Upon the recent banning of Mary Ann and finding out that she used a program to play on this site, I feel cheated out of some really good games that I had with her. Knowing that she didn't understand what was going on while we were playing some really beautiful chess is somewhat disheartening, and so I thought I'd share the game with you, all my chess-friends! Please feel free to comment on my analysis and provide your own as I would love to talk with someone who actually understands what happened in the game played!
Anyway, if this goes well, I may do some commentary on some of my other games.
Game 2069909
1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 Bb4
4. e5 Ne7
5. a3 Bxc3+
6. bxc3 c5
7. Qg4
Had I known Mary Ann was using a program to analyse I would have never played this line of the Winawer. 7. a4! is, in my opinion, a much stronger reply, trying to take advantage positionally rather than tactically with Qg4. I think a computer would misevaluate this line (7.a4) because you have to look deep into the position to see the menacing effect the dark bishop will have on blacks now weak a3-f8 diagonal. The funny thing is, if I did in fact have the information that Mary Ann was using a program, I would have never played this gem!
7. ... O-O
This wild reply is a smack in whites face, black states: "Prove you can mate me."
8. Bd3 Nbc6
9. Qh5 Ng6
10.Nf3 Qc7
11. Be3 c4
12. Bxg6 fxg6
13. Qg4 Qf7
14. Ng5 Qe8
15. h4
So far, all book. This sort of position is why I think 7. a4 is the strongest variation. In this position, white has exhanged his light-squared bishop for a knight and has thus lost the bishop pair and instituted a probable opposite collor bishop ending which would inevitably turn into a draw. Mistakes by my opponent are just around the corner, however.
15. ... Ne7
OK, but 15. ... h6 kicking the knight immediately is more accurate. The text shouldnt lead to any drastic conclusions though as Ne7 usually gets played anyway to transfer the knight to f5.
16. Qe2 Bd7?!
The start of a false concept. Black wants to get his counterplay started immediately with b5, a5, b4, but black isn't the one with the initiative. First, black must tend to the kingside with 16. ... h6 to kick the knight as previously stated.
17. g4 b5?
Weak. I think the main reason I won this game is because her engine played very poor positional chess. No one can calculate the the attack that is comming, but any human player could see that indeed, it IS comming. At the risk of repeating myself, h6 is mandatory. (17... h6 18. Nh3 And only now can black play b5, building up his queenside counterplay.)
18. h5 gxh5
19. Rxh5 h6
20. Kd2!?
The knight has been on g5 so long, it doesn't want to leave! Of course Nh3-f4 seems perfectly good, but I wanted to crush black since my sicilian had just been demolished in a previous game.
20. ... hxg5
Accepting the sacrafice and submitting the king to the fierce attack that will ensue. I felt that I would at least be able to draw this game if need be, because of whites complete and utter domination of the h-file.
21. Rah1 Ng6!
The best defence. Clearly, black has to stop Rh8 and this is the only plausible way to do so.
22. Rxg5 Kf7!
Again black is putting up prime defence. The king must escape this mess immediately and flee to the queenside.
23. f4 Rh8
24. Rf1
White cant afford to exchange any more pieces but - he doesn't have to. The rook is just as active on f1 as it is h1 because it will support the inevitable advance, f5.
24. ... Ne7
Black is keen to see that even though he wont be able to stop f5, he needs defenders of that square.
25. Qg2
Building up, ever so slowly, before f5.
25. ... Qg8
The king needs to get out and neither the pawn on e6 nor the knight can move.
26. f5 Rf8!
I was amazed during the game at the quality of defence black was putting up. Getting the rook to f8 before Ke8 and keeping it active was blacks only hope.
27. f6
But white is still comming full-force!
27. ... Ng6
(27... g6? 28. fxe7+ Kxe7 29.Rxf8 Qxf8 (29... Kxf8 30. Qf2+ Qf7 31. Rxg6) 30. Rxg6 And white is up a pawn.)
28. Rff5!!
This is one of the best moves I've ever played. Although white may only have a forced draw from the resulting position, I think it was the only way out for white and gives black many chances to go wrong.
28. Rh6
(28...exf5 Loses to: 29. Qxd5+ Ke8 (29... Be6 30. Qb7+ Ke8 31. Rxg6 Is just crushing.) 30. Qa8+ Kf7 31. Qxa7 Rd8 32. gxf5 gxf6 33. Rxg6 And black is just lost.)
29. Rh5 Rh7?
The losing move! After 29. ... Rh8! , white may not have anything better than to accept the draw by repitition with Rg5, as other moves seem to lose: (29... Rh8! The idea of this move being that black can now recapture the rook with the knight, instead of the queen, and so white cannot obtain the h-file with tempo as he does in the text. 30. fxg7+ Kxg7! 31. Rxh8 Nxh8 32. Rh5 Kf7! And it looks like the black king skips away, with his extra material.)
30. Rxh7 Qxh7
31. Rh5 Qg8
32. Qh2!
The move that puts black down. White regains what he originally sac'd the knight for: complete domination of the h-file.
32. ... Ke8
(32... gxf6 33. Rh7+ Ke8 34. exf6 And black is busted.)
33. Rh7! Rf7
34. Qh5 Nf4!
The line that poses the most technical problems for white.
35. Bxf4 g6
36. Rh8! gxh5
37. Rxg8+ Rf8
38. Rg7
A little finesse is required to milk the win out of the ending. The idea is to force the rook to f7 to block the kings activation via f7.
