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19. Qc2
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Herein lies my dilema. After 18 ...cxb my gut tells me I have to get my Bishop off of a6 before it is entombed with 19 ...b5 so, I was going to play 19.Be2. Then I noticed by leaving my Queen on a4 (after 19.Be2) Black can get a protected passed pawn with 19 ...c5! 20.Qc2 c4! & Black has managed to not only neutralize the Queenside BUT... has an endgame trump card with the protected passed pawn on c4. If that isnt enough... now he can proceed with his Kingside play without any worries. Is that scenario worth a whole Rook? I dont know and I dont want to find out so, I decided to leave the Ba6 to their fate. |
 
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19... Qc7
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Yes, this is a good idea since this facilitates attacks against my Kingside but, i think Black should immobilize my Ba6 first with 19 ...b5. It became very clear to me that Blacks Rook sacrifice totally snubbed my Queenside play leaving him with his Kingside attack. The only thing I have is my material advantage and my passed h pawn. This is where I changed my plans in order to accomadate those two advantages. |
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20. Be2
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Because I felt i had nothing more over on the Queenside & because I feel this Bishop was doing nothing on a6, I wanted to reposition it over towards the Kingside. My general plan was to use it to help advance my passed h pawn. |
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20... Bd6
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I must admit, I really thought Black would take the b pawn if, for no other reason but to close the material gap. This is a good position to demonstrate the importance of Pawns & how they can effect Bishops. Imagine if Black's e6 pawn was on e4 & Black's f5 pawn was on f4! Black's Bishops and their threats against my King would compensate for the material loss. |
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21. f4
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The reason for this move was not to protect h2 (21.h4 could have done that & also further my plan) but, rather to continue to keep Black's 2Bishops under lock and key. Once things started to roll on the Kingside, I did not want Black's Q B to have such easy access to my King's position. Coincidently... I seem to remember regretting the weakness I cause to g3. |
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21... Rg6 22. h4
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More salt on my wounds. As strategically savvy as I like to THINK I am... I was not suspecting the g3 weakness would cause me minor problems. Hey! Just because I'm annotating a game doesn't mean I can play well. |
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22... Bxf4
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While I dont think this is a correct sacrifice, it does cause me some distress in a couple moves. In light of my plan (promote the hpawn), I think Black should be re-deploying this Bishop to f6 OR... to h4 to keep my pieces off of e1-f2-g3. Another plan might be ...Ke7 with the idea Qc7-d8-g8(or h8) with the follow up being ...f6 & ...Bd7-e8-h5. |
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23. exf4 Rg3
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& here is the thorn in my side that Black's 22 ...Bxf4 causes me:
My plan is to promote the h pawn. However, Mr. hpawn wont survive much further than h5 without a Rook backing him up. I had a simple plan to play my King to f2 and allow my Rooks to swing over but, if I did that now... 24.Kf2? THEN 24 ...Qxf4 followed by ...Qxh4. Nor can I play 24.Rf3 since after 24 ...Rxf3 25.Bxf3 Black's Q still infiltrates with 25 ...Qxf4
How about the weakness of g3? How does that play a part? Imagine if I had a pawn on h2 then, obviously Black would not be able to play 23 ...Rg3 here. Why does 23 ...Rg3 bother me? Well, one way I wanted to get the Rooks over to the h file without allowing Black's Queen to capture on f4 is (only showing White's moves) 24.Rf3, 25.Raf1, 26.h4 (remember, we put the h pawn back on h2), & 27.Rh3 Problem solved. However, since Black is able to cover the f3 square BEFORE I play my Rook there, I can no longer use that plan.
*NOTE: All my Stress I was having here on this position is really unneccesary since I am actually winning the game on material. Any exchanges actually help me so, in reality... 24.Rf3 is a good move but, my inability to veer away from my plan made it impossible to find that move. Be sure to always keep a flexible thought process & do not be afraid to change, modify or delete your plans and ideas. |
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24. Kh2
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My "NEW" plan is to chase the offending Rook off my property (24.Kh2), protect the f4 pawn (25.g3) & move off the h file (26.Kg2) so my Rook can play to h1 to make room for the other Rook. But, I sure did hesitate putting my King in line with Black's Queen. No matter hom many pieces stand in the way... always be a little wary when your King is in a direct path of an enemy piece. |
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24... Rg6 25. g3 e5
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? This seriously weakens d5 thanks to the undefended Queen on c7. However, if i played an immediate 26.Nxd5 then what to do after 26 ...Qd6 Hmmm? Therefore, I chose to capture on e5 first so that to limit Black's Queen moves. Two lessons:
1) Undefended pieces are usually a good signpost indicating that a tactic is present!!! The real trick is finding it.
2) It does no good just to go around blindly attacking pieces. This is Chess not Checkers, these pieces are mobile!! One would do better by making the enemy pieces as immobile as possible before attacking them. |
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26. dxe5
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26.fxe is suicide for g3 i.e.
26 ...f6! and, I would not be able to keep b8-h2 diagonal closed
A) 27.e6? Qxg3 28.Kh1 Qg2#
B) 27.exf? Qxg3 28.Kh1 Qg2#
C) 27.Bd3 fxe 28.dxe Qxe5 & g3 becomes a burden... again. |
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26... f6 27. Nxd5
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The c6 pawn cannot capture my Knight since this would allow 28.Qxc7! |
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27... cxd5
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I am not certain if Black did not see this or if, he simply gave up? |
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28. Qxc7
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And what is it the REAL GM annotators Love to say here?? Oh yeah... and the rest is just cleaning up so, no further annotation is neccesary.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS ON MY ANNOTATIONS, PLEASE MESSAGE ME. I WISH TO IMPROVE ON MY GAME ANNOTATIONS SO AS TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FOLLOW. I WELCOME BOTH GOOD AND BAD CRITICISM, NO MATTER HOW GOOD OR BAD.
Thank you,
Michael |
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28... Ke7 29. Qd6+ Kf7 30. Qxd7+ Kg8 31. e6 Rg7 32. Qxg7+ Kxg7 33. h5 a5 34. h6+ Kxh6 35. e7 axb4 36. e8=Q b3 37. Bh5 b2 38. Qg6#
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The End. |
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