Annotated chess game: Team match

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ANNOTATED GAME

Team match
johncrosen (1631) vs. kegonlegs (1697)
Annotated by: lord_shiva

(1898)
Chess opening: Philidor's defence (C41)

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1. e4	I decided to annotate this game because there is a king rook/king rook pawn ending I wanted to explore.



1... e5 2. Nf3 d6	Philidor’s Defense



3. h3	White usually plays d4 here, and h3 seems to favor black.



3... a6	Off book.



4. Nc3 c6 5. d4 exd4 6. Nxd4 f6 7. Bd3 Ne7 8. O-O Nd7 9. Ne6 Qb6 10. Nxf8 Nxf8 11. a4 Ne6 12. Be3 Qc7 13. a5 O-O 14. b4 c5 15. bxc5 dxc5 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. exd5 Nd4 18. Bxd4 cxd4	Ten pieces exchanged in 18 moves—kind of a bloody opening. I used to love playing that way, and sometimes still do.



19. Qf3 Qd6 20. Qe4 g6 21. Qxd4 Be6 22. c4 Rac8 23. Rab1 Rf7 24. Rb6 Rc6 25. Rbb1	Qe3 might have been a better choice. Rxd6, dxe6, and white’s pawns threaten both rooks with the white queen out of harm’s way. Or Re1.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: White has a winning game, even after this retreat. Best is, as suggested, 25.Qe3, which wins a piece after (a) 25...Rxb6 26.dxe6; or (b) 25...Bxd5 26.cxd5 Rxb6 27.Qxb6 etc. 25.Re1 is also winning: 25...Bc8 26.Re8+ Rf8 27.Rxc6 bxc6 28.c5 Qxd5 29.Bc4 ... etc


25... Rc5	Bf5 might have been better. Here white should put the rook back, Rb6.



26. Qc3 Bc8	Again, Bf5–even if it meant trading bishops.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: It seems that 26...Bc8 is the right idea. Exchanging bishops on f5 would have left Black with no structure to his game.


27. Rb6	Yes, except this move would be better with the queen on the e file. Black will take the d pawn.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: White seems to have lost his way. The right move is very hard to find: 27.Qa1! If the queen wants to stay on the long diagonal, then that is the only good square. However there were reasonable alternatives in Qd2 or Qe1.


27... Qxd5 28. cxd5 Rxc3	So black makes back the pawn.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: Now White has only a whisker of an advantage: the passer in the centre, and the bind on the Q-side.


29. Bb1 Rc5 30. d6 Rxa5 31. Bd3 Kg7 32. Bc4 Rf8	Rd7 may be better, because 33. d8 Kh6 34. Rxf6 Rd8 35. dxc8=Q
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: After 31.Bd3, the game was pretty much dead level. But 31...Kg7 was a losing mistake That White could have exploited by (31...Rf8?) 32.d7! Bxd7 33.Rxb7. After 31...Rd7, White would have had 32.Be6 Rd8 33.d7! with a similar material-winning attack. But... White now returns the compliment with 33.Re1?


33. Re1 Re5 34. Rd1 Rd8 35. Bb3 Ra5 36. Bc2 Rd7 37. Be4 Re5 38. Bf3 Rc5 39. g4 Kf8 40. Be4 Kg7 41. f3 Rf7 42. h4 h6 43. Kf2 Kf8 44. Bd5 Rg7 45. Kg3 f5 46. gxf5 gxf5+ 47. Kf4 Rb5 48. d7 Rxd7 49. Rf6+ Kg7 50. Rxf5 Rb4+ 51. Kg3 Kg6 52. Rf4 Rxf4 53. Kxf4 Kf6 54. Ke4 b5 55. Rc1 Re7+ 56. Kd4 Be6 57. Rc6 Kf7 58. Rxa6 Rd7 59. Rb6	Definitely a blunder. Rxe6 because, free bishop! Instead black picks off a bishop.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: A bit of a comedy of errors at the beginning of this sequence, as after the rook exchange on e5 (not played), White could still have won a piece: 34.Rxe5 fxe5 35.d7! Later in the sequence, the complex involving Bd5 and d6-d7 thrust was overlooked a number of times. When at last White did play d7, it was a mistake! Instead, 48.Rxb5 axb5 49.Rc1 would have been decisively winning.


59... Bxd5 60. Ke5 Bxf3	This was NOT a free pawn! Rb7 protects the b pawn.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: Further comment on previous diagram: Black could have got a drawn rook ending after 58...Bxd5, exchanging bishops. Instead, 58...Rd7?? was an appalling misjudgment, as 59.Rxe6 simply snaffled the bishop for nothing. Instead 59.Rb6?? LOST the piece, though 59...Rxd5 would have been the better capture (protecting both Black pawns).


61. Rf6+ Kg7 62. Rxf3 b4 63. Ke6 Rd4 64. h5 Re4+ 65. Kd5 Re7 66. Kc4 Rf7 67. Rg3+ Kh7 68. Kxb4 Rf4+ 69. Kc3 Rh4 70. Kd3 Rxh5 71. Ke4 Rg5 72. Ra3 Kg6 73. Ra6+ Kh5 74. Kf4 Rg6	Hm, I thought black ought to be able to promote that pawn but it looks like this is a drawn game.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: At the beginning of this sequence Black had the winning of the game - a good chances even after blundering back the bishop. For about the last dozen moves the game has been dead drawn. White could now have ended the game here by exchanging rooks, then bringing his king across to the h-file. Book draw: Black won't be able to dig the WK off the h-file to permit the h-pawn to promote.


75. Ra5+ Kh4 76. Ra1 Rg3 77. Rh1+ Rh3 78. Rg1 h5 79. Kf5 Rg3 80. Rh1+ Rh3 81. Rg1 Rf3+ 82. Kg6 Rg3+ 83. Rxg3 Kxg3 84. Kxh5
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 18-Feb-25: For much of the game, fortunes wavered from big White advantages to evens and back again. Late in the action, a White mistake yielded Black a momentary winning advantage that also was not realised. A draw, methinks, is a fair reflection of the game.