Annotated chess game: soccerooscrazy's mini-tournament

« TAP TO LOG IN

ANNOTATED GAME

soccerooscrazy's mini-tournament
soccerooscrazy (1191) vs. darwin09 (1479)
Annotated by: soccerooscrazy (1200)
Chess opening: Philidor (C41), Steinitz variation

Interactive

•

Show all comments

•

All annotated games

•

View chessboard as:


1. e4	in this game. Legal's mate is used - this could be a useful tactic to you in the future. e4 - a classic chess opening
	1 comment fatcat2 (1200) on 28-May-09: In his book "Winning Chess Combinations" GM Yasser Seirawan points out how, as a child, he was shown the Legall's Mate combination by his tutor, and, amazed, spent the next few years of his life trying to pull off a Legall's Mate on an unsuspecting opponent. He never managed it .


1... e5	An appropriate reply



2. Nf3	f3. the best place (out of the 3 moves it can make) to place your g1 knight.
	1 comment fatcat2 (1200) on 28-May-09: Main line King Pawn opening. The knight, logically, moves to the place where it has the most control over the centre and pressurises Black's e-pawn.


2... d6	a common but not all tht great move. opens up this queenside for an attack
	2 comments toiletduck1 (1200) on 05-Mar-08: Philidor's Defence, now considered old & passive. fatcat2 (1200) on 28-May-09: Considered passive because it gives White a free hand in the centre, blocks in the dark-squared bishop, and does not develop a piece. White usually continues with 3.d4, opening up the centre and gaining space.


3. Bc4	a move I made because i thought he might fall for the trap.
	1 comment toiletduck1 (1200) on 25-May-08: d4 is main line, that's good also.


3... Bg4	a move which is practically forced if black wants a sensible opening
	2 comments philip13 (1161) on 07-Apr-08: there is no way that black is forced in to this. Nf6 is also a very reasonable response fatcat2 (1200) on 28-May-09: Yes. When describing Legall's Mate, GM Seirawan labels 3...Bg4 "premature".


4. Nc3	a common move. and again the best place where you can put your b1 knight



4... Nc6	Nc6 - a move which is common in this position and is crucial to Legal's mate. If Black had moved his other knight to f6 th eplan wouldn't have worked. you'll see why.
	1 comment wingetj (1410) on 10-Jan-08: Actually, in most Legal's Mate positions, black plays 4. ... h6, making 5. Ne5 a good move whether your opponent falls for the trap or not (ie. with a proper response by black, white still wins a pawn). As it is, if your opponent hadn't fallen in the trap, you would have lost a piece. That's not too appealing.


5. Nxe5	Ne5? A stupid move... or not?
	1 comment toiletduck1 (1200) on 05-Mar-08: Better would have been h3, & if Bh5 then Nxe5 would have been 'sound'.


5... Bxd1	perfectly reasonable but now it is forced checkmate



6. Bxf7+	Got him!



6... Ke7	forced



7. Nd5#	good game, useful tactic
	2 comments toiletduck1 (1200) on 05-Mar-08: If u want to become a strong player though, it's best to play the objectively better moves. Instead of going for cheap, quick mating attacks which stronger players won't fall for. hutchkool (1200) on 29-Aug-08: You will really have to think ahead if you want to be able to pull off a checkmate like that.