Yes, no, no, f6 weakens too many squares and you hang b7 to give up your extra pawn.
Did I have a winning position?
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12 Qxg7 seems perfectly good
17 Qxa3
Thanks shepi13 and eekdakat good stuff. Andy I am not sure why my opponent didn't take the free bishop I tried to give him on a3 but I am glad he didn't. That was a blunder that didn't hurt me too bad.
AndyClifton wrote:
12 Qxg7 seems perfectly good
17 Qxa3
Nice analysis, AC. Not sure that opening was "book" for very many moves, Brasigringo!
By move 6 white has a huge advantage, by the way.
@shepi13 I agree with that and was suprised he would trade off so many pieces. By move 12 I think it starts to even out a bit. But considering the blunders I made I am lucky to have drawn the game. I just thought maybe if I played something different on move 22 I might have been able to pull out a win but my pawn structure was not great so I probably would have lost K+P endgame anyway.
@electricpawn yeah my opening "book" knowledge is not very good and I usually stick to sound principles in the opening but for some reason abandoned said principles on move 3.
shepi13 wrote:
By move 6 white has a huge advantage, by the way.
Agreed.
i like 5. qf6 for black.
black now has good pressure on d4 and white must respond. if white knight takes black night, queen recaptures with tempo on e4 pawn and white bishop - white bishop must move to defend d4 and black now has initiative and can develop with d5 or nf6 with tempo.
I would suggest making a gambit out of it since Black has played the bad move of 3. ...h6?
Thus you might try this:
I take back my idea of 5. c3 5. Nxd4 as played is best.
You shouldn't swap N in the centre when the Q takes because there is nothing left to drive it away with developing moves, you don't have Nc6 atacking the Q anymore...
Yes h6 was too early develop with Bc5 or Nf6. if he plays d3 then think about h6 to stop the pin on f6.
Your B was hanging on move 16. i.e. 17.Qxa3 and then what?
moves like 3. h6 are simply bad. Keeping a knight out of g5 is not important here. Developing your pieces is the most important thing and you lose a valuable tempo playing dumb moves like h6. It also unnecessarily weakens your king position. If you're afraid of him playing Ng5 on move 4 then watch a lecture video on the fried liver attack so you know how to handle it. That way you wont waste time in the opening playing moves like h6.
My comments on the game:
3...h6 - Dubious. The most common continuations are either 3...Bc5 (Giuco Piano lines) or the more combative 3...Nf6. 4.Ng5,d5 5.exd5,Na5 6.Bb5+,c6 7.dxc6,bxc6 8.Be2 or Bd3! is a common continuation where black has a development lead and an initiative in return for the pawn. Probably white's still a bit better in theory, but more importantly, black has a very playable position out of the opening.
4.d4 - Probably correct. White opens the center while he's ahead in development.
4...exd4 - Probably the correct move for black to play here, but your comment for this move is misleading. In fact, trading knights on d4 gives white an appreciable development lead because now instead of black having 1 piece developed to white's 2, he has 0 pieces developed to white's 2.
5...Nxd4?! - This allows white to recapture on d4 with his queen, developing a second piece in the process. Bc5 instead, developing and attacking white's knight.
8.Nc3?! - Re1, threatening e5, was probably better for white.
8...Be6 - Probably black's best, because now the bishop is blocking the e- file from white's major pieces.
10.Bxd5?! - exd5 was better for white, cramping black with the far advanced d- pawn, opening the e- file, and avoiding more piece exchanges. Piece exchanges will benefit black since he has less space.
13...Re8 - The immediate Bf6 was worth considering instead, though not necessarily an improvement either.
15.Qd3 - Qc5 instead.
15...Bxb2? - Allows white to recapture the pawn while bringing his rook to an active position on the 7th rank. Qd7 instead, though black is still worse.
16...Ba3?? - Hangs the bishop. Rxe1+ is better since white must either reply Bxe1 or else lose a pawn after Rxe1, Bf6.
17.Bc3? - Qxa3 and white's obviously winning.
17...Bc5+ - Correct move. Now black's bishop is very active in addition to no longer being tactically vulnerable.
18.f6? - Rxe1+ instead.
19.Rxb7?! - Probably this is a '?' move, but since I'm lazy, I'm marking it '?!' instead: Rxb7?!,Bb6; a4, Rxe1+; Bxe1,Qc8; Qa6, with a5 to follow and the releasing of the white rook. Someone tell me if they can find an improvement to that line, considering how bums rush-ish I'm calculating right now.
Conclusion: White was better for most of this game. There was a point at which black could have had an extra pawn which would have compensated for white's strong d5 pawn, but in the end, I believe black underestimated and still underestimates how much of a positional strength white's d5 pawn was in this game.
This pawn, by the way, was a key ingredient in white's ability to give perpetual check.
Could use some help with analysis. Did I play h6 too early? Did I have a chance to win near end? Could I have avoided perpetual check? Any other missed tactics or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.