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Hi all once again. It appears I have forgotten to put up my first league game before my 2nd! Never mind - here it is. It isn't such a great game (my win down to a large slice of luck!), but with some instructive bits - besides, I wanted to analyse all of my games, good or bad! |
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1. e4 e6
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No! The French is just one of those openings which I seem to play really badly against. |
 
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2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4
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A nice surprise - I have an appalling record against the Winawer (3.Bb4) |
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4... Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Bg5 Be7
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Following standard development from both sides, I decide to deviate from opening theory, which recommends taking the f6 knight at some point. Ng3 however is in no way bad, and controls central squares with the added bonus of a possible ready-made attack should black castle kingside. |
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7. Ng3 b6
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Interesting. I can see the logic - the e6 pawn is getting in the way, and the diagonal looks tempting, though for some reason at the time, this came as a mild shock! |
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8. Bd3 h6
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A harmless intermediate move. |
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9. Bd2
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I thought about exchanging on f6, but I preferred (personally, not for any real reason) to keep the pieces on the board. Deciding on the retreat square took even less time - on d2 it will not be hit by a knight coming to d5. Bh4 is just a disaster. |
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9... Bb7 10. Qe2
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Keeping my castling options open, whilst preparing to exchange of light-squared bishops. |
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10... Rc8
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He wants to play the waiting game too. This move however, permits me to force the exchange of ls bishops or else losing an exchange. However, after the game, this proved quite an interesting line:
11. Ba6 Ba8; 12. Bxc8 Qxc8; 13. 0-0 0-0: 14. Rfe1 c5 could go either way - I do not like the idea of the Queen/Bishop potential battery effectively pinning the knight to g2, and if white safeguards his central pawn by c3, then cxd4 cxd4 will give white an inferior isolated queen's pawn position, given black's dominance of the crucial d5 square needed to liquidate the weakness. Note that after Nxd4, then Qb7 forces f3, with glaring weaknesses in the white camp. |
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11. Ba6 Bxa6 12. Qxa6 Ra8
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I would have been tempted to let Her Majesty gorge herself on the a7 pawn in favour of fast development. But this caution is not in any way bad. |
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13. O-O
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The time for waiting is over - I didn't want to swing queenside, because then c4, which I will probably need to play at some point to dislodge a knight on d5 would then weaken the king, and after the pawn break c5, files are opening at an ominous rate on the left side of the board. |
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13... g5
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Hopelessly overambitious. With so many pieces defending white's kingside, this is no attack. Just an error. |
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14. Qb5
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I feel that now that development had been completed, it was time for a long think, and a plan. I wanted to play Ne5 at some point, and then perhaps f4 to break up black's kingside. The rooks can take up active roles on c1/d1/e1 depending on the position. With a queenside pawn majority, moves like c4 followed by c5/d5 could get the pawns rolling. This was, I felt very comfortable for white.
The purpose of the text was to pin the knight (obviously) but to try and lure the king into castling into the weakened kingside in order to escape the pin. Then after 0-0, a sacrifice on g5 would prove decisive. |
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14... Bd6
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A strong move. Unfortunately, I fail to examine it's plus points, and continue mindlessly with my plan. As an alternative, I think that Rae1 would be suitable, as then the bishop doesn't do much. There is no need to fear Bxg3 - true, I would like a knight to end up on e4 at some point, but then the open f-file spells catastrophe for black.
Instead... |
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15. Ne5 Bxe5 16. dxe5
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Is very clever. That e5 pawn does an excellent job of blunting my remaining bishop, which can find no good squares. It's inferiority will soon be nastily apparent. |
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16... a6 17. Qc6 Nd5
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I want to shift that knight but... |
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18. c4
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Perhaps I would have done better here to sit tight, and not be so impulsive. Nf4 was a fear, but I doubt black can get anything tangible after Bxf4 gxf4 (disposing of the bad bishop) where the open g-file is compensated by the black king being stuck in the centre. A rook move, or perhaps Ne4 was a better option. |
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18... Ne7 19. Qe4
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The best square for the centralised queen. |
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19... Nc5
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With discovered attack on the bishop. |
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20. Qe2
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That weakening c4 now shows itself to be an error - that d5 outpost was bad, but this one on d3 is even worse. |
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20... Qd3
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Excellent play. If Nd3, then I may be able to make something of the pin after Bc3 and Rad1. By exchanging queens, black accentuates his advantage. |
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