Games to learn from : My favorite Openings (Part 2)

Hello Everyone and welcome to my blog once again!

I am continuing the series of Games to Learn From and this is the Part 2 of the series.

If you would like to read Part 1, make sure to Click here to see it immediately.

Without further ado, let’s get right into this game and analyse it, to see, what went wrong for either side and how did one side dominate the other.

In this game, I had to play the black pieces and my opponent played the Ruy Lopez Let’s see, how did the game proceed.

(For those of you, who are not familiar with this opening, it arises after the following sequence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5)

When he decided to play the Ruy Lopez, or the Spanish Opening with the move 3. Bb5, I knew, thatI had to reply with 3.a6, Morphy Defence, because I find it quite good and solid against this time-tested, classical opening.

This move either forces the bishop to retreat, or capture my knight.

After the normal retreat, with the move 4. Ba4, white decided to keep his active bishop for now and hopefully, create some play.

In order to avoid this, I continued natural development with the move 4. Nf6, which is very flexible and gives white no time to waste.

In this following position, development is already equal, so neither side can afford losing time.

Although there are many choices here for white, like :

5. d3 (Many Grandmasters like this move)

This move keeps white’s pawns intact and generally opts for a slower game.

5. O-O (Georgian Grandmaster, Giga Quparadze tends to play this a lot )

The green-colored pieces are already developed, while the red-colored ones are either weak or need developing.

There are some other move choices, but my opponent went 5.d3.

This was my opponent’s choice.

At this point, I went into a small think, deciding the move in my mind.

Finally, I settled on playing 5.d6, defending my e5 pawn and trying to keep the game balanced.

Like white, I solidify my pawns too.

I wasn’t willing to play 5.Bc5, which is an alternative, but after playing it for a while, it didn’t really suit me.

Although this set-up is playable as well, it is just a matter of preferance.

In this position, my opponent played the sneaky move 6.c3, which may not seem dangerous at all,but…

If I’m not careful, d4 could open up the center quickly and with the bishop on the a4-e8 diagonal, white’s position could easily become very promising.

The blue squares could be very promising for white pieces, after the move 6.c3.

I responded with a passive, but a normal move, which is 6.Bd7.

That way, if d4 gets played now, it loses its venom , because a4-e8 diagonal isn’t so vulnerable right now.

The move 6.Bd7 does the job here.

Here, many moves are good-looking, but my opponent’s choice was 7.Bg5, developing his third minor piece and simultaneously, attacking my knight.

This is a good move, since it is developing a piece.

I didn’t like, that my kingside pieces were passive, plus, my king was stuck in the center. In order to solve all these problems, I played the move 7.Be7.

White is bit more active here, but this position demands active play. Neglect it, and you may lose quickly…

White is definitely in good shape right now and has many good moves once again, like :

8.O-O (Short castling)

Castling is a good idea, it helps to improve the pieces’ coordination.

Instead, my opponent chose 8.Nbd2, which is also a good idea in the Ruy Lopez.

Also a good move.

The intention is that after white plays O-O and Re1, the knight often finds its way to g3, via f1.

Here, we see the knight’s path from b1 to g3.

Here, I quickly castled, because if I don’t get some activity, I won’t get chances in the middlegame and I am not a fan of pressing too hard in the endgame either.

Black is doing fine here and their king is safe. All that is left to do, is to improve the queen and the pair of rooks.

Now, when white played the move 9. h3, it looked like to me as a bad move.

Although it isn’t terrible, his 4 pieces are still on the back rank. (Mine are too ATM, but let’s continue analysing).

At this point, I decide to kick the dark-squared bishop away, because it seems too active to me, so I play 9. h6, and force him to waste a tempo or take my knight(which favors me a bit more).

The bishop has to make a decision now.

When he went back to e3 instead of h4, I realized, that this is my time to finally get active, so I proceed to play b5, kicking his second bishop away too and preserving my knight at the same time.

After his bishop retreat to b3, I wasted a tempo with 11.Be6, because time wasting is less important to me, than piece passivity.

Plus, it is affordable, because if white proceeds to play 12.Bxe6, I play 12. fxe6 and the f-file is opened for my pieces, while his king is still in the center.

Finally, his king castles and now, for the moment of truth, I strike in the center with the move 12. d5. This way, my control over the board increases and my chances seem to be slowly appearing too.

Black is making progress slowly.

After he took, I took with the knight, because although I thought about taking the pawn with the bishop, my light-squared minor piece looks more menacing than his, so I decided to keep it for a little longer.

White should not take the knight here.

To my surprise, he took the knight and after taking back with my queen, my position is more superior. Here is the proof :

All of my pieces are developed except the rooks, his d3 pawn is backwards and weak and all in all, white’s advantage rapidly disappeared within 5–6 moves (But the game still needs to be converted and won).

Black is in great shape here.

Here, I faced the move 15.Ne4, which at first glance, looks OK, but after my move, white basically ended up with a terrible piece coordination. Can you spot it ?

Black to play here. How would you continue?

If you said 15.f5, you are absolutely correct! This move activates the rooks, opens the vulnerable f-file, makes him waste a tempo and attacks his knight, all in one move!

Here, he played 16. c4, which is obviously a blunder/mistake. I took on c4 with my b-pawn and here, he retreated his knight to c3 instead.

White’s adavntage is not only gone, black is better here.

This again, drops a pawn and I played the obvious 16. Qxd3, since a trade of queens is better for me, because I have passed pawns and a much more promising position. Don’t believe me? Try analyzing this position with any engine at high depth.

• To my surprise, he accepts the trade and now, I get a very strong pawn on d3, which is about to be defended and solidified. White doesn’t stand a chance anymore and collapsing is just a matter of time.

Black’s pawns are very powerful in this position.

• After white tried to win my pawn with the move 17. Rfd1, a simple move, like 17. e4 cemented the pawn, created a pawn chain and made white’s life miserable once more.

Pawn chain decided the game outcome shortly.

He offered me another trade with 18. Nd4 and I gladly accepted, because trading down is only in my interests, since it simplifies my position and makes my job of converting easier.

After regaining his piece back, I continued with 19.Rad8, attacking his bishop once again in this game, but after 20. Be5, 20. c5 followed and my pawns are monstrously strong.

With the bishop pair helping them, they are soon going to be unstoppable.

After white played 21.Rd2 to block my pawns, I played 21.Bg5, attacking the rook and making way for my pawns.

As expected, he went to d1 again with his rook and here, I played c4, crushing any theoretical hopes of stopping my pawns.

The bishops are joining the attack as well.

• Soon, a3 was played by white, which is another tempo waster.

I ignored it and played f4, getting my pawns darker in enemy’s camp.

Although this move hangs the e4 pawn, they are still too strong.

He played Re1 to stop them, but after I played e3 and exchanged his f-pawn for mine, there was just no stopping of black pawns.