Annotated Chess Game 7872496

Characteristic move for the Philidor defense. Black attains a playable albeit passive position.

White immediately strikes at black's centre threatning 4.dxe5 then if 4...dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5 where black can't castle, has lost a pawn and is faced with 7.Nxf7+ This is unacceptable for black.

Plausible but this gives up the centre too easily. White gets a free hand in the centre. 3...Nd7 to keep the tension in the center may have been played as an alternative.

Not 4.Qxd4 because of 4...Nc3

A commendable developing move. Brings a piece out, attacks something and controls a part of the centre.

Most economical way to defend the threatened e pawn.

Good defensive move which facilitates early castling.

White develops his bishop to an active post and also gets ready to castle. So far, play has been rational by both sides with no glaring mistakes. White aims to completely dominate the centre and use his extra pawns on the king side to promulgate a king side attack. However, milder moves such as 6.Be2 may have been played.

?! This move is correct strategically but the timing is wrong. Part of black's strategy should be to expand on the queenside where he has more pawns but that comes later after development is complete. Better alternatives where O-O or Nbd7 or Nc6. The text move has the further drawback that it allows white to activate his pieces. White's Knight is attacked. Where should it go??

First to try to exchange off black's bishop which has a fine diagonal.

Better might have been 7...Nbd7 however this blocks the bishop's diagonal. 7...Nc6 would have been disastrous because of 8.Nxc6 and if 8...bxc6 then 9.Bxc6+ forking the king and rook.

Nbxd7 may have been worth considering.

! White places his Knight on a fine square.

? Black has overlooked white's options. Check all checks! Preferable would have been O-O or Rg8. Even 9...g6 is better.

! Not 10.Nxe4 Qxf5 (Perhaps that's what black was hoping for)

?? A gross oversight. Black's Knight on e4 is en prise. To avoid being a piece down, black must attack white's knight on g7 to gain time to retreat or exchange his attacked knight. Perhaps black was worried about 11.Bh6. However the discovered check has no bite and white can safely play 11...Nxc3.

Picking up the free piece.

The best move. If white moves his Knight then 11...Rxg7 with counter chances.

The knight must be defended.

In positions like this, one must not be passive lest the whirlwind of attack overpowers you! Black attacks the knight preventing him from playing 13...Bf6 attacking the pinned knight. This is easily parried. However it is hard to suggest better moves for black.

! The best move on the board! The queen is centralized and attacks the loose rook, giving black no time to play Bf6. However, other less glamorous moves e.g Ng3 and Nxd6 retain white's advantage.

The best move in the position. Black must play actively! However, the game is really already lost.

An essential capture.

There is no mate in sight so white simply develops.

Developing the last piece. Who cares about the pawn on e4? It can wait!

This hardly bothers white. He can play to exchange pieces which is perfectly reasonable.

Expecting 17...Qe8 and then 18.Qxe8+ Kxe8. Into a winning endgame. However black surprises me yet again!

?! This move is not as bad as it looks! After 18.Qxa1 Bg5 19.Kb1 Qxg7 white's queen is out of play and with careless play can completely immobilised.

I'll accept it! Any other move and black is back on track due to white's hanging bishop.

A discovered check to regain back material. Also possible was the intermezzo 18...Qa4 threatening mate which contains some tactical pitfalls for white.

My chance to extricate my queen which was badly out of play.

Okay bye bye e pawn. Was cautious about opening up the b1-h7 diagonal by 21.c3 just to save the b pawn.

For reasons given earlier, i preferred a3 to c3. The black Knight must move away. It was actually scaring me.

?! An error on my part. Was oblivious to the battery attacking the b pawn. S'long as it wasn't check, I didn't care! Anyway in my present position I can afford to make some little mistakes.

Wasting no time.

?! Let's go of the e7 square. Now I can forcefully trade queens, lessening his chances of a comeback.

Thought Kd8 might be better. However the king is restricted to the first rank so perhaps Kc6 is best. I'll leave that to the gurus.

Don't see why not.

!! To simplify matters. The win is now beyond doubt. BLACK RESIGNS. 1-0