[Event "Live Chess - Chess960"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2019.08.22"] [White "GM viditchess"] [Black "visualdennis"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "3054"] [BlackElo "2320"] [TimeControl "900+2"] [Variant "Chess960"] [ECO "?"] [Opening "?"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/visualdennis"] [FEN "brknrqnb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BRKNRQNB w KQkq - 0 1"] [SetUp "1"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/V3hGm7Ko/uPTd8JvA"] [Orientation "white"] 1. b3 f5 { Here i thought it makes sense to go with the f5-g6-Nf6 set up since the bishops are fianchetto, so i ll go g6 anyway, and the knight on g8 is on its usual place so i ll go Nf6 later, but queen is on f8 makes playing Nf6 with pawn on f7 not so desirable. Just like rooks and other pieces, queens need room to breathe, lots of room. Rook being on e8, i m likely to play e5 as well. Knight on d8 can easily go to c6 and with b6, the bishop on a8 will be also in the game. Due to kings position, 0-0-0 very likely, therefore on this side of the board, i want my c-pawn behind the knight and not in front of it. } 2. d4 b6 3. e3 g6 4. Nf3 Nf6 { So far natural development moves. My short term goal is to maintain some control over e4, with three pieces covering it at the moment, and control the center or at least, have presence in the center as much as white do. } 5. c4 { I felt like this opens kings camp bit too much, but i dont see clear way to exploit it yet. } 5... Ne4 6. Nc3 Nf7 { Here i decided to develop my knight on f7 instead of on c6, because i want to be able to capture on e4 with my bishop. I want to play e5 anyway and if exchanging on e5, i ll capture it with knight, which i could also do with a knight from c6. But as i said, it closes the diagonal for the bishop for a moment, so i thought Nf7 is more precise. Also it keeps ideas open like Nfd6 to have extra support on e4. } 7. O-O-O e5 { I believe here white has few issues to solve. First of all, bishop on h1 is not playing a role, clearly worse than my bishop at the moment. Also if we compare queens, due to my knight on e4, whites queen is tied to defending f2 pawn currently, while my queen can jump to the dark squares of the queenside and harass whites king a bit. My king is also definitely more safe than whites king. Apart from positional considerations, game is rapidly moving towards to a sharp game, where tactical considerations are going to play bigger role than piece manoeuvres. } 8. Nd5 c6 { b5 could be another move to consider, trying to open the b-file while rook is on b8 and queen being able to jump to a3, creating big threats around whites king. However, i dont remember the reason or the line that has stopped me from playing this move. } (8... b5) 9. Nc3 Qb4 10. Kc2 exd4 11. Nxd4 c5 { Trying to open the center to make it dangerous for whites king and also use my bishops to their max. potential . } 12. Nde2 b5 { Now going all in. I thought it could be a good time to break whites defence, while knight on e2 is standing on the way of whites queen. Nb5 looks here very dangerous for white due to Ba1 and Qd2. White cant move its knight on e2 since it would hang c3 and white also cannot let black capture on c4 as then the attack looks simply deadly. I do feel like black has huge advantage now, all pieces are coordinated well unlike whites pieces. The h1 bishop, queen on f1, rook on e1 and knight that is completely tied to e2.. But the thing is how you exploit that concretely, and this is where i failed in the game. Converting the advantage and the attack and finishing it off.. And when you dont succeed, usually your opponent strikes back, as happened in the game. } 13. cxb5 d5 { Here it looked like i had many options and having many options usually does not help. It can mean, many ways to mess it up as well. I was also considering 0-0 but i could not find a way to punish with after Rxd7. There should be probably a tactic that does not allow Rxd7 but i did not see it in the game. The problem with d5 is that even though it looks like i have full control over center and a big space, it is actually slow and gives white chance to regroup his pieces as in the game. } 14. f3 Nf6 15. Nf4 O-O-O 16. Nd3 Qa5 { Compared to few moves ago, it is certainly white who has improved and bounced back into game. Last couple of blacks moves were kind of forced, starting with 14.f3. So this means 13...d5 should be a mistake and i underestimated whites play after f3 while playing d5. } 17. Nxc5 Nd7 18. N5a4 Nb6 19. Kb1 Re7 { Still not so clear but i totally messed up my position and let white gain advantage. White is pawn up, but more importantly its pieces look much better and have gained some space, while King is safe on b1 now. Black is the side now, who plays for equality. Whites main problem is that the bishop in h1 not in the game and thats where blacks hopes lie in. But on the other hand, due to d5 and f3 pawns, bishop on a8 is not doing that great either. } 20. Rc1 Rc7 21. Nxb6+ axb6 22. Na4 Bxa1 23. Rxc7+ Kxc7 24. Rc1+ Kb8 25. Kxa1 Nd6 26. g4 Nxb5 27. gxf5 gxf5 28. f4 Nd6 { Tables are turned now: due to d5 pawn, white has a good bishop and black has a bad one. Blacks main hope is to play around e4 square or go after e3 pawn. But the problem is that queen cannot leave queenside much and let white invade there. } 29. Qe1 { After the exchange of queens, black is in very hard situation. Neither Qa6 nor Qa7 give black better chances.. } 29... Re8 30. Qxa5 bxa5 31. Nb6 { If black could try Re3 here, i dont know, i was too low on time to calculate, but the moves i ve played in the game certainly did not give me better chances. } 31... Ne4 32. Kb2 Bb7 33. Nd7+ Ka8 34. Ne5 Rg8 35. Bf3 Kb8 36. Ka3 Ka7 37. Rc7 { After allowing whites rook coming to 7th rank, blacks position is simply hopeless. } 37... h6 38. Rf7 Nd6 39. Rf6 Nb5+ 40. Ka4 Nc3+ 41. Kxa5 Nxa2 42. Rf7 Kb8 43. Rxb7+ Kxb7 44. Bxd5+ 1-0