Hi everyone. I play in the club of Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. One of our teams - RVH Hawks - is in Division 1, and our second team - RVH Ravens - is in Division 2. I play for RVH Ravens.
Yesterday our team played our first league game of the season. My UCU (Ulster Chess Union) rating is 1523 and I play on board 1 (of 5 board), so you see that our Ravens team is not very strong. Our team won yesterday, but I lost my game. The time control is 90 mins per game for each player. (By the way, someone, please answer do I have to add "for each player" or is it implied?) My opponent's rating is 1590. (Unfortunately, our UCU ratings are updated very rarely, like just 3-5 times per year). This league game was RVH vs Fortwilliam.
I made a stupid basic mistake in the begining. But besides that, could you, please, analyse the game below and provide your comments? Thank you, I'd appreciate it. (Later I'll try to post my future league games too. I expect my future opponents on board 1 to be even stronger.)
OK, here is the game:
Thanks again.
Also posted in analysis forum
1. Pawn fork... self explanatory
2. In general, don't exchange when down material.
3. c4 is a limiting move think long and hard before playing it. (I'm never sure whether to play it or not, but it tends to stifle your Q-side counterplay)
4. e5 was the move you had to play after 1 & 3. Good job prepping and executing it.
[Event "League game RVH vs Fortwilliam"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2008.11.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Martin"]
[Black "Guych"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1590"]
[BlackElo "1523"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2008.??.??"]
[TimeControl "90"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 e6 {I prefer to play Bf5 here getting the light
squared bishop out from behind the pawn chain.} (3... Bf5 4. c4 c6) 4. Bd3 c5
5. c3 a6 {I think you're jumping at shadows here. Bb5 is not a threat. Normal
development Nc6, Nbd7, Be7 and Bd6 must be better than this.} 6. O-O Nc6 7.
Nbd2 Bd6 8. e4 {+- in my mind. I've played a similar position (0-0 instead of
a6) many times as black and I don't like it. White has now forced dxe giving
him a great apatial advantage, especially on the kingside. Your compensation
is that you can play against an IQP if you want.} O-O (8... dxe4 9. Nxe4 cxd4
10. Nxf6+ gxf6 (10... Qxf6 11. Bg5 Qxg5 12. Nxg5) 11. cxd4 $14) 9. e5 c4 {
I don't like this move to be frank. Not only are you losing a pawn, but you
are effectively cut off from the defense of your king if he doesn't take.
Playing c4 kills most of your Q-side/central counterplay making you a passive
observer.} 10. Bb1 Bc7 11. exf6 Qxf6 {
at least you can try and defend the queenside now.} 12. Qc2 g6 13. Re1 Re8 {
in order to get counterplay, you must play e5 at some point. This helps
support that. Note that Ne5 just drops a pawn for white and you're back in the
game.} 14. Nf1 e5 $1 {
the computer disagrees but I think this is the only move here.} 15. Bg5 Qd6 {
Qg7 is better since it doesn't obstruct the c7 bishop.} 16. dxe5 Nxe5 17. Nxe5
f6 {cute but tactically flawed} 18. Bxf6 (18. Nxc4 $1 Qc6 19. Rxe8+ Qxe8 20.
Bxf6 dxc4) 18... Qxf6 19. Nf3 Rxe1 20. Nxe1 Bf5 21. Qd2 Rd8 22. Nf3 {
why doesn't white complete his development with Bxf5?} Bxb1 {Don't willfully
bring your opponents one missing piece into the game unless you have a reason
to do so.When down material, exchanges typically favor the side with more
material.} 23. Rxb1 b5 24. Ne3 Bf4 25. Qe2 Re8 26. Re1 g5 27. Qd2 Qf7 28. Rd1
g4 29. Ne1 (29. Nd4 {is clearly the spot for a knight.}) 29... Qe6 30. N1c2 Qh6
31. Qxd5+ Kh8 32. Nxg4 Qg6 33. Nge3 Re5 34. Qa8+ Re8 35. Rd8 {
exchanging favors the material superior side.} Rxd8 36. Qxd8+ Kg7 37. Qd4+ Qf6
38. Qxf6+ Kxf6 39. Nd5+ Ke5 40. Nxf4 Kxf4 {nothing to do here but resign or
hope your opponent doesn't have the skill to win this.} 41. Kf1 Ke5 42. Ke2 Ke4
43. a3 h5 44. g3 Kf5 45. Nb4 a5 46. Nc2 Kg4 47. Ne3+ Kh3 48. Nf1 h4 49. gxh4
Kxh4 50. Kf3 Kg5 51. Ne3 Kf6 52. Ke4 Ke6 53. f4 Kd6 54. f5 Kc5 55. f6 b4 56.
