Just to own up to my faults, here's last night's disaster. We lost the match and are now second from bottom:-( Last time we met, I beat this opponent but in this game he played quickly and positively. I made several errors and was blasted away in 18 moves. I have some serious lessons to learn! |
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1. c4 Nf6
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I don't like facing the English and usually encourage my opponent to convert into a King's Indian, where I'm much more familiar with the themes and tactics. Perhaps I should learn the English properly. |
 
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2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. d3
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White resists the temptation to play d4, clearly following his preconceived plan, as he raced through his moves. I too was moving quickly but I was having to think and he had only used a minute! |
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6... e5
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Not sure this is best. Perhaps I should have gone symmetrical with 6...c5. |
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7. Bg5 Nbd7 8. Qc1
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White was still moving instantaneously, which made me stop to ponder what he was planning and might have missed. I decided to release my N from its pin, preparing a plan that was doomed to failure. |
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8... Qe8 9. Bh6
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Its job on g5 done, the B prepres to swap on g7 |
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9... Ng4
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? I think this was the start of my woes. the N merely encourages White to do what he'd planned to do anyway and provides a target for White's attack. |
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10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. h3 Nh6
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? This compounded the error. The idea was to support the typical KID thrust of ...f5 but the N quickly becomes a liability here. It would have been better to admit my folly immediately and return to f6. |
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12. h4 f5
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Consistent but merely weakening Black's defences further. |
1 comment
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13. h5
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! White prepares to expose the Nh6 to the full fury of his KR and Q. |
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13... f4
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? Another consistent but useless move. White's QN now has a choice of beautiful squares. |
1 comment
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14. gxf4
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White opens up more attacking lines. |
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14... exf4 15. Nd5
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! White forks f4 and c7, threatening a further fork from there, as well as taking closer order to Black's exposed King. |
1 comment
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15... Nc5
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? After my longest think of the game, I decided to counter-attack, hoping to fork White's K and Q by exploiting the pin on e2 but I'd overlooked the strength of my opponent's coming combination. |
1 comment
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16. Qc3+
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! I'd seen this but under-estimated it. |
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16... Kg8
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Nothing could usefully be interposed and 16...Kf7 just invited 17. Ng5+, when White's Ns looked horrible. |
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17. hxg6
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! I'd seen this too but missed the most salient point of the position. |
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17... Qxg6
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?? Just awful, though I was probably already lost anyway. What was shocking was that, with so many threats around, I missed the biggest one. A quick sense check of "What can White's Ns do?" should have stopped me from making this blunder. Though what else I could have done that didn't lose quickly, I don't know. |
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18. Ne7+
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! White applies the coup de grace, forking K and Q. I'd had enough and resigned immediately. Sorry to my teammates. |
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(1714)