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1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4
Standard Ruy Lopez opening moves. This opening tends to lead to fairly sharp play. Note that White generally needs to solidify his development before he can consider actually taking Black's queenside Knight and try to win the King Pawn, to avoid counterplay by Black that can gain time for him. In essence, White "threatens to threaten".
4. ... Nge7
I haven't done a lot of reading on the generally accepted opening lines, so I don't always know the theoretically best way to play an opening. That said, I mentally raised an eyebrow at this move. It does defend the Queen Knight, but blocks in the King's bishop. As such, I definitely don't exchange now; any time the opponent blocks themselves in you just let them do that, instead of letting them free themselves.
5. O-O
I thought a little while before doing this. Several moves are alright here, including 5. Nc3, 5. d3 and even 5. d4, but this move lets me "wait a move" to see what Black's plan is, and avoid committing too much to the structure of the Queen's side. This also lets me avoid giving Black too many free moves with 5. ... b5 6. Bb3 and subsequent 6 ... b4 or 6 ... a5.
5. ... d6
6. d4
Now I play d4 since the Queen knight is pinned to the King.
6. ... Bd7
7. dxe5 b5
8. exd6 bxa4
9. dxe7 Bxe7
A tactical "desperado play". Lots of subtlety here. Basically, I'm giving up a bit of time for development in order to both get a pawn, and saddle Black with doubled rook pawns. Black does get an open Queen's Knight file, but my ability to develop my Bishop, followed by the rest of my pieces, should give me enough counterplay, especially since Black hasn't castled yet and will need to spend a move to do that at some point.
10. Bd2
As such, this has to be played now, to avoid 10. ... Rb8 and awkward threats on the b2 pawn.
10. ... Bg4
11. Bc3
This is a little dangerous since now Black can play 11. ... QxQ 12. RxQ BxN 13. PxB, but this line actually works in White's favor since it gets rid of Black's bishop on that same color, and opens the King's Knight file for a later assault on g7 to also open up Black's position. Would be an exciting line; not sure who would win that one.
11. ... O-O
Black avoids that line and just elects for a more conservative play.
12. Nbd2
White now makes an effort to develop his pieces and release the pin on the f3 knight.
12. ... Bb4
13. Re1 Qd7
14. Re3 Rad8
Probably a mistake on Black's part, because now White plays the following with gain of time:
15. Rd3 Qc8
16. Qe2 BxB
17. RxB Nd4
18. Qc4
Of course, 18. Qc4 is played here to centralize the Queen and start making threats on Black's position. I have to be careful of Ne2+ if I move the Queen too early or Black obtains more support on that square, but at the same time I am now tying down his pieces to defensive roles so I should be able to start gaining more momentum.
18. ... Nxf3+
19. Nxf3 Rd7
To prevent 20. Qxc7.
20. h3
This is a tricky position and I thought for a while before settling on this. Most of the minor pieces are off the board, and having only a single pawn advantage can be incredibly marginal in a rook-and-queen dominated position. At this point, development and mobility are incredibly important. I also want to be able to either move my Knight to help with tactical plays, or get rid of Black's bishop to help give my Rooks more freedom of movement.
Part of the reason I play this now, is that I notice Black's bishop is now a bit hemmed in due to Black's rook now occupying d7.
20. ... Be6
21. Qxa4
One of my catchphrases is "Now I'll [do x].", after doing some other stuff first. Always look for interpolated moves (Zweischenzugs) that can give you some advantages for free, before you play "the obvious move". Black's bishop is now a bit more centrally placed, but it's actually got very limited movement and I may be able to force an exchange of minor pieces eventually. Black's Queen is very passive right now, so if I can exchange off Black's active bishop then all of a sudden I should be the one attacking and Black should be too busy defending to regroup.
21. ... Rfd8
Not too worrisome. I'm fine with Black exchanging one of his semi-active Rooks for my undeveloped Rook, especially since the c2 and f2 pawns are unusually safe, and I have counterplay to wreck Black's pawns faster than he could wreck mine.
22. Qc6
Threatening 23. Qxc7 again if Black moves his d7 rook.
22. ... h6
Presumably to prevent Ng5, which is a good square for the Knight and would lead to aforementioned minor piece exchange.
23. Ne5
In addition to threatening the rook, provides extra support to the c6 square, which could be an interesting place to put the Knight itself eventually.
23. ... Re7
24. Rd3
Now I can develop my other rook by Rad1 at some point.
24. ... Rde8
To avoid 25. Rxd8 Qxd8 26. Qxa6.
25. Ra3
I'm not sure whether this was actually a good move in this position. Yes, this pawn is indefensible, but it probably would have been more prudent to just play 25. Rad1 and connect the two Rooks. The pawn's not going anywhere, it'll still be there later.
