Annotated chess game: Challenge from fonem

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ANNOTATED GAME

Challenge from fonem
fonem (1200) vs. jcaleb (1576)
Annotated by: jcaleb (1649)
Chess opening: Philidor's defence (C41)

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1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. c4	I don't like 4. c4. If I take, you have doubled pawns on the b-file. either way, you have a weird dead spot in your pawn structure at d3. see it? 4. BxB isn't much better for you -- basically after 4. ... NxB we're at the same position as after 2 ... d6, except both Bishops are off the board and I've gotten a free move of my N to a decent square. Seeing as it should be your turn to move after 2. ... d6, this represents a gain of a move for me.



4... Nf6	I don't have to trade B's right away, though.



5. d3 a6 6. Qa4	This loses a piece because the B has nowhere to go. Also, the problem with bringing the Queen out "too early" (while other pieces are being developed still) is that I can chase her around and develop my pieces at the same time -- because she is so valuable, you have to move her and I get free developmental moves.



6... c6 7. Bg5 cxb5 8. Qb4	Here I can play 8. ... d5 with a discovered attack on your Q. Without the added tempo of the threat against your Q I'd never get away with moving to d5 because it's pretty well covered by your c and e pawns. Instead, I chose to develop a piece with a threat to your Q. Same idea.



8... Nc6 9. Qd2 bxc4	Your d3 pawn is overworked, the only defender of the c and e pawns. so i trade one, and then set myself up to take the other.



10. dxc4 h6 11. Bh4	Playing h6 in this situation is known as "putting the question" to your B. The question, of course is whether you'll take the N or not. If you decide to move your B back, you should always be ready for the follow-up g5 and decide what you're going to do if it happens _before_ you decide to move to h4. In this case, since you end up sacrificing the N for two pawns you might think more seriously about taking the Nf6 instead. (Notice that your other option after 11. ... g5 is to play Bg3, which doesn't do you much good because the e5 pawn is well defended and it leaves the e4 pawn hanging to my N, which was my immediate plan.)



11... g5 12. Nxg5	One problem with this sac is you're already down material. Another is that you need that N to protect the hole in your pawns at d4. I guess you could chase a N out of that square by playing your Nc3 and then to e2... but it's going to take you three moves to trade pieces there.



12... hxg5 13. Bxg5 Be7 14. f3	This is a bad move I think -- it weakens that big long diagonal g1 - a7. and your king is going on that diagonal. more generally, look at the number of your pawns that are on white squares, and the resulting number of black squares that are weak for you.



14... Nd4 15. O-O Qb6	you need to worry about the discovered check / double check problem here... Kh1, Be3, Qf2 all kinda work....



16. Nc3	As discussed, 16. ... Ne2 is double check and requires 17. Kh1, whereupon 17 ... Ng3# because the h-pawn is pinned by my R and the Q is still covering g1. 16. ... Nxf3 is also double check and requires Kh1. This time, Rxh7# is mate because the R is supporte dby the N and the N (and Q) are covering g1.