axb4+ axb4 57. f7 1-0
Here is my second league game in this season, which I played today (it's not a second league game for the club though). I played white on board 2 of 5. This was a league game of RVH vs Derriaghy. I’m rated 1523 and my opponent is 1635 (Ulster Chess Union ratings)
[Event "League game RVH vs Derriaghy"]
[Date "2009.1.13"]
[WhiteElo "1523"]
[BlackElo "1635"]
[White "Guych"]
[Black "Chris"]
[TimeControl "90 min"]
[Result "1-0"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 e6 5.O-O Be7 6.c3 a6 7.Re1 b5 8.Bb3 Bb7 9.Nbd2 O-O 10.Nf1 d5 11.e5 Nfd7 12.d4 Nc6 13.Bc2 Re8 14.Qd3 Nf8 15.Ng3 cxd4 16.cxd4 Nb4 17.Qd2 Nxc2 18.Qxc2 a5 19.a3 b4 20.Bd2 Qb6 21.Qb3 a4 22.Qe3 b3 23.Rac1 Ba6 24.Qf4 Ng6 25.Qg4 Bd3 26.h4 Bxa3 27.bxa3 b2 28.Rb1 Rec8 29.h5 Nf8 30.h6 g6 31.Qg5 f5 32.exf6ep Nd7 33.Ne5 Nxe5 34.Qxe5 Kf7 35.Nh5 Bxb1 36.Rxb1 Ra7 37.Ng7 Rac7 38.Kh2 Rc6 39.Bb4 Rc2 40.Bd6 Re2 41.Qxe2 Qxd6+ 42.g3 Kxf6 43.Qxb2 1-0
Could someone, please, analyze this game for me and point some things to improve on? Thank you! ( Why I keep getting "invalid pgn reply...?" )
Originally posted by clandarkfireI must be missing something too
[pgn]
[Event "League game RVH vs Derriaghy"]
[Date "2009.1.13"]
[WhiteElo "1523"]
[BlackElo "1635"]
[White "Guych"]
[Black "Chris"]
[TimeControl "90 min"]
[Result "1-0"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 e6 5.0-0 Be7 6.c3 a6 7.Re1 b5 8.Bb3 Bb7 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Nf1 d5 11.e5 Nfd7 12.d4 Nc6 13.Bc2 Re8 14.Qd3 Nf8 15.Ng3 cxd4 16.cxd4 Nb4 17.Qd ...[text shortened]... e2 41.Qxe2 Qxd6+ 42.g3 Kxf6 43.Qxb2 [/pgn]
I dont know whats wrong with it...
My thought (analysis)
First, I don’t know almost anything about the Sicilian.
3.Bc4 - A video on chesslecture.com mentioned that if I want to avoid learning all the theory of the Sicilian and just want to develop my pieces I can just do something like this. This doesn’t give whites any opening advantage but just leads to comfortable middlegame.
4.d3 – Now, to me it looks like a KIA, so I roughly know that I should attack in the K side. And by now I guessed that he wouldn’t castle Q side.
6.c3 - I’ve seen it recommended somewhere for a KIA (I might be wrong).
12.d4 – Here I planned that if he takes my d pawn I’d retake with my c pawn and close the centre so that I can more or less safely work on the K side. Maybe that’s why I later didn’t retake with my N and lost a B for a N.
13.Bc2 – Here I was dreaming of 14.Bh6 if he wouldn’t prevent it. I was dreaming that even if he then plays 14…gxh6 I play 15.Qd3 and he cannot save his K.
14…Nf8 – I didn’t expect that (didn’t see that), I though he’d make something like g6, weakening his K side pawns.
16.cxd4 – As pointed by Gezza, maybe I should have played 16.Nxd4.
19.a3 – I wanted to get my Q to the K side via c1-h6 diagonal, so I played 19.a3 to prevent his B from skewering my Q and R.
21…a4 – I was starting to get scared by that time. During the game I didn’t know my opponent’s rating, which probably helped.
25…Bd3 – I failed to see the doubled purpose of this move, I though it was made to look after the K side, I didn’t think that it also covers b1, now it seems obvious.
26…Bxa3 – It was scary…
33.Ne5 – Again, as pointed out by Gezza, maybe I should have played 33.f7+. I thought of that but couldn’t think of something good.
35.Nh5 – After the game my opponent also pointed out that here I could make Rxb2. Here I though that if he takes gxh5, I go Qxh5+ and combined with Bb4 I could come to something.
38.Kh2 – I thought this was necessary, otherwise he could play Rc1+ and soon promote. Maybe I could play Rxb2.
40.Bd6 – To block the black Q from protecting e6. and I did expect him to play Re2.
41…Qxd6+ - Before he made this move, I didn’t see that there was check with it, I though I could just take Qxb2.
Over the last several moves my opponent was under time pressure.