Yeah, I think that you over-reacted to the threats on your kingside and in doing so you actually created the perfect setting for a kingside attack.
Like what was the point of 6. h3. It begun the pattern of reacting to threats and making no counterplay whatsoever. You never challenged the center and just let him jockey into position for an attack. You gave him a powerful bishop on b6 and then stuck your black bishop into a corner and blocked him in. And your queen's horse never even got out of the box, along with your queen. Too much defense.
Like why 13. D3? You had more power and could have just pushed to D4.
This wasn't a bad game, you played decent moves (i.e. not losing to simple tactics) but Black got a huge attack after few passive moves.
10.Ba3
Protecting the pawn but when players have castled on opposite sides you might want to sac a pawn to open lines towards the Black king. Moreover your dark-squared bishop is not very active on a3 and would probably be better developed on e3 (trying to exchange the active bishop for your bad bishop).
I was thinking about playing 10.d3 Nf6 11.Be3
If 10...axb4 11.cxb4 Nxb4?! 12.a5 your attack is getting very dangerous, you'd have moves like Qb3 and Nc3 with lots of threats.
11.Bb3
I don't like this move, moving this piece for the second time for no apparent reason. Now Black gets the initiative. One option would have been 11.b5 Ne7 12.d4 - attacking in the center, another 11.Nh2 Qg6 12.Qf3.
In the end Black made it look very easy, he had an excellent oupost for his knight (Nf6-Nh5-Nf4)
16.h4
I think this move was the final nail to your coffin, all pawn moves on the kingside weaken your safety. Black took advantage of your h4 and g3 moves and opened the g-file.
To my mind you'd need to block the diagonal a7-g1 from the black bishop with d4, kick the black knight from c6 by playing b5 and try to exchange the dark-squared bishop on the mighty knight on f4 (perhaps something like 16.b5 Ne7 17.Bc1 Nf4 18.Bxf4). Black has an advantage here but his pieces are blocking the possible pawnstorm on your king. On the other hand black has gathered to many pieces to the kingside that a sacrifical attack might become soon possible (for example 16.b5 Ne7 17.d4 Nf5 18.Bc1 Nxh3).
Regards,
- bahus
As was stated before. You left a lot of holes with your pawn moves. Why c3 without following up with d4? The Ponziani is an OK opening to play. Also after a5 why not answer with b5? Puts his knight on a7 for a while. Kf1? Anyway, for most of the game your pieces were not doing anything useful.
Couple of tips. When castling on opposite wings or when you opponent doesn't castle be VERY careful of moving pawns in front of your king. Open lines toward your king are very dangerous. Also, if you are in a fog for what to do next look for a way to improve your worst piece. ALways try to play with a plan. I really think that a queenside attack would have been a good plan.
It looks like by about move 10 your opponent figured out that he could do pretty much what he wanted. He kept making empty threats to which you responded by further weakening your kingside. Meanwhile your pieces stood on the sideline.
Don't get depressed, chess is a hard game!
Originally posted by anthiasSorry, but I can't see you notes. At what point was this? Anyway, 6)d4 was good. c3 sort of rules out posting a Knight at d5 for a while. Also, your opponent missed a lot like 14) ...Qg3 15) Qf3 Qxh4 since fxg3 gives Nxg3#.
Take a look at my note during the game
"need a N to d5 and a c4 advance"
That was I was trying for.
Keep working, you'll do better. Maybe fewer concurrent games would be an idea.
Originally posted by anthiasSome of my comments have been mentioned already by others.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7 5. O-O d6 6. h3 Bd7 7. Re1 O-O-O
It is well known that positions with opposite side castling often involve pawn storming the enemy king. And this is often a race to get there first. However, this does not mean that as soon as opposite side castling occurs pawns should be automatically pushed. In this position, White's a and b pawns are keen and able to start racing down the board, but without the support of the rest of the White army they won't achieve much. So it necessary to consider the play of all the White men. Secondly, and equally important, White must consider what Black is trying to do. In contrast to White, Black
already has both bishops aimed at the enemy kingside. White should look for ways to upset Black's plan. So, 8.b4 is rather "selfish" in these respects. This pawn only serves its own purposes and neither helps the White army as a whole. And while it attacks the Black bishop, it doesn't prevent it from hitting f2.
