My first attempt at an opening

1. Did I make any obviously bad moves in the opening?
2. Around move 18., I think I found a variation that (finally!) trapped his Q. Does anyone see any way out of this for Black?
3. I've come across a fianchetto+castle a lot already. Is there any well-known strategy that attacks this defense? It seems very strong.

Thanks to Tom for a fun and good game!

Dan

Just a few comments, since I'm not an expert in the Colle System (it's a "system," not an "opening," technically)...

I was advised by one person here (http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/which-plan-for-blacks-c-pawn-in-colle-system) that Black should not play ...c4 in the Colle System *unless* there is a bishop or knight that can be forced to lose a tempo, which, if true, implies you should have captured that c-pawn before it could chase off your bishop at d3.

Black was unwise to fianchetto on the kingside, since you have the ideal ("biting granite") pawn structure on the queenside to render his fianchettoed bishop somewhat ineffective. Therefore by playing the Colle System you automatically don't need to worry much about kingside fianchettos.

The standard way to attack a fianchettoed king is to castle on the opposite side, then to send down a rook pawn to trade it for the knight pawn, while often having a rook aligned on one of those flank files, especially the rook file. I don't know if that is the strategy in the Colle System, though. I do know the Colle System often relies on the diagonal aiming at h7, with bishop at d3 and queen at c2, so getting your bishop chased off like that hurt your chances for that attack.

Yes, you should have just played Bxg7 and avoided getting your protective kingside pawn structure destroyed.

I don't see any way to trap the queen in this position around move 18. I believe you'd need a knight or more mobility for your bishops to get into that cramped corner. Your best bet would be to play Kh1, Rg1, then try to get a rook up to g4, then h4, but that would take several moves while Black would be dissolving the kingside with those pawn advances you saw.

 Wow, Sqod, thank you so much for this.  Your thoughts on the fianchetto + castle help very much, as will the link about the c-pawn.  (I'm not sure I understand all of the comments there, because I don't know any openings, but I'm sure I'll be able to get the general idea.  Thank you for your help!

Understand that the Colle is not an opening, but a system.  What i dont care about is white essentially throws his opening advantage away.    The typical plan is: 1.d4 2.Nf3 3.e3 4.Bd3 5.0-0 6.Re1 7.c3 8.Nbd2 9.e4, with White rearranging his move order appropriately.  It is a perfectly solid scheme of development, but, inflexibly applied, it cannot offer more than equality against a vigorous Black response. It may be a good tool for avoiding book variations, for Blitz play, or for forcing opponents to think for themselves early on.

The strategic plan behind the Colle System is to aim for a kingside attack. The black king's knight will be either exchanged off on e4, or driven away by the advance e4–e5. This removes a guard from the h7 square, often enabling a classic bishop sacrifice on h7 as the start of a mating attack. Some authors even call this sacrifice "Colle's sacrifice".

Its an acceptable opening system to play for the lower class player, but i do think it encourages bad habits. 

Very nice summary, Diakonia. I've been getting more interested in the Colle System myself lately, both for defense, and possibly for adopting it.

By the way, Dan, here are some standard openings that show how an opponent often creates a granite target for his opponent's fianchettoed bishop. (That is not the only strategy against such a fianchettoed bishop, though.)

Diakonia, that really is a great summary.  Thank you!  If you wouldn't mind, can you say a bit more about (a) the bad habits it encourages, and if possible in a short space (b) what would constitute a "vigorous" black response.

Also, is this the difference between an opening and a system, that a system doesn't care about move order whereas an opening does? (I realize this is a newbie question.)

Thank you again, Diakonia.

Bad Habits: What i mean by this is...learning opening systems like this is ok, but it slows your growth.  Players get comfortable with systems, because they require so little opening knowledge.  But if you want to improve, you will at some point need to actually learn openings, and the pawn structure behind those openings.

