Annotated chess game

The Ware Opening. gameknot.com

Agree with the Karpster, but, that said, a grandmaster (think it was Tony Miles but might have been another Englishman), once played 1) a3 as white to annoy Anatoly Karpov and won the game. The move itself was played purely on psychological grounds - he figured Karpov would be so annoyed by the move (which, in effect, said, "You're so weak that I can beat you with this silly move") that it would affect how he played. And he may have been right since Karpov lost!

Slight correction: Miles played 1... a6 to Karpov's 1. e4. It was Anderssen who once essayed 1. a3 for similar reasons.

Another option was advancing the queen's pawn two squares (1)...d5) Any move that gets a pawn in the center and opens a diagonal for one of your bishops is the best response to white's odd first move, in my humble opinion

Looks like white would rather have the black pieces because he (or she) is copying you

This move makes the most sense because it not only develops your knight to its most natural square, it also attacks white's e4 pawn and partially clears the way for you to castle on the kingside

The "don't block your c-pawn with a knight" applies only to 1.d4 d5 openings.

This looks like the Petrov Defense played by white!

Did you consider 3...Nxe4? Consider all your forcing moves (checks captures and threats)

I like this move too. If you're not familiar with the Petrov Defense, there's no reason to go into the complications that can arise after you take white's e4 pawn with your knight on f6 and he (or she) takes your e5 pawn with his (or her) knight on f3

The 4 knights game, reversed

I think your opponent is just copying you, which is why I think they wanted to play black instead

There are plenty of options at this point, though White's first move has to be taken into account whether it has an effect or not: 4...Bb4; 4...d5; you could even try a species of Hallowe'en Gambit: 4...Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Ng3 e4 7.Ng1.

I like this move because your bishop is targeting the most vulnerable pawn in white's position - the f2 pawn

? Not safe loses a pawn.

Instead if this, White could play a tactic that involves this pawn advance: 5.Nxe5 Nxe5 6.d4 ... and with this 'fork trick' White gets his piece back.

This move clears the way for white to develop the dark-squared bishop without blocking the light-squared bishop (which would have resulted from 5) d3) but I don't think it's a good idea to give away a central pawn for that

Good capture! No reason I can see not to take that pawn

(??) Ignoring the attack on the c3-Knight.

? Leaves the c3-knight unsafe, this is called 'Flip Coin Chess'

This move is a blunder. Not only can you take white's c3 knight on your next move but you also could take the pawn that just advanced to g4 with your knight on f6 (though I wouldn't necessarily recommend that since white could "uncover" an attack on your knight if it were on square g4 by moving the f3 knight)

You should have played 6...dxc3, and this is castling kingside, because you king ends up on the g file. After queenside castling your king would be on the c file.

No move comes even close to bettering 6...bxc3 (7.e5 Nxg4).

jkarp, I think I know which annotation you are talking about.  

Why did you not take the knight on c3 with your pawn on d4? You shouldn't decide against a capture of that significance without a reason better than castling

The pin will win a piece.

Good move! Better to take the pawn than to capture the knight with your pawn because your bishop was threatened with capture

Loses the Exchange

White doesn't seem to have any plan here. Black has so many threats now, he doesn't need one!

I think you are right, Erika. White needed to protect her c3 knight. But she, like all of us, is still learning how to play a very complicated game

Great move!! Not only are you checking the white king, but you are forking the king and white rook on a1. This is a very powerful move! Kudos for finding it!

Yes, after 9.Bd2 Bxa1 10.Qxa1 you're only up the exchange.

Better was 9) Bd2 so white could at least capture your bishop after it captures the rook on a1. With the move played (9) Ke2) white cant' do that because the bishop is blocking the queen from moving toward square a1

Yes, doubled pawns are a tiny disadvantage about 0.1 pawns. So it's much more important to keep your pieces safe and capture all your opponent's free pieces. Remember: The most important thing in chess is safety, the second is activity, and everything else is relatively unimportant. Here you should have played 9...Bxa1 and win a rook.

Of course 9...Bxa1 gave Black a winning game. But this developing move is also quite good, using the attack on the rook to gain time for ...Bxg4 and a fearsome attack.

The move you played is good but better, as other commentators said, was 9)...Bxa1. A rook is an important piece and you should only decline capturing it if you have a really good reason

White seems to be prodding you to play Nxg4. But you could avoid having your knight on f6 captured by playing 10)...Re8. Then, the pawn on e5 wouldn't be able to capture your knight on f6 because it would uncover an attack on the white king from the rook on e8

But you're winning - Just take all you're opponent's free pieces and don't offer any of your pieces for free.

Agree. Taking the rook should have been done by now. If white captures your knight on f6 it just opens a file to her king

White seems to be looking for counterplay. I suppose she is hoping for 11)...bxa6 and then she can play 12) Rxa6 to free her rook from being captured by your dark-squared bishop and attack your knight on c6. The problem with that, of course, is your bishop on c8 could just take the rook (instead of your other bishop!)