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1. e3
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I played White in this Mini-Tournament game. I think it is an instructive example of how to have good piece coordination in the middlegame. |
 
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1... e5
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I don't think this is the sharpest move against e3, since White can transpose into some reversed defenses with an extra tempo, such as 2...c4 transposes to a reversed Sicilian where White has the extra tempo e3. Against any passive move by White, Black should play an opening where tempo doesn't matter, such as 1...f5 |
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2. d3
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Excuse my passive opening, but whenever I can't find a reasonable opening I'm comfortable with, I will often play these passive setups to avoid studying openings. |
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2... d5 3. Nf3 Bg4
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I think the simple Nc6 is better, or Bd6. Trading a bishop for knight usually benefits the player with the extra bishop, so White can get an advantage with h3 forcing Bxf3, since Bh5 g4 Bg6 Nxe5 wins a pawn for White.
After h3 Bxf3 I wasn't comfortable with doubling my pawns or moving my queen early, so I didn't play h3, but now I see that my queen would've been fine on f3 and I can take advantage of Black's light square weakness with c4 later, but instead I played the passive Be2. |
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4. Be2 Nc6
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Nxe5 here looks interesting, but after Bxe2 Nxc6 Bxd1 Nxd8 Bxc2 Nxb7 Bxd3, material is even, but my knight is oddly placed and my centre is severely weakened. |
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5. Nc3 Bb4
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Pinning knights in the opening usually isn't a good idea unless the pin is strong and can be followed up with pressure. Here I can just break the pin with Bd2 and Black's bishop has no purpose on b4 and can be harassed with a3 later. |
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6. Bd2 Bxf3
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Like I said before, bishops are usually better than knights because of their long range capabilities. Trading a bishop for a knight will weaken a color, which can be exploited by your opponent's extra bishop of that color. It is less common that a knight will be better than a bishop, unless the position is very closed making a bishop hemmed in by its own pawns, or sometimes the bishop's handicap of not being able to step off its color will become an issue. Bishops are generally better than knights, but this early in the game it isn't a big deal, the advantage is more clear when pawns are traded and the bishops become mobile on the open board, while the knight's ability to hop over pieces becomes less important. |
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7. Bxf3 Nf6 8. O-O
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My only advantage is my bishop pair, while Black has control of the centre, which cramps my position and makes it hard to find a plan. It's still only the opening, so I'll have to wait and see what Black does before I can find a plan. |
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8... Qd6
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This move makes it reasonable that Black wants to castle queenside. I think it's better if Black castles kingside, because then it's hard to attack him from there, and Black can focus more on his space advantage. When Black castles queenside, it's easier for me to attack so Black has less time to exploit his space advantage. |
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9. a3
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Maybe I should've delayed on this move since now Black is less likely to castle queenside once he sees my attacking possibilities after b4. |
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9... Bxc3
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If Black retreats, then I'll play b4 and b5 followed by maybe a4 or c4, and I have initiative on the queenside. |
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10. Bxc3
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I didn't want to play bxc3 because it makes my dark-bishop less active, but opening the b-file was probably my best choice, since more open positions benefit the bishops. Here Black doesn't have to let me open the position, so the knights might become superior to the bishops since my bishops are contained by pawns. |
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10... O-O-O
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? This is definitely a mistake because I can start an attack by pushing my b and a-pawns easily. Castling kingside was better since attacking with my g and h-pawns would be weakening to my position. |
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11. b4
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Advancing the queenside pawns won't weaken my position at all. Usually you only castle on the opposite side of your opponent if you want to start attacking their king without weakening your own king. Here Black is not in a position to start a quick attack, while I am. |
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11... a6 12. Qb1
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Hoping to play b5 and open the position. |
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12... b5 13. a4
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Black has wasted moves trying to stop me from opening the position to his king, but I'm going to get an open file sooner or later. It's not too late for Black to walk his king to the kingside, but Black kept his king in danger on the queenside to hope to consolidate a defense, but that defense deactivated all of Black's army I was able to exploit. |
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13... Kb7 14. d4
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Even though makes my dark-bishop bad, I wanted to activate my light-bishop on the f1-a6 diagonal to attack Black's weak queenside pawns. |
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14... e4
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exd4 is probably better, even though opening a position should benefit the bishops, it gives Black more space to come up with some counterplay, unlike in this closed position, Black's only chance is a do or die kingside attack, but my threats on the queenside are too quick. |
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15. Be2
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This attacks the b-pawn, and bxa4 isn't good because I can open the position more with b5 later. If Black defends the b-pawn then he only lets me open 1 file, but defending with Kb6 isn't good because after axb5 axb5 Qa2, Black has to play Ra8 to stop my threats, then I can get 2 rooks for my queen, and my rooks just dominate the a-file. |
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15... Na7 16. axb5 axb5
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Nxb5 was a lot better, because my pieces cannot slip in easily and Black has time to defend his weaknesses. axb5 is pretty much a blunder, because that completely opens the a-file so my threats come 1 right after the other and Black never has time to generate counterplay. |
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