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The most difficult choices in life are not between good and bad but between good and better. This game is too good to not be annotated, both black and white are confronted with difficult middle game choices. All I can say is that this game is a must see. |
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1. e4
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I recommend to the club that we play 1. e4 due to the fact that Ispissimus is a very strong D-pawn player. |
  1 comment
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1... g6
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This is a surprise as I and the club were expecting 1. ...c5 or 1. ...e5. This move says that Ipsissimus is wanting to take an indirect approach to the game. While at the same time keeping his over all plan close to the chest. |
2 comments
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2. d4
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Naturally, white responds by staking a claim in the centre. |
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2... Bg7 3. Nf3
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Develops a Knight and defends the d4 pawn. Also the knight challenges the the black DSB for control of the central dark squares. |
1 comment
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3... d6
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Black adopts the pric defense which is not a recommended system in top play. In my opinion, it is way to passive and black ends up defending the whole game. |
2 comments
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4. Nc3
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White on the other hand continues to develop naturally. Plus now white has a slight advantage due to his better centre, lead in development and slight edge in tempo. |
1 comment
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4... c6
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Though black has wasted two tempo on pawn moves his structure is rock solid and should repel any attack by white. Even though black has nothing offensively going on his defensive capabilities make up the difference. Such is the nature of the pirc defense, all defense and no offence. |
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5. Bc4
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The alternative is Be2 but the club choose this move because it hits at f7 and put the bishop on the powerful a2-g8 diagonal. On this diagonal this bishop seriously hinders black ability to free himself. I suggest that you mark this move and watch throughout the remainder of the game how this bishop continues to grow more and more powerful as the game goes on. The fact that this bishop is allowed to stay on this diagonal for so long is one of the reasons why white wins. |
1 comment
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5... Nf6
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Black has to start think about his development while at the same time keeping white's centre in check. The tactical point of Nf6 is that now black threatens ...d5 gaining back a valuable tempo from white's LSB. Which incidentally highlights the main drawback of playing bc4. That is, the White LSB can easily be attack via ...b7-b5 and ...d5. |
1 comment
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6. Bb3
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White simply side steps any business that may come with ...d5 or ...b5. |
2 comments
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6... O-O 7. O-O
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both sides take time out to take care of king safety. At this point white's main strategical plan is to play e4-e5 with a serious wedge into the black camp. |
1 comment
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7... Bg4
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I believe black main alternative is 7...d5 but that allows e4-e5 which gives white an long term advantage of space. With 7. ...Bg4 black directly deals with the threat of e4-e5 by eliminating the main catalyst of the e4-e5 push which is the F-Knight. However, black gives white the long term strategic advantage of the bishop pair. Which in the end is why white wins. |
2 comments
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8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e6
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Black is quite content to sit back behind his wall of pawns and taunt white to come and get him. |
4 comments
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10. Rd1
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with the prospect of e4-e5 gone for at least the short term white shifts their focus to opening up the d-file. |
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10... Qc7 11. Bf4
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A strong square for the bishop that prevents black from freeing himself with ...e6-e5. While at the same time x-raying the black queen on c7. In the short term the club's plan was to constrain black as much as possible to deny him the ability to free himself. By denying black his ability to counterattack this would force him to eventually take drastic measures to get something going. However, as long as black continues to hide behind his wall of pawns there is not much white can do in the end. So all white can hope for is that black over extends or gets impatient. This is what makes systems like the pirc so hard to play because no one likes the feeling of being squeezed to death. |
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11... Nbd7 12. a4
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preventing black from freeing himself with ...b7-b5. Now the only counter play that black has is Nh5 attacking the bishop on f4. |
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12... Nh5
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As expected |
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13. Be3
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A good sided minority of our club preferred Bh2 keeping the bishop on the diagonal. However, I vetoed that because the weakness on d4 must be taken seriously. Futhermore, I also foresaw that the bishop would return to the f4 diagonal with a vengeance in the near future. I also feared that the bishop may end up blocked in at h2 or worse still getting traded off the board, Be3 avoids this possible trade. |
1 comment
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13... a6 14. g4
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The first serious concession by white which signals that is it is time to get it on. White has done absolutely everything they could to prepare and now is the time to push black off the board. |
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14... Nhf6 15. a5
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preventing b7-b5 and forcing black into a pure passive position for the rest of the game. The club from here on out, adopts a python like style which means slowly squeezed black to death |
2 comments
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