Nimzo annotated game

[Event "January 2011 Hardcore Grand V"] [Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"] [Date "2011.01.18"] [EndDate "2011.01.20"] [Round "1"] [White "nimzo5"] [Black "grahamhammer"] [WhiteRating "2032"] [BlackRating "1645"] [WhiteELO "2032"] [BlackELO "1645"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "8107211"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nb1c3 Ng8f6 4. cxd5 {mmm, rather interesting move, white immediately opens the c file for use and creates possibilities of a minority attack against blacks queen side pawn majority, after ...exd5 black has half open e file} exd5 5. Bc1g5 {quite an aggressive move, pin can be broken with e7, or black can solidify his position with ...c6} Bf8e7 6. e3 h6 7. Bg5h4 Nb8d7 {i dont like this move ...Nbd7 for although its not essentially weakening it serves no real purpose on d7 and more importantly it blocks the queens bishop, which would have found an excellent post on f5, occupying the weakened light squares and contesting the b1 - h7 diagonal Slav style, anticipating the White bishops move to d3, where it could exchange itself of for one of whites most dangerous attackers} 8. Bf1d3 {a beautiful post for the Kings Bishop, here it radiates power all over the chess board like some magnificent star.} a6 {a waste of time, not sure what this move accomplishes, was Nb5 really a threat?} 9. Qd1c2 {Qc2 an interesting move, queen coordinates well with the bishop, although if Black opens the c file it may become vulnerable, Nf3 was also possible} c5 {wow, an attempt by black to open the position, threatens to isolate his own queen pawn, while the move is certainly dynamic, his king remains in the centre} 10. Ng1f3 {developing a piece and defending the d pawn,} c4 {this is an interesting move, it seeks to block the c file and challenge whites beautifully placed bishop and emphasises blacks queenside pawn majority} 11. Bd3f5 {bishops is forced to move, although white posts it to a very active square, Be2 may also have been possible, although it seems so passive there.} Nd7f8 {an attempt by black to free his position and exchange off the passive bishop for white active one. Now Bxf6 is a real threat because the Knights are not connected and blacks d pawn will be subject to attack. Blacks pieces are really uncoordinated and do not communicate well with each other. In my opinion ...b5 was much better, continuing with queen side expansion.} 12. Bf5xc8 Ra8xc8 13. Bh4xf6 {Bxf6! Blacks vulnerable e pawn is stripped of its defender and will be subject to attack} Be7xf6 14. Qc2f5 {the ice maiden threatens the vulnerable d pawn with immediate effect, it cannot be defended} Nf8g6 15. Nc3xd5 O-O 16. Nd5xf6 {this is an excellent positional exchange, for if gxf6 or Qxf6, no matter what, white has two excellent passed pawns and blacks pawns shall be weakened around his king.} Qd8xf6 17. Qf5xf6 gxf6 18. a4 {aiming to restrict blacks pawns and threatening a5, which will render the b pawn backwards. white need not fear ...c3 for after bxc3, Rxc3 the b file opens for a white rook and the b pawn is doomed on the half open file, whites king shall come to d2 rendering all penetration points along the open c file untenable in conjunction with his rooks.} c3 19. bxc3 Rc8xc3 20. Ke1d2 {excellent , c file cannot be utilised by black, rook to c1 contests it successfully} Rc3b3 21. Rh1b1 Rb3xb1 22. Ra1xb1 Rf8b8 {defends the b pawn} 23. g4 {restricting blacks pawns, notice how on both wings a white pawn is restricting two of its black counterparts. Rb6 utilising the outpost with the idea of pushing the past d pawn was also an idea me thinks} b5 24. Kd2d3 {axb5 and Kc3 seeking to control the square in front of the b pawn were also possible} Ng6e7 25. e4 {restricting the movements of the knight a la Silman} Ne7c6 26. d5 Nc6d8 27. axb5 axb5 28. Nf3d4 b4 29. Nd4f5 Kg8h7 30. Rb1b3 {blockades the pawn which is doomed after Kc4} Rb8b6 31. Kd3c4 Nd8e6 {a desperado attempt to appeal to whites materialistic side, take me says the black knight, i am worth more than a pawn, errr, more than a protected passed pawn about to embark to the sixth and seventh ranks, i dont think so!} 32. Rb3xb4 Rb6xb4 33. Kc4xb4 Ne6f8 34. d6 {the pawn senses freedom and promotion.} Nf8e6 {trying to cover the queening square.} 35. d7 Kh7g6 36. h4 h5 37. gxh5 {black resigns, if ...Kxh5 then Ng7+ wins after Nxg7 d8=Q} 1-0

