GameKnot: annotated chess game - Challenge from hityerclock, http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?b

ANNOTATED GAME

Challenge from hityerclock, http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?b
bigpeta (1865) vs. hityerclock (2243)
Annotated by: bigpeta

(2078)
Chess opening: English (A11), Caro-Kann defensive system

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1. c4 c6	An odd move which is not even mentioned in the oddments columns of MCO14 Should be an interesting game This is where depending on sound guidelines for the opening rather than blindly following an opening book scores.
	2 comments hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: Black is trying to steer the game towards a Slav-like position, inviting white to play 2.d4 d5. chesskingdom64 (1100) on 27-Dec-11: The MCO14 doesn't matter. This is the English (A11), Caro-Kann defensive system, a rarely played opening.


2. Nc3 d5 3. e3	Normally I would exchange cxd5 but the odd opening would have put ne in a bad position so e3 defends c4 with the B This precludes my fav Bremen variation - g3 Bg2



3... Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. a3 Bd6 6. Be2 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Nbd7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qc2 c5 10. Rd1 b6 11. d4 Bb7 12. dxc5 Nxc5 13. Nb5 Nce4 14. Bd2 Bc5 15. Bd3	Up to here my use of general opening guidelines had served me well but now i moved the wrong B. Better was Bc3 aligning Q & both Bs on the K defenses
	1 comment hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: After 5.a3 Bd6 6.Be2, I gave a lot of consideration to 6...e5, but instead decided to try to transpose to one of my favorite Slav side-lines, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Bd6 b6!? 7.Qc2 Be7: with the intention of fianchettoing the LSB and creating K-side play. At move 11, we finally reach a position where I understand what's going on! The position after 15.Bd3 looks even to me. Black is putting pressure on the K-side as per his plan, and white has good play in the center. At this point, it's still anybody's game. 15.Bc3 might be better, but probably not enough to give white any big advantage.


15... Nxd2 16. Rxd2 Qb8 17. Nc3 h6 18. Qa4	According to Rybka this was the 7th best move i could have chosen!!! Correct was Ne4 threatening Nd7 forking Q R & B so keeping the black N stuck on guard duty for a while
	2 comments hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: 18.Ne5 (the only way to get to d7) is not playable, due to 18...Qxe5. I was expecting 18.Ne4, intending either Nxc5 or Ng3, and planned to respond with 19...Ng4! (threatening Nxe3), the point being that 20.Nxc5 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Qxh2+ looks good for black, and white might not have anything better! ionadowman (2080) on 19-Jan-12: Somebody's mixing ideas. Maybe the annotator thought 18.Ne4 was correct and somehow this morphed into Ne5. 18.Ne4 forces exchanges that look not unfavorable to White.


18... a6 19. h3 b5 20. Qd1 Qc7 21. Rc1 Qe7 22. b4 Bb6 23. e4 Rac8 24. e5 Nd5 25. Ne4 Rxc1 26. Qxc1 Nf4 27. Bb1 Rc8 28. Qd1 Bd5 29. Rc2	A pointles move as shown by the next move back to d2 to avoid losing a N. By now a series of 2nd best moves against a sharp opponent had put black ahead by a whole pawn on Rybka's scoring
	1 comment hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: Well, black is threatening 29...Rc4 and 30...Qc7, with mounting pressure on the white position, so 29.Rc2 isn't entirely pointless.


29... Rd8 30. Rd2 f5	At last less than perfect play from black gives me back a big piece of my -ve score and allows exchanges which break up black's Kside pawns offering a chance of attacking that side.
	1 comment hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: Black is trying to pry open lines to attack white's King, gambling that his pieces are better placed than white's to exploit the situation. Taking e.p. is almost forced, as otherwise black has ...Nxh3+! and/or ...Kf7/...g5/...g4 in the cards.


