My best chess game

Originally posted by heinzkat
It doesn't work so well when loading into a chess program, but... here it is. Annotated by SIM M.J. Donnelly.

[Event "www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2007.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Telboy 2 (ENG)"]
[Black "vipiu (CYPRUS)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "1869"]
[BlackElo "1873"]
[Annotator "M.J.Donnelly"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[Event usefull move for example if} 28. Qd2 {then} Bh6# ) 0-1

I wrote a little program for converting PGN into a format suitable for RHP. Let's test it on this game.

W: Telboy 2 (ENG) (1869)
B: vipiu (CYPRUS) (1873)
RHP correspondence game

Notes by M.J.Donnelly

1.e4 e6
The counter-attacking French Defence a great favourite of both Botvinnik and Korchnoi as well as Nigel Short.
2.d4
2.b3 is an alternative well worth considering and is the subject of a fine book by Thomas Johansson entitled "The Fascinating Reti Gambit". Another rare line which I have tried several times as White is 2. c4 which also gets the game off the beaten track early on.
2...d5 3.e5
The Advance variation where White aims to gain space and restrict Black's main problem piece-the bishop on c8.
3...c5 4.Nf3
The most common alternative to Whites most frequent move here of 4. c3.
4...Nc6 5.Bb5
John Watson in his excellent book on the French points out that whilst this move has been played fairly frequently it loses time and Black has scored no less than 80% in games after Blacks next move.
5...Qb6
Black often plays this move adding further pressure to d4 but here the queen move also kicks the bishop on b5.
6.Nc3 cxd4
This looks even stonger than Watsons recommendation of 6...Bd7 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.0-0 Brans-Nikolic, Dresden 2000.
7.Nxd4
7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.Qxd4 (8.Nxd4?! Ba6 9.Nce2 Bc5 10.0-0? drops a piece to 10...Bxd4 11.Qxd4 Bxe2 Sloan-Terrington, EK87 Compuserve 1995.) 8...Bc5 9.Qd2 Ne7 10.0-0 0-0 is about level but not after 11.Qg5? h6 (why not 11...Ba6) 12.Qg4 Nf5 13.Nh4 Ba6-/+ Dobravec-Brvar, SLO-ch U10 2007 still its interesting to note that children under 10 can play as well as this!
7...Bd7
So White has not only lost time but Black is on the verge of solving the problem of the "bad bishop" on c8. If Black can satisfactorily solve this in the French then he is generally on the way to obtaining a good game. 7...Bb4 is poor as after 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nge7 10.Ba3 White has a very strong initiative eg 10...Qc7 11.Bd6 Qd7 12.c4 Paolo-Dumpster, HCL-E415 www.playchess.de 2002.
8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.0-0
9.Nb3 is weaker for instance after 9...c5 10.0-0 Ne7 11.Re1 Ng6 12.Qe2 c4 13.Nd2 Bc5 14.Nf3 0-0 15.Rb1 a5=+ Magalhaes-Duben, KO-163.2.4 IECC 2000.
9...c5 10.Nf3 Ne7 11.Ne2?!
Its not clear what White intended with this move- 11.a4 is a better option aiming to harass the Black queen 11...Nf5 12.Ng5?! (12.a5!?) 12...Rd8 13.a5 Qc7 14.Bf4 Qb7 15.b3 Be7 16.Ne2 0-0-/+ Edick-Sieh, IECG CL-5(1) 1995.
11...Nf5 12.c3
Normally this move is fine in supporting a pawn or piece on d4 but here it does not in fact support anything.
12...Be7 13.b3
A further weakening move as now Black can aim to attack b3 via the pawn advance a5-a4. Better is to challenge Black's central knight on f5 with Ng3.
13...a5 14.c4 d4
Simple but effective chess-Black gains a guarded passed pawn in the centre which restricts Whites black squared bishop to boot.
15.Bg5 f6
A typical "French" move where Black gets rid of the cramping pawn on e5 and in this case with tempo gain.
16.exf6 gxf6
Opening the g-file for an attack on the White king. Note that whilst Black's king is still uncastled it is not in any danger due to Black's pawn mass giving such good central control.
17.Bf4?
This is a fatal error since it allows e5, and hence potentially e4, with gain of tempo. 17.Bd2 instead gives some hope.
17...Rg8 18.h3
Steinitz long ago stated one should never weakens your king cover by pawn advances unless absolutely forced to and here White did not have to make this move. After 18.Ng3 White is worst but still in the game.
18...e5
Now Black runs amok with a magnificent finish.
19.Bh2
If instead 19.Bd2 then simply 19...Qc6 threat Qxf3 is overwhelming.
19...Rxg2+!!
Simply brilliant!
20.Kxg2 Qb7 21.Bg3
21.Kg1 Qxf3 22.Ng3 Nh4 23.Qxf3 Nxf3+ 24.Kg2 Nh4+ 25.Kg1 Bxh3 wins easily as Black can play Kf7 to bring the queens rook into the attack and hit the Ng3 with h5-h4 or f5-f4.
21...Qxf3+
The real point of the combination started with 19...Rxg2+
22.Kxf3
Now its a forced mate in 8 moves-can you visualise it from here? 22.Kh2 offers no real hope eg 22...Bc6 23.Nf4 (23.Rg1 Nxg3 24.Nxg3 Qxf2+ mates) 23...exf4 24.Qxf3 Bxf3 25.Bxf4 0-0-0 and with two pieces for a rook plus a powerful passed d-pawn Black has an easy win here.
22...Bc6+ 23.Kg4
White bravely continues and sends his king on a walk of no return. At least White is only wasting electrons in continuing and not postage stamps as in "old fashioned" correspondence chess.
23...Nh6+ 24.Kh5
24.Kh4 Bf3 and f5 mates next move.
24...Bf3+ 25.Kxh6
25.Kh4 Nf5#
25...Bf8+ 26.Kxh7 Be4+ 27.Kg8 Ke7
After 27...Ke7 White has no usefull move for example if 28.Qd2 then 28...Bh6#
0-1

Edit: It almost worked - failed to close all the i tags.

thanks to everyone who has written lately on this thread! its very constructive to talk about great chess games ... i hope this one should be in other websites, blogs, or journals quite soon