Vigorous Black Response: Keep in mind that with Opening Systems, you are basically throwing away your opening advantage as white.  You have handed the opening over to black. 

http://www.chess.com/games/view?id=5954

Difference between openings and opening systems:  http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/openings-vs-opening-systems

Thank you again, Sqod.  I wouldn't want to give up the d4 pawn by capturing  dxc5, so I assume the best preventative move would have been 6. b3?  Does that seem right?

(I actually didn't realize Qc2 was such an important part of this system, since the annotated game I read didn't even mention that move.  But I clearly see why it would often be advantageous.)

That is very helpful, Sqod. Thank you!

Once again, this is very helpful, Sqod. I really appreciate you posting these.

Thank you, Diakonia. I completely understand. And thank you for the links, especially to the Heisman article. (I could get the page to come up for the game you linked to, but I'm sure I can find some other games that would be good examples of a black vigorous defense.)

stick to checkers

I recommend "The Amateur's Mind".  Openings are one thing, and useful, but Silman's philosophies are almost like a chess religion.  You'd think "a whole book, that must be A WHOLE LOTTA INFO" but he actually just goes a handful of principles OVER AND OVER, from many different angles.
His 'principles of imbalances' are a must for any amateur looking to shoot up a few hundred points.  They can be quickly learned, and just as the game of chess itself, they can always be practiced, and bettered upon.  

Hi BKB,

Actually, "The Amateur's Mind" is the first (somewhat) more advanced book I read, and I agree with you about all of this.  I clearly haven't ingrained all of the principles into a coherent thinking process, but, still, I think it's helped me. It's also because of that book that, so far, my chess learning has been going into places other than openings, such as tactics. (This is the first game I've actually ever played in which I've tried an opening/opening system.)  Thank you, BKB.

The opening went well. You came out with a nice, solid position... The problems started therafter...

12. Bg5 might be stronger...

Your thoughts after 13. Bf4 and the issue of trading the dark-sqaured bishop seemed to be a bit out of place:

1.Trading the bishops is good but not such a great deal in my opinion.

2. You still can trade bisops after Bf4 with Be5

3. 13.Bh6 doesn't force a trade of bishops since Black can simply play Re8

15. Qd2 looks risky...

after move 16: Why do you think you have to attack the kingside?

Doesn't 21... g5 win a piece?

26 Re7??

After that it is hopeless...

Lesson:

Don't drop your pieces. And don't worry about the opening.

You're welcome.

Again, I don't know the Colle System well. The guy who consistently played it against me liked to align his queen and bishop along the "Classic Diagonal" leading to h7, but I just watched a few YouTube videos on the Colle System to answer some of these questions for myself and I found that his play wasn't very typical...

()

Colle System - Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmhkX2cKYIs

()

Colle System - Part 2 (2 Example Games) - Reload

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_GcD0Wj6o

()

Colle System - Part 3 (2 More Example Games) - Reload

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FBxd2Dy

Although the above videos were pretty dull, I did learn some things after enough repetition, especially for piece placement: (1) White's queen usually goes to e2, not c2. (Remember that one: the next time you reach out to play Qd2 in the Colle System, at least one mental alarm bell should go off!); (2) Black rarely plays ...c4 to drive off White's bishop at d3; (3) After ...cxd4, White always recaptures with ...Nxd4 (note: with the *knight* rather than recapturing with some other unit); (4) Black's bishop is slightly better at d6 rather than at e7; (5) The things that Jenium already mentioned: White always castles kingside, a classic bishop sacrifice (or more commonly knight sacrifice) often occurs by White at h7, White advances e4, then after ...dxe4 White plays Nxe4.

"Jenium"... Hmm. Where is that in the periodic table of the elements? 

Jenium, thank you so much for your help.

1. The move 12. Bg5 actually never occurred to me. It does look strong. Let me look it over more carefully.

2. Sadly, I know you're right.   

3. That's what I started to think "in the interim." It looks like I'm trying to trade to quite free pieces to take a way two primarily defensive pieces. This would leave him still with relatively good protection and would leave me with two fewer free pieces to do much else on Kside. (About which, more below.)

