Om

[Chess game, I'm white. I wanted to do with diagrams added but I haven't figured that part yet.]

(11) QuicksandEscape (1921) - GreenArtifex (1863)
G15 + 7, 14.07.2014

1 d4 e6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 ed5 4 cd5 b5 5 e4 a6 6 Nf3 d6

Black has broken the basic opening rule: move one or two pawns, and then develop your minor pieces and castle. Therefore he has all his pieces on the back rank, and this funny looking Queenside structure. As it is often very strong to undermine your opponent's pawn structure at once, I decided to play a4 right away.

7 a4 b4 8 Be2

I thought about the move of the Bishop to d3, and it may have been more accurate, but even though there wasn't a direct way to harrass the bishop, I felt like moving it to the safer square made sense. The main benefits of moving it to d3 is, it immediately guards the pawn.

8. . .Nf6 9 Qc2 g6 10 a5

My plan here is to pin down the a6 pawn, stike a solid ownership of the black squares, holding down b6 for the knight or a bishop.

I also strongly dislike the stodgy, closed-down nature of the position if he gets in a5. My moving a5 in that sense, also keeps the position more open, leaving for more possible attacking chances.

I could have also played Bf4 or

10 0-0 Bg7 11 Bf4 0–0 12 Nbd2 Re8 13 Bd3 Nh5 14 Bg5 is good for White

10 ..Bg7 11 Nbd2

Delaying castling for one more move. No real reason for this, just that I like to have things well-guarded.

Here I'm now positionally at a great advantage. Right when I saw his pawn stucture, I thought it was flawed, and it is; they left big holes back on c7 and b7, etc. - they attack squares I don't need to move my pieces on to, and they're stuck, they're immobile, so they can't change where they are impacting the board.

11. . 0–0 12 0–0

But now I've got to get 'im to safety before doing any attacking. Tactically, I can't play 12.Nc4 Re8 13.Bd3? because of 13. . . Nd5.

12. . .Bg4

This hurts Black a lot. He correctly decides not to trade in the two bishops, but the tempo was worth quite lot.

[12 ..Qe7 13 Bd3 Nbd7 14 h3 Nh5 15 Nc4 Ne5 16 Nce5 Be5 17 Re1]

13 Nc4 Qe7 14 h3 Bd7 15 Bd3 [15 e5 de5 16 d6 Qe6 17 Ng5 Qf5 18 Qd1 e4 19 f3 e3 20 f4 Qd5 21 Nb6 Qd1 22 Bd1 Ra7 23 Be3 h6 24 Nf3 Bb5 25 Re1 White is significantly better]

15 ..Bb5 16 e5 [or 16 Re1 Nbd7 17 Bf4 Bc4 18 Bc4 Nh5 19 Bg5 Bf6]

16 ..Nd5 [16 ..Bc4 17 Qc4 de5 18 Re1 Nbd7 19 Bf4 with chances for both sides]

17 ed6 [17 Be4 Nc3 18 Ba8 Bc4 19 bc3 Bf1 20 Kf1 Nd7 21 Bg5 Qe6 22 Qe4 Ne5 23 Bd5 Qd7 24 Bd2]

Playing the tactical pin right away was better. 17.cd6 doesn't spoil anything, though, and White is still winning.

17 ..Qd7 [17 ..Qb7 18 Bg5 Re8 19 Rfe1 Nd7]

18 Be4 Bc6 19 Bd5 Bd5 20 Nb6 Qd6

[20 ..Qc6 21 Na8 Qa8 22 Qc5 Bf3 23 gf3 Qf3 (23 ..Nd7 24 Qb4 Ne5 25 Ra3 Qd5 (25 ..Nf3 26 Rf3 Qf3 27 d7 Rd8 28 Bg5 Bf8 29 Qd4 f6 30 Bf6 Rd7 31 Qd7 Qf6 32 Qd5) 26 Re1 Nf3 27 Rf3 Qf3 28 d7 Qd5 29 Qa4! Qc5 30 Be3) 24 Qb4 Qh3 25 Ra4 Qd7 26 Rd1]

21 Rd1 [21 Rd1 Bd4 22 Nd4 cd4 23 Rd4 Qc6 24 Qc6 Bc6 25 Na8 Ba8 26 Rb4]

1–0