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ANNOTATED GAME
Training game
bipolarcorner (1651) vs. reubencpiplupyay (1308)
Annotated by: bipolarcorner (1655)
Chess opening: QGA (D20), 3.e4
bipolarcorner (1651) vs. reubencpiplupyay (1308)
Annotated by: bipolarcorner (1655)
Chess opening: QGA (D20), 3.e4
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I was randomly challenged to a game and as such I decided that I might as well annotate it, especially since it's been a while since my last annotation. I wanted to get back into annotating, but couldn't find a good game to do so with. I've played 2 rated matches otb since the update of my elo ( I'm now 1403 national elo and 1520 fide elo ), but none of them were really exciting as both games were against unrated players. One of those games ended up with my opponent making a mistake on turn 9, giving me a very boring, but very easy win as I quickly won a piece and then gave check for about 12 moves. The other one ended up with him sacrificing a knight for 2 pawns and later on giving away a free bishop. This game on the other hand, although also with quite a few mistakes, was more interesting to me as it introduced an interesting theme and one particular stunning move by Reuben that I myself overlooked at the time. Hopefully you guys will enjoy the annotation just as much as I enjoyed this game. | ||||||
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1. d4 |
Reuben decided that I'd get the white pieces and as such I can play stuff that's completely in my comfort zone. I'm not sure why he'd give me this small advantage, but maybe he wants to test himself to the fullest. If he ever challenges me and gives me the black pieces instead then I'd still be very willing to play. We're in for an interesting match. | |||||
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1... d5 2. c4 dxc4 |
Queens gambit accepted. It's not really a trend here in Belgium or even online as you see the declined variations far more often, but it's definitely playable for black given that he has a vague idea of what he's doing. Usually when my opponents play the QGA, it'll go something like this: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. Nf3 exd4 5. Bxc4 or 1. d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. Bxc4 Nb6 6. Bb3. Those 2 variations are the most played ones for as far as my limited knowledge on the QGA goes. This is, of course, assuming that white plays e4 and not the e3 variation which is another story altogether. Needless to say the QGA leads to fascinating games, no matter what variation you play. | |||||
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3. e4 |
Some people play Nf3 which is the most popular response, some play e3, some play Nc3 . I personally like e4 as it quickly seizes the centre before any knights are aimed at it. e3 is something I used to play and while it does lead to a fine position for White with barely any weaknesses, it's quite a bit slower if you want to start a heavy attack in the center. Nf3 is very solid and is a prep move for e4 as black often replies with an immediate e5 if White plays e4 like I do. That being said, I don't mind e5 being played at all as it makes games quite exciting. Nc3 is arguably the worse of the 4 options. I used to play Nc3 for some time as well and usually I'd be fine, but it can get rather tricky when opponents respond with 3. ... a6! which isn't an option when e4 or e3 is played instead, threatening the pawn on c4 immediately. a6 in the Nc3 variation forces White to play 4. a4 as a response, which I didn't really like. Black can often get counterplay on the queenside with some form of pawnstorm and by abusing the knight on c3. Of course black can play b5 here in this position with the idea of playing a6 afterwards, but that's countered by a4, which is a lot stronger against b5 than a6 since it asks for immediate action. a6 as a response to a4 isn't a good defence either since it allows for axb5 and Black is not able to recapture because of axb5 Rxa8! The only way to keep the pawn of b5 alive is then either Qd7, blocking the bishop, Bd7, which is a bad square for the bishop or c6 giving a rather iffy pawn structure, resembling something along the lines of the botvinnik variation in the QGA ( or the anti-meran as some people name it ). Some people still play that last variation with c6 and that's one of very few reasons why people play e3 instead of e4 since then white has the counter of Qf3, putting a lot of indirect pressure on the a8 rook. Now, this all seems like a lot to take in considering it's just turn 3, but it's exactly these little nuances why I enjoy playing the queens gambit so much. | |||||
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3... Nc6 |
A little bit peculiar in my opinion. A common idea in the accepted variation is that black eventually wants to play c5 and disrupt White's centre, forcing White to choose between variations where he either captures on c5 or ignores the threat and allows Black to capture on d4. To give you an idea of how powerful and often necessary this move is: c5 is in the most classical variations played as early as move 5 . With the knight being on c6, this becomes a lot harder to do. As a result black often falls into a very passive state where he just quietly develops, but afterwards finds it hard to find a concrete plan. Of course Reuben can solve this issue in the future, but it's something for me to keep in mind. It reminds me a little bit of a game I played versus Mehdi Kademali ( 1693 elo otb at that time ) which is annotated here on gameknot. In the game he ends up playing Nc6 on move 6, tries to transpose into another opening, but fails to find good counterplay and gets the beatdown as I dictated most of that game. I did end up drawing that game due to sloppiness on my part, but ever since then I'm well aware that Nc6 can be a problem for Black. | |||||
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4. Nf3 |
He attacks, I defend. | |||||
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4... Nf6 |
Far more popular is Bg4, pinning the knight, but Nf6 is a decent option for as far as I can tell. This position only has a few games played so it'll be interesting to see what we can come up with. | |||||
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5. Nc3 e6 6. Bxc4 Bb4 |
