good game
A Game I'm Proud Of...
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I see 23... Rxb1+ as a strong tactic, probably winning immediately (grabs a whole knight and an invasion after RxR QxR Kg2 Qd3. Good game though, well-played attack using both of your open files.
Usually in the stonewall black plays on the kingside, so your attention to the queen side puzzled me a little. (9...b5, 10...Nb6). I guess maybe that's what the game dictated, given White's unorthodox opening. White's play was fairly unimpressive, you can tell he had no real plan.
You say you don't mind trading bishop for knight on h5, but to me your position looks pretty shaky after the exchange. White gets a pawn, plus the half-open h-file. If white pushed g4, I think things would have looked bad for you. Your knight on c4 was nice, but it could have been easily dislodged if white played Nd2.
After move 20 white just plays awfully, so I'm not sure of the value of further analysis.
smartens wrote:
Usually in the stonewall black plays on the kingside, so your attention to the queen side puzzled me a little. (9...b5, 10...Nb6). I guess maybe that's what the game dictated, given White's unorthodox opening. White's play was fairly unimpressive, you can tell he had no real plan.
You say you don't mind trading bishop for knight on h5, but to me your position looks pretty shaky after the exchange. White gets a pawn, plus the half-open h-file. If white pushed g4, I think things would have looked bad for you. Your knight on c4 was nice, but it could have been easily dislodged if white played Nd2.
After move 20 white just plays awfully, so I'm not sure of the value of further analysis.
As for the queenside v. kingside, I usually try to wait to launch an attack until my opponent castles one direction or another. I got tired of launching a kingside attack, only to see my opponent castle long and me have my forces on the wrong side of the board. In the stonewall, the center is usually locked tight, so transferring the pieces to the other side is difficult.
In this game, my opponent never castled, and I ended up with an open file on the queenside, so I followed it.
I know we are supposed to post losses mainly, and trust me, I have plenty I will share. But first, I'd like to post this game I'm particularly proud of. Usually, when I win, it is because the game dissolved into an open, tactical fracas. Usually, I lose quiet positional games. This one, I won. So, pick it apart for me please.