25. ... Bd5
An interesting counter-move to capitalize on this, that reaches its full potential since a Rook isn't on that file.
26. exd5
Better than Qxd5, of course, since it both gains time and moves the pawn forward, to add even more support to c6 and place further pressure on the c7 pawn.
26. ... Rxe5
27. Rd1 Qf5
Now that Black's Queen is active again, things are a bit trickier. The Queenside pawns look less attractive now that Black is already threatening stuff like 28. ... Re8+ 29. RxR RxR+ 30. Kh2 Qxf2 or 28. ... Re7 29. Rf3 Qe4. This actually gets out of hand kind of quickly.
28. Rf3
Necessary to keep this Kingside stuff under control, gain time by threatening the Queen, and maintaining threats to take the Queenside pawns.
28. ... Re1+
29. Rxe1 Rxe1+
30. Kh2 Qe5+
31. Rg3
Annoying, but better than 31. g3 Qe4 32. Kg2 and the Kingside gets even more awkward, with 8th rank threats looming.
31. ... h5
32. h4 Qf4
33. Qc3
Threatening both the Black rook and Qxg7#. Moves that simultaneously defend and attack like this, moving your other pieces far afield to slightly better places, are key to defending successfully.
33. ... Qxh4+
34. Rh3 Qxf2
Lots of scary stuff going on now. Black threatens stuff like 35. ... Qg1+, 35. ... Qf4+, and 35. ... Rg1.
35. Qxc7
g1 is indefensible, but I can at least stop Qf4+ and discourage any non-checking move by threatening mate: 36. Qd8+ Kh7 37. Rxh5+ Kg6 38. Qg5#. I've calculated that I will survive 36. ... Qg1+ although it will be unpleasant.
35. ... Qg1+
36. Kg3 Re3+
37. Kf4 g5+
38. Kf5
Not 38. Kxg5 Rxh3.
38. ... Qf2+
39. Rf3
The point of the defense. Now Black has no good checking moves and I threaten to check with the queen, disentangle the situation, and try to exchange Rooks.
39. ... Rxf3+
40. gxf3 Qxf3+
Seemingly good, due to the elimination of the White kingside pawns, but...
41. Kxg5 Qxd5+
42. Kh6
Now mate is once again threatened, so Black cannot take time to take another pawn, or push the king-rook pawn like he would normally.
42. ... Qe6+
43. Kxh5 Qg6+
44. Kh4
What follows is a long series of moves where Black tries to fork my King and a useful pawn, without letting me do useful counter-checks once I have a free move. This would probably work fine for Black if his king-bishop-pawn were advanced enough, but since it's on its home square the checks don't accomplish much:
44. ... Qe4+
45. Kg3 Qe1+
46. Kf3 Qh1+
47. Ke3 Qe1+
48. Kd3
White's King seeks shelter on the Queenside, where a particular fortress will be built:
48. ... Qd1+
49. Kc3 Qf3+
50. Kb4 Qe4+
51. Qc4 Qb7+
52. Ka3 Qe7+
53. Qb4
The point. Now if 53. ... Qe3+ then 54. c3 and Black has no more checks left, giving White the initiative to start pushing his own pawns forward. Note that White will win any straightforward pawn-pushing race since his new Queen will either give check or make more immediate threats than the black King Bishop pawn.
53. ... Kf8
A miscalculation. Black's King doesn't have enough leverage to keep the White King out:
54. Qxe7+ Kxe7
55. c4
Critical, so that White's King doesn't block his own pawn in as it moves to stop the Black pawn.
55. ... Kd6
56. Kb3 Kc5
57. Kc3 f5
58. b4+
The point - Black's King must now retreat and give White's King more space.
58. ... Kc6
59. Kd4 a5
60. bxa5
A misplay. 60. b5+ is better since it establishes two connected passed pawns that root the Black King to the spot, and the remaining pawn at a2 is sufficient to stop the queen rook pawn.
60. ... Kb7
61. c5 Ka6
62. c6 1-0
Fortunately, this works too. Critically, the a5 pawn blocks the square b6. If 62. ... Ka7 then 63. Kd5 Kb8 64. Kd6 f4 65. a5 and either the Black King will have to move out of the way of the bishop-pawn, or get checkmated by the rook-pawn's promotion before Black's queen can do anything.
A tricky game, and Black may have had sharper play that could have won it for him. But, the entire point to playing Chess is that your opponent is only human, and sooner or later, they will make a mistake that you can capitalize on, or a trade that ends up benefitting you more than them.
Hang in there, there are often hidden resources!
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[Last edited by Chaco at 05-10-2016 06:31 PM]
