Here is an analysis of the third round game in my first OTB tournament. I played White getting into the Colle-Zukertort system and started with a nice attack but my opponent defended everything I threw at him. At the end I lost because I was too fixated on the idea of a mating attack and got into time trouble.



Here is the PGN:
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.b3 d5 6.O-O Bd6 7.Bb2 cxd4 8.exd4 O-O 9.Re1 Qc7 10.Ne5 Nd7?! 11.f4 a6 12.a3 Nf6 13.Nd2 Bd7 14.g4 Bxe5 15.fxe5 Ne8 16.g5 g6 17.Re3 Ng7 18.Qg4 Ne7 19.Rh3 Ngf5! 20.Bxf5 Nxf5 21.Rf1? Rfc8! 22.c4 b5 23.Rxf5? exf5 24.Qh4 Be6 25.Qxh7+?! Kf8 26.c5 Ke7 27.Qh4 Qb8 28.Rc3 Rc6 29.Bc1?! Qh8 30.Qxh8 Rxh8 31.Nf3 Bd7 32.h4 a5 33.Kg2 b4 34.axb4 axb4 35.Rc2 Ra6 36.Bd2 Rb8?! 37.Kg3 Bc6 38.Be1 Ra1 39.Re2 Bd7 40.Kf2?! Ra3?! 41.Rb2 Kd8 42.Kg3 Kc7 43.Bd2 Kc6 44.Bc1? Ra1 45.Rc2 Kc7? 46.h5 gxh5 47.Kh4? Rh8 48.c6 0-1
----

Analysis:

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5

A new move for me but pretty popular according to my master games database.

3.e3

I decided to be conservative and just support my d-pawn.

3. ... e6 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.b3

An attempt to steer the game into familiar territory - the Colle-Zukertort system.

5. ... d5

And here we are. This is a standard Colle-Zukertort position reached by an unusual move order.

6.O-O Bd6 7.Bb2 cxd4 8.exd4 O-O 9.Re1 Qc7

Black is building up pressure along the long diagonal but my next move will block it and position my knight nicely in the center.

10.Ne5 Nd7?!

Black is trying to get control of e5. However, removing the knight from f6 is not a good idea because it is a key-defender of Black's castle and White has no problems defending the e5 square with f4.

11.f4 a6 12.a3 Nf6 13.Nd2 Bd7 14.g4

With the plan to push the g-pawn to force the knight to retreat from f6.

14. ... Bxe5 15.fxe5 Ne8 16.g5 g6 17.Re3

Planning to move both Q and R to the h-file for a mating attack.

17. ... Ng7

Black smells the danger and brings reinforcements in.

18.Qg4 Ne7 19.Rh3 Ngf5!

Building a perfect knight outpost effectively blocking all usable squares on the h-file for White's queen.

20.Bxf5 Nxf5 21.Rf1?

Here I am running out of ideas and think about a brute-force attack sacrificing a rook for Black's annoying knight at f5. This move leaves the c-pawn hanging!

21. ... Rfc8!

Black would have better captured the c-pawn.

22.c4 b5 23.Rxf5?

I spent 5 min thinking about this move but still miscalculated the attack.

23. ... exf5 24.Qh4 Be6 25.Qxh7+?!

Stupid decision to carry on with the attack. By now, I figured that Black can escape the attack but I decided to go with it nontheless playing "hope chess". Shredder actually sees a small advantage for White if I would have pushed my c-pawn generating a passer. I was too focused on a brute-force mating attack to look for smaller advantages.

25. ... Kf8 26.c5 Ke7 27.Qh4 Qb8 28.Rc3 Rc6 29.Bc1?! Qh8 30.Qxh8 Rxh8 31.Nf3 Bd7 32.h4 a5 33.Kg2

I am running out of time. My only hope is that Black blunders and my passed c-pawn.

33. ... b4 34.axb4 axb4 35.Rc2 Ra6

Black has now an open file to invade White's territory. To my surprise, Shredder still sees an even game even though I evaluated the position as clear advantage for Black.

36.Bd2 Rb8?!

Black would have been better off doubling rooks on the a-file.

37.Kg3 Bc6 38.Be1 Ra1 39.Re2 Bd7 40.Kf2?! Ra3?! 41.Rb2 Kd8 42.Kg3 Kc7 43.Bd2 Kc6 44.Bc1? Ra1 45.Rc2 Kc7? 46.h5 gxh5 47.Kh4? Rh8 48.c6? 0-1

Here I resigned with less than 1 min left on the clock while Black has 9 min left.

Post edited by: Sciurus, at: 2007/07/16 13:17

There is a widespread misconception about attacking in chess: Even IF you have the initiative in a nice looking attack, you DO NOT have a guarantee to win when the other side defends well. Without help by the defender you have to concentrate on building up small advantages move by move.

Hope you don't mind me saying that!

Odysseus wrote:
There is a widespread misconception about attacking in chess: Even IF you have the initiative in a nice looking attack, you DO NOT have a guarantee to win when the other side defends well. Without help by the defender you have to concentrate on building up small advantages move by move.

Hope you don't mind me saying that!

Thanks for the advice and I certainly don't mind hearing criticism.

After the post-mortem analysis with Shredder I also figured that trying to force a quick win was not justified. However, I am not sure how I can learn to recognize small advantages and to go for them - I thought Black was clearly winning after move 30 or so but the computer "sees" it differently.