Annotated loss

Hello.

I believe that, in order to improve, it is more important to take a critical look at losses rather than wins. This is a loss I suffered a few days ago, and I wish to annotate it, that all of you may see my analysis and critique it as well as the game. Thanks in advance for your help.

chessman1504

In this Classical Caro-Kann setup (about after move 13 is good), note the pawn centre. White has a d4 pawn (possibly joined by its comrade on c4 later) while black restrains the d5 push with his own c6 and e6 pawns. If black plays passively, white will want to stick something on e5, maybe play c4 and d5 eventually. Therefore black cannot just sit around and be crushed. Black must try to break in the centre, preferably via ...c5 (...e5 is quite difficult to play and weakens the kingside and f5 too.)

14...Nxe5 15. dxe5 and white may have a slight edge in the following middlegame/endgame with strong control of d6, followed by getting a rook or knight there. I'd have looked at candidate moves 14...Nd5 (occupy d5, chase the bishop), 14...Nb6 (control d5, prepares for ...c5 d5 Nbxd5) 14...Rc8 (prepares ...c5, develops) and 14...c5 (immediate action.)

The immediate 14...c5 seems thematic. White playing 15. dxc5 will give black equality by ceding the centre and 15. d5!? gambits the pawn for perhaps a kingside attack, e.g. 15. d5!? exd5 16. Nf5 and some sacrificial chances in the future.

I think you're spot-on with the diagnosis that you let d6 be a huge weakness via trades on e5, and your alternative moves seem good.

19...Rd7 landed you in quite some trouble, but 19...Rd5 20. c4 doesn't look healthy either. Your other idea of 19...Rxd1 (20. Rxd1 Rd8) is probably best.

After 23. Nd6 I have a feeling black is lost, or at least has great difficulties. White has the simple g4-g5 to initiate hostilities against black's king, and things go downhill quickly from there, while black has no targets on white's queenside, which is still weakness-free.

28...Rxd6 was your big chance, after white's 27. Qg6?! which let up the pressure. Unfortunate you missed it, although it's strange you'd play 27...Bxd6 without the intention of winning the pawn.

Your analysis/annotations are accurate as far as I can tell. This game was lost by an unfortunate blunder on move 28, and before that was going astray in the middlegame by having the wrong plan. Black's ...c5 break is an easy way to play the position by challenging for space and the centre.

Thank you for your analysis. Yes, preparing c5 is a typical idea, and I should have sought to make such a move rather than let White dominate the d6 square. I now find that 19...Rd5 in my alternative variation may indeed be flawed. c4 gains tempo and threatens to push c5 with more control of d6 than in the game. As far as refusing the pawn goes, your sentiments are the same as mine; it was strange. I had some ten minutes left, and I saw that the queen could infiltrate via e8 if my opponent exchanged rooks and I took with the queen after taking the pawn. However, any active plan by White after a queen check on e8 would be halted because White has to deal with a mate threat on d1. Therefore, taking the pawn is perfectly safe; the best White has is a draw by perpetual. In any case, your analysis has been helpful and is greatly appreciated.