Searching for an Expert

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2011.10.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "watchyourbackrank"]
[Black "PhySiQ"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "1972"]
[BlackElo "1944"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Bb4 {I'm not familiar with this move} 5.Bg5 {Want to develop rather than take on d5} dxc4 6. e4 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Bxc4 {this looks quite good for me. Two black pieces still undeveloped and excellent central dominance for me} O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. a3 {putting question to the bishop. I think black's best option is to exchange on c3, because after Be7 his queen is in trouble. This is why this move order is better than playing e5 immediately} Be7 11. e5 {now the black queen is in enemy terrritory} Qf4 12. Re1 {planning Re4} Rd8 13. Re4 Qf5 14. Bd3 {I was very confident at this time. Black's queen is in trouble because the discovered attack Rh4 is in the air.} Qh7 {odd looking but forced} 15. h4 {I considered Rf4 to either force the black queen back to h8 or to force him to play g6. In either case h4 was planned as my next move. For some reason I decided to play h4 first. Perhaps I was influenced by Nimzowitch's saying that the threat is often more powerful than its execution. I don't know} Kh8 {making space for the queen on g8 from where it is able to control f7 which is important in some lines} 16. Nb5 {when I played this move I thought it was very strong. Generally it's always a good idea to make threats on both sides of the board. And here I was convinced that after Rd7 I was winning because blacks pieces are not coordinated at all.} Rd7 17. Rf4 {now comes the discovered attack} Qg8 {only now I saw the idea Ng5 and I regretted having played Nb5 because now the black rook on d7 actually helps defending f7. Still Ng5 looks very promising so that was my next move} 18. Ng5 Bxg5 {hxg5 would lead to a mate after Qh5+} 19. hxg5 a6 20. gxh6 {it's still looking extremely good for me. I am forcing an opening of the black kingside position and my pieces are much more active than black's pieces. What I did not take into account at this time was that my knight was under attack.} g5 {ouch...I was being very optimistic but now two of my pieces are attacked by enemy pawns.} 21. Nxc7 Rxc7 22. Rg4 {I lost a piece but still I have the more active pieces and their king is vulnerable. Is it enough for a win} Rd7 23.Qf3 {the simple threat is Qf6+} Qd8 {only move. I feel this is a critical position in the game. I wasn't sure how to continue here. My d4 pawn is under attack and my only hope is to create something on the kingside} 24. Qg3 {hoping to grab the g5 pawn but black has some threats} Rxd4 {Bd3 is attacked} 25. Be4 {only move to defend the bishop and avoid a rook exchange} Ne7 {now that my bishop is on e4 it's not possible to take the g5 pawn. It's logical to defend the bishop.} 26. Re1 Rxe4 {black decides to exchange his active rook for my strong bishop. A good decision.} 27. Rexe4 Nf5 {my advantage seems to decrease for every move now} 28. Qc3 Bd7 29. Qc1 Rc8 30. Rc4 Rxc4 31. Qxc4 Nxh6 32. Rd4 {my last hope is to create some pressure against the pieces in the d-file} Nf5 33. Rd3 Ne7 34. Qe4 Ng6 35. Qd4 Nf8 36. Qd6 Kg7 37. Rg3 Ng6 {black's position is solid and we agreed on a draw} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2011.10.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "watchyourbackrank"]
[Black "PhySiQ"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D39"]
[WhiteElo "1972"]
[BlackElo "1944"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Bb4 {I liked Bb4 with thoughts of dxc4 and its indian like.} 5. Bg5 {this forces dxc4 earlier} dxc4 6. e4 h6 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Bxc4 O-O {White definitely has an advantage in development, but after Bxc3 bxc3 his center is slightly less demanding.} 9. O-O Nc6 10. a3 {forcing Bxc3} Be7 {This was a huge mistake. I knew it as soon as I hit the submit button. I don't know if I was thinking of another game, or just not paying attention. I remember hitting submit and then seeing my queen on f6 and saying aloud "ahhhhh crappola!"} 11. e5 {punishing a rookie maneuver.} Qf4 {already - I'm shifting into draw mode. White is going to get something going for all this time... but what?} 12. Re1 {great choice! Re4 will force blacks hand. White gets to add pieces to the fray while I undevelop mine!} Rd8 {What else?} 13. Re4 Qf5 {forced} 14. Bd3 {The discovered attack is wicked! I have to get my queen out of this nonsense.. Qh7 and then Qh8? and a g6... things look ugly} Qh7 {forced.} 15. h4 {? Too early. This allows a bit of flexability.} Kh8 { I will get to defend f7, and gain back-rank strength.} 16. Nb5 {This is a good move - but not a great move. He is sealing off two pieces with one move. I'm forced to play an ugly looking Re7. While this will defend f7, it blocks the bishop on c8 and means the a8 rook is useless for awhile longer.} Rd7 17. Rf4 Qg8 {much better than h8!} 18. Ng5 {...oh dear... I need to take this attack off f7...} Bxg5 {...but not with h6, or mate.} 19. hxg5 a6 {a completely dastardly intermezzo! White can continue Nc3 and his threat of Qh5+ is still just as real as it once was - the pawn is in no trouble! White can play Be4 and eventually g4 to pry things open further...I'm in in very real trouble.} 20. gxh6 {Bought and paid for! Now I can attack two pieces for his greedy enterprise!} g5 {!} 21. Nxc7 {A pawn for a piece.} Rxc7 22. Rg4 {Things must be done very carefully. White is still very strong.} Rd7 {Pressure on d4 is important here, I don't want to let him keep developing his pieces in a way that weakens my defense. If I smash through the center, it will only be a couple moves to yard-sale all the material into what feels like an equal position.} 23. Qf3 Qd8 {This is the only way. I must defend f6. It just so happens to also attack d4} 24. Qg3 {If white doesn't care about d4?! why not Re1?} Rxd4 {and through the center I bust! The rook is off d7 and things have opened up} 25. Be4 {defends both threats. This light squared bishop is very strong, and is a demon blockader. I need to defend f7, there are positions in the french which resemble this... a Knight on g6 can become a monstrous defender if I can just get him there...} Ne7 { Preparing Nf5, attacking the queen and threatening the h pawn... this piece is invaluable in defense of the kingside in the winawer variation of the french defense. I'll have to play it similarly.} 26. Re1 Rxe4 {a must.} 27. Rexe4 Nf5 {aha!} 28. Qc3 {preparing to go to c1 to attack g5. He is very serious about that pawn!} Bd7 {more development.} 29. Qc1 Rc8 {I don't have to continue defending g5. If Qxg5 Qxg5 Rxg5 Kh7 and I get the pawn back} 30. Rc4 Rxc4 31. Qxc4 {now I can defend f7 against only two pieces...the knight can do that!} Nxh6 32. Rd4 Nf5 {threaten the rook, bounce off e7 and sit on g6 like a good winawer knight.} 33. Rd3 Ne7 {making ready for Ng6 threatening his pawn} 34. Qe4 Ng6 {at last!...and just like in the Frenchie, e5 is a liability!} 35. Qd4 Nf8 {Thats annoying. I'll have to defend d7 obviously.} 36. Qd6 Kg7 {shoring up f7, and strengthening my future knight position.} 37. Rg3 Ng6 {white doesn't have a good counter here. But neither do I. His pawns are on dark squares, where I can't effect them. His kingside pawns are non committed...I can't force any exchange thats better than a drawn endgame.} 1/2-1/2

