Annotated chess game

Tempting, but very risky, by leaving open the possibility of a knight fork at c2. White will have had to calculate this very carefully...

I agree - really the only reasonable defence, withal.

Frees the bishop, but White has overlooked c2. A better response was 12.Qe3! with this 'trap' in mind: 12...Nc2 13.Qf3 Nc2?? 14.Qf3, and now [a] 14...Nxa1 15.Qc6ch! Kf1 (say; you can check out other lines) 16.Qxa8ch Ne8 17.Qd5! and it's good night, nurse; or [b] 14...Rd8 15.Qc6ch ... 16.Qxc2. If Black tries 12...c5, then 13.Re1 ... threatens mate at once, forcing the outpost knight to retreat (not 13...Nd5? 14.Qe4!). So 11.Qe1 was a good move, but only if the consequences had been foreseen.

Really, it wins the Exchange, but that's still something. Meanwhile, though, White still has very dangerous threats of his own...

An interesting (and exciting!) alternative was 13.Qe2!? If then 13...Nxa1, 14.Re1! 0-0! 15.Qxe7!? Rae8! 16.Qxf8ch!? Kxf8 17.Rxe8ch Kxe8 18.Bb2 Nc2 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Nxa7 and White retains a big edge in the knight-and-pawn endgame.

To take was, of course, de rigueur.

The Knight 'desperado' ...Nxb3 would not have been a good option, here, as after 14...Nxb3 15.Qxb3 White would be attacking the b5-pawn and the f7-square both. Best seems to be to let White spend time round him up. Instead, 14...0-0 seems to be indicated.

Bad timing: it should have been played a move sooner. I'm not sure 15...Nc2 is much improvement, after 16.Rc1 Na3 and then 17.Re1! or 17.Bxa3 bxa3 18.Re1 or 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Rxc7. I think I might have gone for 15...h6 16.Nf3 Kd7.

I like this imprisoning of the White bishop. Can he be broken out of the Black dungeons?

This pawn move was not well motivated at all. This is an illustration of the notion that however bad a situation is, one can, more often than not, conjure up something to cause trouble for one's opponent. How about 20...Nd5, then? The e7-bishop then attacks the g5-knight, and after, say, 21.Nh3, 21...Rd7 and 22...Ra8 are threatened. Or, White can try 21.Qh5 h6. However, White probably would not be wise to play (20...Nd5) 21.Rxe7?? Rxe7 on account of the back rank mate threat.