Aaron & Steve do battle - Ruy Lopez Exchange

Steve and I played the Ruy Lopez exchange variation.  I have posted the game here.  Steve and I would be interested in comments.

Here are my notes:

9. W: will start to castle by hand by moving the rook B: moves bishop to protect the king from a discovered check.

10. W: continue castle by hand B: move the light bishop to a nice square to eye two developing diagonals.

11. W: developed the knight B: castled

12 W: gave my dark bishop an out, but the B bishop is defending the a3 square.  Thinking of putting the Bishop on b2. B: Rooks are connected and are really defending the king.

13 W: opened up a nice diagonal for a kingside attack. B: Dark B has moved and is eyeing  the f2 pawn.

14 W: have not thought of a plan, but will harass the knight.  Want to really move the Bishop to f4 and grab a free pawn. B: moves knight for a bishop/knight attack on f2.

15 W: moved knight to protect f2 pawn.  possible pin when B moves light squared bishop. B: moves B and attacks e1 rook.

16 W: pushed c pawn to block B bishop.  Anticipate bishop being moved to a3. B: as anticipated, the B bishop sits pretty on a3.

17. W: push the h pawn and move the knight. The knight is a goner, so he might let it go and have his light squared bishop move to g4. B: saves knight and attacks my knight.

18. W: decided to take the knight with my Bishop.  After gxf6 and Nxf6, I'll fork the  K and rook. I wonder what would happen if I took with the Knight instead. Thinking of Neg5, but I think B might have a combination with the pawns and rooks.  B: brings Bishop back to attack f6.

19: W: takes bishop.  Anticipate black rook takes and will start to initiate exchanging of rooks. B: takes bishop with rook

20. W: move knight to attack bishop.  Anticipate moving Bishop and then I can take the rook.  If move fe8, then exchange all rooks. with 21 Nxe6 Rxe6, 22 Rxe6 Rxe6 23 Re1 Rd6, 24 Re8#. B: placed rooks in a line.  Forgot about f7 pawn (too excited about my own combination).  Will take a free pawn instead.

21. W: free pawn... delicious. B: activates bishop, but leaves rook exposed.

22: W: exchanges rooks. B: takes my rook

23 W: moves rook to attack B rook.  Only saving move is R to e6 or push one of the 3 musketeer pawns. If Kf8 move than... 24. Rxe7 Kxe7 25. Ng5 h6 26 c4 and the bishop is lost. hxg5 and we have a 7 pawn + knight against 6 pawn ending.

24. W: white took the rook. B: took the rook. Need to get N to d8 and trap the Bishop. B: moved c6 pawn to expose my knight.  I don't know why B moved his pawn to a dark square when he only has light squared bishop.  Curious to see what his plan is.

25 W: grabs free pawn -- or is it?  Looking for the trap, but I don't see it. B: decides to take a bold move and attempt to have a pawn attack on the king side.

26 W: grab the bishop B: pushes pawn and initiates kingside attack.

27. W: grabs pawn to clear out a file. B: moves king to protect pawns.

28 W: grabs c pawn and clears path for a, b, c, and d pawns.  It will take me 5 moves for a8=Q and have an attack on the a8-h1 diagonal.  Need to be aware of my f3 pawn which is on the diagonal and blocking g2 and h1. B: moves K to lead the charge.

29. W: it is a race to Queen.  Do I need to think about moving my knight to d5 and then f6? B: leads the charge with the king

30. W: the marching of the pawns continues. B: moves king and will take the h pawn freeing a nice uninterrupted pathway  for his h pawn to queen.

31/32. W: getting closer to a8=Q  need to avoid stalemate. I anticipate:

33. a8=Q..Kh2 34. Kf1..Kh1 35. f4+ Kh2 36 Qg2#

34. Qd8 and closed the diagonals for the black pawns. Anticipate Kxf3.  Will answer with Qd4 and will start to back the black K in corner. with 35 Qd4 Kg2, 36 Qe4+ Kg1 37 Qh4 f6 38. Qg3+ Kh1 39 Kf1 h4 40 Qg1# B: went to Kh1 and probably will try to push his pawns down.

