Annotated chess game: 37th GK tournament

ANNOTATED GAME

37th GK tournament
ashmal29 (1572) vs. kotick (1724)
Annotated by: ashmal29 (2148)
Chess opening: Benko gambit (A58), Nd2 variation

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1. d4	In this game my opponent played the Benko gambit. I'm not familiar with this opening at all so I was just pretty much winging it from move 6 on.



1... Nf6 2. c4	I thought that my opponent would go for the Queen's Indian (2...e6 3. Nf3 b6) or the Nimzo-Indian (2....e6 3. Nc3 Bb4) considering they are the most common openings on Gameknot in the Queen pawn game with Nf6. Instead they went for the Benko gambit and caught me completely off guard.



2... c5 3. d5 b5	And here we have the Benko Gambit. I don't really know this opening very well so I decided to accept it and then just try to make the best moves since I am already out of the book.



4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6	The Benko accepted. Now I have to find a way to develop the f1 bishop. That is the biggest problem for white in the Benko gambit. Fianchettoing (sp?) on g2 doesn't look that good because of the pawn on d5, but I opted for it anyway. The other option is to play Nc3 followed by e4. Then after the capture on f1 (Bxf1) my castling privileges are gone and I would have to castle manually with g3 and Kg2. I don't like the idea of g2 without my light-squared bishop to cover the holes. So I went for the awkward fianchetto.



6. Nc3 d6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. g3	I waited a few moves to develop my bishop because I wanted to see what my opponent was going to do. Besides it's better to develop your knights before your bishops. Now that I see that he can't take advantage of my kingside weaknesses right away I try to get my king out of the center before it opens up.



8... g6 9. Bg2 Bg7 10. O-O O-O 11. Re1	I wanted to play e4, but it was pinned to my f1 rook. Now I'm free to play e4.



11... Ng4	I don't understand this or any of the next few knight moves. If anyone knows of any benefit to this or the next 2 or 3 black moves, please tell me. This is the downfall of black I believe
	2 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: The downfall of black?? This is not a bad move actually! Black wants to centralize the knight by moving it to e5. He knows he can always bring another knight to f6 if necessary. sander313 (1412) on 26-Sep-10: if black would know the benko gambit he would attack on the queen side because he has 2 half open files. Qb6 to make space for the rook would be better


12. Bd2	I wanted to get my queen behind my bishop so I can play Bh6. This was the only square where my opponent couldn't immediately harrass my bishop.



12... Nge5	Again, I'm dumbfounded......
	3 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: ?? Dumbfounded? Now the knight is well centralized. Pretty obvious I think. steverand67 (1200) on 17-Jul-07: Sure the knight is centralized, but black just spent two moves getting his knight to an attacked square while white was developing and and carrying out his plan. Now white can make black look foolish by just playing Nxe5, trading a knight that has moved 3 times for a knight that has moved only once. elyhim (1200) on 23-May-08: In this position I would say that Qc1 was the correct move. Playing Nxe5 would justify black's lost time.


13. Qc1	As planned, to create a major kingside weakness for my opponent. Now I can't play e4 as I planned because Nd3 would really make me look stupid.
	2 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: 13.Nxe5 was the top move here, I think. The text move is not bad, but there are stronger moves available like 13.Qc2 to activate the queen or 13.Bg5, 13.Rc1 and even 13.a3 steverand67 (1200) on 17-Jul-07: I agree sarasani...why not make black's knight maneuvering look foolish by just knocking off the knight. Of course the text is fine as well.


13... Nc4	??
	2 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: Double questionmark? The knight is still increasing it's influence in the centre! steverand67 (1200) on 17-Jul-07: "Double questionmark?" indeed. IHMO the knight move should have been given not two but 3 questionmarks. Black just moves his knight to an attackable square (a later b3 would make it look silly) to attack a bishop that's clearly about to move anyways.


14. Bh6 Bxh6 15. Qxh6 Nxb2	Why go pawn hunting when I'm breathing down the king's neck?
	2 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: True, but by this time white is allready much better. 15...Re8 was the only move here. He doesn't realize the full threat of 16.Ng5, thinking he can stop the mate on h7 by simply playing 16...Nf6, but now you can force mate in five moves! Also 14...Bxh6 was not the best thing to do, this theme occurs very often in these type of positions and it's often better not to take the bishop on h6. I think you should have pointed this out. Something like 14...Qa5 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.b3 was preferable. I think in the end you got lucky, because your opponent underestimated you and this rather cheap attack. steverand67 (1200) on 17-Jul-07: Luck or no luck, a well played game culminating in a good attack. IMHO you're right about the knight maneuvering being black's downfall. The maneuvers seemed entirely pointless, while you had a plan and carried it out.


16. Ng5	Now I threaten mate with Qxh7#
	2 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: Forced mate in four moves. I didn't mean to offence anyone by calling this attack cheap. I just think it only pulled trough because the oponnent seriously neglected his duties to pay attention, otherwise the attack would have been premature. elyhim (1200) on 23-May-08: If you ask me your opponent should not have played the benko gambit. It is obvious that they did not know anything about the openning.


16... Nf6	The only way to stop mate.
	1 comment sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: on h7, that is..


17. Nce4	But now there's nothing black can do and he resigned. If black plays anything other Nxe4, I'll play Nxf6 , followed by mate on h7.
	2 comments sarasani (1868) on 17-Jul-07: ''If black plays anything other 17...Nxe4''? Sorry, but that's just not true. Black must play 17...Re8 and then 18.Nxf6+ exf6 19.Qxh7+ is not mate yet. (only after 19...Kf8 20.Qxf7#). Nice job, black clearly underestimated your attack. However, I think your annotation's somewhat poor. Maybe you could give some more variations instead of just giving a move two questionmarks or saying it's a bad move. And rating is not so important, my dear heinzkat. It's the performance that counts..Grtz... steverand67 (1200) on 17-Jul-07: not a bad annotation. keep making 'em and add some variations. thanks for an entertaining game.