Annotated chess game

Pretty good, in the circumstances!

Black had a fine choice between this rook move or 21...Bxa3ch. So overwhelming the Black position remains.

Why not 22.exd6? That at least would have got rid of one Black attacking piece.

Why not? The thing has been on the cards for a while.

Oh, dear. White surely did NOT want to play this!

Completely irrelevant. Did Black know the 'en passant' rule? Had the c-pawn advanced but one square, the Black d- or b- pawns would have had the opportunity to capture it. But the c-pawn moved TWO squares. The 'en passant' rule says that the Black d- or b- pawns had this one chance to capture it anyway, on c3, as the pawn tried to go past (this rule has a 'statute of limitations": it must be carried out AT ONCE or not at all). As it happens, 25...bxc3e.p. (or 25....dxc3e.p.) would not only have captured the c-pawn, but also placed a pawn-fork on the White King and Queen.

Instead 26.Bxd5 or even 26.cxd5 ought to have been tested.

The White c-pawn can no longer be taken 'en passant' (in passing). Black still has a winning game, but finding the right way to go is becoming harder to figure. This pawn advance at least frees up the b4-square for a knight.

Much better would have been 27.f5, trapping the e6-bishop. Even so, Black would have had a strong attack beginning with 27...Ne3! 28.Bxc6 Qxc6 29.fxe6 Nc5! 30.e7 Na4ch 31.K moves Rb8.

Wasting time. Fortunately it isn't hurting Black's game much, but Black still has the resources for all-out attack. 27...Ne3 is still the way to go. The knight isn't really pinned, as after 27...Nc3 (or ...Ne3) 28.Bxc6 Qxc6 the d1-rook is attacked, and Black has many threats against the White King.

Now this is something like! Even so, Black's winning edge is gradually eroding. Unless she injects more zing into the attack, it might disappear altogether.

29.Qxh4! offered better chance of defending (counter-attacking).

A little TOO bold!

Very strong - but 30...Qb7ch would have ended the game at once: 31.Ka2 Nc3ch 32.Ka1 Qb3 33.Rb1 ... (or anything, really: it's mate in 2) 33...Qa3ch 34.Qa2 Qxa2#.