35. Qg5 If moves h pawn, then Kf1 and Qg#. If moves Kh2, then Kf1 and Qg2. If moves f pawn, then Qg#3# B: chose h4.

36. W: Kf1 with Qg2# next move B: f6 and harass the queen.  I'll have to move my queen to avoid capture.  I think Qg2# looks good.

37. W Qg2#

A nice game

We played opposie sides in this line in another game and ended in a draw

Here are my comments for this game below :

10.All these moves by me so far are to prevent you from stopping me castling.
12. Finally castled need to protect this file while i move pieces out.
14. Want to keep my King covered here so reluctant to move anything.
14. Possible knight /bishop combination
18. If i take your bishop here you can put me in check and grab castle
21. I'm guessing you'll exchange castles here-probably puts  me at a disadvantage as you are still piece ahead
24. Hoping that if i can get one of your Knights we will be even may even exchange my bishop for knight next go.
26. Need to advance pawns and get King in front for chance in this game
33. Think I may be too late!!
35. Your queen on this file may be start of winning game for you as I cannot move king away for pawn promotion-I read in one book that pawns on edge were difficult to promote I'm guessing this is reason why as king doesn't have option of sidestepping either side and is now blocked by your queen.
36. Stalling for time

yowch.. The move right out of book for white is a disaster.  Nxe5?  Check this out:

Now take the next example: 

So white trades his bishop for a knight, a known disadvantage so early, and then gives away his endgame advantage on the following turn!! This is clearly not in the spirit of the opening.

Try this out next time: 

I have a similar ending in a cor game (currently in progress so I can't discuss it) with a bishop and queen left.  I'll let you know if he makes a passer with the doubled pawns :p.

Thanks Heister -Will add to my repetoire!!

Heister -- looking forward to see the discussion of your similar ending.  It sounds like you would not recommend an exchange so early.

It is the game against alain978.  

I think the early exchange is good if you survive to see the endgame.  When I was first picking up chess I played that way, but seemed to get beat in the middle game a lot.  It was probably due to my relative weakness at the game rather than the opening though.

Steve and I are now "playing" the main Ruy Lopez line without the exchange.  This my personal preference because I have been destroyed by knights and bishops later in the game.

I see :D  looks like you are just getting started.  I look forward to seeing the post.

I've been playing the exchange a lot as white but I've played a few games with Aaron different sides and realise black can get a nice game out of it. Will look at your game heister it sounds interesting. We've also tried the bird defence as a way for black to avoid the ruy. Think that may take some learning lots of twists and turns!!

The game I mentioned against Alain978 concluded.  I thought I would post the endgame here since I mentioned it here.  Look for the double pawns trying to make a passed pawn against 3 healty pawns.  It just doesn't work.

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@heister: The mate in two is bf2 followed by g2. Its just like the famous pawn mate only you are using a tall pawn. :)

@ aarongo:

heister did an excellent job of explaing what kind of a middle/ending you  should have been aiming for, so I will limit my comments to the middle/ending you did have. 

I thought your set up with b3 and d3 was a bit passive and leaves your dark squares pretty open nor does it contest the center at all and gives his bishop free reign. You are battling against two bishops which is black's main trump. Bishops love an open center so a strong way to battle them is to clutter up the middle with pawns. I like the idea of playing c4 (taking the d5 square from him) and d4 which control c5 and e5. In your notes you mentioned that the bishop on c5 was annoying. With pawn on d4 that would not have been possible. When you have yours pawns in place, you can put a knight on e5. If he ever captures the knight you take with the pawn and you have the pawn structure that heister was talking about. 

You should actively try to trade dark bishops (trading a knight for either bishop in general would be good too but will probably be harder to achieve.) 

Thank you JD.  Since reading your comments, I have been trying to have a more active knight smack in the middle with great pawn support.  If only Steve would follow my lead.

Bit late for the mate in 2, but Bf2 *somemove* g2# :P