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ANNOTATED GAME
Your prayers are Flanswered!
ethansiegel (1722) vs. flanders (1821)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B21), Andreaschek gambit
ethansiegel (1722) vs. flanders (1821)
Annotated by: ethansiegel
(1986)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B21), Andreaschek gambit
 Interactive |
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Flanders and I are on different teams that play each other often, and he's pretty good. But in this game, I get the better of him, to even my record with him (3-3-1). | ||||||
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1. e4 |
I went on a kick where I tried opening 1. c4 for awhile, and that was a disaster. Back to 1. e4 to me for awhile! | |||||
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1... c5 |
The Sicilian. A lot of people here play the Sicilian or respond 1. ...e5. And a number of people who prefer queen's pawn games play 1. ...d5. Why don't people play the Caro-Kann, Pirc, or French here much? | |||||
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2. d4 |
d4 is a funny move order here; typical is Nf3. But I like to play this way for a specific reason. | |||||
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2... cxd4 3. Nf3 |
3. c3 would go into the Smith-Morra Gambit, which is interesting for both sides. But I like 3. Nf3 because it gives me the option, if black tries to hold the pawn with 3...e5, I can then play 4. c3!, which IMO is a stronger position for white after the extra 3. Nf3 e5. If black plays anything else standard (like e6, d6, g6, or Nc6), 4. Nxd4 and we're back to where we would've been after the normal move order. | |||||
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3... e6 |
More typical is d6, which leads to dragon/najdorf lines, but e6 leads to paulsen lines. | |||||
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4. Nxd4 |
And we have transposed to the Paulsen variation. | |||||
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4... a6 |
?! But this is a little unusual. Sure, it's playable, but this usually comes in concert with d6, not e6. The difference? After d6, black has the option of bringing his light-squared bishop over to the kingside. e6 forces the bishop to remain on the queenside for awhile. | |||||
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5. Nc3 |
Standard development; but this will be useful in nearly any line. | |||||
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5... d6 |
Interesting; black is eschewing aggressive development by playing d6 before moving the bishop out. One point of playing either d6 or e6 is to let one of the bishops out. By playing them together, black is committing himself to develop his bishops to the 7th rank. This is fine, and I realize this is the point behind Schveningen setups, but I'll take white's position any day. | |||||
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6. Be3 |
The knight on d4 doesn't really need another defender, but e3 is a good square for this bishop, pointing at both sides of the board without blocking the f-pawn or the queen. | |||||
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6... Bd7 |
Again, interesting. Part of the reason for not playing Bc4 on the last move is that black can play b5, tempoing the bishop and giving him the option of Bb7. Committing to Bd7 this early, before developing the knights, really reveals a lot to me about black's plans. It basically says that all of black's offensive activity is going to be on the queenside. | |||||
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7. Qd2 |
But look at my pieces; they're in the center, and well-positioned. It means that if I go after black's kingside, especially if he continues to neglect it, my attack will get there first. This move also allows for 0-0-0, avoids committing to a square for the light-squared bishop, and declares that white is going after a setup like the Yugoslav in the Dragon variation. White's plan there is something like Qd2, f3, followed by either 0-0-0 or Bc4. | |||||
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7... Nc6 |
Not a bad move at all, but again, black's kingside is in hibernation after 7 moves. | |||||
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8. O-O-O |
Coming out swinging! In hindsight, this isn't the most sound move, as there's no need to declare white's intentions this loudly. But I didn't want to choose a square for the bishop yet, and I wanted to keep the option of f4 instead of f3 open. | |||||
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8... Nf6 |
Finally, developing a kingside piece. I know I don't want it there, and I could kick it out with a pawn on g5. But that pawn will need support. | |||||
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9. f3 |
f3 looks supportive. Also continuing with the plan of a yugoslav setup. | |||||
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9... Qc7 |
And even though I'm ahead in development, this move reminds me that there' plenty of counterattacking potential for black, and to be mindful of that! | |||||
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10. g4 |
Here we go, though! As I declared back on move 8 that I was going to attack the kingside, a pawn storm seems like the most logical way to do it. | |||||
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10... h6 |
Perhaps this is a good idea, but it makes white's next move obvious. | |||||
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11. h4 |
! This not only negates black's last move, it basically solves white's problem of where to move his light squared bishop. Why? Because white wants to play g5, but needs to have the rooks connected first, so that he isn't afraid of hxg5. | |||||
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