoung: many thanks for your thoughts.
18. h3. At the time, I considered this almost a forced move. Black is threatening 18. ...Qh4 followed by 19. ...Qxh2#. 18. h3 looked to be my most immediate response to this threat.
Ok... my engine liked 18. Nc3, the developing move, followed by 19. h3 after the 18. ...Qh4 mating threat. You are correct that 18. h3 was a tempo premature.
20. Re1 is what my engine likes although it again hampered my development.
I cannot believe I threw away this won game! I came up with moves like 15. Qg4 and 16. Qa4+!!
but fumble it away with brilliancies like 21. dxe4??.
I must stop pawn-grabbing, I guess. This seems to be my downfall.
Originally posted by Ashley BlueI don't necessarily think 9. Nxd6 was a problem. You got one center Pawn and isolated the other on an open file at the price of one tempo. I think it was worth it.
First of all, thanks very much to everyone for their thoughful analysis. This is an important game to me, I am really putting a lot of time into the post-mortem.
Some comments:
9. Nxd6+. schakuhr, you were the first to mention thi ...[text shortened]...
I must stop pawn-grabbing, I guess. This seems to be my downfall.
Or, he could have retaken with a Pawn, in which you get a Pawn for the Knight you are going to lose anyway, and don't lose tempo.
The other option, let the Knight die for tempo, was also fine. However I wouldn't say what you did is worse. Maybe it was, but I doubt it was very significant a factor if one at all.
I guess 18. Nd2 followed by 19. Nf3 could lead to a draw, which you don't want. However, you still have one move to go before you have to push h3, as I see your computer told you. However, you could have at least forced him to spend the tempo to make the threat before you responded. As it was, you used a tempo to push h3 and he didn't have to move to attack you. He could use that move somewhere else, as he knows now that there's no point.
Well, if the engine liked 20. Re1 there was probably a good tactical reason for it. That sort of thing is what I didn't put the time in to figure out.
Nimzowitch's general rule for Pawn nabbing in the opening is: avoid taking Pawns before you've developed all four minor pieces, and you've castled - except the two center Pawns. (This is what I do anyway, and it's based off of Nimzowitch's theories. He probably said something like "don't Pawn grab except center Pawns until you've finished development", a less specific piece of advice).