Annotated chess game

For long, the QGA was not considered a true gambit as Black does not, or can not, hang on to the pawn. To try in the face of White's effort to recapture it tended to compromise Black's game, and there were better options anyway. Yet there are lines in which White will allow Black's lead c-pawn to live, in the interests of developing a quick offensive in the centre.

In this game, Black made no effort to hang on to her extra pawn, and has a fairly open and free game as a result. The one possible problem child is her light-square bishop (LSB), whose future right now is looking a little problematic.

In the interests of recovering the pawn. A mistake would be 9.exd4 or 9.Nxd4.

Here's where things start to get interesting. White has accepted the isolation of his d-pawn - a long-term strategic liability. But there are compensations for this, and quite compelling ones. White's position is the freer, with great potential to develop into a strong attack on the K-side. In itself a weakness, the d-pawn controls the c5 and e5 squares, which strongpoints White will need for aggressive operations. Strategists will prefer to play Black; tacticians to play White. Broadly speaking...

An interesting plan for white here is 12.Bd2 Ncb4 13.Rac1, playing on the open c-file.

I daresay part of Black's motivation for the next few moves is to open up a career path for the novice ecclesiastic aspirant on c8.

Trying to improve your knignt's position... hmmmm... in fact, in the next moves the knights are driven back, to e8. I wouldn't have been able to see it now, but in retrospect, probably another plan was preferable, a plan involving the lsb's developement. An exchange in d5 is good for black, provided the Be7 is defended, since it opens the way to the lsb. But it is not probable to force white to make such an exchange. So, the other possible path is b6-Bb7, and the strangest one, Bd7 (taking care of the d5 spot, this is the problem), with a possible b5 plan in sight.

Already White has something serious going on on the K-side. Among the threats disclosed by 14...Qg4 was Bh6 is association possibly with a wholesale exchange on d5 to reduce Black's defensive resources.

Minor piece trade. But the question is: why? What did white accomplish with it?

I don't see the point to 17.Nxc6 either. I'd try 17.Rac1. Also the LSB can redeploy to attack h7 via Bb3->Ba2->Bb1.

It disrupts Black's pawn formation, and trades a knight for a bishop in a relatively open game.

Perhaps White had run out of ideas for attack on the K-side. I don't know that this minor piece exchange is all that bad, though. For one thing, Black's recapture has left her Q-side looking pretty ragged. But had she retaken with the knight, then 17...Nxc6 18.d5 exd5 opened all sorts of possibilities for White. One thing it does show: flexibility of approach.

in a situation like this you can compare the board with a snooker table. No idea what ball to hit? then you just go for that that improves your potion and weakens your opponents position. The key 2 that is that he/she should also be struggling with what ball to hit. ? So 17 Rac1 is the best move to make as hityer mentioned it leaves the ball in blacks court. The exchange made it simple for black to come up with his next move. aldo it was not a bad move at all  

White is getting a lot of mileage out of the e5 strongpoint. An alternative plan was at some point to bring the a1-rook to c1 with operations against c6. White seems to be insisting on K-side operations, which the controversial exchange on c6 was intended, it seems now, to promote.

21...cxd5, repairing the pawn structure, would have been better.

In fact, one would be inclined to play ...cxd5 without a second's thought. But it is always a good idea at least to consider the alternate capture if it seems to offer something. But that's not apparent here - not to me at any rate - as the c-pawn is left backward, and with an enemy rook already giving it the evil eye. True, White's b-pawn is equally backward, and (potentially) vulnerable. But that was as true had Black captured with the c-pawn. Was Jo worried about White's Q-side majority after ...cxd5, then? She need not have been. White's d-pawn would still be isolated, and that flank majority would have had very limited mobility. Central majorities are also assets not to be sneezed at (I set a lot of store by central majorities... Jo's previous annotated game shows their power in the right conditions). White, would, therefore, have been very reliant on active piece play to stay in the game. Mind you, his pieces are very active!

So here, the rule of capturing towards the centre applies as well.

Some very interesting strategic decisions in this sequence. Has White abandoned his K-side operation in favour of the siege of Black's c-pawn? Black's c-pawn is no longer backward, although, standing on half-open files as they are, Black's 'hanging pawn couple' (Aron Nimzovitch's term) are coming under strong attack. Can the c-pawn be saved? On the other hand, they look pretty mobile for the moment, and the d-pawn is passed - definitely a consideration. On the defensive so far, Black comes up with a threat of her own...

This loses. Better is 25...Qd4, then 26.Rxc6 Rxb2 gives black good counter-play.

It seems 25...Qd4, by leaving room for the b8-rook to take on b2, gave Black enough counterattack to preserve a rough balance: 25...Qd4 26.Rxc6 Rxb2 27.Bb1 (or Bb3) Re2 and 28...Rxe5.

That's the spirit!

28.e6? lets black off the hook (though white should still be winning). Instead 27.Rc8! keeps black bottled up.

After 28.Rc8 Rxa4, then the exchange of rooks after ...Ra1 should keep Black in the fight.

Here white misses 30.Qe3, defending c1 and threatening Rc8 and Bf7

The line 30.Qe3 proves surprisingly complicated. Here's a sample line: 31.Bf7!! g5!! 32.Rc8 Rf4 33.Bxe8? Re4! and the rook can not be taken on account of the back rank mate after 34...Qxf2ch. However, 33.Bd5 instead leads to this possibility 33...Nd6 34.Qxf4 gxf4 35.Rxf8ch Kg7 36.Rg8ch with an ending I would not like to assess.

Gloam, a true tactic melee... !!