Dangerous counterplay
watusi (1675) vs. anotherminorpawn (1522)
Annotated by:
gleeful
(1982)
Chess opening:
English (A22), Bremen, reverse dragon
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18. Qxe3 Re8 19. O-O
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Finally castling to move the king out of the center. |
 
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19... exf4
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Probably better is b6, but I felt as though I'd already lost and wasn't interested in a long endgame. This weakens the king's position and opens the e file for attack. |
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20. Nxf4 Bxb3
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Grabbing a pawn to help compensate for the eventual loss of my a and b pawns. I couldn't find a better move for the discovered attack and wanted to do something before it disappeared.
Again, b6 is probably better. |
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21. Qxa7 Bf7
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Retreating the bishop, looking for a way to remove the queen from the a7-g1 diagonal. |
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22. a3
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Passive move, white should post his rooks on the open files. With an open game, a vunerable king is a greater weakness than a minor material disparity. |
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22... Ne5
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Centralizing the knight, thinking about the weak d pawn. |
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23. Qxb7
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?- Bad move, white abandons the a7-g1 diagonal to grab a pawn. Bxb7 is better if white really wants the pawn, though perhaps he was afraid of the bishop being pinned via Rc7. |
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23... Qd4+
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! - Good move, grabbing the open diagonal and starting to attack the weakened king. |
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24. Kh1 Ng4
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Threatening smothered mate via Nf2 , Kg1 Nh3 (double check), Kh1 Qg1 , Rxg1 Nf2#. |
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25. Qf3
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Protecting the f2 square. |
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25... Rc2
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Advancing to the 7th rank, a powerful move in almost any position. |
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26. Nh3
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Overprotecting f2, opening up an attack on the hanging f pawn. |
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26... Ree2
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? - Bad move, as it fatally weakens black's king. There is a minor threat of Rxg2 followed by Rxg1 , but white has enough time to prevent it.
Correct would have been 26...Rxg2!!, if Black recaptures, Bd5 either wins white's queen, or at least equalizes (i.e. 27. Qxg2 Bd5 28. Rf3 Qxa1 29. Ng1 Re1 30. Bc5). If black doesn't recapture, 27...Bd5 also answered most moves.
I had set Ree2 as a conditional move and tried to change it after thinking about the game late at night, but was too late to change it. |
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27. Rae1
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! - Good move. White finally contests one of the open files and halts black's attack. Rxg2 is no longer possible due to the weakened black king (i.e. 27... Rxg2 28. Qa8 ). For that matter, almost any move black makes can be met by Qa8 . |
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27... Qe5
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Attempting to defend the e2 rook and prevent Qa8 . |
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28. Rxe2 Rxe2
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Qxe2 may have been slightly better, but I was trying to maintain a battery on the e file and potentially recreate the threat from move 26. |
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29. Qxf5
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1-0
Threatening Qxf7 followed by mate as well as Qf8# if the bishop is moved. At this point I resigned as I was down material and had lost my chance at a counterattack. The lesson learned is that a vulnerable king and counterplay by an opponent is more dangerous than a small material advantage. This is similar in principle to a sacrifice for an attack. |
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