Annotated chess game: An Expert Lesson in Concentration of Forces

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ANNOTATED GAME

An Expert Lesson in Concentration of Forces
ionadowman (2047) vs. jstevens1 (1694)
Annotated by: jotheblackqueen (1200)
Chess opening: Latvian (C40), Behting variation

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1. e4	Hi everyone, this game is about two sides attacking one another. The moral here though is that the side with the greater amount of forces in the enemy camp will work effectively together as a team and force checkmate whereas if you only have one piece in the enemy camp and your other pieces are stuck at home then, as you will see, God help you!



1... e5 2. Nf3 f5	2. ................ f5 - this is the Latvian Gambit, this is a very wild opening but I thought I would try something different. I thought that rather than sit back and allow my Expert opponent to dominate in the way he did in our last few matches, I would try a more aggressive approach. It made the game a little more interesting but unfortunately I still got the same result - the blob!



3. Bc4	3. Bc4 - also commonly played is Nxe5.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: I rather think I might be playing 3.Nxe5 in future. Also, but perhaps not equally, playable are 3.exf5 and 3.d4. The game continuation is the most exciting and spectacular. White charges in with a ferocious attack, but incurs heavy casualties from the Black Queen's guerilla raid behind the lines. It all comes down to whether White has enough to secure mate, or will he be squashed by Black's enormous material plus. Or maybe a fine balance will be reached if Black's lone queen can secure a perpetual check?


3... fxe4 4. Nxe5 Qg5	4. ................ Qg5? - this move is a bad move. I played this because the Poisoned Pawn Variation is a recognised spur of the Latvian and it did have a good win percentage in the Expert's database but not so in the Gameknot database. The drawback to this variation is, as you will see, Glenda and Henry will be the only pieces to move in the entire game!
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: No, this isn't bad at all: this is Black's counter to White's attack. For the moment it keeps the White Queen out of h5, but it also has aggressive intentions...


5. d4 Qxg2 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Bf7+ Kd8 8. Bxg6 Qxh1+ 9. Ke2 Qxc1	9. .............. Qxc1 - c6 is also played here but there is a brilliant refutation. I will give you the game Atars v Tomson in a correspondence theme tournament in 1973 taken from chessgames.com as follows:- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. Bc4 fxe4 4. Nxe5 Qg5 5. d4 Qxg2 6. Qh5 g6 7. Bf7 Kd8 8. Bxg6 Qxh1 9. Ke2 c6 10. Nc3 Kc7 11. Bf4 Qxa1 12. Nxd7 Kxd7 13. Qf5 Kd8 14. Qxf8 Kd7 15. Qe8# So, I decided to take the bishop and try and cut down the white army around my king.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: A critical point. I actually thought that 9...c6 is the best here. Instead of Tomson's 10...Kc7, Black could try 10...Nf6, but that also seems insufficient: 11.Qg5 and then [A] 11...Rg8 12.Qxf6+ Be7 13.Qf7 Rxg6 14.Bg5 Qf3+! 15.Nxf3 exf3+ 16.Kxf3 Rxg6 17.Re1 and Black's e7-bishop looks unsalvagable; or [B] 11...Be7 12.Bf4!! Qxa1 13.Nf7+ Ke8 14.Nxh8+ Kd8 {14...hxg6 15.Qxg6+ Kd8 16.Nf7+ Ke8 17.Nd6++ Kd8 18.Qe8+! and mate next} 15.Nf7+ Ke8 16.Bc7 (16...d5, say, 17.Ne5+ Kf8 18.Qh6+ Kg1 19.Bf7+ Kh8 20.Ng6#. ***** But Black has a tempo-gaining move to stay in the game: 9...c6 10.Nc3 e3! A possible continuation is 11.Nf7+ Kc7 12.Bxe3 Qxa1 13.Qg5 b5 14.Nxb5+ cxb5 15.Bf4+ Kb6: Unclear, according to MCO11 (Lundin-Pupols, Washington, 1966). ***** (Referring to my MCO11, I discover that Atars-Tomson game handwritten (by me many years ago) at the foot of the page!)


