QGD: Modern variation

I just play this 15|10 game. Can you help me with the analysis?

Thanks in advance for your time

Greetings.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the QGD, but I went through a few games in a database with similar lines, and I believe I detected a few problems with your moves, all dealing with unit placement:

(1) In most d-pawn openings Black needs to play ...c5 before ...Nc6, so as not to block that c-pawn from advancing. Therefore Black's 7...Nbc6 in your game is almost certainly wrong. What typically happens in similar games I saw is Black swings his QN over to f6 via ...Nbd7, then ...Ndf6.

(2) I'm guessing that 13...Rfd8 is the wrong rook. In most openings the rooks go at K1 and Q1, so to achieve that setup Black would need to play ...Rfe8 and ...Rad8.

(3) 15...f5 looks glaringly bad to me since it exposes Black's own castled king and leaves a backward pawn at e6. Note how that backward pawn falls on move 20, without compensation, as a result. Only one game I saw in the database showed Black playing ...f5, and that player was rated only 1519.

(4) 22...Nd8. Heuristic #1: If you're ever tempted to withdraw a developed piece to the back rank, think again, because it's usually the wrong move. Heuristic #2: Exchanging pieces such that the opponent's rook must recapture and be put out of coordination, especially on the rook file, is usually a good thing to do. Heuristic #3: Don't move the same piece twice in the opening unless all pieces are developed. Your rook is still undeveloped at this point. Put all these heuristics together, and there is only one set of moves that I see that conforms to all of these heuristics as much as possible: 22...Qxa2 23. Rxa2 Re8. With your extra piece I'd say you'd then have good drawing chances after stifling White's play with moves like ...Be4 followed by ...c6.

As for what to do about 7. g3, I'm unsure. Maybe ...Nbd7-Ndf6, followed by ...c6 and ...Bd7. That's awfully cramped, but it might survive. Or maybe an early ...c5 somehow?

A couple afterthoughts:

(5) [deleted--visualization error!]

(6) 14...Nd5 moves the same knight twice (actually more) in the opening, so I believe it would have been better to keep developing there, especially your rooks.

Don't use databases. You need to think about moves for yourself. If you do use a database, understand why moves were/weren't played. 5...Nxd5 is a bad move - it gives up center control, and welcomes white to get a large center with e4 (After an exchange of dark bishops). Also, if you recaptured exd5, you wouldn't have problems developing your LSB, which you mention you don't know what to do with 2 moves later.

Also, you made quite a few tactical errors and misplaced your pieces very strangely in the middlegame... So one of your issues is definitely not understanding chess enough, positionally. 

I'd recommend that you read my blog post (Blog 1, on my profile). It's just what you're missing from your games. 

1. That's right, I understand that the ideal exit of the knight in b8 is d7. When I play QGD I always develop the knight by d7 and in fact I play c5, although in the ChessTempo database I saw several games with c6, instead of c5 directly.

2. I think you're right. I was thinking of leaving one rook in d8 and the other in c8, but it doesn't make much sense since for that it would be necessary to have the knight in d7 and then to make an advance with c5 to open lines.

3. Indeed, a desperate and rather bad move. Nce7 would have been much better, to follow the idea of Rc8 and c5 at least.

4. You are very right, had the idea to relocate that Knight in e6 but is just as bad as in c6, has all the squares forward protected by the structure of white pawns. I think your line is more accurate and 23 ... Nd8 is indeed a waste of a tempo.

Thank you Sqod, for your analysis.

Hi, thanks for watching my game.
Right now I'm reading your blog, I find it very interesting and I'm always in favor of learning for free.
Thanks and regards

 I urgently suggest you drop QGA out of your opening repertoire immediately. And here's the main reason

Openings like the QGA/slav/semi slav are designed for and prominently used by players when they face strong opposition like a GM. Those openings have little to no weakness if played right and will tend to lead to a draw.

You are a beginner with much to learn, so do you really want to be playing an opening that that will lead to many trades and a draw? Or do you want to play openings that will give you winning chances from the get go and will lead you to crazy tactical middlegames? Which of the two openings would you benefit from when you analyse your game afterwards?

I suggest you look over your opening repertoire again and get rid of "dry" openings. Instead play the KID, or QID (a personal favourite of mine) or the Nimzo Indian defence for those days when you aren't feeling tactical and would rather play some positional chess.Or maybe the Bogota Indian, or even the 1.d4 nf6, 2. c4 e5 opening (forgot the name of it). You will get much more out of these openings in terms of knowledge than a dry slav/QGA/QGD openings.

Good luck!

Of course you should NOT change your opening, since the QGD is the best choice for newcomers to the game. What you should do is ignore advice from clueless people.

Here is the game with a few brief comments:

A thing you can easily realize is that the opening was totally irrelevant with the final game outcome. This is happening most of the times at your level, as well as much higher levels.

Thanks for your input, pfren. Good moves, ideas, and insights. We lower rated players do the best that we can here in the absence of more frequent input from masters like you.

Thanks for your comment KatieLaw.
Well, to be honest with you, my study of openings is almost non-existent, since a common advice I hear is not to study openings at my level.
I simply play e4 with white and with black I respond with e5 if e4, and d5 if d4.

Thank you for your detailed analysis, pfren.
It is very gratifying to see the comments of such a strong player. The game went from bad to worse, without a doubt. I think at my level it is not necessary to study openings, although sometimes I like to check if I find ideas that give me a little more comfort when it comes to playing. I'm not very related to QGD, although I think that, as you say, the opening has little influence on my level.
I feel that my greatest weakness right now is the strategy, although it is true that I have made many tactical errors in the game (in this and in all my games), but I feel that my positional knowledge is almost nil.
For example, on move 24, you recommend Bf3 and it is a pretty beautiful move. It didn't even cross my mind while I was playing, and now that I see your analysis, it seems to me most logical.
I think I rescued quite interesting things from this game.
And of course, I want to play this variant of QGD with black, and see if I can play a little better.
It would also be good to pay a little attention to my technique of endings. It is awful. That and play long games. I'm looking for partners who play games of more than 20 minutes per side. I like to play and then analyze the game with my opponent.