Annotated chess game

That's, overall, an interesting score. In case you're wondering, I'll still comment on stronger players annotations, but for a different reason then before. I recently discovered that doing the difficult stuff is also good for sleeping.

One of my primary Black 1. d4 openings. Perhaps my favorite opening, on either the white or black side. Among world champions Botvinnik, Bronstein, Alekhine, and in the 19th century, Americans Paul Morphy and George Henry MacKenzie essayed it now and then. Nakamura was willing to play it against Kramnik under classical time controls (though he lost). In the modern day flamboyant British GM Simon Williams is an adherent and popularizer of the classical Dutch. Always leads to active, enterprising chess.

The anti-Dutch move 2. Bg5 is one of the better alternatives to 2. c4 out there (Various Staunton Gambits starting with 2. e4 and the flexible 2. Nc3 are the others). White aims at the weakened dark squares immediately and prevents both ...e6 and black's most natural ...Nf6 will saddle him with bad king-side pawns after Bxf6, a worse structure compared to a similar exchange in the Trompowski Attack.

When you say cheap, are you alluding to something too easy? The reason I ask is because even though this isn't so here, I got the idea of too easy from when I once did cheapo tactics.

A lot of dutch theoreticians have strong opinions about 2. ...g6. Valeri Beim and Simon Williams don't like it, where Moskalenko thinks it's one of the few good moves for Black here. Beim and Moskalenko dislike 2. ...d5 but Williams thinks it's playable (it's recognized as good against 2. Nc3). All three give 2. ...h6 the stamp of approval as best, though black should know what he's doing--it's one of the lines that can lead to black getting mated in 15-20 moves. after 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. e4 (after 4. Bg3 both 4. ...Nf6 and 4. ...Bg7 are good) Rh7!? is an example of one outrageously whimsical move Simon Williams stands by, and after 5. Qh5ch Rf7 we have one of the strangest positions right out of the opening. Pure Dutch!

He probably doesn't want to take chances.

Here the gambit 3. e4!? and 3. Nc3 are more usual. In the spirit of Anti-Dutch lines.

I see why. As you started with 1.d4, and this move, permits a later Nc3, without blocking the c pawn which is important here.

And, that adds up with the fianchetto on his last move.

And, I can see why since it wasn't safe to do so now.

Already here I'd be looking at 4. ...c5 and 5 ...Qa5 ideas, maybe even a benko-esque ....b5 after white answers 4. ...c5 with 5. d5 Whether or not I'd ultimately play it is another matter, but it starts with counterplay-generating ideas. A black player playing the Dutch has to play actively, even with a modicum a risk, to prevent getting rolled over or getting into a positional bind.

By defending again, but I like what you're about do next.

5. ...c6 makes me wince. Too slow. 5. ...c5, 5. ...d5, even the provocative 5. ...Nc6 all would have been better fighting moves. Black allows white to take over the center.

I agree Charles but probably for the wrong reason, as well. As I'd be thinking that black could've used the time to continue developing with 5...Nc6 But, that shows how little I really know since it's not a suggestion. What I mean is that I wouldn't consider anything else as black which might be totally wrong. As I manage my own expression and do what I'm most used to. Since I don't see it being blunder here, my question then is if 5...Nc6 is playable. I think it is due the fact that black didn't start off with 1...d5, but there probably is something that I'm missing here, anyhow.

I thought that we were out of the database with his last move due to what I noted above. For me, it's not even a case of, "The more you learn the more you realise how little you know.", as caveman1960 put it in a training game with me. Instead, the less I know, the better it is for me. As, there's still more work that I have to do during the day. In return, this exercises my brain, tires me out, and also helps me sleep at night.

Preferably with the knight, as 6...fxe4 7.Bxf6 Bxf6 8.Qxe4 looks pretty OK for White.

Black's position has all the moves of a Leningrad Variation, but main line this is not!

I agree with Fritz for the reason that ION mentioned.

Taking a bit of a chance here, Charles!

Sometimes passive inclinations by an opponent make it more likely hyper-aggressive moves pay off...or less a chance of being refuted over-the-board, depending on what your intuition says.

My preference is for 7.e5, but I question how good that move is. What goes through my thought process is then 7...dxe5 8.fxe5, where the Nf6 is really under siege.

Here I like 7. ...Qa5 to pressure white's dark squares and threaten ...Nxe4, especially now that white has sealed off his QB's retreat. Castling is sensible but does little to prevent white's next move that his super-center has been telegraphing. "Castle if you like, or if you must, but never simply because you can.." --Harry Nelson Pillsbury.

I prefer this move, as I fell the complete opposite of Harry Nelson Pillsbury. My model is what ION previously noted in the KOH club. That was where a GM once said that it's better to castle early and often. And, I forgot which one said that.

8.exf5 looks a reasonable alternative: 8...Bxf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e5 11.dxe5...

Here in Archduke's alternative line I'd probably play 10. ...Nbd7 instead of 10. ...e5, and answer 11. f5 with 11. ...Qe8.

I would've disagreed with Fritz since I like the move that white just played. But, with ION's suggestions, I'll agree with them.

Playing provocatively, perhaps, to induce White's overreaching himself?

I think it's more likely that white's aggressive play has cowed black somewhat into passive replies--see black's fifth & sixth moves. Part of that against passive opponents more "aggressive" continuations can pay off I mentioned.

This is one of those moments where I don't even have an opinion.

9.0-0-0 looks pretty good too.

I do often play 0-0-0 and I agree perhaps it is surprising that I didn't play it in this game.

Sometimes Fritz (or a comparable engine)'s first choice are somewhat anti-human; if not 9. Nf3 I think 9. O-O-O would seem a lot more natural to a human instead of 9. Rd1.

What does Fritz give as the best move?

I don't much like it either. Black's development is lagging. ...Na6-c7 presents as one option. Black probably wanted to break the pin on his e-pawn so he could recapture with a pawn on d6 if white played exd6. I think he has bigger problems though.

I agree with them. But, the only move that I prefer is 9...h6. I'd be for an all out attack which is the wrong attitude, I'll admit. My thinking, however, is generally the gain of tempo which alone shouldn't be enough of a reason, as some commentators put it in my past annotations.

10.0-0-0 still looks OK, too. But there seems to be a peculiar possibility with 10.Qf2, heading for 11.Qh4, with threats down the h4-d8 diagonal. Not sure where that leads, though. But there are some hints: [A] 10...h6 11.Qh4! hxg5?? 12.Nxg5 with a winning attack; 10...a6 11.Qh4 e6(?) 12.Bd8 Qd7 13.Na4 ... with nasty threats against b6. These are merely sample lines to suggest there might have been something to the 10.Qf2 line.

I like archduke's thinking in this line. I also think it'd be worth a gamble against, again, passive/timid play.

I like this move a lot, as I'd prefer to castle K side. A chess teacher told me, a while back, that it's usually better to castle short then long. I know that, sometimes, castling long is better. But, I don't explore through variations to castle Q side since I like to go by my gut which is 0-0, or ...0-0.

This move takes away a development square from the QN and black will have great difficulty finding a happy home for it now.

I prefer 10...h6 for the same reason as mentioned earlier.