Good game, but here is my opinion for black...
You had your pawns doubled on the d file for a while, and I think taking the c3 pawn would have been wise. Undoubles your pawns and attacks. The pawn structure at 10....exd4 is very uncomfortable.
Watch the game after 14....0-0, and you'll see that black's rooks never move, and are constantly blocked by their own pawns. They are very strong pieces, get them in the game.
after 24. Nd6 I really had no space to move them.
I see your blunder is 28...Qa5 if you played Qd8 you could've defended and counter attack to mate
Yes That's quite a good point, I played Qa5 to stop the rook coming down because then I would put my queen to the back rank and put him in check and possibly mate.
Your first mistake is not playing 1. ... d5 :).
This is the Smith-Morra Gambit. You'll find that even fairly weak players know the book moves in this from the white side. If you accept the gambit pawn with dc, white will get a big lead in development. You ought to learn how to play against this and other early deviations from open sicilian games (2. c3 ; 2. f4 ; 2. b4) if you want to play the Sicilian. Getting the pawns doubled virtually loses the game. Did you think of swapping your N for the white squared bishop? 9... Nb5 forces the minor exchange because if he drops the bishop to e2, his e-pawn is hanging to your KN.
hmm interesting.
eternal21 wrote:
Your first mistake is not playing 1. ... d5 :).
I was black :(
i think your opponent wanted to play the smith-morra gambit.
after 3.c3 i usually play 3....Nf6, so I think your first mistake was 3......d6
another possibility could have been 3.dxc3
anyway, I recomend you take a good look at this opening
I think a more aggressive 9...Nb4 would have done well for you. He has to leave the bishop there as 10 Be2 loses his important king pawn and after exchanging your knight for his bishop you can grab the c file with your rook and continue with a solid game. As it was, he got the better center pawns.
The smith-morra is perfectly playable if accepted. I had a forum on it about a month or so ago as have others.
thanks tony and boogaloo
Hello,
I have played in English chess leagues since early 80's, and can say you will see more anti-sicillians than "main-line" open variations by a large percentage upto about ECF 160. One good line to use against the Morra Gambit is 1.e4 c5 2.d4 pxp 3. c3 Nf6 because you can be lazy and use it to reach same positions as after 2.c3. One main-line is 4.e5 Nd5 5.c3xd4 e6 (d6 maybe simpler, but can lead to flat positions). The positon is Alekine defence like, except with open c-file which should help black.
It was a good game by both,but once his queen got on the inside it was over.
you left to many holes to white's knight, and the doubled pawn are very weak: you were too busy defending them. I think that the biggest mistake was ...e5, blocking your own bishop and closing the position.
thanks migu and FVC
youre queen was in the best place but u were to slow on the bisop
I would say that having discussed the smith morra- gambit of the sicilian defense with very strong players, fianchettoing the king bishop is the worst thing to do. There are too many theoretical problems for black when black fianchettoes the bishop in this defense. So much of a problem that the morra gambit causes that many of the strong players I talked to have feared this opening. I cannot say that I fully understand what the problems with fianchettoing the king bishop really are, but when I had taken a look at it, it seems that black loses a tempo and finds his king in trouble in the center.
In your game, I do know that 3... d5 amd 3...dxc3 are playable here, but I would also try 3...e5 although it leaves black with a backwards d-pawn. Your defense is a difficult one to play because of its inherent problems. If I were you, I would study this game more extensively to see what possible alternatives you could have played.
This was a match between the club I play for (Gerrards Cross Chess Club). It was the Ruddle cup and I was up against Charles Gallagher someone slightly better than me, see what happened, and please tell me what I did wrong...
The ratings are called gradings and arent based on the elo system. Any comments appriciated