Annotated chess game: Bone in the throat!

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ANNOTATED GAME

Bone in the throat!
jstevens1 (1764) vs. ralbama1 (1617)
Annotated by: jotheblackqueen (1200)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B50)

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1. e4	Hi everyone - nice just to write about a win for a change. I was playing against a guy called Andy who had a similar rating to myself. Andy played very well but somehow I managed to get a rook onto his second rank and that piggish rook made slop of one of his pawns and eventually more and more material dropped, until I was able to crown my a pawn. Andy resigned on the grounds of ruinous loss of material but Freddy, who looked at this game said I had a mate in 3 - more on that later. Anyhow - I face the Sicilian and I play an unusual 3rd move, Bc4 instead of the standard pawn exchange on d4.



1... c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4	3. Bc4 - voila!
	4 comments nuntar (1702) on 11-Feb-09: I find this is weak as the bishop can easily be shut off by ...e6. ruachessnut2 (1200) on 11-Feb-09: e6 shuts off BOTH bishops. But Black shouldn't play Bg4 first. IF 3...Bg4 4. Bxf7+ Kxf7 5. Ng5+ K any 6. Qxg4 blake78613 (1200) on 11-Feb-09: Luke McShane has done well with 3 Bc4. If White is going to play a closed Sicilian with d3, She is much less cramped with the Bishop outside the pawnchain. This an accepted way to play as Black against the English opening, so should work alright with an extra move. I play this all the time OTB. archduke_piccolo (2340) on 11-Feb-09: This is one of those moves that for a long time remained under a very dark cloud, but was revived as a motif in the Sozin attack. It does seem to have tjhe effect of restraining Black's pawn centre, but it remains a target on c4 for a ...b5 break.


3... Nf6 4. Qe2 Nc6 5. c3	5. c3 - transposes into a c3 Sicilian.



5... g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. h3 O-O 8. Bb3 e5 9. Rd1 h6 10. d3 Kh7 11. Be3	11. Be3 - the wood now starts to come off the back row.



11... b6 12. Nbd2 Ne7 13. d4	13. d4 - a pawn break - will this be to my advantage? I analyse it and it looked good at the end so I decided to go for it.
	1 comment blake78613 (1200) on 11-Feb-09: I like to play Ruy Lopez type moves in this variation as White. I would play 13 Nf1 here.


13... cxd4 14. cxd4 Nd7 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Rac1	16. Rac1 - my queen rook goes over to commandeer the open c file. A little stuck for ideas beyond that, however my opponent helps me out here.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: Instead of 16...g5, 16...f5 looks interesting...


16... g5 17. Nh2 Ng6 18. Ndf1 Qe7 19. Ng3	19. Ng3 - eyeing up a knight outpost on f5 or h5, preferably f5 because Glenda may want to bag h5 so that she can get close to the enemy king!



19... Bb7 20. Rc7	20. Rc7 - after black's plausible Bb7 putting pressure on e4 I decide to take the opportunity to invade the 7th rank with my rook. This is called a "Bone in the throat", hence the title of this game. With my opponent it really does choke him!



20... Bc8 21. Ba4 Rd8 22. Bc6 Rb8 23. Rxa7	23. Rxa7 - the Bone in the throat then the pin on the d7 knight has finally reaped results - I have won a pawn on a7 and black's b pawn is very weak. Can I capitalise further?
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: This is a terrible bind - has the look of the Octopus Clamp in wrestling. Great to see you on the "giving" end this time, Jo!


23... Ngf8 24. Bxd7 Rxd7 25. Rdxd7 Bxd7 26. Qh5	26. Qh5 - that plethora of exchanges has not helped black very much. Now his lsb is pinned and he remains a pawn down. Now Glenda moves to h5 and I try a mating attack.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: The exchanges have left White with a strong attack and a considerable advantage. The position after Black's 23rd, though, is one of those that face White with a wide range of attractive-looking options. My favorite is 24.Nf5! with this attack in mind: 24...Qe6!? 25.Rd6 Qe8 26.Rxh6+! (This might not even be the best move, but it sure looks good!) 26...Bxh6 27.Qh5 Qe6 28.Nf3! Qg6 29.Nxg5+ and Black surely can't survive this! After the better 24...Qe8 25.Rd6 Nf6, when 26.Qh5 looks very strong, but even better is 26.Qd2, stacks on the mill against d7, but, better yet, threatening e.g. 26...Nef8 27.Bxg5! hxg5 28.Qxg5. What an attack! Talk about a full-court press...


