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ANNOTATED GAME
Die Hard: It's always too early to resign
ian_want (1452) vs. nathanman22 (1517)
Annotated by: archduke_piccolo
(2332)
Chess opening: English opening (A20)
ian_want (1452) vs. nathanman22 (1517)
Annotated by: archduke_piccolo
(2332)
Chess opening: English opening (A20)
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17. exd4 |
"Why, thank you sir." White boldly pockets the second piece. Has Black enough attack? Surely not... | ||||||
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17... exd4+ 18. Kd2 |
(!) Bold and correct. Ordinarily there's considerable risk in keeping the K in the centre, but White is judging that his defensive resources are sufficient, and/or that Black, his Q-side pieces still at home, hasn't enough for a decisive attack. | ||||||
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18... Bf5 19. Qc2 |
(!?) Probably sufficient, but even better was 19.Qc4!, which leaves Black the choice of exchanging queens whilst still two pieces down, or the retreat 19...Qa5 20.Bxb7! threatening 21.Bxa8 and 21.Bc6. Either way, Black might have come close to tossing in the sponge! | ||||||
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19... Qe6 20. Qd1 |
I would have preferred to develop by 20.Bb2, which also protects the vital points against invasion. But the text is OK: White has a winning plus. | ||||||
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20... Qe7 |
Rather a puzzling move at first sight. Maybe Black wanted to protect the b-pawn without discommoding the rooks. | ||||||
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21. Nf3 Bxd3 |
(?) A third wave of attack! Surely Black can't get away with this? After 22.Kxd3 Rc8 23.Bb2 Qe4ch 24.Kd2 or 22...Qe4ch 23.Kd2 and Black has no further attack? | ||||||
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22. Re1 |
White smells a large and hairy rat. This move is fine, though 22.Kxd3 is perfectly playable. | ||||||
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22... Be4 23. Nh4 |
Opening up a nasty attack on the pinned bishop. Sure, Black can keep from losing material, but the ensuing exchanges won't help his cause... | ||||||
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23... d5 24. Bxe4 |
Possibly overhasty, though, again, it doesn't compromise the win. Another approach is 24.f3 Qg5ch 25.f5 (forced, but good enough) 25...Qf6 26.Bxe4. Very like the game continuation, but White keeps his extra two pieces. | ||||||
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24... dxe4 25. Nf5 |
(??) A simple oversight that hands back one of the extra pieces, thus halving White's advantage. White ought still to win, but Black is back. The central pawn-couple proves to be the front line of Black's counterplay for the next phase of the game. | ||||||
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25... Qg5+ 26. Ke2 d3+ |
I'd also give more than a passing glance at 26...Qxf5 at once. The d-pawn is safe enough. If 27.Qxd4?? Qf3 secures a draw after 28.Kf1 Qh1ch etc. | ||||||
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27. Kf1 Qxf5 28. Be3 |
A good post for the bishop. Black's pawn centre is imposing, but White ought to be able to contain them whilst mobilising his Q-side majority. But Black is not yet without resource... | ||||||
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28... Red8 |
Another approach is 28...Qh3ch, which leads to a dangerous looking attack after 29.Kg1 Re5 30.f3 Rh5 31.Ra2 Rxa3!. But after the spectacular 32.Qb3!! Black's attack peters out 32...Rxa2 33.Qxa2 ... | ||||||
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29. Ra2 Rd5 30. Rd2 |
(?!) Very strange. I can only surmise that White hoped to make capital out of mating threats once the rook left the back rank. | ||||||
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30... Rxa3 |
(!) Now Black has his final reserves in action... | ||||||
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31. Qc1 Qh3+ 32. Kg1 Rh5 33. f4 |
(?!) Black's attack has after all developed in much the same way as given in my note to Black's 28th move. With 33.f3! White contains Black's attack in the same way as the text move, but with the added feature of attacking Black's centre. If 33...exf3?? simply 34.Qxa3 wins out of hand. | ||||||
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33... Ra4 |
Possibly hoping White has overlooked the protection on c8: 34.Qc8ch?? Qxc8. But ...Ra8 at once saves time. | ||||||
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34. Ree2 |
(?!) Another ingenious move (34...dxe2?? 35.Rd8#, and setting up a strong protection along the 2nd rank), but I much prefer the consolidating 34.Bc5 here. 34.Qc7 doesn't look too bad either! | ||||||
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34... Ra8 35. Reg2 Qc8 |
There's nothing doing on the h-file any more, so Black regroups. But offering Q exchanges looks counterintuitive. White still has a marked advantage that would have only been enhanced by 36.Qxc8ch Rxc8 37.Bc5! Instead 35...Rc8 seems to be indicated. | ||||||
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36. Bc5 |
Queen exchanges ought to have come first, but the text doesn't really hurt White's game... | ||||||
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