Pinning the knight to my king and threatening to win the pawn on e4. A good attacking plan that limits White's options for move 7 to just a few. | |||||
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7. Qd3 |
I've lost the pawn on e4 too many times in the past. I was considering e5, but it gets tricky if Black responds with Ne4 as the pressure can easily become really overwhelming. Note that Bd3, although interesting, isn't a defence since it loses the pawn on d4 instead, therefore Qd3 is most likely the most appropriate defence. It also centralises my queen for further attacks in the future, especially if he castles kingside since I'll get some pressure on the b1-h7 diagonal. | |||||
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7... Bxc3+ |
I'm not sure what trading does for reuben here aside from giving me the bishop pair and solidifying my center by giving me the ability to play bxc3. On top of that of that the b-file becomes an open file for my rook. It's not a game losing move just yet, but the difference in terms of center control is starting to become glaringly obvious and sadly c5 is not available either to contest that center control. | |||||
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8. bxc3 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. e5 |
Finally going for the push since his knight doesn't have a lot of good squares aside from d7 and d5. Nd5 as a response seems most interesting, but I think Nd7 might be called for here since with my queen on the b1-h7 diagonal, my bishop being able to either pressure the c1-h6 diagonal or the a3-f8 diagonal, my knight on d3 being able to jump over at g5 and my light squared bishop I got quite a bit of pressure on his castled structure. There's room for all different sorts of attacks and tricks there. As a consequence I think Nd7 is slightly better since it allows for Nf8 and eventually for Ng6, guarding the crucial light squares around the king. This comes at the cost of blocking your pieces in a little bit more though, so it's definitely not an easy move to make as it goes against the principle of getting a strong knight in the center. | |||||
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10... Nd5 |
Nd5 is played. I still think Nd7 was better, but blocking in your pieces like that isn't a move that looks very appealing so I can definitely understand the reasoning behind Nd5. Especially since it also targets the pawn on c3, which could become a freebie if I were to have some fancy plan with my queen. | |||||
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11. Ng5 |
Trying to invoke a weakness by threatening Qxh7+ followed up with Ba3+ if he plays Kf8. This move is probably the reason why Nd7 might have been necessary. | |||||
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11... g6 |
Not the move I was anticipating. It does defend against the threat, but it makes an enormous weakness on the dark squares. A better, but not that easy to find alternative was 11. ... f5 12. exf6e.p. Nxf6 13. Re1 after which material is still even, but White's pressure is still overwhelming. Nd7 could have prevented all this. | |||||
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12. Ne4 |
The knight has done its job and thus it has no point on staying on g5, it also prepares to jump on f6 with ideas of bringing my bishop to h6 or a3. It reminds me of a theme I saw in a game last week where a GM played Bb4 to invoke a weakness in Carlsen's position and then retreated it back all the way to f8, which stunned me back then as I didn't see a reason to retreat it at all. The reasoning was that the bishop had induced a slight weakness in the position and thus he wanted to play g6 followed by Bg7. | |||||
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12... Nf4 |
A mistake which is pointed out afterwards. To add in Reuben's comment: "When I saw my mistake, I just face palmed and thought 'Just wait and hope. A lot.'" | |||||
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13. Qe3 |
His mistake goes somewhat unpunished, adding in to the confusion. Of course taking the knight is the best move, but I had just woken up minutes ago and thus missed it. The idea behind Qe3 is to seize the dark squares around his king and then afterwards to try and force Nf6 or Ng5 in. | |||||
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13... Nd5 |
Realising he gets away with the Nf4, he decides to retreat it. I suppose the game wouldn't be as interesting if I just win a piece like that. | |||||
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14. Bxd5 |
An inaccuracy on my part, better was Qh6 after which black has to play f5 to stay alive and Black's position becomes very unpleasant. The reason why f5 is neccesary is because it immediately pressures my knight and because of his knight on d5 it's not possible to go to f6. The best continuation for both black and White respectively is probably something along the lines of 14. Qh6 f5 15. Bg5 Qd7 16. Bxd5 ( eliminating the defender of the f6 square ) fxe4 ( Can't take the bishop because of Nf6 being too strong, so you have to capture the knight instead. ) 17. Bxe4 with White winning a pawn and having a monstrously strong position. Black can probably still hold the position after that, but he'll be treading a very thin line. All variations without f5 lead to Black losing too much material to keep on playing since the f6 square is so strong that Black will probably have to trade off his queen for my knight to prevent checkmate ( as the pawn on f7 can't be moved and Black will at most have the f8 square to retreat to after Qxh7. That simply gets met by Ba3 or Bg5, preparing to win the queen, etc. | |||||
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14... exd5 15. Nf6+ |
Once more, better was Qh6, mostly because of the next response which I didn't even consider back at the time. | |||||
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15... Qxf6 |
This move deserves a double exclamation mark in my opinion, I totally overlooked it, but it's in fact the best defence. 15. Nf6+ Qxf6 16. exf6 Rxe3 17. Bxe3 I'll get a rook against his knight in this variation, but my pawn on f6 will be vulnerable and his knight has the possibility of becoming really strong on c4 or e4. The game is now still far from over. | |||||
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