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1. e4
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A Big Peta Students club Mini-Tournament game. Excellent defending by black and a few mistakes by white led to a long close game. Wanting to gauge my assessment, I requested computer analysis -after- completing the annotation. |

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1... d6
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1. ...d6, apparently the Pirc defense. I have never played it or played against it. |
3 comments
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2. d4
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2. d4 gives white some space to work with early and hinders black by controlling his fourth rank. Perhaps a disadvantage of the Pirc? |
1 comment
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2... g6
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2. ...g6 lays some groundwork to challenge the center. |
1 comment
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3. Nc3 Bg7 4. f4
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4. f4. I come to like and regret this move equally, the main downside being that several squares (e4, g3, g4, and f3) are weakened. Benefits similar to d4. |
3 comments
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4... f6
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4. f6. A strange move by black. Seems to put delays on the N and B getting in to play. Probably setting up e5? If white develops an advantage, it may be traceable to 1. ...d6 and 4. ...f6. [computer agrees, prefers 4. ...Nf6. computer does not mind 1. ...d6] |
3 comments
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5. Nf3 Nc6
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5. ...Nc6. Following a lot of early pawn moves on both sides, minor pieces are getting in to the game. |

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6. Be3 e5
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6. ...e5 as expected. An exchange here favors black, so... |
1 comment
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7. Qd2
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White plays 7. Qd2 preparing to castle. Black also passes on a capture, and plays... |

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7... Bg4
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7. ...Bg4, clearing off some of his back rank. Still an edge in development for white. |

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8. Be2 f5
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8. ...f5. Hmm, it's getting crowded. All pieces and all pawns still on the board. Still unhappy with the prospects of an exchange... |
2 comments
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9. d5
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...white keeps things a bit closed in the center while opening up some diagonals with several pieces pointing toward where black may be intending to castle. |

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9... Nce7
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...and forcing the knight to move. [computer prefers 9. ...Bxf3] |
2 comments
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10. O-O-O
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10. O-O-O adds a rook to the pressure on the center, ...perhaps useful if thing open up. Black's king and queen are starting to look like targets. Perhaps an idea around which to build a plan (the plan to this point having been to take advantage of the space advantage gained with those early pawn moves by placing my pieces to greatest advantage). Other than the B on g4, I'm reasonably happy with the position here. |
3 comments
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10... fxe4
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10. ...fxe4, the first capture of the game. |

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11. Nxe4
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11. NxP. |

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11... Bxf3
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11. ...Bxf3. B for N probably favors white, ... |

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12. Bxf3
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...and white still has one knight that can go to g5, which is a stepping stone to e6. |

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12... Qd7
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12. ...Qd7. The queen and king are both still potential targets. And now I'm thinking it might also be useful to prevent black from castling, thereby delaying his rooks getting into the game while also keeping his king from getting to a safe location. |
2 comments
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13. Ng5
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13. Ng5 as mentioned. Bishop on g7 under some pressure. |

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