Queen's Gambit Accepted - Activating Bishops

This game is a good illustration of active Bishops paying off early.  Now, usually I have difficulty activating both my bishops in the Queen's Gambit and usually it is not an accepted gambit.  I am not a great player, I am glad to be near the 1600's, and one thing I feel it is important to work on is: Timing.  For me, it is all too easy to jump into an attack that may putter out before any advantage is gained.  This game showed me that patience is a virtue and active Bishops can be deadly.

Really cool game. Nicely done. Your huge (and nearly winning, if not winning already) advantage after the opening is undisputed in my opinion.

Just a few points:

Your comment on 8.Nf3 of why you didn't play Ba3 is logical, and not wrong. perhaps Nf3 is even stronger than Ba3, however, I just wanted to point out Ba3 is much better than it seems, and that black can't really play ...Ne7 and ...0-0 immediately without reaching a position which is no better (and maybe worse) than what he had in the game:

8.Ba3 Ne7 9.Nf3 0-0 So black has castled. The end? not really 10. 0-0 - Talk about patience being a virture - black is not only woefully underdeveloped an easily played white position (and an easy kingside attack). It's hard for him to play ANYTHING now.

what is he going to develop? 10...Re8 may be a blunder after 11.Ng5 (threat - Qh5) 11...h6 12.Ne4 with Nd6 with Nd6 as a threat, black SITLL can't develop and white's initiative should just be decisive here - he's still not developed.

That leaves only 10...Nd7 and 10...h6, both of which are pretty ridiculous as far as developing goes. I think white should be winning.

Of course, what you played isn't bad, or even any worse than this, just wanted to point that a castled king doesn't always mean - "problem solved".

your 8.Nf3 would probably have been my move too :)

Continuing on this game:

8...Qf6: you call this "A bold move". I'll go as far as calling it a suicidal move. the ...Bxc3 variation in this line is dubious, and ...a6 after it was just a clear mistake. after 8...Qf6, I think white has various ways of winning already.

I must say I don't particularly like your 9.Qc2, even if it leaves white with a huge (probably still winning) advantage.

Just 9.0-0 is much more immediately dangerous - being worried of an attack by a single piece - EVEN the queen seems unreasonable. One piece does not constitute an attack. More concretely, what is black to do after 9.0-0

If he plays 9...Ne7 then just 10.e4 and that queen is going to be sorry it ever left home soon. White still has all the development plusses, central control, king safety, AND the "gravy" is that black can't castle:) 10...0-0? 11.Bg5 wins the e7 knight. Black can't play 10...Ng6 because that would allow 11.Bg5 to win the queen. But black has no other good developing moves... He has to stay in an undevelopped position even longer. White just gained a lot more during that time.

Notice that all variations are really short - Almost no calculation. White is really having an easy time here.

The game move, 9.Qc2, should still maintain a huge advantage (perhaps still winning), just less so in the immediate future (or easily calculable future at least).

hmm... No perhaps about it, it still wins:) I just tend to like a solution better if its both simpler and more direct (simple development and immediate threats).

Your move is great. My post is just personal preference and some simple analysis. I think it can be called much better, but since I think your move still reaches a winning position, not much to say about it:)

9...Ne7 - This is bad bad bad. In my opinion black HAD to try 9...Qg6 even if he should be totally lost whether you'll exchange queens or avoid it. He needs to decrease the coming pressure either by exchanging queens or by gaining another tempo if you avoid it (I would avoid the exchange, still easier I think).

Not to mention 9..Ne7 allows 10.Bd3 and black can probably never castle and survive in this game. (10...h6 11.Ba3 followed by e4, black's kingside is full of holes, white is about to blast through the center and black is still underdeveloped, uncastled, and awkwardly pinned and blocked).

Once again, your 10.e4 is just as valid as my suggestion in my opinion:)

11. 0-0 - fine move:)

although Bg5 would be just as good - it would stop black from castling long enough to matter. (11.Bg5 Qg6 12.0-0 and black can't castle because of the e7 knight, and he has no good way to do it. trying to exchange a piece with 12...h6 12.Bxe7 Kxe7 just leads to a more easilly winning position - white can easily blast everything open and win material or mate).

you're winning whatever happens.

11-0-0 Game over - loses a piece, any further analysis is pointless:)

As to your claim "few players resign after the loss of a minor piece..."

WRONG! actually, just a couple of hundred points above your level (at around ~1700-1800, not that far above you), most players (around 1800 - vast majority of players) will resign instantly after that, and many would consider NOT resigning to be just rude and dragging the opponent into a senseless game where the result is quite obvious instead of addmitting defeat and going for a new game...

And if you go to an even higher level than that... well, prety much everyone resign immediately after that.

And yes, it is that easy to win with an extra piece. Just something to make clear as you evaluate positions in your games and consider normal "piece down" positions as requiring the opponent enough effort to make a mistake possible... That kind of thinking tends to block progress. Learning to treat lost positions as lost tends to make you make much more effort in avoiding these positions yourself. Back to this game, where your unfortunate opponent is the one with the problem.

As to your comments and reasoning for the move later... That's part of the reason I'm not analyzing that:

You don't want to exchange the good bishop - normally correct..thing is, you win easily with or without it here. The normal way to win piece up positions is to exchange pieces. Normally easiest win. In this position you can attack too.

ANYTHING wins. if the bishop blocks the f3 knight's maneuvers,which you seemed to be worried of, if you exchange into an endgame, even if all your development advantage will be gone in the process (although this really can't happen too), it still wins, if you attack with that extra piece, still wins, if you exchange central pawns, if.... from this point on, anything is easily winning, so, I see no point in further analysis.

Excellent game. You were in control from start to finish. Pretty good attacker.

keep it up, and we'll see you soon at the 1900s:)

ummm the queen could go to h6 and white would only win a pawn

ummmm which means he would be down a pawn AND a minor piece.  He was wise and saw the writing on the wall.  The minor piece is significant now in the middle-game...the extra pawn will become extremely significant in the end-game.