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ANNOTATED GAME
R6: walking kings and pushed pawns, http://gameknot.com/
l-d-j (1387) vs. Black Player (1580)
Annotated by: l-d-j (1747)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B23), Grand Prix attack
l-d-j (1387) vs. Black Player (1580)
Annotated by: l-d-j (1747)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B23), Grand Prix attack
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Finally the next annotation of my series about the 9-round tournament I played in July and August of this year. Before the rest day I had scored 2,5/5 and was reasonably content with my performance so far. The day after the rest day I got another strong opponent. However I was White and felt that I was playing well, so I didn't worry about that. Watch how the game unfolded into one of the strangest games I have ever played.
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1. e4 c5 |
Another Sicilian, just as in rounds 1 and 3, so... | |||||
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2. Nc3 |
Another closed variation. | |||||
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2... Nc6 |
The main line. In round 1, my opponent played 2...a6 (resulting in a draw after a long fight) and in round 3 my opponent played 2...d6 (I won in 26 moves). | |||||
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3. f4 |
The Grand Prix Attack, my main weapon against the Sicilian. | |||||
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3... e6 4. Nf3 d6 |
The development scheme Black chooses is similar to the Scheveningen. | |||||
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5. Bb5 Bd7 6. O-O |
Typical development for White in the GPA. | |||||
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6... Be7 7. d3 a6 |
I was waiting for this move to be played before I would exchange my bishop for his knight. In the Grand Prix one should generally favour knights over bishops, because the position is quite closed (at least I assume that's the reason why White almost always exchanges his light-squared bishop for Black's knight after he's played Bb5). | |||||
| 3 comments | ||||||
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8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. Qe1 |
Another normal Grand Prix move, the queen aims to assist in a kingside attack from f2, g3 or h4. | |||||
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9... Nf6 10. Kh1 |
This was a waiting move to see if Black would already commit his king to the kingside, or how he would plan to attack. I admit, not one of the greatest moves I've ever made. But I didn't see a clear way to attack, so I just decided to consolidate my position. On 365chess.com I see that 10.Qg3 and 10.e5 are common in this position, moves which I both considered but of which I didn't see a clear merit. I also see that GM Epishin once had this position and played 10.b3, which is also the move suggested by the computer. | |||||
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10... h6 |
Apparently Black didn't quite know what to do either. Maybe he saw a dangerous kingside attack coming, but castling is simply better than this nothing-move. | |||||
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11. Qg3 |
I saw a way to create another weakness in Black's kingside, so I went with it. | |||||
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11... g6 |
Now castling surely is dangerous, due to 12.f5 with the threat of 13.Bxh6. | |||||
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12. f5 |
A pawn sac which Black probably shouldn't accept. Actually I think it's not a great move... | |||||
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12... gxf5 13. exf5 e5 |
And this is why. Black's king is completely safe in the centre of the board and Black's h-pawn is really not so weak, since I can't really take it as we will see later. | |||||
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14. Qh4 |
'Attacking'... But what is my target? | |||||
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14... Kd7 |
!? The king had been standing there on e8 with nothing to do, so he decides to take a little walk to the queenside. I guess the idea is to let the rooks participate in an attack on the kingside. The computer suggests 14...Qd7. I was totally surprised by this move, of course. | |||||
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15. Qc4 |
?! I feel there's nothing left to do on the kingside, so I switch my focus to the queenside. Obviously 15.Bxh6?? just loses the bishop due to the pin (15...Bf8). However, the queen is a bit misplaced here as well and does not have many squares. The computer suggests 15.Qe1, but it's clear that something has gone wrong with White's attack already and that Black is doing well. I felt during the game that I was stuck without a plan, but I thought I couldn't be worse due to the many pawn moves Black has made so far. But in a strange game as this one, those kind of guidelines don't count. | |||||
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15... Qg8 |
Now Black is the one attacking on the kingside, which should have been White's domain. | |||||
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16. Rg1 |
A defensive move. I wanted to put my f3 knight on e4 (via d2) but I needed this rook move first to prevent the mate on g2. But better was 16.Ne4 which also unpins the knight. | |||||
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16... Kc7 |
I don't really understand this move, the king was totally safe on d7. The computer suggests 16...Qh7, probably with the plan of pushing the h-pawn and putting the a-rook on g8. I was down by almost half an hour on the clock: 45 minutes vs. 1 hour and 13 minutes (plus increment) for the next 24 moves. | |||||
| 5 comments | ||||||
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