Annotated chess game: League division D1

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ANNOTATED GAME

League division D1
jakub_vandrovec (1545) vs. ghal (1460)
Annotated by: ghal (1845)
Chess opening: Sicilian defence (B20)

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1. e4

I began my league match as white with D4 after seeing this move in this game. I was unaware at this point of how badly ignoring the rules of the opening would be his ruin.

1... c5

Sicilian. He was higher rated by 85 pts, and he wanted to attack. So I wanted to provoke him.

2. Bc4

A feeling of elation for black. A bad opening move against the sicilian. Often temping, because 3.QF3 is a cheap mating setup. However, This will force white to give his opening move tempo back to black, because a threat on the bishop now will let black expand in the center and take the initiative.

1 comment

2... Nc6

Prevents e5, if 3. D4, it allows the possibility of CxD4 w/o immediate recapture. Simply developing

3. Nc3

Requires the eventual Nf6 for black before the inevitable central push.

3... e6 4. Nf3

Preparing to castle

4... Nf6

The "eventual Nf6", and now D5 is prepared

5. d4

A fruitless inbetween move for white

5... d5

Ignoring that move and directly attacking his bishop in the center

6. exd5

The usual exchange, when black recaptures exd5, his bishop is still threatened with no option to capture the pawn. Here the tempo is returned and with central command, the advantage goes to black.

6... exd5 7. Be2

Forgoing the usual exchange, Bb5 w/ exchange on c6 after 7.....a6

7... Be6

Still waiting for dxc5 to develop the dark square bishop

8. O-O Be7

Black is through waiting, Here he must prepare to castle, and has a great lead in central control and lead in development.

9. dxc5

Recognizes that black must now waste a tempo.

9... Bxc5

Tempo wasted, and yet here, I am horribly happy with the placement of the black pieces. Black is developed to the fourth rank, and yet fails to seem overextended.

10. Ng5

A mistake. Antipositional, wasteful even. White neglects to develop all his pieces, and here I went into a deep analysis on what move to make. Note how this game is all about tempo. The players on both sides are continually making moves to alter the tempo of the game in their favor. So with that in mind, I had to decide how I felt about losing the light square bishop. (A lot of players at my level here, seem to go out of their way to obtain the two bishop advantage. This is a lesson in why to not go out of your way for anything.) If I decide to keep my bishop, I've moved that piece twice, gave him back the tempo he just wasted moving his knight. Here I decided that if he takes next move, I can capture back with the f-pawn and get strong control of the center. Also, he will have moved the knight 3 times, to capture a bishop that moved once. This is a major loss of time.

10... O-O

Protecting the king, and recognizing the ideal placement of the rook for the opening of the f file.

11. Nxe6

His plan to get the two bishops

11... fxe6

Now we need to take a look at what was gained for the loss of the bishop. It is white to move, having a single piece developed past the second rank. No center whatsoever due to the loss of the e and d pawns, for the c and f pawns of black.....not a good trade at all. This raises an interesting question about when to make those minor piece advatage decisions. I would also almost always have the bishop, but you need to remember that you also need pieces playing in the game to have that advantage, and here his two bishops aren't doing anything.

12. Re1

The decisive error, not seeing the xray on f2. Not developing maybe a bishop, and slowly trying to untie his pieces. This next move took a very long time, but because I recognized the advantages that I had, I wouldn't allow myself to move until I had found it, and already had a strong feeling that there was something there.

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