A Juicy Annotation

This is a game played between two players on chessworld.net and annotated by me, feel free to comment good or bad, feedback is appreciated from all.

1.e4, should give us a nice open game.

...e5 things aleady getting nice and open.

2.Nf3 White wants control of the centre and brings his Knight out, trying to control the d4 and e5 squares.

...Nc6 Black is having none of it and counters with Nc6 and covers both e5 and d4.

3.Nc3 White really wants control of the centre and by bringing out his other knight he continues his minor piece development whilst supporting e4 and keeping an eye on d5.

...Nf6 Four knights opening. Black says No! He is not going to let White have control of the centre without a major battle ensuing.

4.d4 A continuation, Bishop b5 is the preferred main line but White wishes to bring the battle for the centre ground to the forefront. It looks like a bloodbath is not too far away.

...d6 Hmmm. This could be blacks first error, although only a tiny one. Nxd4 is the main line response here, to illustrate the position at present, Fritz give this position as + 0.50 for White, if Black had taken Fritz scores is + 0,20 for Black.

5.Bb5 White continues his development with the correct response to Blacks previous move. Blacks Knight which is supporting the centre is now pinned because of d6 and Blacks position is weakened slightly.

...Bd7 The correct response as Bxc6, Bxc6 is of no advantage to White because Blacks bishop would then be attacking e4, and White cannot afford to let that happen just yet.

6.Bxc6 Well White decides that he can in fact deal with the exchange. Main line gives castle as the correct option here.

...bxc6 Oh no! What is Black thinking here? The correct response here was Bxc6, keeping the d5 square defended. Now Black has doubled up pawns and is inviting what must surely come as Whites next move.

7.dxe5 Absolutely spot on! If Black elects to re-take he will lose another pawn after Nxe5 and even worse he would have 2 Isolated pawns on the 'c' file. Fritz gives the score at + 1.30 for White now.

...Ng4 Black makes the correct decision here, re-taking would have caused big problems. Ng4 gets a little back for Black here with a nicely positioned piece, but he may rue the loss of that pawn.

8.exd6 White correctly takes here and although it gives black the opportunity to get his pawns back connected, compared to Whites pawn structure, Blacks is looking a littel unstable now.

...cxd6 Ok Blacks pawns are re-connected again, but Blacks lost pawn leaves a gaping hole in his ranks.

9.h3 White turns his attention to the potentially threatening Black Knight and politely suggests that he should leave g4 in a hurry.

...Nf6 Black avoids an inevitable exchange if he moves to e4 and safely retreats. But will it invite in more trouble

10.O-O Looks like this is definitely the strongest move. White is obviously feeling it is now time to get some big pieces into play. His other obvious option of e5 would have been good enough inviting Nd5 and an exchange, or dxe5, Nxe5 both would have given a strengthened position. Fritz gives the score around + 1.30 still for White.

...Be7 Good response from Black, he obviously appreciates the position and correctly responds, knowing he now needs to castle quickly.

11.a4 White has some plan here that is not clear, e5 would have been much stronger here.

...O-O Black gets his King to safety and his defensive position is now looking quite solid.

12.b4 Bf4, Qd3 and b3 were all stronger lines than this. b4 simply gets White over-extended and if Black was to play correctly, Whites position would deteriorate rapidly.

...Qc7 d5 here would have been great, it opens up the a3-f8 diagonol for the Black squared bishop threatening the pawn on b4. It also weakens Whites centre by pretty much forcing an exchange which would have left the centre almost piece free. An opportunity missed for Black here (Fritz score after d5 is + 0.50 for White) bearing in mind that he is a pawn up and the score a couple of moves before, it highlights how good a move d5 would have been.

13.Re1 Solid enough move, supporting e4.

...Qb6 The basic principle of make sure every move has a reason points out how ineffectual the move Qc7 was initially. d5 would still have been a stong move here.

14.b5 Good enough, although Rb1 might have given the position a bit more strength by supporting this push as a future move as opposed to right now.

...c5 Very dangerous indeed! Black obviously wishes to keep his connected pawns because he is already a pawn down, but to give White a passed pawn is now going to mean a lot of Blacks counterplay is going to be tied up defending the passed pawn.

15.Nd5 White misses a trick here. The Knight on c3 was doing a great job supporting both pawns on a4 and b5 and there is no reason to move it. White should have switched back to the Kingside here with e5, it would have destroyed Black pawn structure.

...Qd8 Blacks Queen returns to its starting position after wasting a whole lot of time in between. The wasted moves have only allowed White to continue his development and gain valuable spatial advantage.

16.c4 Nxe7 is the preferred option here, weakening Blacks defence slightly. White prefer to keep his 'c' pawn in touch with the others and creates a solid chain in the middle of the board.

...Kh8 Nxd5 would have given Black some breathing space here, allowing his bishop access to the d8-h3 diagonal, freeing up the 'e' file for his rook. Instead Kh8 only invites more pressure from White.

17.Bg5 White continues to add pressure on Blacks Knight.

...h6 Getting rid of the Knight on d5 should have been Blacks priority here, but with h6 the game is slowly slipping away.

18.Bh4 OMG!!! BLUNDER!!! If Black sees this White is doomed, Nxd5 probably wins the game for Black (Fritz score after Nxd5 goes from + 1.83 for white to + 1.25 for Black. After Knight captures White is forced to either re-capture with the queen which loses the bishop or he has to play Bxe7 either way, White would then have been losing. So what should White have done? Simple he should have taken Bxf6 opening up Blacks Kingside

...Nh5? Fortunately for White, Black doesn't see the potential in Nxd5 and makes his own blunder.

19.Nxe7! BOOM! White's hungry horse snaffles the Black Bishop and there is nothing Black can do about it.

...g5 Black gives himself some breathing space but the outcome seems inevitable now.

20.Qxd6! Nice attacking move from White whose Queen pounces on the undefended pawn, threatening Qxh6 Checkmate!

...gxh4 KABOOM! Well Black obviously does not see the mate threat, which should have been defended by simply playing Be6, or he has had enough of this game.

21.Qxh6+! CHECKMATE. Nicely finished by White.