Annotated Chess Game 7874752

The Berlin Defense.

White doesn't need to defend his pawn just yet. His pressure on the e-file and black's uncastled king will aid white in recovering his pawn if black plays Nxe4.

?! Black thinks this is a Morphy's defense? This allows the basic removal of the guard tactic. Here black doesn't have the Qd4 resource as white's e-pawn is adequately defended. Better was 4...Bc5 or Nxe4

! Removal of the e-pawn's defender.

Better than bxc6

Ah... nothing like a free pawn especially a centre pawn.

?! Not too good. Black tries to develop with tempo but this invites a fork. Better was 6...Be7 or Bc5.

The best move. 7.d4 is also possible, but the text gives black more problems. A fork is threatened i.e. 8.d4

?? Black pins the knight supporting the e-pawn push. Now if 8.e5 Bxe5 9.Nxe5 Bxd1 and white is lost. But as we shall see, 7...Be7 was mandatory.

! White plays 8.e5 anyway! Remember folks, whenever a king is on an open file, tactics are possible.

? Black is lost, but 8...Bxf3 is better.

!? The point! Better actually was Qe1 which simultanously unpins the knight pins the bishop and attacks it twice. And ofcourse its virtually impossible to protect a piece twice in a single move. However, Re1 encourages a blunder by black.

Nothing much better.

? Better was 0-0-0 which poses serious tactical problems for white as it pins the d pawn. With correct play however, white is still won.

No hope for the pinned bishop. However black finds an ''enterprising'' defense.

?? However it is a serious oversight. The recapture of the bishop is not forced.

! White is alert! The automatic Kxh2 leads to 12...Qxf1. The rook is loose.

Nothing better, unfortunately.

Yes!

? A further blunder. Black's bishop can be trapped by playing g3.

?! White tries some fancy footwork. Hoping for 14...gxh6 15.Qxf6. 14.g3 trapping the bishop was much better.

The obvious move

The white king is happy to return back to it's shelter. Furthermore, the threat of 16.g3 is renewed.

?! Better was 16..Re6 putting white's earlier move of 14.Bh6 to shame.

! Simple and strong. White threatens mate on the move. This is easily parried but leaves irreparable weaknesses in the black position

The only move to stop mate. But now the black king is extremely vulnerable.

Threatening to win the bishop next move.

Black would like some counterplay.

White prefers to develop to simplify. Kg2 to win the bishop is also playable.

Hard to find non losing moves in a lost position. Black incidentally threatens Nd2+ winning the white queen. But this is easily neutralised.

Simply getting rid of all forms of resistance. Black resigns. After 19...Rxe4 20.Qf3(mate threat) R4e6 21.Kg2 Black is gone.