31. exf6 e.p. gxf6 32. Kh2 f5 33. Nc5 Bxc5 34. bxc5 Qxc5 35. g3 Ng6 36. Ba2 Kf7 37. Bxd5 Rxd5 38. Rxd5	The move which sets black up to create the winning Qside attack. Better to keep the R on the board and play Qe2 giving the Q good coverage of most of the board.
	1 comment hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: Note that 33.Nc5 is also forced: 33.Nc3? Qg7 is winning for black, and 33.Ng3 Bc7 doesn't look much better. So black is able to snag a pawn. The rooks won't stay on the board after 38.Qe2; I was planning to exchange them on d2 in that case: 38.Qe2 Rxd2 39.Qxd2 e5 (39...Qxa3 might also be playable), and the same plan of creating a passed pawn on the Q-side gives black good winning chances.


38... Qxd5 39. Qe2 a5 40. h4 b4 41. h5 Nf8 42. axb4 axb4 43. Ne5+ Kg8 44. Qb2 b3 45. Qc3 Qb7 46. Nd3 Nd7 47. Nb2 Qb5 48. Kg1 Ne5 49. Qc8+ Kf7 50. Qc7+ Ke8 51. Qc8+ Ke7 52. Qc7+ Nd7 53. Qc3 e5 54. Qe3 Nf6 55. Qxh6	desperately trying to get some play on the Kside but only succeeding in putting the Q in a bad spot Better was either Qa7+ or Qc3
	1 comment hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: At this point I thought my opponent might have found a perpetual! As the passed pawn is effectively blockaded a quiet move like 55.Qc1 or 55.Qc3 would force black to come up with a plan to create a second weakness in white's position. Do a Google search for "principle of two weaknesses" to understand what black has to do to win if white simply sits back and defends. In this position, creating a second weakness is not that easy, as there isn't that much material left on the board.


55... Qe2 56. Qg7+ Ke6 57. Qc7 Qxb2 58. Qc6+	beginning a string of checks hoping to salvage at least a draw from the game



58... Ke7 59. Qc5+ Kd7 60. Qb5+ Kd6 61. Qb6+ Kd5	But black's K finds the one escape square which will eventually allow it to help the Q promote the b pawn.



62. Qxf6 Qc1+ 63. Kg2 b2 64. Qf7+ Ke4 65. Qb7+ Kd3 66. Qb5+ Kc2 67. Qc4+ Kd1 68. Qd5+ Qd2 69. Qf3+ Kc1	better was Kc2 which would prevent the following pin
	1 comment hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: I was more interested in getting the K to where it couldn't be checked any more. After 69...Kc1 and 70...e4, white is out of checks, and the white Q is tied down preventing the b-pawn from promoting. Then black won't have too much trouble creating a second weakness, as he's effectively playing a queen up.


70. Qa3 e4 71. h6 Qxh6 72. Qc3+ Kb1 73. Qc8	From here i worked out that black could force a position where he could give check on c2 thus forcing the exchange of Qs and finally the promotion of the b pawn
	3 comments hityerclock (1200) on 24-Dec-11: The easiest (though not necessarily quickest) path to victory is 73...f4!, after which black will either create a second passed pawn, or force the exchange of queens. Great game from my opponent, who's a lot stronger than his rating indicates! bigpeta (2078) on 26-Dec-11: Qe6 is not check. it simply gives the Q away. ionadowman (2080) on 19-Jan-12: (!) According to the game score, Black did indeed play 73...f4. And that, I believe, was, as the engine indicates, a mistake. White's resignation was therefore premature! Check it out. After 73...f4? 74.Qe6ch! and there is absolutely no way Black can avoid the perpetual. White simply checks along the e-file. Nor is 73...e3 any good (it was investigating this move that led me to the drawing line). So how could Black instead have preserved winning chances? Only buy preventing Qe6ch, which brings us to 73...Qa2! Even then, White should fight on - make White 'prove' that he can indeed win this ending. I do not believe that even after ...Qa2 the ending would have been a gimme for Black. ++++++++++ Oops. I misread the diagram. That's the King on b1, aaahhhh, right, and I daresay that fellow in drag on h6 is indeed the Queen? Maybe as my eyesight deteriorates I should go back to symbolic instead of figurine diagrams...

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ANNOTATED GAME