Correct on getting schooled. I always play to the end no matter what. Not being disrespectful, but one can learn from losing. Been schooled a lot over the last two months. But enjoying my lessons.

A kind of Polish Counter-Gambit?

haha I love this move! No one sees it coming and black can still play just about any defense he wants and gains the tempo right from the start!

@jkarp: not all gambits are good. It is a gambit, but probably Black does not get enough compensation for the pawn.

Reminds me of the Basman Defence with g5!

Orangutan?

Apparently this is called the Guest Gambit.

This is a legal move. That is about all you can say about it.

Fritz is probably about right, but it would be nearly impossible for White to maintain that edge if Black plays very well from here on. A pawn is a pawn; White is a pawn ahead; he has an extra pawn; Black has nothing real to show for it. White has the edge, then.

The traditional school of thought in opening theory is to build a strong center, ideally with pawns at e4 and d4 (as white does in this game). The hypermodern school of thought lets the opponent build this center and tries to undermine it from the flank; fianchettos would typically be used for this purpose. "Hypermodern" could literally be translated as "extremely modern"; of course this does not really fit since the idea has been around since about the 1920s.

Note that Black's resources for striking from the Q-side with pawn has been somewhat wounded.

@Jkarp he would try through ...c5 or ...f5

No: Black doesn't have the iniative - not yet. Right now a battle is taking place for possession of it, and Black has taken some risks. Hereabouts, White should consider playing f3, developing the King's Knight via e2 or h3. Let Black's LSB bite on granite. The weaknesses on the dark squares will be adequately protected by White's DSB.

@jkarp: as mentioned in my next note, 5.e5?? is bad due to 5...Bxg2.

What is LSB and DSB?

light-square bishop and dark-square bishop

WHAT ABOUT D5

A slight loss of time, but sound enough. I still think 5.f3 was worth considering, though.

Yes, you're right about 5.f3, I think that's a good set-up too, like a Sicilian dragon/English attack kind of game. @jkarp: yes I am.

@jkarp: He does not want me to gain even more space in the center because his position would get very cramped.

Sorry, I'm a newbie and have never seen an annotation like ...Nbd7. Thanks for any assistance.

As both black's knights could move to d7 the annotation Nbd7 identifies the knight on the b file. If the other knight was to move it would be identified as Nfd7, it being on the f file. If both knights were on the same file and could move to the same square, the knight to move would be identified by the rank it was on. For example, if the f6 knight was on b6 instead of f6 and it was to move to d7 the annotation would be N6d7 and the annotation for the other knight would be N8d7.

A whole different plan would have been to see what could be made of you Q-side majority. So moves like f3 and d5, aiming to attack on the Q-side (e.g. by a general advance of the pawns) came into consideration as a long-term plan.

Sound and solid. Nothing really wrong with White's game here. But now is high time to start planning a strategy for the middle game.

Typically when black has played g6, white wants to exchange dark squared bishops to take advantage of the holes created. For example, h6 can never be guarded by a pawn, and once the bishops are traded, it's awkward to defend it any other way.

I'm mildly surprised the machine didn't offer 10.Bh6. Personally, I prefer 10.d5, more or less closing up the centre, but a good alternative might be 10.b4!?, which asks of Black: 'Do you really want to play ...c5?' The answer might well be 'Yes!' with this continuation: 10.b4 c5!? 11.bxc5 dxc5 12.Rab1! Ba8 13.d5. This trades the Queen-side majority for a mobile and advanced central one, and White would have for the moment control of the b-file.

10.Bh6 was offered by the machine at a low depth, but after about 1-2 seconds of thought it preferred 10.d5 and 10.Bg5.

Computers at a high strength should be assumed to be correct unless you can find a very long forced sequence of moves.

This two-knight attack upon the advance e-pawn is a feature of quite a few games with this type of opening. Players of the Four Pawns' Attack against the King's Indian Defence will recognise it at once. The pawn is too difficult to defend, but here White can 'transform advantages' by 12.e6!

e6! is best 

A man that is a complete goner is what Em. Lasker used to call a 'desperado' - and such is the e-pawn. The thing with a desperado is you can give it up in such a way as the convenience least yout opponent. After 12.e6 fxe6?! Black pawns can scarcely to be said to have a structure, and the isolated e-pawns will come under siege.

If you have an opportunity to create a pawn weakness in your opponents structure then most of the time it is wise to do so

Why does the pawn at e6 have to be taken? The black knight can go to b6. pxf7 takes a move, and the rook comes into play in capturing. But now with the elementary blunder of allowing an exchange on f3 I would fear the game is lost.

@jkarp: He will still win the pawn no matter if he exchanges or not.

Keeping the queen on the d-file and playing 14. Be2 has the effect of pinning black down a bit. Since the knight on d7 is pinned against the queen

@jkarp: this move is weak because now Black's DSB has undisputed control of the whole a1-h8 diagonal. It's particularly crucial at the moment because after 15...Nxd3, the Bishop will also be pinning White's Knight to his Rook, tying down the White Queen to its defense until the Rook, the the Knight, can get out of the way.

I think it is fairly clear now that having won back the material deficit, Black has also won the fight for the initiative. But the game is still too close to call - Black might have a small edge - and White might yet turn it around.

I think white has a doubled pawn, an exposed king, a hanging bishop, a knight pinned to the rook, and a backward c pawn - and I have not read the end of the story!

it happens!

Whoa! 17.Bg3 was indicated, keeping some sort of ward over e5.

@jkarp: by 'tactical oversight', I mean a move (which wins material) that I missed in my calculations, like a double attack or a fork. Look at the next page (or try to find out for yourself) what I overlooked.