Annotated chess game

This is as fine example as could be wished for to demonstrate that it is possible to skewer a piece against an empty square. The bishop must move aside, whereat the Black rook invades at c1, pinning (possibly) both knights! Far out.

I'm not so sure that 14...0-0 quite keeps Black on terms: 14 ... O-O 15. d3 Rfc8 16. Nd2 Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Rc1 18. Bb2 ... 18. ... Rc2 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Ngf3 ... and now: 20...Rxa2 21.Rc1 or 20...Bc3 21.a4 Bf5 22.Rd1 and I think White can wriggle clear.

I think Ion is right - the move my opponent and I missed in the post-mortem was 19. Bxf6 - we were just looking at bishop moves, rook returns to c1, bishop returns to b2, rook returns to c2 with a repetition. All the same, in the line given by Ion, black regains a pawn and has two bishops against two knights on an open baord, so it is still a game...

15...Ne4 looks very promising! Try this: 15...Ne4 16.f3 0-0!? 17.fxe4 dxe4 18.Kf2 (say, but what else is there?) 18...Bxd3 19.Na3 Rxa1 20.Bxa1 Bxa3 and Black may have a little bit of an edge.

That might have been too much to ask for, in view of 17.a4 Bd7 18.Ngf3. I see White has cut to the chase. Maybe Black had better prospects after 16...Rxa1 17.Bxa1 Ne4! (threatening 18...Bxd3!) 18.Nh3 Rc8 (19.a4 Nxd2 20.axb5 Rc2 21.bxa6 Ra2 22.b4 Nf1!).

Is 18.....Bxd3 sucha good move? Black wins the exchange but the Nh1 is never getting out.

17.a4 Bd7 18.Ngf3 might have been more accurate, maybe? ++++ Response to previous comment by charleshiggie: A quick look does suggest the N on h1 its future looks no more rosy than King Rudolf's at Zenda. But then, the knight would have to be rounded up, and that doesn't look so easy, neither.

I think I would have chosen the same. Apart from anything else, after 18.Rxh1, ...Ne4 carries a threat that would not be present with the rook on a1 instead of h1.

18...Ne4 for preference. Black is still two pawns short, and has the weaker structure, too. So Black has as much as possible to keep White as tangled up as can be achieved. That is a tall order, I agree.

White is beginning to step out of his entrenchments - not a good augury for Black.

This kind of consolidating move I'd play almost without thinking, the moment I was given time to play it. It is a measure of how much play Black had earlier that White could not play it before this. Black has the bishop pair on an open(ish) board, but they hardly weigh in the balance against White's 2 extra pawns, solid structure and majorities in the centre and on the Queen side. White still has some way to go to mobilise completely, but Black's resource don't look sufficient to hold that up for long.