Annotated chess game: Team match

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ANNOTATED GAME

Team match
saagent (1831) vs. chuckbo (1826)
Annotated by: chuckbo (2133)
Chess opening: Dutch (A80)

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16... fxe4

So which side would you rather have? We're even in material, and we both have the same funky pawn structure in the center with a weak e-pawn. He's attacking my d-pawn, but I don't see that he gains anything if he trades (I'd have to decide whether to give him a passed pawn by playing exd5 and keeping the c-file blocked, but I think I'd prefer to play cxd5. My bad bishop feels better than his bad bishop. Overall, I feel like I've got more initiative than he does, more opportunities to do something.

17. Ng1

Really? I guess he wants to keep it on the kingside -- he's conceding that I have the initiative and he can't afford to move any more pieces away from the kingside, and maybe he plans to use it to block on h3 or go to e2 and f4 after he moves the queen. The second plan worries me more because then he's attacking e6, so I don't want to give him time for that long reshuffling of pieces.

17... Bg5

I told you that was a weak pawn, didn't I?

18. Rxf8+ Rxf8 19. Re1

I love it! His two most powerful pieces are busy protecting a pawn. So how can I take advantage of it?

19... Bh4

I like that move a lot. For one thing, it supports a rook invasion on f2, and then after he moves the queen, the rook gets the bishop on b2. But if he plays Rf1, I can trade rooks and then the queen captures on e3. And g3 doesn't stop me, because I can just take it -- that pawn on h2 is pinned. I told you that I liked my Qh6 move; all I did was put it on a better square, and it keeps on paying dividends.

20. Rb1

He had to go protect that bishop, but now his rook's not participating.

2 comments

20... Rf2

I'm not sure what the rook will get to do down there, but I know it's better there than it is on f8. I'd really like to find a way to attack his e-pawn from behind.

21. Qg4 Rd2

Do you notice that, in a way, I've got like three of his pieces pinned. I already mentioned the pawn on h2, but also his bishop. If the bishop moves, I get the pawn on a2. And if the bishop's pinned, then so's the rook. Even if I don't know what all I'll do yet, I know I have more options than he does.

22. Nh3

I'm thinking that he's looking for a way to counterattack my pawn on e6. I've got to watch out for letting his queen can recapture there.

22... Bf2

I want that pawn! I think I also looked briefly at Rd3, but I liked my rook on that row. I wish I could remember what I planned to do if he played Nxf2.

1 comment

23. Ba3

I'm annotating the game and wondering: why didn't he take the bishop. Maybe he's thinking that his trap here is stronger than it really is. It may be that he sees that if I have a rook on the f-file, he no longer has any threats at f8. And after I take back with the rook, that pawn on e3 will still ultimately fall. Now I've got to be concerned about him getting his queen or rook to f8.

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23... Qxe3

I thought about it and decided I could hold off his attack. What I also like about this capture is that I have a passed pawn that's immediately part of the attack and threatening him.

24. Rf1 Qd3

That's kind of my sneaky move. He can't take the bishop with the knight because Qxf1#. If he takes it with the rook and I take his rook, he can't play Nxf2 because of Qxf1#. And he can't leave the rook where it is because of Qxf1#. And if he moves the rook like to c1 or b1 or a1, I get to play e3, and that just looks like it causes all kinds of problems for him. From e3, it guards the bishop and lets my rook do other things.

25. Rxf2 Rxf2 26. Qh4

For the rest of the game, I've got to deal with his threats of checking me on the back row, maybe winning my bishop and picking off my queen pawns, ...

26... Rf1+ 27. Ng1

So now I've got a tough decision. I'm looking at Qe3, threatening to take the knight with mate. But I'm real worried about giving him a chance to play 28. Qd8 . Then I'm looking at 28. ... Kf7; 29. Qxd7 Kg6; 30. Qxe6 . I remember playing out scenarios where he gets the bishop to check me and can use his pawns and he would either get a checkmate or a stalemate. So, I took a deep breath and decided that whoever can give check keeps the initiative.

3 comments

27... Rxg1+ 28. Kxg1 Qxd4+ 29. Kf1 Qd1+ 30. Kf2 Qd2+ 31. Kf1

I'd like to find a way to check him with the pawn advance.

2 comments

31... Qd3+ 32. Kf2 e3+ 33. Kf3 e2+ 34. Kf2

Here's where I looked for awhile and didn't find any way to queen that pawn successfully. So I trade it for another one that causes me problems.

34... Qf5+ 35. Kxe2 Qxe5+ 36. Kd3 Qf5+ 37. Kd2 Qf6

That's a move I didn't like to make. I was certain he would trade queens, and even though I'm up two pawns, I played through lots of scenarios and found that his bishop can probably hold off my two pawns because my bishop's on the opposite color. In fact, later on, I would be looking at cases where I was ahead by 3 pawns and he still would be able to hold me off with that bishop.

1 comment

38. Qg3

Sigh of relief. He's looking at his deficit in pawns and doesn't want to trade queens. I'll remember that, and that suggests to me that he'll be reluctant to block a check with his queen. Seriously, given a choice, what I want to trade off are bishops, not queens.

1 comment

38... Qd4+ 39. Kc2 Qe4+ 40. Kd2 e5

This was a key position for me. I was in the Netherlands for training. I didn't get out of training and back to the hotel until about 9 or 9:30, and I ordered room service (way too expensive for way too little food), and I started analyzing this position. No family around, so why not. In fact, you'll appreciate this ... I had internet access, so I tuned in to www.kjic.org ("King Jesus is Coming", a Southern Gospel station I've been listening to since April in the car that broadcasts from south of Houston). I built a decision tree until about 1 or 1:30 in the morning looking at about two dozen lines. I was hoping for Bb2, because I'd get to play d4. If I got to that point, I could trade queens and win that endgame despite opposite color bishops. Every line I looked at won for me except for one, Qf3, because I'd have to trade queens, I felt, and then I didn't see a way to force a win in the endgame. My bishop's been patient the entire game, watching the rest of his army do the fighting, but he's going to participate when it counts!

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