Here is a correspondence chess game I played over the last weeks on the site. I added some notes, so far without the help of the computer. So there are probably many blunders to be dicovered...



1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 e6 4.Nc3

White starts by grabbing control of the d5 square.

4...a6

I usually don't like making this many pawn moves in the
opening. I can see that this move is useful when White allows ...b5, which
gives Black a lot of space. But in general I have to admit that I am mostly
following 'the book' here.

5.a3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4

Pretty much forced - not capturing the pawn would allow White to play
d5 on the next move which does not look pleasant for Black in my
opinion.

7.Nxd4 b5

Gaining space on the queenside and time to develop the light squared
bishop because White's B has to retreat.

8.Ba2 Qb6 9.Nxc6 Qxc6

I spend a lot of time deciding between this move and ...dxc6. In
retrospective I feel the latter alternative would have been better.

10.Qd3 Bb7 11.f3 Bc5

Trying to prevent kingside castling. In addition, the B looks very
active on c5.

12.Bd2 O-O 13.O-O-O

Here I was thinking if Black wouldn't have been better off recapturing
with the d-pawn instead of the queen earlier. Now I have a backward
pawn on the half-open d-file and White has already R&Q on this file.

13...b4

I decided to go ahead with an attack despite the weak d-pawn, which is
safe for now. Therefore, I am pushing my queenside pawns to induce
some weaknesses around the White king.

14.Nb1

I think White would have been better off capturing with the pawn here.

14...bxa3 15.Nxa3 Rfd8 16.Be3 d5 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Bxc5 Qxc5 19.Nc4 Qe7 20.Qb3
Rab8 21.Kb1 Ba8 22.Qd3 Qf6 23.Ka1 a5 24.Qd4 Qxd4?!

Black has good attacking chances here, so why exchanging queens?

25.Rxd4 Nb4 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Bb3 Nc6 28.c3 Bb7 29.Rd1 Ra8 30.Nb6 Rb8
31.Na4 g6 {Just to be safe.} 32.Bc2 Ba6 33.b3 Kf8 34.Nc5 Bc8 35.Nd7+
Bxd7 36.Rxd7 Kg7 37.Ka2 Ra8 38.Be4 Ra6 39.Ka3 Ne5 40.Rd2 a4 41.Rd4
axb3+ 42.Kxb3

I felt that White has a little edge here because of the passed c-pawn.
In addition, the B might be a little better than the N with pawns on
both sides of the board.

42...f5 43.Bb1 g5 44.h4 h6 45.hxg5 hxg5 46. f4 gxf4 47.Rxf4 Kf6 48.Ra4 Rd6

Exchanging rooks would not have been good for Black here because the R
will be useful to keep the white c-pawn under control. I believe Black
has the edge now because of the protected passed pawn compared to
White's two isolated pawns.

49.Rd4 Rc6 50.Bc2 Rc8 51.Bd1 Rg8 52.Bf3 Rg3 53. Ba8 Nd3 54.Bc6 e5
55.Rc4 Ne1 56.Ra4 Nxg2 57.Kb2 f4 58.Ra8 Kf5 59.Rf8+ Ke6 60. Kb3 Ne3
61.Kb4 Nd5+ 62.Bxd5+ Kxd5 63.c4+ Kd4 64.c5 Ke3 65.c6 Rg7

Here I figured I may be able to sac my R for White's last pawn and
still be able to promote one of my remaining two pawns to win the
game.

66.Rd8 Rc7

Much better would have been to simply push the pawns with ...f3.

67.Kc5 f3 68.Re8 e4 69. Kd5 Rxc6??

Big mistake, cost me the game. I did not even notice until DMD
told me after the game.
( 69...f2 70.Rxe4+ Kf3 -+ )

70.Rxe4+ Kf2 71.Kxc6 Kg3 72.Re6 f2 73.Rf6 Kg2 74.Rxf2+ Kxf2

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Post edited by: Sciurus, at: 2007/12/11 10:22