Annotated chess game: A great win against great defense!

« TAP TO LOG IN

ANNOTATED GAME

A great win against great defense!
ethansiegel (1723) vs. bleddy71 (1573)
Annotated by: ethansiegel

(1986)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B21), Andreaschek gambit

Interactive

•

Show all comments

•

All annotated games

•

View chessboard as:

Pages:

« Previous

12. Qe2

Preparing to give the black queen some uncomfortable opposition with Rfd1!

12... b5

Of course this was coming...

1 comment

13. Bb3

And of course I'm going to keep the 2nd rank free for the heavy pieces to maneuver.

13... Bb7

...and now black, although cramped, has a good, solid game, and it looks like I don't have enough for the pawn.

14. Rfd1

Nonetheless, let's go ahead and continue with loading up on the open and half-open files, and see if an attack develops!

14... Qb8

Quite reasonably, black's queen isn't going to stick around and find out what happens if the d-file gets opened!

1 comment

15. Rd3

And this is where I come up with a plan on how to break through -- build an Alekhine's gun on the d-file! Get an Rd3, Rd2, and Qd1, and just ram it down black's throat! Is this a good, sound plan? I'm not sure, even now. But I'm better developed and more maneuverable, and it's better to have a speculative plan than no plan at all!

1 comment

15... Kh8

Black's clearly thinking about f6, which is impossible at the moment, due to Bxe6 .

2 comments

16. Rcd1

In hindsight, the Rc1 move earlier did keep the black queen off of c7, so maybe it did serve a purpose. Still, had I known, I could've achieved this configuration a move earlier. It's silly to harp on it now, but the reason I'm critical of it is that when you're ahead in development, you want to make every move count! If black catches up in development, then I've got nothing to show for the pawn. At least I have more space.

16... Rd8

...I see he's not going to give me the pawn back so freely and easily.

2 comments

17. Rd1d2

Of course, now he sees I'm planning Qd1, and does he have a good way to defend the pawn a third time?

2 comments

17... Ng6

I guess not. So, when I first saw this move, I said "ooh, free rook!" And then I said, no, no, look, if you play 18. Bxd8, he plays Nf4, and then what? Well, it looks like the complications favor white after 18. Bxd8 Nf4 19. Qd1 Nxd3 20. Rxd3, but I thought I could get a better position by reducing the effectiveness of a possible Nf4.

18. Qd1

And in hindsight, maybe Bxd8 was indeed better. But this isn't terrible, either.

1 comment

18... f6

Of course, black's not going to let me get a free rook out of it!

19. Be3

This is the best square I could find, although Bh5 may not have been awful either. Still, exchanging the dark-squared bishops aren't so important when I'm going to be able to get away with Rxd6 shortly.

19... Bxe3

Of course.

20. fxe3

A tough move to find, but much better than Rxe3, which disrupts the gun and doesn't prevent Nf4 like the text does. I'm not worried about the isolated, doubled pawns, because I'm counting on having a successful attack! So now the lines are drawn; I'm going to try to blow open the center and win material, while black's going to defend and try to make it to a won endgame.

20... Nge5

There's a lot to consider here, but this move forces the action. If I can't do something positive, I'm just going to wind up in an endgame down a pawn.

21. Rd3xd6

So let's go for it!

21... Ng4

An interesting try! This threatens Nxe3, but also threatens the cheap Qxh2 if the Rd6 and Nf3 both move!

Pages:

« Previous