Compare 8.d4. The White bishop is happier at getting a clear route to useful squares such as e3. The knight on b1 is pleased to have d2 as an option. And the Black bishop on c5 is frustrated at losing sight of f2.
8.b4 Bb6 9. a4 a5 10. Ba3
This move defends b4 and achieves a short term idea. But what about the longer term? How will it help attack Black's king? How will it help defend the White king? I prefer d3.
10... Qf6
Instead of this, I'd prefer starting the idea Nf6-h5-f4. Or Rf8 to support f5 and Nd8-e6 ideas.
11. Bb3
What's the idea here? Instead, I'd consider b5. This doesn't look
good as it appears to block the queenside and hence make White's attack more difficult. But this isn't White's main problem. If he doesn't get his defences organised he's going to be killed on the kingside. So something like b5, Nce7, d4 is becoming urgent to get some activity into White's pieces and hamper Black's (esp. the bishop on b6).
11... Qg6 12. Kf1
This is a symptom of White's previous play. A king on f1 makes it more difficult to defend the kingside. White's problems are growing.
12... Nf6
The knight heads for f4.
13. d3 Nh5 14. Nh4
Rather than trying to defend with a limited amount of pieces, look for opportunities to bring more pieces to the defence. e.g. Bc1 to
protect f4.
14... Qg5 15. Nf3 Qf6 16. h4?
What is White's plan? Better is Bc1 again.
16... Nf4
This knight gets its ideal square without any resistance from White.
17. g3 Bh3+ 18. Kg1 Bg4
Black has a better position simply because his pieces have been setup for attack while White's have wandered. There has been no
resistance to Black's bishop at b6. White's ineffective queenside pieces are a sorry sight.
19. Bc2 Ne6 20. Nbd2
Such moves were needed earlier.
20... g5 21. Kg2 gxh4 22. gxh4 Rhg8 23. Kf1 Bh3+ 24. Ke2 Nf4#
A fitting end. Black's minor pieces form a nice mating net. White's pieces help too, but unfortunately only to hamper the white king.
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Originally posted by Varenka11.Bb3 had the idea of preparing a c4 advance.
Some of my comments have been mentioned already by others.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7 5. O-O d6 6. h3 Bd7 7. Re1 O-O-O
It is well known that positions with opposite side castling often involve pawn storming the enemy king. And this is often a race to get there first. However, this does not mean that as soon as opposite side castling oc eces help too, but unfortunately only to hamper the white king.
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I played 16.h4 after a long think 🙂 I wanted to kick the Knight out of f4. However, I couldn't play a g3 because the h3 pawn would hang. 16.h4 was a preparation for that.
Also, I thought that I shouldn't play b5 as it would block my queenside attack. I also planned to put a Knight on d5 after I played c4, by Nb1-c3-d5. Than, Qd2 and after bxa5, Rb1 to control the b file.
A few other people have mentionned this, but I think it's the most important point. After you've played 4. c3 you want to be following it up with d4. Had you done so you'd have had far more central control and, for one thing, the checkmate wouldn't have worked because the a7-g1 diagonal would have been blocked.
Originally posted by DeepThoughtYes. In a way it's too bad for you that black did not find the winning 14) ...Qg3. I think that would have had more impact on you than the actual game.
A few other people have mentionned this, but I think it's the most important point. After you've played 4. c3 you want to be following it up with d4. Had you done so you'd have had far more central control and, for one thing, the checkmate wouldn't have worked because the a7-g1 diagonal would have been blocked.
Originally posted by Amaurotetrue, 5.d4 is the important move here (although 5.0-0 might transpose).
Can he play 5.d4 directly after Black's third move? Surely he loses the e-pawn to Queen and check after 5...exd4 6.cxd4 ?
after 5...exd4 6.0-0! black might try to keep the extra pawn with 6...dxc3 7.Nxc3 but white has probably enough compensation (6...Qxd4?? 7.Re1 and 1-0).
playing 5...exd4 is a bit dangerous as both black king & queen are on the semiopen e-file.
main line seems to go 5...Bb6 6.0-0 d6
- bahus