Annotated chess game: Necrofear v/s Templeton

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ANNOTATED GAME

Necrofear v/s Templeton
necrofear (1542) vs. templedf (1486)
Annotated by: templedf (1200)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B95), Najdorf, 6...e6

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1. e4 c5	I almost always open with Sicilian as black.



2. Nf3 d6	Here we go with the textbook Modern Sicilian. See you in 3 moves.



3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6	Now we enter a textbook Sicilian Najdorf. See you in 2 moves.



6. Bg5 e6 7. Bc4 Be7	My opponent has now broken off from the standard line, which would have been f4 instead of h4. I continue with the standard line, though, because it still seems to make good sense.



8. h4 Qc7	Still on the main line, although with a different effect. I was hoping to get b3, in which case b5 wins either the bishop or the knight.



9. Bb3 b5	I play b5 anyway, because I need to get my bishop free. By breaking off from the main line, my opponent has given me enough breathing room to do a little development before the attack on my king begins.



10. Qf3 Bb7	Now my opponent has returned to the main line, but it's a little late. I pin his pawn to his queen with the intention of playing b6 and either Nxe4 or Bxe4.



11. O-O-O b4	b4 forces the knight way from protecting the pawn on e4.



12. Nce2 Nxe4	I decided to go with Nxe4 instead of Bxe4 because I wanted the discovered attack on the queen, allowing me to sneak my knight up on something. So far, though, there's nothing to sneak up on.



13. Ba4+ Nd7	Didn't see that coming, although I should have. Nd7 is the only real option here. Bc6 and Nc6 both result in losing the knight on e4. The upside is that as long as I can survive the next move, my opponent has thoughtfully provided a piece for my knight to sneak up on.



14. Nxe6	I got the feeling my opponent is thinking 4 moves ahead of me, because I have no idea why he did that. My only guess is that he's opening up the e8-h5 diagonal so that he can get his queen free without giving me the discovered attack.



14... fxe6	I have hunted and hunted for the trap, but I can't find it. In any case, I don't really have much choice. Either I play fxe6, or run scared with my queen while the knight rips up my king-side defenses.



15. Qh5+	Again, I see what he's doing, but I don't see why. Personally, I would have risked the discovered attack maybe winning the bishop instead of guaranteeing that it wins the knight.



15... g6	As with my previous move, I really don't have much choice. I still don't see the trap. The next move has to be either Qh6 or Qg4, neither of which is really all that threatening. He has the option of exchanging bishops and trading his remaining bishop for my knight, but I don't see how that would help. Right now I'm looking at Nxf2, forking the rooks, but we'll see if I figure out what my opponent is up to.



16. Qh6	As expected. Now, the question is why did I expect this move, and why on earth did white make it? It's a horrible move! Must be something in the water. I really did not see it until several minutes of staring at the board. That's twice now in a couple of weeks that I've won a major piece by exploiting an illusionary pin. The other alternative, Qg4, would have left me scrambling to avoid a mate (which I think I would have, with advantage). Lucky me.



16... Bf8	With nowhere to go, the best for which white can hope is to claim my bishop in exchange for his queen. He can forstall the exchange a little by Bxd7, but that only delays the inevitable, and leaves him even more disadvantaged after the queen trade. White's best move would probably be to break up the rook fork and claim my bishop after the trade. As I rather expected, though, after this move, white resigned.