Annotated chess game

No, and at first, I thought that this was a blunder, as I would've thought about playing 21.dxc6, only to find out that it's an illegal move due to being directly pinned to your K. I normally don't post about illegal moves, btw, but just want you to become a little more familiar with a pin since white's in one. Even if, however, d5 weren't pinned, that would be a blunder that would lose since it would allow, ...bxa3 giving you an unstoppable passed pawn with the R behind. But, this move prevents that since after 21...bxa3 white can of, course, now play 22.Ra1 which would allow 23.Nxa3 without losing the N.

This *is* a blunder. Black can now play 21... Qxd5+ forking king and knight. The knight cannot be saved by 22. Nbd4, because after 22... Nxd4 23. exd4 Qa2+ White loses the queen!

I reckon nuntar is right. White had nothing better than 21.axb4 Nxb4, when Black would be threatening to pick up a second pawn by ...Nxd5 or ...exd5. There is also the latent threat to skewer the White King and queen by ...Ra2ch, so the White knight will be stuck on c3 for the moment. Black has a tremendous Q-side attack going here.

But, white can still stop your passer.

This is getting really interesting. Black's best was in fact the 'obvious' 21...Qxd5ch 22.Ke1 Qxb5 (or 22.Nbd5 Qa2ch 23.Nc2 b3), winning the knight and so really being a whole major piece ahead. The pawn advance of the text is nowhere near as strong, but should still be good for the win. Actually 21...bxa3 would have been stronger quite a bit, though not as powerful as ...Qxd5ch.

At this point, it's safe since we're near the endgame, although, you're winning. But, that's also where he went wrong since it was like this earlier in the game which got it exposed.

Queen, two rooks and knight remaining... this is far from an endgame and the king should not be safe.

! This is a good move that either gets a passed pawn or loses his N which the next move will show.

White could retreat the knight to d4, only losing a pawn. Or he could take Black's knight on c6, now that the pawn is no longer pinned. It can be hard to notice changes in circumstances like this, after getting used to the "fact" that a certain man cannot move!

Black successfully avoids the pitfall 22...Qxd5?? 23.Nc7ch with a 'family' check (attacking K, Q and R). I admit that 22...Ra5 is not a move I would have thought of, right off, preferring 22...exd5, but it does look pretty strong! If 23.Nd4, then 23...Qxd5; if 23.Qe2, then 23...exd5.

That's right.

Wham! Equally 'whammish' would have been 23...Qd5ch. White is now pretty thoroughly whammed, here.

Desperation? White walks into a four-move mate. This one is the well-known 'frog-march' mate (my own name for it): 24...Qxd4ch 25.Kc3 Rb3ch 26.Kc2 Qd3ch 27.Kc1 Rb1#. The king gets frog-marched by Q and R to the edge of the board. You should remember the 'frog-march' mate and stash it into your technical bag of tricks.

No need. 24... Qxd5+ with mate in four. Note that the queen defends the rook.

Yes, and in fact, I wouldn't have considered anything else besides the move that Michael just mentioned and for the same reason.

25...Qd6+ would've done the same thing as a move earlier.

25...Qd5ch would have led also to a forced mate, but not as quick as the 'frog-march' one.

So exposed is the White King that White probably had nothing better than to offer to exchange queens: 26.Qd2. After Qg4, Black has several ways to force checkmate. One begins in spectacular fashion: 26...Rc5ch!! 27.Kxc5 ... (Kb3 allows the king to live an extra 2 moves) 27...Qd5#! Also 26...Qd5ch was mate in 5 and 26...Qd6ch led to mate in 7.

? Better was 26...Qd6+ This, however, isn't so good because of what white does next which does give him a little bit of counterplay here with his forking move.

Not the most efficient, but still winning. Bearing in mind that Black's king is also exposed, and White's pieces reasonably actively placed, Black must go after the White king all-out with checks - don't give White time to mobilise his own attack. Especially vulnerable is the pawn at e6. That is why 26...Qd5ch would have been a fine choice, as the queen protects that e6-point as well as giving check.

Which loses the N. In this position, I would've played 27...Qa8 to prevent that, but I do question if it's best. As it would appear that white could get a draw by rep, but I reckon that black could still stop this.

It's good to be watchful for such possibilities, but after 27... Qa8 28. Qxe6+ Ne7 White has no more checks, and no draw. Black's kingside will be a bit tricky to untangle, however.

Black had a two-move mate: 27...Qd5ch 28.Kxa4 Qc4#.

Tougher, though in a hopeless situation, would have been 28.Qxe6ch Ne7 29.Rc1.

I think you mean 29... Qd5+ and you are correct; mate in three no matter how White plays.

Best, in my opinion, was 29...Qb5+ and I think that mate would be very soon to follow. Yes, I definitely meant 29...Qd5+.

Again, 29...Qd5ch was one move quicker. But the check played is certain sure, and good enough. If you have seen your clear way to finish the game off, then go for it.

Forced, else it would have been mate next move.

30... Qb3+ 31. Ka5 Rc5+ 32. Ka6 Qb6#

Even stronger then what Michael mentioned was 30...Rc4+, and after 31.Ka5 31...Qb6# is mate.

Both are equivalent. What is clear is that Black has lost her focus. There is a third way, that I would probably have chosen: 30...Qa7ch (a) 31.Kb4 Qa3ch 32.Kb5 Rc5# or (b1) 31.Kb5 c6ch 32.Kb4 Qa3# or (b2) 31.Kb5 Qc5ch 32.Ka4 Ra3# or 32.Ka6 Qb6#. ++++++++++++++ But this pawn move is perfectly dreadful. I can't even work out what Black had in mind. Even 30...Ke7 would have been winning.