I’d appreciate some help on the following game. I’m playing Black. After playing …b5, I realized I was in trouble materially but might get some compensation in position. Your mission: Find where I’m truly lost and what I could have done to save it. Is …b5 really my big mistake?
–Bc4, Nd4 when your knight is on d7 should send up caution flags since e6 is no longer defended by the c8-bishop.
9… b5
–This practially invites White to launch an attack. I prefer finding a better square for the d7-knight first with 9…h6 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 or 9… h6 10. Bh4 g5 to try to put the d7-knight on either c5 or e5 as the position dictates.
10.e5
–10. Bxe6! fxe6 11. Nxe6 Qa5 is not something I would want to take up as Black. White has a lot of attacking chances.
–Or 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. g3 to try to get the g1-rook into the game.
18 … g5 19.Bf2 e5
–You’re down the Exchange for a pawn but your pieces are more active. You have potential Ne4, Nd5, or Nd7-e5 ideas, a powerful bishop at b7, and a cramping knight at c4. I think the goal here is to increase your piece activity while restricting White’s mobility. Rather than 19… e5 (to prevent Bd4 presumably, with an eye towards possibly pushing the passed pawn much later), I might try to activate the h8-rook. 19… Rc8, staring down the nice stack of targets at c1, c2, and c3 (ideas like …b4, …Ne4 Nxe4 Bxe4 and so on). Then after 20. Bd4, either perhaps 20… Ne4 directly or a more ambitious 20… Ng4, eyeing the h2 pawn but most threatening a cramping Nge3 (Nge5 is also possible). Black needs to keep active here. 19… e5 allows White to drive back Black’s active pieces and gain activity of his own.
I was thinking that …b5 pushes the bishop back and alows Nc5, where that knight was destined to go from the beginning. I didn’t see that it allowed the queen to hit the rook. …b5 is a typical response to 6. Bc4, but not, apparently, 9. Bc4. Oops.
Why gxf6, splitting my pawns? I’d play Kxf6. I want him up the board, fighting, as I’m down a piece. There’s no risk with the king out there. The pawns are on two sides of the board anyhow. There’s no reason to give up the bishop for a knight. His piece is better. Avi played correctly.
True. …e5 was a blunder. I was shooting for activity, but I missed that that covered up my final escape square. I should have played Rc1, not so much to hit all those targets (as a3 stops any fears of that knight being pushed off for now) but to stop Bc4. I’m trying to win my knight-bishop battle here by putting the squeeze on the bishop who’s on his last diagonal. If I’da gotten in the R move and e5, that bishop would be dominated. Ah well.
Bxf6+ Kxf6 allows White activity with 19. Rd7 and threatens 20. Rf1+. Black’s king position here is a liability since it allows the g1-rook to come into the game with tempo. 18. Bh4 is fine too as White has chances of reploying the bishop actively. I do not agree that the White bishop is better than the Black knight; Black has the potential to create real pressure if he can deploy the f6-knight to a more central square efficiently.
Ah, right. …Rc8 does make the White bishop look silly. I don’t think White has the time to play something like a3 in the near future (after …Rc8) because Black is becoming far too active. But Black is not really looking to push …b4 either I guess; he also has more important moves to play. But still, it’s just one tiny little annoying thing White also has to consider in calculations.
Our team is now first place with 10.5 games and 3.5 points. The second place teams is right behind at 3.5/9.5 games. We played them today. On board one, I won with:
1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 d5 3.d3 Nf6 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.O-O e5 6.Nc3 Be7 7.h3
(whaaaah? Loss of time!)
Rb8 8.Ne1 O-O 9.f4
(I set out to get the right-colored bishops)
d4 10.Nb1 exf4 11.Bxf4 Bd6 12.Qd2 Bxf4
(Na5 was much better, as it forces the trade w/o bringing out the queen)
13.Qxf4 Nd5 14.Qf3 Ne3
(Weak squares…yummy)
15.Rf2 Be6
(I missed Qb6, b3, Qa5, c3, then Be6)
16.c4 Nxg2
(missed it again…woulda been a game-clincher. Figured I could bring my other knight around. While I wished it didn’t cost me a perfect knight, I was glad to have killed the fianchetto.)
17.Qxg2 Qd7 18.Kh2 Ne7 19.Nd2 Nf5 20.Nf1
(Ne4 is only a temporary threat. After Re8, Bxc4 is threatened.)
b5 21.b3 bxc4 22.dxc4
(Ugh! What was I thinking? Of *course *bxc4 is bad! Can’t believe I missed dxc4 as an alternative)
a5 23.Nd3 Qd6 24.Kg1 g6
(With the idea of a4, Rb1 and Bxc4)
25.g4 Ne7
(My steed starts his journey to c2, wreaking havoc. Time pressure caused me to seek a plan instead of the best plan here.)
26.Ng3 f5 27.g5
(Critical blunder. ENTIRELY locks down the kingside. Black can now continue on the queenside with impugnity. What a glorious asset central control is!)
a4 28.Nc1 Nc6
(Nc1 locks in the rook. This will soon hurt immensely. For me, Qa6 much better)
29.Qf3 Nb4 30.a3
(STOP READING!!! If so inclined, check the tactics before continuing. It may be interesting to note that he had 4 minutes left on his clock until this critical error. On move 30, we get another hour.)
Nc2 31.Ra2
(Rb1 is better, but less obvious. It admits defeat, allowing Bxc4 for free. This is the difference between humans and computers. Check the tactics again.)
axb3 32.Nxb3 Bxc4
(Though this works, and was planned from move 29, I missed a far superior move here. Find it. No cheating!)
33.Rxc2 Rxb3 34.Rc3
(He got lost in the depths of his own calculations. There is no save to be found, but he missed that the pawn also attacks his rook.)
Rxc3 0-1
Thoughts?
I don’t play this opening myself, but it’s pretty sharp!
Have you got a book on the opening?
After 9. Bc4 I was going to suggest 9. … Qc7, continuing with 10. Bb3 b5 11. e5 Bb7.
However 10. Bxe6 fxe6 11. Nxe6 Qa5 12. Nxg7+ Kf7 13. Nf5 gives White a good attack and 3 pawns for his piece.
The net effect of … b5 was to lose a small amount of material, but the position was not completely lost. Indeed the opposite colour bishops, pawn majorities and open lines mean there is still play for both sides.
I agree with Caldazar that 19. … Rc8 is better (it also prevents Bc5), and you are then threatening … Ng4 as well. (I think that’s what you meant to say, Chessic Sense!)
After 23. … Nfe8 you are stuck in a pin. If you can’t break it, you are losing, so I suggest 24. … Bc6 (keeping the White knight at bay), followed by … Rd7 freeing your knight.
So the opening was risky, but I think you were doomed after 19. … e5.
After 27. Nc4, White has a won game, so 26. … Bb5 was essential. However you are tied up and White should be able to advance his Q-side pawns, supported by the King. (It’s difficult for you to advance your pawn majority.)
, but there are no chess sets in the Internet room.