OTB Game Analysis 1

Messing up a good position

This is my round 1 game from my most recent OTB tournament. I have analysed and you can finde my annotations below. I have left out many of the engine's suggestions because the suggestions were very interesting and I want to spend more time on them.

The game

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qf3 Bg6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6


White to play

I knew the theory up to this point and also that white is supposed to be slightly better. I like having a static advantage, so I was very happy with the opening.
10.g3
I knew that I needed to develop my kingside and I didn't want to put the knight on f3 so the bishop has to go to g2 or h3.
10...Nd7 11.Nge2 Bb4?!
I dislike this move since I was planning a minority attack and now it will come with tempo.
12.Bg2 O-O-O?!


White to play

Again, this move only encourages white to go for the minority attack. At this point, I was very happy with my position and maybe got a bit overexcited.
13.a3 Ba5 14.b4 Bc7 15.Bh3?
This move looks artificial and doesn't do anything. It also allows black to start play on the kingside with h5 which white should answer with h4, but the bishop is now blocking the h-pawn.
It would have been better to play 15.O-O to finish development and avoid future problems with my piece coordination. An example line would be 15...Bd3 16.Rfd1 Bc4 17.b5


Black cannot take on b5

15...a6 (15...h5 16.Bxd7+ Kxd7 17.h4) 16.a4 Bd3 (16...h5)


White to move

17.b5? Ba5
I missed this move. My pieces are now uncoordinated and I have to spend a lot of time to fix the resulting problems. I most likely made this mistake because I got overconfident and didn't consider my opponent's move carefully enough.
18.bxc6 bxc6 19.Rc1
This move had to be played to untangle my pieces. Now white cannot castle because of 19.O-O? Bxc3.
At this point I started to spend a lot of time to try and solve my problems.
19...Kc7 20.Nf4 Bc4 21.Bf1 Nb6 22.Bxc4 Nxc4 23.O-O
I have finally finished my development. The only remaining problem is that the c3-knight has to be protected.
23...Kd6?


White to move

24.Nd3?
Missing a tactical opportunity: 24.Ne4+ Ke7 25.Nc5 and I would have solved my problems.
Additionally, it is not clear what the text move accomplishes since white should spend his moves on improving the c3-knight.
24...Rb8 Black uses the fact that white has to move the c3-knight before he can move the c1-rook and takes control of the open b-file.
25.Ne2 Rb6 26.Rb1 Rhb8 27.Rxb6 Rxb6 28.Nef4 Bd2 29.Rd1 a5 30.Nh5


Black to play

Here I decided to go pawn hunting on the kingside because I didn't see any way to create counterplay on the queenside. In hindsight I should have kept the knight on f4 and improve my position with moves like h4 and Kg2 and see what black will do.
30...Ke7 31.Ng7 Bb4 32.Nf5+ Kd7 33.h4 Bf8 34.Kg2 Rb3 35.Nc5+ Bxc5 36.dxc5 Nb2 37.Rb1 Rb4 38.Nd4 Nxa4 39.Ra1 Nxc5 40.Rxa5


Black to move

40...Ne6 41.Ra7+?
I should have gone into the rook ending with 41.Nxe6. I didn't go for this because during the game I didn't see that I regain a pawn after 41...fxe6 42.Ra7+.
Black can also try to hold the pawn with 41...Kxe6:


White is a pawn down but due to the rook activity and black's doubled pawns, the position is equal. One line would be 42.Ra6 Rc4 43.Ra8 c5 44.Re8+ Kf5 45.Kf3 and it is not clear how black can make progress.
The end of the game isn't too interesting, black had a clear advantage and I was low on time and couldn't pose black any real problems.
41...Nc7 42.Ne2 Kd6 43.Nf4 c5 44.Kf3 Rb8 45.Ne2?! Kc6 46.Nc3 Rb7 47.Rxb7 Kxb7 48.Ke2 Kc6 49.Kd3 Ne6 50.e4 c4+ 51.Kd2 d4 52.Nd5 Nc5 53.f3 f5 54.Ne7+ Kb5 55.Nxf5 c3+ 56.Kc2 Kb4 57.e5 d3+ 58.Kc1 Nb3+ 0-1