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ANNOTATED GAME
US vs. Russia!
ethansiegel (1774) vs. vdatsuk (1773)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: Pirc defence (B07)
ethansiegel (1774) vs. vdatsuk (1773)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: Pirc defence (B07)
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It's a little bit frustrating to be assigned a team game when your rating is 1774 and your opponent's is 1773, only to realize that yours has gone down to 1697 during the game and his has gone up to 1856. | |||||||
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1. e4 |
...but that makes victory all the more sweet! (Yes, this was a team game, and I got clobbered in the other one!) The game concludes with a queen sacrifice. | ||||||
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1... d6 |
The Pirc? Really? I haven't seen that since the old chessmaster 4000 used to kick my ass with it. Black aims for a KID-type setup, but often denies white the big queenside associated with it. | ||||||
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2. f4 |
!? An unusual move order. I like it because it can transpose to the King's Gambit declined if black plays e5 here (or even back to the King's Gambit Accepted), which can be fun, but it moreover immediately challenges black's decision to play the Pirc, declaring an intent to pawn-storm the kingside. That, and it invites transposition to the austrian attack (main line) of the Pirc as well. | ||||||
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2... g6 |
Continuing with a standard plan of development for the pirc. | ||||||
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3. d4 |
Setting up a big pawn center. This is what black wants white to do. But it's also what I want to do. If I can get my pieces developed with a big center, a lot of space, and can deprive black of those things, why wouldn't I? | ||||||
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3... c6 |
More normal is Bg7 here, taking us into the main line of the Austrian attack. But this is playable, too, opening the a5-d8 diagonal for the queen. | ||||||
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4. Nf3 |
Yeah, he's going to play Bg7 and Nf6, and this is a good, aggressive square for the knight. | ||||||
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4... Bg7 5. Be3 |
Over-defending d4 and developing the bishop to a good, solid square. At this point, it looks like playing Bd3, either Nc3 (not c4 and then Nc3) with an eventual queenside castle will give me excellent attacking chances on his kingside. c6 committed him to castling there, and I'm prepared to go right after his king! By the way, the game DB has never seen this opening before! | ||||||
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5... Nf6 |
Attacking the undefended e4 square. | ||||||
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6. Bd3 |
Nice and simple development. I thought about plunging in with e5 right away, but after dxe5, dxe5 allows the exchange of queens, killing white's advantage, and fxe5 allows Nd5, giving black activity and freedom. This just reinforces white's already dominating center. | ||||||
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6... Bg4 |
A nasty pin. But the bishop doesn't have much hope right now, and will probably be exchanged for my Nf3 soon. So I'm not going to concern myself with it, yet. | ||||||
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7. Nc3 |
Better than c4 followed by Nc3. Why? Because white is going to attack black on the kingside, and is quite clearly aiming for a queenside castle. Why weaken the queenside pawns if I don't have to, and why waste a move playing c4 when I could be furthering my own ends? But I thought about Nd2 as well; I wound up choosing this because of the coverage of the d5 square and the d1 square, which may become important after I play 0-0-0. | ||||||
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7... O-O |
Perfectly consistent. But is this a good setup for black? | ||||||
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8. h3 |
And this is why having a plan helps -- it may not be the greatest plan ever -- but my moves are now working together towards achieving some goal. As I get closer, new goals appear. (It's kind of like life that way.) Now I see that black has to either exchange, developing my queen strongly to f3, or run back to d7 (everything else is awful). | ||||||
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8... Bxf3 |
The right decision. | ||||||
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9. Qxf3 |
Hey! Look at that; we are back in the game DB, apparently this is an uncommon line in the Pirc, Austrian Attack with 6. Bd3. And this is a great setup for me; I'm really happy with how this has turned out. I have the two bishops, I have a monster center, I have the beginnings of a kingside pawn storm, and once I play 0-0-0, my development will be completed. Black is playing catch-up the rest of the way. | ||||||
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9... Re8 |
Preparing e5. I don't know why not Nbd7 first, though, which also prepares e5 and develops an undeveloped piece. | ||||||
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10. O-O-O |
Ready for anything, now. The Rd1 opposite the Qd8 actually has me looking forward to black's e5. | ||||||
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10... e5 |
No surprise here. | ||||||
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11. dxe5 |
This allows the Rd1 to gain some more scope, but the real reason is that the f-pawn is too useful in storming the kingside to exchange it here. | ||||||
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