Annotated chess game

the sizilian.

Sicilian Defence, the most common Black response to 1.e4. White will most often take the game into an Open Sicilian (2.Nf3) or a Closed Sicilian (2.Nc3). Also common is the Alapin Variation (2.c3) which may transpose into an Advance French position, and has the benefit of not encompassing much opening theory. White avoids all these lines, however...

2. Nc3 is a hybrid, sometimes transposing into the Open Sicilian and sometimes into the Closed (which I believe requires a subsequent g3). Anyway, as you say this is not relevant to this game.

white doesn't continue with the mainline Sf3. obviously he wants to avoid it and push the attack on his kingside early, which is correct in this opening but i wouldn't have opened my castle before its built.

This is the sharp Grand Prix Attack - so named because it was very popular in Britain in the 1970s, I am told by another annotator. This move aims at controlling the kingside, and not challenging Black's c-pawn or making a central pawn break just yet.

I think the idea behind this is to establish a kind of accelerated King's Indian Attack. It can get very uncomfortable for Black if he let's White have his way.

whites play is very agressive.. he/she plays like hey i'm going foward no matter what it will cost. at least black has a doubled pawn and a passed one that is not easy to defend..

Black's e4-pawn does not qualify as passed, since it still has White's d-pawn obstructing its route to victory. However, wichti is correct: this pawn will prove very hard to defend.

trying out this nice combination that often appears in the italian. black just has to see it and play e6 or Be6 (not so good cause he blocks his center pawn) or Sd5 etc.. or the text move.

counterattacking while f7 is threatened by b & s is for sure not the best way of handling it... well its quite the worst..

What of (6.Be2), not (6.Nf3), not (6.Nxf7 Qc7 7.Qxg4 Nxg4 8.Nxh8 Qxf4 9.Rf1 Qxa2 10.Nf7 Qg3+) which is better for black.

This forces the queen sac no way to stop Bxd1. Be2 does stop the sac but waste a tempo and the treat on f7. Be2 Bxe2 Qxe2 e6(Nc6) giving black a chance to grab a lead in development besides white will pick black apart during the Q sac line if he isn't very thorough in his analysis.

This doesn't so much force the queen sac, as confront White with the decision: go ahead with the sac, or acquiesce to a loss of time. I guess that's pretty much what yoshark has said, but from a different perspective.

First 6...Bxf7+ transposes.

I play it. ( got the position from enasab ) and even 2000+ players struggle with this ultra sharp line. a small mistake is easily made. and you only need 1 and the game is won or lost. There is forced draw possible that ends the game in move 11 but that is a waste of a very interesting game. and why should black draw wen white has given up his queen. > white has the initiative but black has the best chances to win. ( if played correctly)

At minor tournament and beginner levels, however, I think that the queen sacrifice would prove decisive in winning the game for Black. Giving up a pawn, or even a minor piece, for the initiative and for active play, I can understand; giving up the queen I don't understand, as the queen often forms the linchpin of this active play!

I think this is a good way for white to have practice for his minor pieces and rooks. White will only be a piece down after Bxf7+ Kd7 Be6+ Kc6 Bxg4 which isn't that bad for a queen. White has great chances due to his early initiative and active play. There have been games where Grandmasters where in positions like this where white/black has sacrificed the exchange two minor pieces for a queen and they went on to win. Black has a slight edge in this game but it will be a long game for black to win.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with fatcat2. I'm also playing in this mini-tourney and so far, I've had my best success as White. freddy is absolutely correct in that one small mistake in this sharp line and the game is over. While the key for Black is to make sure the Q is active and slowly trade off pieces, Black's King is out in the open and once White moves Nc3, Black has to be very careful not to find his K and Q in a fork. I've completed 3 games and twice lost my Q as Black and once taken the Q as white.

As yoshark pointed out in his annotated game from this mini-tournament, 7.Bxf7+ is correct: 7.Nxf7+ is a mistake. Here is this annotation by yoshark: gameknot.com

7. Bxf7+ is best because it exposes the king and leads to capture of the knight.

If I don't give you this pawn you can play Ne6 which keeps me from developing my dark square bishop. Blacks biggest problem will be getting his/her pieces out.

This is interesting, and may well get a testing in this MT. Black wants to free his K-side, and that seems to require a pawn move. Has he time for it now, then? "Suck it and see" is not a bad method of finding out!

This move is twofold it activates a piece eyes the b4 square for a possible fork at c2 and eyes c7 where it can be possible for black to slow/stop whites early pressure. This is the line I would suggest for black gives him/her great chances. Not to mention after black figures out a way survive Nf7 which still isn't possible Be7(d6) will connect the rook when the queen moves.

Has Black time for such ventures? The development to a6 is well motivated, but after, say, 11.Bxe6 (which looks quite a reasonable move, actually) 11...Nb4 12.Kd1 ..., White will mobilise his h-rook via e1 and his a-rook along its own file.

oh, still in progress. yah, Be6 is not bad but why didn't u just fork on f7 and win a rook? of course it wouldnt be easy to get the knight out of the corner afterwards but still 2 points instead of that 1 unimportant pawn. hm, looking foward to see the rest of the game.

You really should not post a game in progress, its not fair to the opponent because its no longer a 1:1 game, more like a many:1 game.

In the interest of fairness, in that case, maybe the other player should annotate it too!

chessknave has it right. you may annotate the game as it's in progress for yourself, but do not publish it publicly until the game is finished. it's just a matter of respect for the other player

Nf7 is possible as demonstrated in one of my recent games. Nf7 Qh4+? g3 Qxg4 Ne4+! wins the queen. Black might continue Qe8 Nxh8 Nb4 O-O Nxc2 Rb1 Bd6 Nxe4 Qxh8. White wins back an exchange but black gets a development + the initiative.