38. ... Rf7
39. Rg6 hxg4
40. Rxg4 Bc6
41. Bh6 Rh7
42. Rg8+ Kf7
43. Rc8 Be8
Forced, as: (43... Rxh6 44. Rc7+ $1 Kf8 45. Rxc6 Is a clear win.)
44. Rc7+ Kg6
45. Bg7
White can't exchange rooks as then the ending is drawn.
45. ... a5
46. Re7 Bf7
47. Rb7 Be8
48. Kc1 a4
49. Kb2 Rh2
50. Bf8 Rh7
51. Rb8 Kf7
52. Bd6 Bd7
53. Kc1
I wasn't entirely sure how to win the ending but I was convinced that the ending was won for white, and it is. Whites huge pawn chain is completely cramping and the problem of blacks infamous "bad bishop" is shown (not to mention the extra, protected, passed pawn!).
53. ... Kg6
54. Be7 Bc6
55. Rc8 Bb7
56. Rc7 Ba8
57. Kb2 Rf7
58. Rc8!
Finally, I found whites winning idea: the bishop is not able to cope with the rook on it's own, and eventually the rook can win the e6 pawn and blacks position crumbles. Of course, the hard part was calculating out how exactly the rook forces the bishop out from defending it's pawns.
58. ... Bb7
59. Rb8
(59. Rg8+ Is quicker. For example: Kh7 (59... Kf5? 60. Rg7 And black can resign on the spot.) 60. Rb8 Bc6 61. Rb6 Bd7 62. Rd6 Bc8 63. Rc6 Bd7 64. Rc7 Be8 65. Rc8 Bd7 66. Rd8 Bc6 67. Rd6 Be8 68. Rxe6 And the king has to waste a tempo to get back to g6, but the text still wins.)
59. ... Bc6
60. Rb6 Bd7
61. Rd6 Bc8
62. Rc6 Bd7
63. Rc7 Be8
64. Rc8 Bd7
65. Rd8 Bc6
66. Rd6 Be8
67. Rxe6 Rh7
68. Rd6 Kf5
69. Rxd5 Rh2
70. Rd6!
Allowing the pawns to get rolling.
70. ... Kg4
71. e6 Bg6
72. Kc1
The win still requires intricate footwork by white's king. (Not the over hasty 72. f7? Rxc2+ 73. Ka1 Rc1+ With a draw by perpetual.)
72. ... Rxc2+
73. Kd1 Rf2
74. d5 Kg3
75. Rd8 Bh5+
76. Kc1
Again, the king must side-step the traps. (76. Ke1? Re2+ 77. Kd1 Rxe6+! And white can forget about the win.)
76. ... Rf1+
77. Kd2 Rf2+
78. Ke3 Rf3+
79. Kd4 Rf4+
80. Ke5 Rf3
81. Rg8+ Kf2
82. Bc5+ Ke2
83. d6 b4
84. d7!
The pawns stop for nothing!
84. ... Rd3
85. f7! Kd1
86. f8=Q Bf3
87. d8=Q
And I doubt that even fritz could extricate itself from being down a pair of queens!
Originally posted by fifthdivisionWow, amazing game, The way you played the ending was amazing! I'd like to be able to play like you did 😉.
Upon the recent banning of Mary Ann and finding out that she used a program to play on this site, I feel cheated out of some really good games that I had with her. Knowing that she didn't understand what was going on while we were playing some really beautiful chess is somewhat disheartening, and so I thought I'd share the game with you, all my chess-f ...[text shortened]... I doubt that even fritz could extricate itself from being down a pair of queens!
Outstanding game Fifth. I must say I had watched this game, as i have watched all your games since you so righteously destroyed me in our 2 games, and I got lost somewhere along the way so your analysis was enlightening.
it seems you were especially hard hit by the cheating, all those games with Mary Fritz and NibblesBigNuts took a draw off you as his last game before being banned.
Much respect for your play
Thank you everyone for your kind comments! Since this has been so well recieved I think I'm going to write up an analysis of another one of my favourite games on this site.
Turanthor: I don't think I was "hard to hit" against the program users, I think I just played strong chess. Mary Ann had a couple of quite convincing wins against me before she was banned. In my game against NibblesBigNuts I had overlooked Rxf7! and had actually thought I was winning before this move, but thankfully, the game was still only a forced draw thereafter.
Fifth: I only meant it in the sense that you only play 6 games at a time and 4 of them are now occupied by Mary Fritz. I felt you outplayed Nibbles, but as you said you missed the one move (apparently his Engine didnt!) that prevented a righteous victory.
So out of the what, 150-200? players on your lvl at RHP you were unfortunate enough to play 2 engine users in one month! That was all I was speaking to, the bad luck of that draw.
But hey, I guess if you hadnt, you wouldnt have this brilliant game to show us!
Wow fifth you AWESOME how u play like this.. haha..
i just see some of your games 😲
Game 2151229 this one i cant really figure how you play like this.
Originally posted by LoletteThank you for the compliment, that game was a nice little miniature I played in the From Gambit. It is pretty much the only gambit I play and I consider it to be fully sound for black. White, however, can transpose to the kings gambit with 2. e4. I can see why you probably had trouble understanding that game. It might be hard for a beginner to fathom exactly why the kingside pawns can just go marching up the board without capture, and I might post an analysis of that game some other time, but I'm working on another game right now that I'm almost finished and will probably post tonight.
Wow fifth you [b]AWESOME how u play like this.. haha..
i just see some of your games 😲
Game 2151229 this one i cant really figure how you play like this.[/b]