[Event "January 2011 Hardcore Grand V"] [Site "http://www.timeforchess.com"] [Date "2011.01.18"] [EndDate "2011.01.20"] [Round "1"] [White "nimzo5"] [Black "grahamhammer"] [WhiteRating "2032"] [BlackRating "1645"] [WhiteELO "2032"] [BlackELO "1645"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "8107211"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nb1c3 Ng8f6 4. cxd5 {This exchange initiates the Karlsbad pawn structure.} exd5 5. Bc1g5 {The idea of course is to get the Bishop out of the shed before closing up the diagonal with e3.} Bf8e7 6. e3 h6 7. Bg5h4 Nb8d7 {This is actually a standard defensive move. Rarely in the QGD can Black play an early Bf5 without suffering from either Qb3 or Qf3.} 8. Bf1d3 a6 {I have only seen this move played twice in my database- both times the idea was followed with b5 which seems to be a bit premature} 9. Qd1c2 c5 {Generally, premature c5 breaks don't equalize for black. I do think however the Tartakower style b6 setup followed with a timed c5 is a good attempt for Black.} 10. Ng1f3 {Generally I play Nge2 systems but the Nf3 left more options- like opening the e file etc.} c4 {the problem with this construction is that Black is doing nothing to defend d5. } 11. Bd3f5 {Bf5 seems preferable to e2} Nd7f8 {Black doesn't appreciate the danger posed to his d5 pawn. Several options like 0-0, b5 etc were possible here. It was critical to see that either the knight had to stay to protect against Bxf6 or it had to go to b6 to add support.} 12. Bf5xc8 Ra8xc8 13. Bh4xf6 {Anyone who plays the QGD should have this pattern permamently etched in their noggin. D5 is the point that both sides are fighting over from move 2.} Be7xf6 14. Qc2f5 {the simple completion of the combination.} Nf8g6 15. Nc3xd5 O-O 16. Nd5xf6 {Here you have to consider if you have enough to force the endgame win. Up a pawn with a passer and the ability to shatter Black's kingside pawns should be enough- so I went ahead without doing any calculations beyond Qxf6 Qxf6 gxf6} Qd8xf6 17. Qf5xf6 gxf6 18. a4 {Anyone who has played Slav endgames knows how dangerous the pawn majority can be. a4 makes the b5 advance less palatable as it opens a file for my rook and starts chipping away at those pawns before they can get support and start rolling.} c3 19. bxc3 Rc8xc3 20. Ke1d2 {The king plays a nice role here.} Rc3b3 21. Rh1b1 Rb3xb1 22. Ra1xb1 Rf8b8 {forced} 23. g4 {A key decision. I sat down and analyzed the following choices- a5, Rb6, Kd3, and then g4. While visually a5 with Rb6 or Rb6 straight away looks appealing. Once you realize that Black is going to play Ne7 and come to either c6 vs a5 or c8 vs Rb6 then you have to scrap that plan. Next I looked at Kd3 with the idea of immediately providing a path for the Knight and supporting the potential push of e4 d5 etc. Black's plan is to organize a defense that centers around a passed b pawn, a knight blockading the d pawn and getting the king either to the center or to create threats on the remaining wing. Considering that both b5 and f5 seem like likely candidates- b5 is going to come at some point for certain, but I decided that f5 was a move I shouldn't readily allow. Besides opening a path for the king to come cruising to the center, there is the possibility of Black controlling e4 which would weaken my progress in trying to advance the d pawn. So this led me to look at g4.} b5 24. Kd2d3 {I considered several choices here when looking at g4. The direct axb5 is fine but part of chess is making is making room for your opponent to go wrong. I had looked at the lines where black tries to push b4 instead of exchanging and found that there were some ways for black to collapse quickly and wanted to leave the option for that to happen open. } Ng6e7 {a good choice. I had wasted a lot of time on proving that b4 was losing and then my opponent instantly played the strongest move. In otb this would be a setback.} 25. e4 {At this point I had already looked very deeply into what I considered to be most likely variations. It was around here that I found the Knight check trick and the optimum way to play on the kingside. It stood me in good stead later as I only had to recheck my analysis when I reached similar positions. All told I spent about 4 hours on this endgame.} Ne7c6 26. d5 Nc6d8 {a very strange choice to me, I thought that Ne5+ fixing the pawn structure would have been a better defense.} 27. axb5 axb5 28. Nf3d4 b4 29. Nd4f5 {Blockading, controlling d6 and e7 and hitting the h pawn} Kg8h7 30. Rb1b3 {not sure if this was best, but I knew I could hold the kingside by tactics and so in a sense I am creating zugzwang here as Black now has almost no good moves.} Rb8b6 31. Kd3c4 Nd8e6 {A very enterprising move! Now objectively, I think I could have taken the Knight but I wasn't interested in disproving the sacrifice. There is always the small danger in such a moment that you could wind up in a rook and knight vs rook drawn endgame. So after a brief check to make sure the knight couldnt stir up any trouble I traded off the rooks.} 32. Rb3xb4 Rb6xb4 33. Kc4xb4 Ne6f8 34. d6 {I considered shoring up with f3 and h4 first but by playing d6 I tie down the knight which is simple enough.} Nf8e6 {trying to cover the queening square.} 35. d7 Kh7g6 36. h4 h5 37. gxh5 {I was able to reach this point quickly as I had worked out the little knight trick earlier} 1-0