Annotated chess game

Good start by playing e4 or d4 going for the center!

Black is playing defense and developing and protecting e5 pawn

white sacs a central pawn in exchange for a better position of her N. Too earily to be playing a Qxd4 Sometimes it results in the Queen being chased around.

Not really a pawn sac; and it is a pair of centre pawns that have been exchanged. Where White gains, though, is in the greater command of space. If the French Defence requires patience from Black, in my view the Philidor requires even more!

Both players continue to develop while white has moved her N 3 times.

This looks a little bit risky, but perhaps White is looking to castle long, after, say, Be3 and Qd2. Black has his own problems: the weak d5 and d6 squares.

Yes the decks are clear and white can castle

I was expecting long castling. Oh, well: different styles...

I agree with that and I have to agree kingside is safer than queenside castling. Have to get my computer on the charger will continue when I'm able.

It probably is safer to castle short now. But at move 10 castling Q-side would be OK.

Somewhere along here Black seems to have gone wrong. He couldn't castle for fear of losing the d-pawn, but the chosen move 17...Ng8 didn't help at all. Even so, 18...Kxe7 would have been preferable.

But White's response to this move is a very strong one. White has a big, big advantage here: the bishop pair vs two knights, open board, at least one pawn to the good.

After 23...Qxa2, 24.b3 would have been very embarrassing for Black: his Queen quite incarcerated on Death Row.

The re-imprisonment of the Black queen was very neatly done. Black was very lucky to have a friend on the outside to break her out!

He should have traded Queens. The Black Queen can do no good on b2.

This sequence needs to be broken up, Jo. Here's the position after 33...Red8 Now, every so often one sees a move and instantly it's "Whoa! There's something on, here!" And it is not seldom that in the same instant you know what the 'something' is. This is just such a position. Black was already in a bad way, of course, but 33....Red8 - the 'wrong' rook - made things much worse. Now White could have played 34.Rxc6!!, which would simply have walked away with a piece, as 34...Rxd3? 35.Rxc8ch Kh7 36.Rxd3 would have been hopeless for Black. ====== For his part, after 34.Qe2? (a mistake) Black also missed a chance to pull back much of White's edge: 34...Rxd2!35.Qxd2 Ne7, and picks up the pawn at c2.

We are back, more or less, to the situation at about move 32, with White having quite a bit the better of it.

Yep. Good move. White has the edge; it is up to White to make good on it.

39.f6 is the sort of nervous defensive move that characterizes an inexperienced defender. Sometimes such weakening defensive moves can't be helped, but they ought to be avoided when at all possible. 39..Kg8, to defuse the threat of 40.f5 even a little might have been preferable. After 39.f6, 40,f5! would still have been a very strong move - preferable to 40.exf6ch?!. Mind you, by recapturing on f6 with the King, Black returned the compliment...

Tricky, in a desperate situation, and had the BK stood at g8, might have yielded something. But...

To all intents and purposes, this spells the end of Black's resistance.