Annotated chess game: Team match

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ANNOTATED GAME

Team match
saagent (1831) vs. chuckbo (1826)
Annotated by: chuckbo (2133)
Chess opening: Dutch (A80)

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1. d4

Here's a game I think's pretty exciting. Hope you enjoy it. I joined GameKnot to especially get practice against d4, so I'm glad to get this test.

1... f5

I experimented with the Leningrad Dutch maybe ten years ago in a couple of tournament games, got scared, and put it aside. Recently, I tried to give it another try, and I got a book on the Dutch (the Classical Dutch, the Leningrad, and the Stonewall). And thanks to brMichael who let me experiment with something wild, I felt comfortable enough to try it in a match. Am I crazy, or what? Will our captain shoot me for learning a defense in a match? We'll see.

2. Nf3 Nf6

I've always been drawn to f5 defenses for Black. They feel edgy, slightly unsound, but dangerous for White, too.

3. e3 e6

I made the decision to try the Classical Dutch in this game. I think I'm going to gravitate to the Leningrad, but the book recommends being familiar with all three main variations.

4. Bd3 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Nbd2 d6

This is the Classical Dutch, with pawns on d6 and e6. The Stonewall would put pawns on d5 and c6 (not fun for Black's QB, but not easy for White to break through. The Leningrad plays g6 and fianchettoes the bishop.

7. b3

This looked like a major mistake to me. If he fianchettoes that bishop, it won't get to participate at all on the kingside, and that's where the action is in the Dutch.

7... d5

And with that in mind, I decided to switch to the Stonewall. The book I read strongly recommended that it's important in the Dutch to be able to recognize when it's time to liquidate the pawn structure and shift it to something else. If he really wants that bishop on b2, I want to lock his pawn on d4. And I felt comfortable switching to the Stonewall because I had just finished that practice game with brmichael where I played the Stonewall, tried something wild, he beat my unsound attack, but I felt I gained some intuition into the defense. (So brmichael gets an assist if I win this game!)

8. Bb2 Ne4

And the book also recommends that if in doubt, Ne4 is always a good move for Black. I think c6 would be the natural move here to complete the Stonewall, but he's playing passively. I figure in every game, at least one person has to be attacking, and if my opponent wants to be passive, then it must be me who should be doing the attacking. (Don't worry, he'll punch back soon enough.) I don't remember which pawn I was planning to take back with if he captures the knight. Maybe I hadn't decided, because there's things I like about both. I like giving my rook a half-open file with fxe4. But I also like the threat of moving the pawn to f4. Yeah, I'd probably recapture with the d-pawn for that reason. But I don't think he wants to trade off that bishop for the knight, so I didn't think I'd have to face that choice, and he can't take with the knight because my pawn forks his knight & bishop.

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9. Ne5

No real surprise there. I already knew what I'd do about that.

9... Nd7 10. f4

I thought that was possible. I didn't think he'd trade knights. My bishop's pretty week, but then I can think about getting it to e8 and out to the kingside. I don't remember for sure, but I seem to remember thinking he might play Ndf3 so he could recapture with his other knight if I trade.

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10... Nxe5

You'd better believe I'll do that trade! He has to take back with a pawn instead of the knight. If I'd given him time to play Ndf3, he could recapture with a knight, and the only way I'd ever get rid of the knight from that outpost would be to trade off my strong bishop. The way it stands now, he'll have a pawn on e5, and the square won't be of any value for his knight.

11. fxe5

That was nice of him! I think I was expecting him to use the d-pawn. It gives his bishop on b2 a little more scope and keeps the kingside a little bottled up. I want to open the kingside, because I don't think his pieces, especially the bishop on b2, are well placed to defend. And they certainly don't scare me as an attacking force.

11... Bd7

Maybe the bishop will go over to the kingside at some point. This also lets my QR into the game. I'm looking to bring the queen out along the h5-e8 diagonal, then bringing the bishop to g5, and looking for opportunities to play f4.

12. Qe2 Qe8 13. c4

I'm hoping he wants to attack on the queenside, so his pieces will stay focused that direction. Does he underestimate how strong my kingside attack can be?

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13... c6

I finally completed the Stonewall.

14. Nf3

Where's it going? Or is just defending the black squares that my bishop would like to go to?

14... Qg6

You can ask me if I have a plan yet ... not really. I've described to people that I play a kind of chess that relies on serendipity. I put my pieces on good squares and then expect good things to happen. If your pieces are on better squares than your opponent, then you'll have better opportunities than he does. And I also saw a quote from Karpov a few weeks ago in a game I was showing my students. He said if you aren't sure what to do, find your piece that's on the worst square and move it to a better square.

15. Kh1

That encourages me. I feel like he's nervous about my attack and more worried about defending against it than he is counter-attacking anywhere.

15... Qh6

Now I do have a plan. My queen's putting pressure on the e-pawn that doesn't have a pawn to defend it, and the bishop that could protect it is out of play. Oh, yeah, the threat Ng3 is mean. I win a rook or queen on the fork because his pawn is pinned and wouldn't be able to take the knight.

16. Bxe4

I knew that was coming eventually. That knight was just too strong sitting on e4, and no pawn could chase it away.

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