4. Yes, I see.  And having it on e5 seems more helpful in the interim.

5. I should have said 'practically forced', although even that seems too strong now.  I was thinking he'd never want my dark B that close for what would seem to be a long time afterward.

6. Exactly. As I said on reflection, there is nothing wrong with changing plans in the middle of the game.  I was just "stuck" on the idea that my pieces were directed Kside and, consequently, on the idea that that's where I should be playing. And then I just, immaturely, got intensely focused on "trapping his Q." <He turns red in embarrassment>

7.  21. ...g5 is illegal, since he's in check.

8. So are you thinking 26. Rd6, instead, as I suggested in the variation?

9. Until this game, I've never given any thought or time to specific openings/systems. And even this one, I gave it no thought other than to read an annotated game and remember the main points about what it was trying to accomplish.  I've been trying to rely on general opening principles (control center, get pieces free, etc).

I confess that I find myself frustrated, though, as soon as I play someone who actually has some knowledge of openings, since I typically find myself six-eight moves in having to respond to advantages my opponent has created with the opening.  So I agree that my time right now as a beginner is better spent improving in other areas (tactics, thinking processes, etc). But my building frustration at not knowing how to create advantages in the opening is causing me to want to learn some kind of opening/system sooner rather than later. 

Thank you again for your help Jenium.  Please know that I appreciate it very much.

Breeze back over it.  Hopefully you highlighted the good stuff.  It's not a book you read through one time, it's more like a religious document, and you should meditate on it like a monk(until you've 'got it').  
One of Silman's most basic principles/fundamentals is "dont lose material"(see pic below) haha actually I think that's pretty much any player's principle.  But, if you can't keep yourself outta that trap, you shouldn't be focused on openings, you should be focused on fundamentals.(I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just telling you the truth)  I suggest using your tactics trainer.  Do 3-6 puzzles, twice a day for a month.
You lost the game simply because you lost a minor piece, nothing more really.  And you 'missed it' because you didn't see the combo(tactics training can REALLY help you deepen your combination vision.)

Hi Dan,

First off, I think you're on the right path :) I started learning very similar to you. Logical Chess: Move by Move was one of my first books, and it's still one of my favorites; it really helped me improve. If you enjoy the game and enjoy learning, particularly by reading books, that's awesome. It's basically gotten me to where I am (from beginner to "expert").

In terms of the opening, play what you enjoy and seek to learn. The Colle system might give Black equality, but my advice is to forget about that for the moment and just focus on learning the ideas, e.g., the e4 pawn push. Others have rightly cautioned you not to get lazy about playing a system, but I don't think you're anywhere close to this, so don't worry.

One thing I recommend for improvement is to take notes during correspondence ("online") games. I do this (on paper) for some games and it really helps.

Regarding the game, I think you played quite well. It is very good that you're taking your time and thinking. Overall my impression was that you had a lot of good ideas and/or chess knowledge you've learned from reading, but had trouble applying some of it. That's not uncommon. The best answer is probably to keep practicing. Every game you'll get better. Oh, and as mentioned above, correspondence games should really help.

In terms of your questions:

1. No, you played fine in the opening;
2. 18. Re3 looks good and hard for Black to get out of, but 18...e5 might save the queen (opening the diagonal) although White wins a pawn.
3. If you're going for a king attack against a fianchetto structure, it's often good to swap the fianchettoed bishop if possible, leaving some weaknesses by the king. Sometimes it's useful to push the h-pawn up the board to h5 and then h6 or swap it for the g6 pawn. Often though, unless Black has made a mistake, the strategy might not be to go for a kingside attack, but to play on some other part of the board. It all depends on the position :D

If you have any questions feel free to ask. Best wishes!

Wow. Thanks. Made me smile