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1. d4
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Another loss, but this time I played almost decently until the middlegame. |
1 comment
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1... Nc6
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It is always so tempting to go d5, but experience tells that there is no advantage in it. |
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2. Bf4
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Instead, against a London system, the fact that black cannot move easily his c pawn is an advantage for white, so I go for it, sticking to the opening I know better. |
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2... d6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. h3
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To shield my dsb on h2 if ever Nh5, and supporting g4 at the proper moment. |

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4... Bf5
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This kind of symmetry is normal in this opening. Black is threatening Nb4, causing me the need to defend c2. I can do it with Na3, but you know, it's another game. |

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5. c3
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This is the profilactyc move I play in this opening. GK engine tells that this is a mistake, but c4, the standard place for this pawn, and very good-looking, transposes to very well-known lines. Basicly, kind of "helps" black attacking the queenside, while the whole London consists in "freezing" the queenside, castle there, and proceed with an attack on the kingside - that was h3 for! Black cannot occupy the center with e5, and having played d6, has no obvious way to develop the dsb (he can fianchetto it, which normally works fine). What does the reader think about this? |
1 comment
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5... e6
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Ok, so Be7 in in sight. |
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6. Nbd2
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I still cannot play d4, but this is ok: my plan is d3, and then g4, g5 etc. It worked fine. Of course, black is mastering the white diagonal, but the point is white can develop his game in spite of it. |

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6... h6
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Now, black tries to reach the "kick the bishop" race. I can be the first: 7. g4, g5, etc. or 7.Nh4,Bh7 (if g5, NxB)... all very known. After g4 and g5, my attack can proceed with d3, and Nh2, etc. |

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7. Qb3
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Just switching sides. Attacking on two sides is always exciting. No problem in taking a good square for the Nd2 - it stands ok where it is, ready to exchange any black piece that can go to e4, and he can have a future on c4, later. My queen is threatening b7 now, since the Nc6 is unprotected after Qxb7. Of course I'm not counting on that, but black will have to defend. |

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7... Qd7
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Witch he does. Now, b7 is poisoned because of Rb8, Qxa7, Rxb2, Qa8+... I can go for that and see what happens, but with easy19... it's plain suicide. |
1 comment
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8. g4
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The good thing is now black's queen is not x-raying h4 anymore. In playing this set, this is always a concern for white, but now black's queen is kind of inactive on the black squares. |

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8... Bh7 9. g5
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No point in playing g4 if I couldn't have played this afterward, because black would have played g5 and that's it. Now, I expected Nh5, and I have Bh2, and my attacker is still defended by the knight f3. |
1 comment
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9... hxg5 10. Nxg5
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In my view, better than Bxg5 (I'm not pinning anything with it), while this knight allows me 1. a tempo (black would want to save his lsb), 2. the ability to play d4 - a psychological victory. |

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10... Bg6 11. e4
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The fact that all my manouver from Qb3 was aimed to contest the center, block the lsb's action, etc. etc. made me kind of happy, but maybe Bb5 or Bg2 were better plans. It is normal to delay the lsb's developement: I want to bring it out when it attacks, not a plain Be2 just to put it somewhere. And Bb5 means to exchange it with the knight with no scope. |
1 comment
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11... O-O-O
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This starts to look complicated, and juicy. I had a hard time analyzing the 4 possible central pawns advances... but the queen-rook battery is always a concern, after e5 I had to look for dxe, or d5 (exB, dxN...). In addition, Nh5 and Na5 are there to bother me, and I have two possible developement lines for my lsb (g2 was tempting, since after any exchange in the center, the black knight has to be careful by moving because of b7, and I can play my knight on c4, contesting Na5... well, a hell of a position! I will appreciate some help in a method to analyze it, because if I want to do it properly... it will take ages! :-) |

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12. O-O-O
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A rook in front of his queen doesn't seem bad, anyway. |
1 comment
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12... d5
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At last! black solves the problem for me. Now, the simple one (and probably best) was to go f3 and if dxe, fxe.
Of course, this allows Nf6 to go to d5, my bishop retires to g3... and Na5 can easily trap my queen! So, I had to consider more moves:
13. Qc2 (why not? After it, Bd3 shielded my queen).
13. Bd3 at once. It is not a problem because the Nd2 will exchange anything that takes e4, and the bishop will be defended by the rook.
13. Bb5, and if ever a6, BxN. Finally, 13. e5, and if Ne4, Rh2 or something (f2 is threatened).
AH! and don't forget that if ever my pawn h goes to 4, I can think seriously about a sac (Nxe6), taking advantage of the queen lined with the king (Ba3). My queen can help to it, in some lines.
Finally, Rg1 has some good point: after central exchanges, if the f7 pawn retakes something on e6, the g6 bishop is threatened. I know this is not the priority in this position, but still, when analyzing, you have to look for everything.
A hell of a position. |
1 comment
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13. Bg2
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A complicated position has its "residual advantages", and most times they are the reason for a win. A "residual advantage" about any center exchange for me is now the control I will have on the c6 and b7 squares.
I knew that it was dangerous to let the lsb have action on its diagonal, but... "no risk, no gain". |
2 comments
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13... dxe4
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Good, so the possibility of Nxe6 is a step closer (specially, if ever f6, I can take Nxd6, that's good, since my knight on g5 is potentially in danger - in some lines he gets kicked and has no place to go!). |

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