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jwhitesj
paulgottlieb
A typical game at our level: some excellent moves, some bad moves, some very strong moves overlooked, and many changes of fortune. As Tartakower said, "the winner is the player who makes the next to the last blunder." But the winner is also the player who keeps his cool and his focus. That was you.
I don't understand your 6...Be7. It seems to me your giving yourself a cramped game. I think 6..Bxc3 7.bxc3 O-O was better. White's 7.b4 was a poor move. In fact, I don't like his whole plan of expanded wildly on the queenside without completing his development. Your best was 7....a5, breaking up his pawn structure. As the game went, you made no attempt to break up his extended pawns on the queenside. 7...a5 or 9...b6! would have weakened those pawns. Later in the game, you complained about his powerfull Q-side majority. Now was the time to fight against it.
His 21.Bxf6 was bad, giving up a wonderful B for a N that isn't doing that much. 22...b6! was another chance to mess up his pawns.
White's 32 Rf2 was poor and gave you a chance to get right back in the game with 32...g5! He should have played the simple 32.Rfd1 and you're in trouble.
White missed crushing knight forks with 37.Ne6! and 39.Nf6+
I'm a little confused, you keep mentioning breaking up the queenside pawn majority, but with the pawn structure shouldn't I be focusing my attack at the king position? Also can you explain how 32...g5! would work. Thanks for your feedback.
NM OmarCayenne
The pawn ending was very intriguing and hard to call. He probably should've played 51 Kxe4 when after 51... a6 (a very important move to make in this endgame) I'd guess it's about equal...I guess.
As played you had to play 51... a6, and now you would indeed appear to have the upper hand. Once White gets b5 in though here, he is better.
He in fact (I think) has a win: 55 Kf3 Ke6 56 Kg4. Now if 56... Kf6 57 Kh5. Black does have one other try: 56... a5 (56... a6 leads to similar situations), but after the cool trick 57 c6 bc 58 b6 Kd7 59 e5 White wins the race to queen.
Very intricate position!
Let me explain about 32....g5! White just made a mistake by 32.Rf2, which put his Rook on the same diagonal as his King. 32...g5 opens the long diagonal for your Bishop with a gain of time, because you're attacking his Knight. After 33.Nh3 Bg7 You attack his Ra1. After he saves that Rook, you have Bd4! pinning the Rf2 against the King and winning the exchange. The entire sequence would be 32....g5 33.Nh3 Bg7 34.Rd1 Bd4.
As to your first question: I'm not sure you even have an attack on White's kingside. In any case, there's no reason why you can't weaken White's queenside pawns and still attack on the kingside. This position isn't a desperate race, where every tempo counts and you have to single-mindedly push your attack and ignore his counterplay. Why not wreck his queenside and then attack the King if it looks promising?
JG27Pyth
The unholy Internet Gods have intervened... My first analysis here was sacrificed on the wretched and writhing Altar of the Elder Timeout -- My second attempt fell into the blaspheming hole of Firefox Crash...
For God's sake, no matter what you happens you must not respond to this post... no matter how pitifully I beg, no matter what soul-rending shreiks or grief choked slobberings for mercy you may hear... stay away! in the name of sanity stay away!
I guess I need to learn the difference between those types of positions then...I just don't understand the difference here. The pawns point toward the king side = attack King side with pieces. Pawns point toward Queen side = attack queenside with pawns....me thinking.....ok I think since time is not a huge factor a should look to stop his plans before I start my own, is that the consideratin here?
Emmott
I'm no expert on pawn structures, but I believe that the "pawn pointing" rule only applies to situations where the center is closed. Once that happens then the only way to make progress is to push your pawns, and the pawn pointing rule tells you which side of the board you shoud expand on.
But none of this applies to your game. The struggle for the center far from settled, so that's where your attention should be. Also, doesn't your pawn chain (f7, e6, d5) actually point at the Queen side? But in general, there's no rule that says you're not allowed to play on "his" side of the board. Be greedy! Cripple his queen side pawns and then go to work on the king side if it looks promising
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