playing against 1.h3?

Hello

here is a game I recently played. I won, but I am not sure that I played particularly well. 

I feel like I have an advantage the whole game due to my opponents unorthodox opening, but as I say in the notes, I do not feel that I used it properly.

thanks.

Its not like its a game thrower, but if white decides to play something like that im very happy to grab the center like you did, and defend it at all cost. Central space is such a wonderful thing to have, to play h3 when you can grab the center is just wrong. Atleast it should have some idea behind it like grabing space on the kingside with eventual g4.

about the game, I think you could work on preparing for an attack alittle better, preparing your breaks so they appear when your are best prepared for them. Like on move 14.... f4 is alittle premature, you could improve your queen by the manouvre Qe8-g6, maybe even Nh5 and then f4. Your break will carry alot more punch then. Same thing for white he fails to attack the center because he doesnt prepare his breaks. Thats why your center becomes so strong. After white plays 14.c5 he completely surrenders any fight for the center and his play on the queenside is nowhere near to become anything because all his pieces are on the first rank.

@firebrandx: this was a 15-10 game, so I did have a decent amount of time for planning.

@ timmy62: Thanks, that makes sense. you're basically saying that once he eliminates his own Q-side play, I am free to take a little more time to position my pieces better before starting my own attack? 

I actually looked at that variation in the game, but I did not give it a ton of thought as it seemed odd to give up the bishop pair and my good bishop. even though his king is relatively open he can use the g-file against my king, even though it will take a few moves. what else should have factored into my thought process?

What was wrong with 18. ... Bxh3?

Eg: 18. ... Bxh3 19. gxh3 Rg6+ 20 Kh1 Qd7 21 Qh5 Rh6 22 Qg4 Rxh3+

... and of course, if he declines the Bishop sacrifice, you follow it up with 19 ... Rg6 or Bxg2, depending.

20...Bg3 fg3 21... Qg3 with 22...Bh3 and its his game all the way.

Im saying take your time and prepare for whatever you do, be patient, get all your pieces involved in your game. I think thats alot of what separtes us mere amateurs from the experts:) I really like the position of the queen on g6 here, as you got strong pressure directly against his king, you can also go g5 first and put your queen behind the pawn. If he ever plays g3 Im sure there is potential for a piece sac on g3 (Nh5 could support this idea) The battery of the queen behind the bishop on the diagonal doesnt actually put alot of pressure on the white position, I just dont like it as much.

"I actually looked at that variation in the game, but I did not give it a ton of thought as it seemed odd to give up the bishop pair and my good bishop. even though his king is relatively open he can use the g-file against my king, even though it will take a few moves. what else should have factored into my thought process?"

You lose a good bishop thats a negative, but you can factor in the weak e4 square, where a knight can immediately jump into. your "bad" bishop can be  posted outside the pawn chain with Ba6, or be placed into the heart of whites king position by the manouvre Be6-f7-h6, or g6 -f4 -e4, you can also post your bishop on b7 and play c5-d4, when you have a monster bishop uncontested on the long diagonal. I think your attacking potential is better than whites.

A famous game by that opening:

I would have described it as a fabled one of this opening. But white really dominated with that force.

White cannot intercept if he's not brave enough.

@scorpion2a - In the first game Rf8 is mate.

Sorry, I meant the thread to be focused more on the game as a whole than on the opening. I will be more careful next time I try to choose an eye-catching title. 

Oh, sorry. 

having said that, the opening is part of the game and thus comments on the peculiarities of this one are very useful. also, as you have noticed the opening seems to be the main topic and thus your comment was completely relevant.

I love it!  A thread about 1. a3 or 1. h3 is guaranteed to get a disproportionately lengthy response. 

Put down the Crack pipe and move a centre pawn why don't ya?

@neo-metacrash: really what I should do rather than learn how to name forums is how to fix my own mistakes without doing anything that could be seen as rude or shut-down-ish. my bad.//. (how do you say "laughing at your own ridiculousness" in emoticons?)

Thank you for that line. hasn't carlsen played something rather similar? maybe 1.a4, than transposing into a four knights reversed with a semi-wasted move?