Annotated chess game: Challenge from crevetus

ANNOTATED GAME

Challenge from crevetus
crevetus (1200) vs. beginner78 (1200)
Annotated by: beginner78 (1388)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B51), Canal-Sokolsky (Nimzovich-Rossolimo, Moscow) attack

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1. e4 c5	I usually play Caro-Kann - c7-c6, but for this game, decided to experiment...



2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nc6 4. c3 a6 5. Ba4	White normally exchanges the bishop, the retreat allows black to expand on the queenside with tempo...
	2 comments archduke_piccolo (2337) on 23-Aug-07: The exchange seems to be rather the point of White's play, to disrupt (I guess) Black's thematic Q-side counteraction. But there's no harm in testing out alternatives... beginner78 (1388) on 31-Aug-07: Well, loss of time... Bf1-b5-a4-c2 or b3 is too long of a route... Yet, with black's kingside not developed, white has I would say sufficient time to bring pieces into the game. But then black has equality already...


5... b5 6. Bb3 Nf6 7. d3 g6 8. Bf4 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. a4	Interesting move. Probably the only one that claims some sort of advantage, but with careful play, black maintains equality.



10... Bb7 11. Ng5 e5	Interestingly, e6 is bad because of 12. B:e6 fe 13. N:e6 and white gets two pawns and a rook for two light pieces.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2337) on 23-Aug-07: Suddenly this is looking a whole lot like a Ruy Lopez!


12. Bg3 h6 13. Bxf7+	Wrong. White gives up material. At the same time, I must admit that when picking up the bishop, I did not see, that white could get a pawn on b5 after the exchange of pawns and a check from b3 with a queen... :)
	3 comments archduke_piccolo (2337) on 23-Aug-07: Interesting idea, picking up two pawns for the exchange. But White is giving up two active pieces for a rather inactive rook. Black's minor pieces are all in action right now. One might be inclined to favour Black here. beginner78 (1388) on 31-Aug-07: I say, centralising the queen (move 20) was adventurous, interesting but I think white should have picked the second pawn - b5, then the exchange would make some sense. crevetus (1545) on 06-Sep-07: I feared that the queen would be lost in a useless labyrinth, that's why I didn't take the pawn, especially that I thought that my pieces are somewhat undeveloped.


13... Rxf7 14. Nxf7 Kxf7 15. axb5 axb5 16. Rxa8	Here, I had a choice. If I took with a queen, I had ideas of penetrating the white queenside. However, this is where I saw the check from b3 and decided to keep the queen close to the center.



16... Bxa8 17. f4	Good move, opening a line for the rook.



17... exf4 18. Bxf4	Here, c5-c4 was an option, but with an open line for the rook, and no mood for calculations... :) I decided to hide the king and give up a pawn...



18... Kg8 19. Qb3+ Kh7 20. Qe6	Wow! Totally unexpected. This is when I started taking the game seriously. I was expecting Nd2 (which, as game shows later was necessary...) but with such a drastic centralisation of the white queen, I suddenly have few squares to defend. After long (20 minutes or so) deliberations, I decided to play Ne5. Interesting sequence would be 20...Ne5 21. B:e5 de 22. Q:e5 and here N:e4, seemingly a nice move comes across simple 23. Rf7. Hmmm, interesting...
	2 comments crevetus (1545) on 06-Sep-07: Decisive position I would say, maybe 21.Qh3 would have brought some excitement to the game? beginner78 (1388) on 06-Sep-07: If it was a blitz game, I would automatically reply with 21... Qe7, cementing the defence. 21...Nfg4 is another option...


20... Ne5 21. Bxe5 dxe5 22. Qf7	Now this is interesting. Second time when I sat down and calculated different options after ambitious (and as it turned out after calculations - winning) 22. Q:d3. Decision taken.



22... Qxd3 23. Rxf6 Qxe4	Boom and double threat of checkmate on g2 and hanging knight on b1 decides the game. C'est tout!



24. Qxg6+ Qxg6
	1 comment beginner78 (1388) on 31-Aug-07: That's it. The game continued for few more moves, but the outcome is clear.