I think 20... b6 is the final straw giving white a protected pass pawn and a victory in 95% of endgames. Before that the attack on the h-file by the early advancement was too slow and allowed white to form a winning plan of play on the queenside and bury the attack at the same time.
Just my 2cents.
Originally posted by Sam The Sham Yer rated 2000+ and you want to know where you went wrong?
Give your prog some more thimking time.
Err yes...
The same thought occurred to me. Why not zap it through fritz or whatever & see what happens? There aren't that many people who post on the forums who will be able to help out a 2000 player in need!
Originally posted by Squelchbelch Err yes...
The same thought occurred to me. Why not zap it through fritz or whatever & see what happens? There aren't that many people who post on the forums who will be able to help out a 2000 player in need!
In fact there are some such players who post here. They have been very helpful in the past. Even if I had Fritz I would probably not be able readily to understand why it might choose a particular move, but competent human analysts can explain. It was this type of help I was after. I realize that asking others to analyse my mistakes might be seen as a soft option, and I don't often ask; this game, however, was very tough. I thought carefully about each move, but seemed quickly to get into difficulty. Some of the earlier posts in this thread have already shown me what I could have done better.... for which many thanks to all.
Originally posted by Mathurine In fact there are some such players who post here. They have been very helpful in the past. Even if I had Fritz I would probably not be able readily to understand why it might choose a particular move, but competent human analysts can explain. It was this type of help I was after. I realize that asking others to analyse my mistakes ...[text shortened]... is thread have already shown me what I could have done better.... for which many thanks to all.
Unfortunately, I can offer you no help in that game, but I agree with your assessment of human versus computer explanations. All I look to computers for are tactics. Just wait for Fat Lady, David Tebb etc. to notice the game.
I don't claim to be the strongest player on the site, but for what it's worth, here are my thoughts about the game.
In these type of Sicilian positions, it is not an uncommon theme for White to establish a pawn on d5 and then expand on the queenside (as occurred in the game). Sometimes Black is better off taking the Knight on d5 with the Bishop, but I think your 11...Nxd5 is probably correct here. I prefer 13...0-0 over your 13...Rc8 intending one of two plans: a) expansion on the kingside with Bg6 followed by f5 or b) restraint on the queenside with b6 or a5 (since Na5 is pretty powerful for White) followed by Qc7 and Rfc8. By move 20, although White has made progress on the queenside, Black can still put up resistance by keeping the position closed. I don't like your 20...e4 because you are opening up the position while behind in development, so I would go with either Zoot's suggestion of 20...Rfe8 or possibly 20...Nxe2+ followed by moving either Rook to e8. Despite all that, I'm not sure that White took advantage of it in the best way and I think that you could have maintained a perfectly reasonable position with Fat Lady's suggestion of 27...Ng3 instead of your 27...Nc5 which I believe is the critical error of the game.
Originally posted by MoneyMaker7 You played the English attack but then opted to go off on the queenside. Naturally black counterred in the center and won...