Annotated chess game

Thanks to elyhim and charleshiggie for their comments upon review of this game.

This is my current open and I would recommend this or e4 for immediate contol of the center.

White continues with c4 as black is allowing this by his opening Nf6.

Black continues to allow white to complete their plan Nf3 is book for white.

It appears I chose a slow, passive route. This allows the queen to become a target.

As Wiki says "Russian System: 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 Russian System 5.Qb3 In bringing more pressure to bear against Black's central outpost on d5, White practically forces ...dxc4, thus gaining a central preponderance; however, in return, his queen will often be exposed as Black's queenside play unfolds in the middlegame. After 5... dxc4 6. Qxc4 0-0 7. e4, Black has several primary options: Hungarian Variation: 7...a6 The Hungarian Variation, 7...a6, has been championed by Peter Leko. Smyslov Variation: 7...Bg4 8.Be3 Nfd7 7...Bg4 8.Be3 Nfd7 was a topical line from the 1950s through the mid-1970s. Prins Variation: 7...Na6 7...Na6 (Lodewijk Prins') idea, which Kasparov favoured in several of his World Championship matches against Karpov.[5] 7...Nc6 This is recommended as the mainline by several recent Grünfeld texts.

This Q move is as explained the Russian System, looking at this board and trying to figure Blacks next move. Castle,dxc3,Nc6,Nd7

I got advice from elyhim here: an interesting idea here would be 8. e5 Nfd7 9. Be3 b5 10. Qb3 c5 11. e6 c4 12. exf7+ Rxf7 13. Qd1 Nb6 14. Be2 Though it would be hard to argue 10. Qb3 in this variation I think.

Depending on how mobile the Black Q-side majority is, I's almost prefer the Black pieces in elyhim's line.

Alternative variation: 9. Qb3 Nc6 10. e5 Be6 11. exf6 Bxb3 12. fxg7 Kxg7 13. axb3 Nxd4 14. Nxd4 Qxd4 15. O-O c6 16. Bf3

I think I would have preferred 9.Qb3 myself. With the Q on d3 that and the light-square B look a bit tangled, to my mind.

I'm for the alternate 9.Qb3, it will take a bit for white to castle

I figured out why e5 was better. Following e5 out through a long variation: Alternative variation: 10. e5 Nd5 11. Ne4 Nd7 12. Bd2 c5 13. Nxc5 Nxc5 14. dxc5 Qc7 15. Rc1 Rfd8 16. Qa3 Bxe5 17. c6 Bc8 18. O-O Nf4 19. Rfe1 Bg4 20. Ba5 Bxb2 21. Qb4 Nd5 22. Bxc7 Nxb4 23. Rb1 Bc3 24. Bxd8 Rxd8 25. Red1 Rxd1+ 26. Rxd1 Nxc6 27. Rc1 b4 28. Bxa6 Na5 29. Bd3 e5 30. Ng5 f5 31. h3 Bh5 32. a3 e4 33. Bxe4 fxe4 34. axb4 Bxb4 35. g4 Bxg4 36. hxg4 Nb3 37. Rc4 Be7 38. Nxe4 Kf7 39. Kg2 Ke6 40. Rc3 Nd4 41. Rh3 h5 42. gxh5 Ne2 43. h6 Nf4+ 44. Kf1 [1-0 (44) Zhou,J (2636)-Li,C (2656) Shenzhen 2011]

10.d5 is weak because the center is easily undermined and the advantage, slim as it was, is quickly gone after 10...c6

The fact is, after the text, White's centre now disappears, and White drops a pawn into the bargain. Yet it does look the more 'natural' move, so the mistake is very easy to comprehend. A good alternative, by the way, seems 10.a3, with a view to immobilizing Black's Q-side pawns. For the moment White's centre wasn't under serious attack... yet.

looks natural but was better staying put. e5 is better as explained. I too like the suggestion of a3,

It appears that however White plays, a pawn falls. To compensate, White should retain as active a position as possible.

Regarding jkarp's previous comment, d5? is a mistake as it allows white to get a half pawn advantage which becomes important later on in this game. e5 pushes back on black's center pressure, allowing me to come up with some counterplay of my own. Regarding this comment, engines (although I've never built one nor have the interest in doing so) all have similar characteristics: they are giant decision trees, where the root is the current position, and has a child node for each position that can be made by making a legal move. Each of these nodes in turn have a child node for the positions that can be reached by making a legal move from them. The engine pushes the tree out to a depth defined by its capabilities and the time it is allowed to "think". If this topic interests you, here's a blog that goes into more detail: www.chess.com

12..Nc6 is not as good as the slightly surprising 12...Nbd7 As for 13.Nxd5, any other move makes less sense. Ex. 13. exd5 Nb4 and the d-pawn is quickly lost. Fritz did not have to overwork its silicon brain here.

dangerous mates lurk hidden here. if white tries 14.Qxd5, black will respond 14...Nd4!

It is interesting that the Queen returns to b3. This kinda proves that maybe that 9. Qb3 maybe have been slightly superior than the played 9. Qd3

maybe, but where else can it go??