Annotated chess game: Slow Ladder Quick Mate

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ANNOTATED GAME

Slow Ladder Quick Mate
cheveaux (1423) vs. lighttotheright (2177)
Annotated by: lighttotheright (1200)
Chess opening: Queen's pawn game (D00)

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Look at my annotation on the shortest game possible for reference.

1. d4	I'm annotating this because in a previous annotation of mine concerning the shortest game possible a comment said that this mating pattern could only happen to a beginner. That's not true. It can happen to the best of us when we least expect it. My opponent has played over 1400 games here on GK. He could hardly be classified as a beginner. Besides, 1423 rating is still fairly respectable. Most players would not think to be careful about allowing 'fools mate' when starting off with queen-side play. That's what makes this game somewhat unique and interesting. You must always think about what your opponent can do to you, not just what you can do to him.



1... d5	Simple normal play.
	1 comment fatcat2 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: One of Black's main responses to 1.d4 - placing his own Queen Pawn in the centre.


2. c3	...a bit unusual queen pawn game. But it is in the world database with player's ratings between 2350 and 2400.
	3 comments fatcat2 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: A very solid, although quite slow, approach in the opening; this shores up White's d4-pawn, and solidifies his pawn-structure, but blocks in his queenside knight. nuntar (1702) on 08-Jul-09: Spielmann Opening. goingdown (1200) on 10-Jul-09: It's a reasonable idea against computers, certainly, since you can easily turn this into a Stonewall Defense (which involves e3 and f4) and go for a ferocious kingside onslaught.


2... Nf6	Simple development.... If your not sure, play on principle and instinct. That's what I did here and it usually works well.
	1 comment fatcat2 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: Perhaps 2...c5, to create a Reversed Slav Defence position and put pressure on White's d-pawn. However, the text choice is perfectly sound.


3. Nd2	hmm! ...not too bad, but effectively contesting e4 is probably not possible. This also blocks in the c1 bishop.



3... Bf5	Since e6 was planned, I needed to make sure the bishop didn't get blocked behind my pawn structure. Weak bishops belong in front of pawns whenever possible.
	1 comment fatcat2 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: Now that the light-squared bishop has moved out, many players will beware of Qb3 in the future to attack both d5 and b7-pawns. This is thematic to London System positions; however, I think that, since White's unusual play has made it impossible to make the d5-pawn fall, Qb3 will not work so well.


4. f3	Perhaps he was going to contest e4 after all. I was not worried about it. The count was 3 to 2 in my favor.



4... e6	This opens up lines of development for my dark squared bishop. Of course, I planned to castle king-side. This is just normal but principled development by Black.



5. b4	This was not the best of moves. It creates serious weaknesses in White's pawn structure and does not really do anything new...except perhaps allow the queen move Qa4+. It's a little premature to attack queen-side with the pawns, especially since he played 2.c3 instead of c4.



5... Bd6	My only serious choices were Bd6, Be7, Nbd7, a5, or c6. Be7 and c6 were too passive while Nc6 blocks the pawn action. The move a5 was a little bit too aggressive to be made before castling. For me, Bd6 was an obvious choice given my plan to castle as soon as possible. I only needed about 2 seconds to make this decision. Again, I'm only playing by principles in this position.
	1 comment goingdown (1200) on 10-Jul-09: Personally, I actually prefer 5...Nh5, which I think should win, since the best that I can see for white is 6.e4 Qh4+ 7.Ke2 (then Nf4+ 8.Ke3 ?) where I can't find an actual win for black but he has a clearly better position.


6. Ba3	This move makes no sense to me. The advance of the b pawn would leave it in take. I expected 6.Qa4+ instead. There were lots of better moves than this one. In retrospect, Nb3 was probably one of the better ones.
	1 comment blake84120 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: Perhaps getting back to the pawn to e4 idea, 6. Nh3 followed by 7. Nf2. Awkward, but white has made this bed, so now he has to lie in it awkwardly. If black captures with 6. ... Bxh3, white ends up with doubled rook pawns but at least he is clear to play 8. e4.


6... O-O	Development is almost complete for Black. White is terribly behind in that respect.
	4 comments fatcat2 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: White's strong development makes him well-placed to start exploiting the weaknesses in White's position; e.g. a future outpost on c4, perhaps. blake84120 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: Dear fatcat2, I hardly think white is in any position to exploit white's weaknesses... distrojah (1719) on 08-Jul-09: At this point, if I were black, I wouldn't have castled. Instead I would have played 6... c6 followed by 7... Qc7. White is still behind in developement so why not to try and catch him off-guard? ruachessnut2 (1200) on 08-Jul-09: I would 0-0. That's based on games I've lost while attacking with all pieces & no pieces for defense.


7. g4	This was a severe mistake. Again it weakens White's pawn structure. It also severely weakens the e1-h4 diagonal. The 3.Nd2 is now made into a bad move too; it blocks in the King. I had to think a little bit here...to make sure I was not missing anything. This position looked too good to be true for Black.
	1 comment blake84120 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: Aside from all the weaknesses, it also loses a pawn to 7. ... Nxg4. White cannot recapture.


7... Nxg4	I predicted 8.fxg4. The sacrifice is too tempting for most. Best was probably 8.e4 Qh4+ 9.Ke2 forced. dxe4 10.Nxe4 Bxe4 11.fxe4 Qf2+ 12.Kd3 Qe3+ 13.Kc2 Qxe4+ and White is in deep serious trouble.



8. fxg4	Instead, he takes the piece as predicted.



8... Qh4#	The King is completely blocked in and can not move out of check. No piece can intercede. And no piece can capture the Queen. Yes, games really can end this quickly.
	3 comments archduke_piccolo (2334) on 07-Jul-09: I wonder if White's over-committal pawn moves were induced by Black's non-committal development? A salutary reminder of the dangers that lie on the e1-h4 diagonal. blake84120 (1200) on 07-Jul-09: I thought this was the slow ladder... ruachessnut2 (1200) on 08-Jul-09: Black is down 3 points of material & won. Surprise! White is down 754 rating points & lost. No surprise.