26... f6 27. Nf5 Qe8 28. Qxe8 Rxe8 29. Nxg7 Kxg7 30. Bxb6	30. Bxb6 - the mating attack does not materialise but I was quite happy to exchange queens and my knight for his dsb because I was a pawn up. Now I increase my material advantage and I have two lovely passers on a2 and b2. I now try and push them up the board - my next move is 31. b4.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: Sometimes that's the way it goes: The defence can just about see off the direct attack on the king, but only at the cost of a losing endgame. Although Black has a "good" bishop, and the opposite-square colour at that, it will be a tall order to salvage this game.


30... Kg8 31. b4 Bb5 32. Ng4	31. Ng4 - more ebony is about to drop off. Black defends his e pawn but I am still able to snap off the h6 pawn with check - as his king is confined to the edge of the board he will not be able to attack my knight after the capture, so I will be able to take on h6 and then move Fou Lenoir out of the black rook's path.



32... Re6 33. Nxh6+ Kh8 34. Bc5 Ng6 35. Nf5 Nf4 36. a4	36. a4 - passers must be pushed.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: This move has lost nothing in its effect from waiting until other matters have been seen to. Black's chances looked pretty skinny 6 moves back - they have already just about wasted completely away.


36... Ne2+ 37. Kh2 Bd3 38. f3 Re8 39. Nd6 Re6 40. a5 f5 41. exf5 Rf6 42. g4 Nf4 43. a6	43. a6 - closer and closer to Glendadom does my white pawn move. However, I feel very cold all of a sudden, see a dark shadow and something stinks - what could that be but Old Matey! Yes, even with 4 points up in material and with a passer certain to crown I could end up being crowned if I am not careful. For if the h pawn goes Henry could be vulnerable to a corridor mate along the h file. His horsie will go to e2 and his bishop to f1 cutting off Henry's escape.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: Good: it is well to be alert for such things. Given that such an attack will take time to arrange, White has plenty of time to avert the danger.


43... Bf1 44. Ra8+ Kh7 45. a7 Ne2	45. .......... Ne2. The net closes in around Henry.
	3 comments nuntar (1702) on 11-Feb-09: Why not take the h-pawn? ralbama1 (1971) on 12-Feb-09: I was looking for a cheap mate. At this point (actually earlier) I was beat, but the cheap mate tactic almost worked. archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: I think ralbama1 was right to pursue his plan. Completely busted, there's nothing else. Meanwhile, far off on the other side of the world White carries on, apparently oblivious to the threat...


46. Rb8 Rh6 47. Rh8+	47. Rh8 - but Andy is not going to have Henry, that is King Freddy's priviledge! spectacularly foiled by this check. The black king can take my rook but will fall to a knight fork from Henry's steed when he moves to f7 giving check. Nothing can stop Her Glendaness now!
	2 comments ralbama1 (1971) on 12-Feb-09: Mate in 2 here. Rb7+ and black is forced to move king to the back rank, then a8=Q#. This was my only hope to pull off a cheap mate, but it was not to be. archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: Had White played hastily 47.a8=Q?? Rxh3# was a neat swindle. Clearly Jo had the Rh8+ shot planned much earlier, else she might have realised, having reached this position, that 47.Rb7+ was even better.


47... Kxh8 48. Nf7+ Kh7 49. Nxh6 Kxh6 50. a8=Q	50. a8/Q - A teriffic fanfare greets the arrival of Glenda. Black now resigns on the grounds of ruinous loss of material, but guess what ........ King Freddy spotted a mate in 3 and got me to check it out. I did and I may make a puzzle of it so watch this space!!
	2 comments ruachessnut2 (1200) on 11-Feb-09: 50. a8=Q Kg7 or Kh7 else 51. Qh8# mate in 1. So 51. Qa7+ or Qb7+ Kh6 52. Bf8# mate in 2. So 51...Kg8 or Kh8 52. f6 any 53. Qg7# mate in 3. archduke_piccolo (2340) on 12-Feb-09: Good game, Joanne.