I'm putting up this game because I hope it is very instructive, short, has a nice finish and because Bob told me to do so!
This was played very recently and shows how to counter against premature attacks. I have added in a lot of comments to show my thinking process through the game. I always say if you have the right plan, then the right moves are easy to find.
Please press the 'flip' button twice as I am playing black and it puts the names the wrong way round.
Also at the end of some comments, I ask you the reader to guess the next move to see what you would do in that particular situation. Think of it as a practical puzzle and take just a minute on them. Enjoy.
[Event "K.O Cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2012.4.3"]
[Round "?"]
[White "John McCann"]
[Black "Nalin Kadodwala"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "131"]
[BlackELO "161"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
%Orient=B
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. c3? {This is the first sign that
white doesn't know what he is doing and blindly strives to protect his knight
in the center. The downside is that he takes the c3 square away from his
queenside knight.} 5... Nc6 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Nd2? {We see the problem of the
queenside knight again. White wants to protect his e4 pawn and by doing so
with his knight stops his queenside bishop from getting out. All of these
problems are connected with the pawn on c3. The best move for white instead
would have been 7 Nxc6 bxc6 8 e5.} 7... O-O 8. f4? {I really expected white to
castle here. It is clear he wants to attack but this is not going to succeed
because he has not got all his pieces into play. Black needs to counter attack
to punish white.} 8... d5! {It is clear to see that black is ahead in
development so aims to open up the center. 9 e5 is a mistake because of
9...Nxd4 10 exf6 Bxf6 11 cxd4 dxc4 12 Nxc4 Bxd4 winning a pawn, stopping white
from castling and gaining the bishop pair.} 9. exd5 {The only move as
explained on the previous move.} 9... Nxd4 {An important intermediate move so
white is left with a weak d4 pawn.} 10. cxd4 Nxd5 11. Nf3 {Played to defend
the d4 pawn. Note the knight has moved twice now and has only got to f3. White
is still yet to castle and it is black to move. This evaluation means that
black should aim to develop his pieces quickly.} 11... Be6 {Protecting the
knight so that the queen can go to b6. There is also some tactics based on the
unprotected bishop on c4. This explains whites next move.} 12. Bb3! {The best
move making sure the bishop is protected. But notice how white is still not
castled.} 12... Rc8 {Bringing the rook to the open file. It is easy to see
that the natural place for blacks rooks are d8 and c8. The open and semi-open
files.} 13. O-O! {White finally gets to castle. Black is very comfortable in
this position as he enjoys better development and better sqaures for his
pieces.} 13... Qb6 {Putting more pressure on d4. This can only be done because
the square in front of the pawn (d5) is under blacks control.} 14. Bxd5? {I
could not not believe this move when I saw it. White is thinking that the
knight is very annoying stopping his bishop on c1 from going to many good
squares, ie e3, but does not realise that the black bishop coming to d5 will
also be a good piece. Black now has the bishop pair.} 14... Bxd5 15. Ne5
{Threatning 16 Nd7 with a fork but there is a natural reply.} 15... Rfd8
{Putting the rook where it belongs and stopping the threat.} 16. Kh1? {White
is scared of the d4 pawn being pinned. I was planning on taking over the
center with 16...f6 and 17...e5. This would be good for black because he wants
to open up the position completly for the bishop pair. Open positions are
great for bishops. Blocked positions favor the knights. Now that white has
unpinned the d4 pawn, what move would you make as black? } 16... Be4! {The
best according to Fritz by a long way. Black creates multiple threats. The
obvious threat is to the d4 pawn. The not so obvious is penetration of the
rook to c2. the other threat is to b2 with the queen. Because of this last
threat white cannot move his queenside bishop.} 17. b3?? {White simply panics
in the face of so many threats. What would you play as black?} 17... Rc2 {The
pawn on d4 is doomed and black can take it whenever he wants so continues to
harrass white. The threat is now to g2.} 18. Rg1 {A horrible move to have to
make but the only move. Again I will ask the question as to what black should
play? HINT: Black should be looking to increase the pressure on g2.} 18...
Bxe5 {The knight on e5 was controling some useful white squares, namely c6 and
f3 so had to be eliminated. The opposite bishops here means that black is
almost playing a bishop up because whites bishop cannot help in the defence of
g2. Black also doesn't worry about losing his best king's defender because
will have no attack. Just look at the difference in activity between white's
and black's pieces.} 19. fxe5 {Forced.} 19... Qc6 {Increasing pressure against
g2.} 20. Qg4 {To protect g2. Qf1 was better but it is hard to play such
defensive and passive moves, especially with the queen.} 20... Rxd4 {The pawn
falls and also threatning 21...bxg2+ winning white's queen.} 21. Bf4 {The
bishop finally moves but it too late.} 21... Bxg2+ {White resign's as he loses
his queen anyway or gets checkmated. The analyses as to why is at the end of
this post. } 0-1
So a nice game with a win in 21 moves as black. This was only possible because white played some poor moves. White also had conflicting strategies such as not developing and trying to attack. Therefore his overall plan was not coherent.
Please note that the black attack worked because all of blacks pieces were contributing. Also, white had problems developing meaning he couldn't get his pieces out to defend. Just look at the rook on a1 that never moved for example compared to black's.
White resigns because of 22 Rxg2 Rxf4 (the queen can't capture the rook because of checkmate on g2) 23 Qg3 Rf3 24 Qg4 (24 Rxc2 Rf1 checkmate with double check) 24...Rff2 25 Rg1 Rxg2 26 Rxg2 Rc1+ followed by checkmate.
I hope you enjoyed this read and if you want me to do more of this or found this instructional then i will do more more regularly.
Nalin.
