Thanks wwarrior! Brilliant analysis. Not sure I could take all my games
being so ruthlessly exposed as totally mistake ridden!
Seriously though, it's the best way to learn I guess, from games just
played and analysed to see where the mistakes occured and most
importantly *why* they were mistakes.
Really appreciate the time and effort you put into your analysis.
Always good to see that the really good players here are also really
good people. Thanks again!
Mark
The Squirrel Lover
Below is Fritz7’s analysis of your game, but first some of my own
observations:
I believe that Black’s castling on the side of the board where his
opponent had an open rook file was a positional mistake, as it
increased White’s attacking chances. It is important for the player of
the Black pieces to remember he starts out a half move behind, and
his task is to first equalize with his opponent. What this means is that
he must play in a way to diminish White’s advantage.
Fritz7 doesn’t remark about Black’s 8th move, or his castling, or about
White’s bishop sacrifice on move 13. My thought is that Fritz7’s lack
of commentary about the bishop sacrifice simply indicates that Fritz7
thought (can a chess program think?) it was a perfectly reasonable
move – had it not been, there would have been something stated –
since the “sac” is a tactical move due to the current position. Fritz7
may not be designed to assess a combination of moves, such as
Black’s 8th and 9th seemingly working against each other.
Anyway, I know I would have sacrificed the bishop, as White gets
wonderful attacking play for what is essentially the cost of a pawn.
Going back earlier in the game, I would not have played 8…Bxg3. The
bishop could have been nicely placed at g6 where it could be traded
off if or when White played Bd3.
(Incidentally, the game comments below are those of Fritz7 – none of
the words are mine.)
!~Tony~! - T–1000 [B15]
[Fritz 7 (240s)]
B15: Caro-Kann: 3 Nc3: 3...g6 and 3...dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Nxf6+ exf6
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.c3 last book
move 6...Bf5 7.Ne2 Bd6 8.Ng3 Bxg3 9.hxg3 0–0 10.Be3 Nd7 11.Bd3
Bxd3 12.Qxd3 h6 13.Bxh6 gxh6 14.Rxh6 Re8+ 15.Kd2 f5 16.Qxf5
Nf8?? leads to further unpleasantness [ Better is: 16...Re6 17.Qg4+
Rg6 18.Rxg6+ fxg6 19.Qxg6+ Kf8 20.Qf5+ Kg7±] 17.Rah1+- Qe7
18.Rh8+ Kg7 19.R1h7+! a forceful and devastating end 19...Nxh7
20.Qxh7+ Kf6 21.Qh6+ Kf5 22.g4+! it's all over 22...Ke4 [ 22...Kxg4
Decoy to g4 23.Qh5+ A classical mating theme] 23.Qh5 Qe6 24.Rh6 [
24.f3+ Kf4 25.Qh2+ Kg5 26.Qh4+ Kf4 27.g5+ Kf5 28.Qg4+ Kg6
29.Qh5+ Kf5 30.g6+ Kf6 31.Qh4+ Kg7 32.Qh6+ Kf6 33.gxf7+ Ke7
34.Rxe8+ Rxe8 35.Qxe6+ Kxe6 36.fxe8Q+ Kd6 37.f4 a5 38.f5 c5
39.f6 Kc7 40.f7 Kb6 41.Qe6+ Ka7 42.dxc5 Kb8 43.f8Q+ Ka7
44.Qb6#] 1-0
A search of my database of games shows that after White plays
7.Ne2, he wins 14 times, draws 5 and loses ZERO games! After 8…
Bxg3 is played, White wins both human games, and the computers
score one White win and two draws.
My conclusion: Unless Black is able to improve on this opening line of
the Caro-Kann, he should steer clear – out of 19 games he has yet to
win one!