10. Nf7+ Ke8 11. Nxh8+ hxg6 12. Qxg6+ Kd8 13. Nf7+ Ke7 14. Nc3 Qxc2+	14. ...............Qxc2 - the queen escapes with check but cannot get back to the right sector of the board. I still have had no chance to develop my other pieces. The rook in the corner cannot be taken as 14 ............ Qxa1 allows a spectacular mate, viz:- 14. Nc3 Qxa1 15. Nd5 Ke8 16. Nd6 Kd8 17. Qe8#
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: Has White enough material to win, or will Black's undeveloped pieces be able to provide enough resources to hold out until their superior numbers can be brought to bear? Or maybe, given time to breathe, the Black queen can force a perpetual on the White King?


15. Ke1 d6 16. Nd5+ Kd7 17. Qxg8	17. Qxg8 , there is something terribly sad about pieces dropping off like that on their home square.
	2 comments archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: <Snh, snh, snh> But seriously, this capture offers Black some breathing space (but it looked more promising than 17.Qf5+?!). How to make use of it? I did think maybe 17...Na6 or 17...Qxb2 18.Rd1 Na6 might be worth a try. I was thinking about 17.Qh7 or 18.Qh7 in response. If 17.(or 18)Qxf8, Black's King looks as though he might make a successful run for it via c6, and Black's remaining pieces begin to look worryingly active. ****** After 17...e3 I felt a lot easier about prospects. lighttotheright (1200) on 02-Aug-08: Ironically, it is better for your pieces to be captured in their home space than when already developed in this particular opening. The key is what happens to those that are not captured.


17... e3 18. fxe3 Qxb2 19. Rd1 Qxh2 20. Qg4+	20. Qg4 - the winning move.
	1 comment lighttotheright (1200) on 02-Aug-08: I disagree. 20. ... Ke8 and you would have had a chance at a draw. Not necessarily a good chance, but a chance. The position would continue to follow its extreme wild nature. Black would likely lose the last rook in its home space, but white would likely have to decide whether it wanted to keep its last rook or knight. It might have come down to a QBN Vs QR ending. Not easy.


20... Kc6 21. Rc1+ Kxd5	21. ............. Kxd5 - I leave the database behind here and try to cut down white's army even more, but alas, Ion has still enough pieces available to force checkmate.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: This move leads to a forced mate in eight (Joanne shortened to 7 with her 23rd move). Had she played the only alternative I was contemplating 21...Kb5 22.Nxc7+ Kb4 (say) 23.Qxc8, then running the gauntlet of Black's checks to b2 (hopefully!) before launching the final attack.


22. Qf3+ Ke6 23. Ng5+ Ke7 24. Qf7+ Kd8 25. Qxc7+ Ke8 26. Qxc8+	Here I threw in the sponge on the grounds of unavoidable mate due to:- 25. Qxc7 Ke8 26. Qxc8 Ke7 27. Qe6 Kd8 28. Rc8# So, it is not always a material advantage that wins a game, it can be a greater concentration of forces that work well together around the enemy king that can effect a checkmate. Hope this makes sense. Hereby ends the lesson.
	4 comments archduke_piccolo (2334) on 31-Jul-08: An interesting game - even exciting to play through - but it has to be said that most of it was "book", at least up until move 17 or thereabouts. I don't think I'll be in an all-fired hurry to play the 3.Bc4 line again! 3.Nxe5 looks good... ****** Oh, by the way: I had planned on 28.Nf7#, as the more economical finish ruachessnut2 (1200) on 31-Jul-08: Black has made 25 moves. King made 11. Queen made 7. Pawns made 7. The 2 rooks, 2 knights, & 2 bishops altogether made a total of ZERO moves! There appears to be room for inprovement. elyhim (1200) on 09-Dec-12: Very interesting game. trixstermtl (1513) on 24-Jun-15: very nice game suggested to be watched by Ion, since i like playing the colorado gambit with the nimso opening, where these 2 openings share a similar move of f5 when white plays 1 e4 nc6 2 nf3 f5. or as in this case e4 e5 nf3 f5! looks like a fun one to learn