Mega-dog Round-1 game (vickalan vs Martin0)

50.Bxc8

50...e3

51.Bg4

If you play 51...e2, then I play BxP.
If you then play 52...RxB, then I play a5.
(let me know if you'd like to see a diagram after any of my moves, before your next move).

51...e2 52.Bxe2 Rxe2 53.a5 Wc3

54.Ra4

54...f5

55.Ra3

55...Rxc2

56.Rb3

56...Rb2

57.Resign

Thanks Martin0 for the game. To other players who watched, my elo rating in bulldog is only mediocre, but I learned that if you spend some time studying each move carefully it's possible to put up a good fight. Although Martin is undefeated, I think eventually someone can win against him.

This was a really fun tactical game, and congratulations to @Martin0.

Good game both. I've lost my notes but I'm sure vick had the better of the opening. 23. h4 seemed like a poor move which gave Martin the time he needed to fix his problems, up until then I felt Vick was in control. Better would be 23. Rad1, pinning the guard and keeping the pressure on. Ne4 is coming, Wf4+ is an option too, it was up until move 23 a quite uncomfortable position for black. I don't think there was material to be won, but certainly white is controlling more space, and has his king safe. I'd love to be in such a strong position against Martin after 20-odd moves.

Well resisted Martin, and good effort Vick.

Good game.

I wouldn't say that white got an advantage in the opening, but I agree I was under a lot of pressure during the middlegame.

Normally I would not play e5 in the opening as black. With the witches it becomes easier to open up files and with the guard in the way it takes a longer time to get castled kingside. Therefor I am not a fan of moving the kings pawn. I just wanted to try it out in this game, since overall I think the move should be more or less fine.

13...Qe7 I think this is where I start going in the wrong direction. My reasoning for that move was not that rational. I basically wanted to test if vickalan was able to see my threat and even if my queen was misplaced on e7, I think I should have time to maneuver my pieces. That is not sound reasoning, I should try to play good moves, not putting my pieces on suboptimal squares for 1-move threats. The e7 square should have been used by either my witch or bishop and then I could get castled.

This said, I think that after Qe7 vickalan repeatedly played some really good moves. If I had just played 13...We7 I would probably avoid a lot of problems, but props to vickalan for creating those problems. 18.f4 for example is a very thematical move to open up the center while my king is still in the center. I had to be pretty creative to defend with the little space I had for my pieces. White was moving forward while I was mostly walking either backwards or sideways.

I had some relief when I finally got to play 23...We7. But fact remains that I could have played that on move 13. 10 moves later is a lot of time later.

Rad1 should definitely have been played at some point. 23.Rad1 as tug mentioned was a good move.

Martin doesn't have 26... Nxf5 since 27. Bg4 is winning the knight or guard. The more direct 27. Rxf5 is looking good too, perhaps even better.

26... Bc7 looks forced, 27. c4 b6 28. Qh1... I think b6 there looks bad. 27... c5 gives up a pawn to save the guard.Can Martin fend off this attack another way?

"I wouldn't say that white got an advantage in the opening, but I agree I was under a lot of pressure during the middlegame."

You're right, it was the middlegame. And I think after 26. Nxd6, there's an argument that Vick won the exchange and therefore had a material advantage right there. It's hard to value the guard, with it being much weaker when it's far from the action than it is when it's close, but I think if Vick trades knight for guard, and then deploys his guard effectively, I think it's better for Vick. I value the guard at an average of 4.

But I think Ry is correct that 26. Rad1 was white's best play, and his last chance to play Rad1 with tempo. I don't know about "completely winning", but it does seem to win a pawn. I can't analyse properly though, so I could be missing a simple refutation.

Thanks Martin0, captaintugwash, (and rychessmaster1) for the commentary about this game. It's an enjoyable read, and I'm sure to revisit the game as well as these comments again later.

Position after 25...Ng7:

After 26.Nxd6 Qxd6 I don't think the value of guard vs knight is the most important. I think my superior pawn structure is more important. Whites doubled h-pawn is not worth much and white can not create a passed pawn with his pawn majority. I already have a protected passed pawn. If we are going to talk about the value of whites guard, then it is missing squares to infiltrate. The guard will not create any threats anytime soon and will most likely just be defending for a long time, so for me it is hard to value it greater than 3.

Saying 26.Rad1 is "completely winning" doesn't really say much if you can't explain why? What is the main line? I really don't know. Maybe 26.Rad1 Wd5 27.Wc5 Gxc5 28.Nxc5 Qf7. Something else? The position really does not look simple enough to just call it winning for white to me. If white is not careful he might lose his f-pawn and black would have 2 connected passed pawns.