Annotated chess game: A nice attack in the Phildor (Please Comment)

ANNOTATED GAME

A nice attack in the Phildor (Please Comment)
Me (???) vs. ??? (???)
Annotated by: squarejazz (1375)
Chess opening: Philidor (C41), Berger variation

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Hi Guys, this was a game I played and I really enjoyed it because it involved a nice attack in the Phildor. Please Enjoy and feel free to comment!

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6	This is the Phildor Defense



3. d4	Staking my claim in the center, easily the best continuation



3... exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3	Defending the pawn, as well as developing
	1 comment cplusplus11 (1704) on 02-Jul-15: The difference is the pawn in c7 is on e7.


5... Be7 6. Bc4 O-O 7. O-O	This is all standard theory I believe, maybe Nc6 before Be7.



7... c5	!? This isn't really recommended in the Phildor, as black's DSB becomes infinitely worse, as well as making a potential hole on d5.
	1 comment cplusplus11 (1704) on 02-Jul-15: This tempo gain is not really a tempo gain. Why? because tempos are to be used for improving your position, and here the free move makes black's position worse, so it is not worth it.


8. Nf5	!? Usually I play Nf3, but I was feeling in an adventurous mood. I like this move because is places the knight close to the king in case of a potential attack, and if black chooses to exchange, it gets rid of their bishop pair and puts a nice attacking pawn on f5.
	1 comment cplusplus11 (1704) on 02-Jul-15: This allows black to eventually solve his backward d pawn problem with 8...Bxf5 9. exf5 and your majority is crippled while black's is not.


8... Bxf5 9. exf5 Nc6 10. g4	At this point, it was all or nothing. I was really interested to see if this plan of mine would work.
	3 comments cplusplus11 (1704) on 02-Jul-15: this is a risk, but it has its upside damalfi (1200) on 03-Jul-15: Still sticking to principles... and not to concrete moves. Black has no way to attack the WK. archduke_piccolo (2340) on 04-Jul-15: It is not clear to me that Black has solved the problem on the weak d5 and d6 squares. This thrust by White looks pretty strong, despite the open-looking centre. It is not easy for Black right now to cause much trouble there to counter-balance White's K-side operations. I reckon this was well worth a try.


10... Re8	? Best here was probably h6, as this allowed g5.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 04-Jul-15: 10...h6; 11.f4 would have reinforced the infantry advance. If I were Black, I'd be examining ...Nd4 as a means of disrupting White's plans.


11. g5	Continuing with my plan



11... Nd7 12. Qh5	! Bringing more pieces into the attack, and creating a multitude of threats, the most obvious being Bxf7+



12... Rf8	? Better was probably either Nce5 or Nde5. Both those moves bring another defender to black's king.



13. f6	! Black is completely lost here.



13... gxf6	?? Much better was Bxf6, but my materialistic opponent missed the nice combination that comes next
	2 comments archduke_piccolo (2340) on 04-Jul-15: The trouble Black has is that 13...Bxf6 or ...Nxf6 are both tantamount to resignation. Black could scarcely hop to save the game a piece behind (13...Bxf7 14.gxf6 Nxf6 15.Qf3 places the d-pawn under constraint, and threatens 16.Bf5. If, then 16...h6, 17.Bf4 g5?! 18.Bg3 and the Black d-pawn is under serious attack. squarejazz (1375) on 15-Jul-15: The one problem with g6 here is that after fxg6 hxg6 white can play Qxg6+ since the f7 pawn is pinned EDIT: @jkarp I thought you meant earlier... but after 13.f6 g6 14. Qh6 occurs and black has to sacrifice a lot of material to prevent mate.


14. g6	! And black's position is resignable. The computer actually gives a better continuation for white, which is a mate in 5 starting with 14. Bd3 f5 15. Bxf5 Nf6 16. gxf6 Re8 17. Qxh7+ Kf8 18. Qg7#
	1 comment cplusplus11 (1704) on 02-Jul-15: It's the pin on the f7 pawn


14... hxg6 15. Qxg6+ Kh8 16. Qh6+ Kg8 17. Kh1	An important move, allowing my rook to access the G-file. Bd3 is also possible here I think



17... f5	Allowing his bishop to come to g5



18. Rg1+ Bg5 19. Bxg5	Here my opponent graciously allowed me to mate.



19... Qc8 20. Bd8#	This move was a bit cheeky to mate, since any bishop move mates. Thanks for looking at the game, I hope you enjoyed it!
	4 comments cplusplus11 (1704) on 03-Jul-15: Bb3 does not mate trixstermtl (1513) on 04-Jul-15: nice quick assault. i always love seeing pawn attacks. -- clever or nitpicky cplusplus comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 04-Jul-15: Nothing wrong with finishing with a flourish when given the opportunity. The other 'flourishing' gesture would have been to have undeveloped your bishop: 20.Bc1#. But your choice is aesthetically more pleasing. squarejazz (1375) on 05-Jul-15: @cplusplus11 Nice Catch!