Here is yet another Dutch defence with a twist as I was on the receiving side of it for once. It is also the game in which contains one of my best combinations spanning the entire board. From the Bh6 to the Ra8.
I have also tried to include a lot of comments so that hopefully players of any range can benefit.
[Event "Div Cup, Nuneaton B vs Rugby A"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.9.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "N Kadodwala"]
[Black "O Cosham"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "157"]
[BlackELO "144"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. d4 {An unusual move for me lol} 1... e6 {and he plays my favourite move
against me!} 2. Nf3 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 d6 7. Nc3 {so we
have a Classical Dutch position but with me conducting the white pieces
instead of the black pieces. } 7... Ne4 {A move I've never played myself but
white has to do something about that annoying knight.} 8. Qc2 {Applying more
pressure to the knight and trying to find out what he is going to do about
it.} 8... Nxc3 9. Qxc3 Bf6 {A good move by which I was 'out of book'. Black's
plan is simple... to play ...e5. I can't stop it but can counter with my own
pawn break - namely e4.} 10. Qc2 {To get out of the pin of the Bf6 and to
support my own e4 break.} 10... e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. e4 {And here it is. Both
sides have completed what they have set out to do but what now?} 12... fxe4!?
{More in spirit of Black's defence would have been 12...f4 with a pawn sac to
which he gets good attacking chances against my king.} 13. Nd2 e3?! {Fritz
likes this move but one which I cannot recommend as the e3 pawn keeps a black
knight out of d4. The reason black played it was to try and make his weakness
on e5 less vunerable.} 14. fxe3 Bg5? {This is a common idea in the classical
dutch but wrong in this position as white can can develop and protect the weak
e3 pawn easily.} 15. Rxf8+ {Trading rooks first is important as I can lure his
queen to a tempo development as we shall see.} 15... Qxf8 16. Ne4 {The knight
comes to a good outpost and uncovers the Bc1 to defend e3} 16... Bh6!? {Black
prefers to keep the pressure on the e3 pawn with the bishop but his only
developed piece (Bh6) cannot really do anything else as the rest of the game
shows.} 17. Bd2 {Developing not the Bc1 but the Ra1.} 17... Nc6 {A natural
square for the knight but as you can see its only sqaure it can go to is b4 so
as long as I keep an eye on that it shouldn't be a problem.} 18. Rf1
{Developing again with tempo against the queen.} 18... Qe7 19. Nc3! {The
knight was placed well on e4 but I thought it would be even better on d5.
Notice how weak black's center light squares are namely e4 and d5 and my
knight is taking massive advantage of this. This is a typical idea when
playing against an isolated pawn (e5).} 19... Be6 {Finally developing the Bc8
that is the only piece to defend these light squares.} 20. Nd5 Qd7? {A mistake
which is understandable because putting the queen on a light square can only
be a good thing to defend them? Right?} 21. Rf6!! {WRONG!! The only thing
wrong with the Qd7 is this. This is probably the best move I've ever come out
with yet I found it within 30 secs. The point is that it cannot be taken
without allowing a deadly knight fork at f6 and the threat is 22.Rxh6 gxh6
23.Nf6+ again winning the queen. } 21... Kh8 {However I did have to calculate
the follow up otherwise I would be forced to retreat my rook and would not have achieved anything
anything.} 22. Rxe6! {This is part of the combination to win a pawn. } 22...
Qxe6 23. Nxc7 {Notice how effective how annoying a centrally placed knight is.
From threantening to jump into f6 to striking c7.} 23... Qc8 24. Nxa8 {And
finally trading its life for the enemy rook.} 24... Qxa8 {So white has won a
pawn after all that. So what? You might ask. White's advantage is much more.
Blacks light squares are still weak and he has lost his light squared bishop.
Black's queen is on the worst square possible. So how to capitalise?
Infiltrate is the name of the game. Both whites bishops are nicely placed so I
need to improve my queen.} 25. Qf5 g6 26. Qd7 {Notice how whites queen has
imfiltrated beautifully using the weak light squares. } 26... Nd4 {Black is
desperate to get some play going for him however white does not have to
oblige.} 27. Qxb7 {Why not take another pawn and threatnen to trade queens,
without black will have no play whatsoever.} 27... Qf8 28. Qa8! {Forcing the
trade with which Oliver sighed with frustration at the sight of this move.}
28... Nc2?? {This does not help him at all and this bad move is a product of
the psychological blow he received from 27.Qa8.} 29. Qxf8+ {Trading queens
like planned.} 29... Bxf8 30. a3! {An important move to make to trap the
knight.} 30... Bc5 {Makes a threat.} 31. Kf2 {Defends the threat.} 31... Kg7
{They say in a bad position is impossible to make a good move.} 32. Be4 {And
Oliver resigns as he loses his knight. The game ends with the light squared
bishop taking advantage of weak light squares... the story of blacks life in
this game.} 1-0
If your wondering how the knight gets trapped then the analysis should help. It isn't hard but the key aspect is to keep taking squares away from the knight and drive it towards the edge of the board.
So after 32...Nc1 33. Bc3 with the threat of b4 winning a piece. A bishop move loses for example 33...Bd6 34.b4 Nb3 35.Bc2 trapping the knight. So black has to play 33...Nb3 34.Bc2 Nc1 35.Bd2 winning the knight so black has 2 possible knight moves which both lose.
The 1st is 35...Na1 (not a good place for a knight anyway) 36. Bd1 (or Ba4) followed by 37.b4 winning the knight.
The 2nd is 35...Nc1 36.Bd2 Na2 37. Bb1 (or Bb3) again winning the knight.
I hope everyone enjoyed the game in which I demonstrated, mainly to myself, that I can play main line openings and still get a good position. Please leave comments good or bad, unless your name is John Naylor lol.
