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ANNOTATED GAME
Correspondence saves the day!
niemker (1726) vs. ethansiegel (1801)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: QGD (D50), 4.Bg5
niemker (1726) vs. ethansiegel (1801)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: QGD (D50), 4.Bg5
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This is one of the first games I ever played in league play. White makes a minor mistake in the opening, and then makes a speculative sacrifice for mating & drawing chances.
This is the kind of game that suits me as a correspondence chess player, where you have time to calculate all the variations that you couldn't possibly over the board... | ||||||
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1. d4 |
White starts with 1. d4, which seems to be more common among higher rated players than 1. e4, which has been my favorite since I first learned chess. | |||||
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1... d5 2. c4 e6 |
Queen's gambit declined. Doesn't work out for black so often on the game DB here, but I believe it to be more than solid. | |||||
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3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 |
This pin on the knight is probably the most aggressive continuation for white. Whenever white plays this, I try to play the Cambridge Springs defense -- more on why in the next note. | |||||
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4... c6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Qa5 |
The defining move of the Cambridge Springs Variation. Note that there's the nifty tactic that if black plays dxc4, there is a discovered attack on the bishop by the queen. Black also has a strong queenside presence with his queen and (soon to be) his bishop as well. | |||||
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7. Qd2 |
? More common is Nd2, defending against black's playing Ne4. This move allows black a shot. | |||||
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7... Bb4 |
Now that the setup is complete, white must definitely defend against Ne4, because black is threatening to win material with that move. Bxf6 only delays the inevitable... what will white do? | |||||
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8. Bd3 |
Not a bad move -- this prevents Ne4 for the immediate future. | |||||
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8... dxc4 |
! And this puts the question to the bishop. Note that Nd2 on the 7th would have allowed white to recapture with the knight. | |||||
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9. Bxc4 |
? I would have thought Bc2 was better, jettisoning the c-pawn but at least preventing the knight from infiltrating. What happens now is worse for white. | |||||
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9... Ne4 |
Forcing the queen to move. | |||||
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10. Qc2 Nxc3 |
White will win the exchange now. | |||||
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11. bxc3 Bxc3+ 12. Ke2 |
The only move that allows an immediate recapture of the bishop. | |||||
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12... Bxa1 13. Rxa1 |
And black has won a pawn and the exchange. This should be enough to win -- so white gets a little desperate. The following attempt to complicate is interesting and may have succeeded in blitz chess (as it almost does here), but the extra time-per-move of correspondence chess will prove decisive. | |||||
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13... O-O |
Anticipating a white attack, black gets his king to safety. | |||||
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14. Bd3 h6 |
Hitting the bishop... | |||||
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15. h4 |
!? A speculative sacrifice to get something going. I thought a long time here before taking the bishop, since white gets a rook on an open h-file as well as a well-positioned queen, bishop, and knight plus a pawn majority. On the other hand, I think black can parry those threats. Soooo... | |||||
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15... hxg5 |
"The only way to prove a sacrifice is unsound is to accept it." Famous last words... | |||||
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16. hxg5 |
How will black defend now? The next moves will be crucial -- white has the easy job and black's is tougher, but there ought to be no "time pressure mistakes" like in over-the-board chess. | |||||
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16... f5 |
!? I like this move. It seems anti-positional, but it prevents the bishop and queen from getting to the king for the moment. Also, gxf5ep is met by Nxf6, a good defensive situation for black. | |||||
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17. Rh1 g6 |
Trying to lock the position and keep the white pieces out. | |||||
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