Annotated chess game

The game has transposed in the meantime into a Queen's Gambit Declined; Slav, or Semi-Slav Defence. This can lead to some very exiting and complicated chess.

Black's position is much more complex and active than it might look. Given the rating difference, it might have been more prudent for white to exchange pawns.

A standard continuation. 8.Be2 is also playable, but 8.Bb3 is not so well motivated, having little future on the a2-g8 diagonal. Black can play 8.(Bb3) b4 9.Ne2 Bb7 10.0-0 Bd6 with a fine game. We are now into the highly complicated Meran System...

White is playing solidly so far, but the complications have just begun.

At move 9 or 10, White could have essayed e3-e4... At this juncture, Black could have played 10...b4, though there doesn't seem to be anything against the text move.

In similar positions, a2-a4 is the usual response. Here, however, the move order has left e4 unavailable to the c3-knight after 11.a4 b4, since a bishop already stands at b7...

white is begining to worry more about blacks pawn roll than counterplay, not a good sign for white

11...Be7 was a pragmatic move, avoiding possible pawn-forks after e3-e4-e5.

Thematic - but there's the danger with thematic moves. Here it is the right move at the wrong time (it would have been better earlier, and maybe will be good later)... Maybe White had to try 13.Be2 or maybe 13.Bb1 by way of preparation. Already, though, one feels a sense of uneasiness about White's position. 13.dxc5 looks distinctly unhealthy, and Black has ...b4 in the wind, driving white back.

Probably White had to reconcile himself to the loss of and important pawn after 13...cxd4, as 14.Nxd4 Ne5! was going to cost a piece on account of the tangle on the d-file. The prospect isn't very attractive, though: 14.Ne2 (say) Nxe4 15.Bxe4 Bxe4 16.Nexd4 Bd5 etc. Black has the extra pawn, the bishop pair on an open board, a fine outpost for the bishop...

White has an active game - even a good position - but Black's extra piece is decisive.

There might have been some chance for White in going for further simplification - not the usual recipe when material down (unless there is some prospect of exchanging pawns), but occasionally worth more than a passing glance. Here's a plausible line: 21.Nd5!? Nxd5 22.exd5 Rad8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Bxg6 hxg6 25.Rxe5 Rxd5 26.Rxd5 Bxd5. Now, this series of exchanges would not be especially unwelcome to Black, it is true. Indeed, she would still be winning. But the ending isn't elementary either...

26. Ra1? (Rd2 is no better) Nxa2 27. Rxa2?? Rc1#