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2011.10.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PhySiQ"]
[Black "watchyourbackrank"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A24"]
[WhiteElo "1944"]
[BlackElo "1972"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]

1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. c4 O-O 5. Nc3 d6 {I was hoping for a King's Indian which is, IMO, the closest you can get to "real" chess!} 6. O-O e5 7.d4 {hmmm, now it's more like an english game} exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. Bg5 {e4, leading to KID, was still an option for my opp} h6 {White's setup may look promising at first. Pin on my knight on f6 and a bishop pointing down to b7 making development of my light squared bishop difficult. However, after the text move black is quite easily equalizing. The knight is unpinned, or exchanged, and I can always play c6 to defend b7 and restrict the white knight from going to d5} 10. Bf4 {10.Bxf6 Qxf6} Nbd7 11. Qc2 {again, e4 would have lead to a KID like position} Nh5 {Discovered attack d4 and putting question to the bishop on f4} 12. Be3 {although it looks a little messy the text defends both threats} Ne5 13. Qb3 {defending c4 and adding pressure on my b7 pawn. At this point, the pawn is poisoned because Bxb7 would lose to Rb8} Ng4 {Instead of exchanging their bishop I considered c6, which seems to be perfectly playable.} 14. Nc2 Nxe3 15. Nxe3 c6 {the move is double edged. It does defend b7 against the bishop on g2 and it does restrict the white knight on c3. On the flipside it weakens the d6 pawn. Which seems to be a permanent weakness since d5 is not in the air. This d5 square is heavil controlled by white.} 16. Rad1 Qc7 17. Ne4 {My opp attacks my weak pawn} Re6 {The alternative defence of the d6 pawn was Rd8. I prefered the more active(?) square e6 for my rook.} 18. Qd3 {it's all about the d6 pawn} Bf8 19. b4 {I didn't like my position at this point. It's very passive. And what am I going to do with my bishop on c8 and my rook on a8? My plan was quite simple, really. Remove an attacker of the d6 pawn followed by Bd7 and Re8 or Rd8} f5 20. Nc3 Bd7 21. b5 {white continues the minority attack but he also gives me a target to attack: the c4 pawn} Rae8 {I continue my plan of activating the rook. I did consider Rd8. It's probably better since it gives the e6 rook the option of retreating to e8 and the pressure in the e-file is in any case more optional than real} 22. bxc6 bxc6 {after this exchange follows some logical repositioning of pieces on both sides} 23. Rb1 Nf6 24. Nc2 Bg7 25. Nd4 R6e7 26. Rb3 Ng4 {heading for e5, obviously} 27. e3 Ne5 28. Qc2 {my opponent starts being tricky. I calculated 28...Nxc4 for a long time. In all variations it seems that the pawn is poisoned. For instance, the line 28...Nxc4 29.Nd5! cxd5 30.Bxd5+ didn't look too appealing to me} Qa5 29. Nce2 {I somehow felt this was even and yet I didn't feel cofortable at all. I couldn't find any better than to add pressure on c4} Qa6 30. Nf4 {indirectly defending c4 because the g6 pawn would then be hanging} Kh7 31. Rfb1 {again, my opponent "allows" me to take on c4. Is it still poisoned? The critical lines that convinced me not to take the pawn was 31...Nxc4 32.Bf1 d5 Rb7 and 31...Qxc4 32.Qxc4 Nxc4 33.Nxc6} Rf7 {the idea was to prepare g5 by defending f5} 32. Rb7 Ref8 33. h4 {so you belive you can prevent g5, huh?} g5 34. Rxd7 {I don't understand this move. I was expecting 34.hxg5 hxg5 and then either Nh5 or Nh3, hoping for the latter!} Nxd7 35. Nfe6 Bxd4 {only defence. White has no better than to take back the exchange} 36. Nxf8+ Nxf8 37. exd4 gxh4 {after some suspense on my behalf there's not much more in it} 38. d5 c5 39. g4 Qc8 40. gxf5 Nd7 {we agreed on a draw here} 1/2-1/2