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1. e4
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It's been a while since I annotated someone else's game, so naturally when no_genius sent me a request to annotate this GK blitz win I jumped at the chance :) |
  1 comment
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1... c6
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"I thought I'd play a Caro-Kann", as no_genius put it. |
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2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3
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Exchange variation. Often seen as quieter and less interesting than the main lines, and White is not considered to have much advantage. |
3 comments
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4... Nf6
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The normal move here is 4... Nc6, since the bishop has interfered with the queen's defence of the d4 pawn, so White then plays 5. c3 and loses a development tempo. |
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5. Nf3
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Curiously, the world DB recommends 5. c3 even though Black has not attacked the pawn. Presumably the reasoning is that the move will have to be played sooner or later anyway. In any case, the next two moves by each side are obvious, and we reach the same position regardless of the order they are played in. |
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5... Bg4 6. O-O Nc6 7. c3 Qc7
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The DB gives this as only the second most common move, after 7... e6, but again the two lines are likely to transpose into each other. |
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8. Re1 e6 9. Bg5
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(?!) Recommended is 9. Nbd2, so that 9... Bd6 can be met with 10. Nf1! |
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9... Be7
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This move seems at first sight rather less enterprising than 9... Bd6. If White exchanges on f6, the bishop will be poorly placed whichever capture Black chooses; and if the intention behind this move was to avoid gxf6, then surely Black ought to be glad of the chance to add a rook on a half-open file to his accumulating pressure on White's kingside? However, Black's subsequent play reveals that this move was part of a consistent plan. |
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10. Nbd2 h6
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Time to leave the DB. Only three games reached this position; 10... h6, 10... 0-0 and 10... Bh5 were played once each, all three games being Black wins. |
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11. Bxf6
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White immediately deviates from Gottlieb-Rousell, in which Bh4 was played. The capture allows gxf6, as I mentioned in a previous comment, but probably after 9... Be7 White had confidence Black would not play this move. |
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11... Bxf6 12. Qc2
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Gets out of the pin and connects the rooks. All the same, it's not clear what White's plan of attack is going to be. White misses the dark-squared bishop here, since he can't try to establish a central majority by b3 and c4 as this would allow d4 to be taken. |
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12... Rc8
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Black's intentions are clear, at least: "Place your rook on the line of the queen, whatever the pieces that lie between." This is the start of a minority attack, aiming to divert the c3 pawn from its defence of d4. This plan justifies Black's choice of 11... Bxf6. |
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13. h3
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"Let's settle this once and for all." White wants the pieces on d2 and g4 removed from the board to give his other pieces more room to rearrange themselves. |
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13... Bxf3
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Black has no choice, since 13... Bh5?? 14. g4 Bg6 15. Bxg6 fxg6 16. Qxg6+ not only wins a pawn but makes the backward pawn on e6 an instant target. And of course 13... Bf5?? just loses the piece, since the e-pawn is pinned. |
1 comment
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14. Nxf3 Kd7
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Black chooses not to castle, in view of the fact that White could now plan an attack with Qd2, Bc2 and Qd3, and Black lacks the kingside knight to defend against this. Moving out of the e-file pin before beginning to advance the queenside pawns was a pragmatic decision. |
2 comments
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15. Re2
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White begins to double the rooks, following another old chess adage and meeting a flank attack with a central one. Presumably White intends to advance the pawn to f5. It begins to look like we're in for quite an exciting middlegame. |
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15... a6 16. Rae1 b5 17. a3
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Black's attack is getting there faster, and White must take time out to inhibit the pawns from advancing further, especially with the queen still on the file Black is trying to open. |
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17... Na5
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I think I would have played 17... Qb6 here, intending to continue advancing with ...a5. This requires the b5 pawn to be defended first, and moving the queen also makes the rook's veiled attack on the enemy queen more imminent. With the move played, the knight is heading for c4, a good square, but too easily challenged with Nd2. |
2 comments
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18. Ne5+
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The knight vacates the file for the pawn's advance. This is the most forceful way of doing so, gaining tempo and simultaneously controlling the c4 square. Black is forced to exchange (an exchange that favours White, since the knight was not useful to his plans, while Black's bishop was defending the e7 square), as otherwise the a5 knight is simply misplaced. |
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18... Bxe5 19. Re2xe5 Nc4
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Black gains a tempo in return by attacking the rook. This time the exchange was not forced, but seems best all the same, since Black's knight is well placed, White no longer has his own knight to challenge it with, and the exchange allows White to keep the initiative. |
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