7...Be6 is a move i would play here. If after 8.Be6 fe6, you now have this...
Missed opportunities and folding under pressure...
Sort:
It is hard to call 17. Nxg5 a mistake, since White maintains a pin on the Black knight after 18. Bxg5. not forgetting that White has a play on the kingside with the pawns as well. The Bxf2+ tactic at this point seems a little risky even though Black still has some advantage (remember that the White king is not forced to capture on f2).
25...Rxg5 has to be played. 25. Rg8? allows White to win a knight, with the added bonus that the new position of the White bishop on f6 blocks the flow of Black's pieces around that region.
Thanks for those variations IMBacon. Nicely explained. I think I was keen to keep my bishop so I had the pair and rid white of one of his, however I gave my bishop up in the game around move 15 anyway.
I will try and introduce this move into my candidates next time this sort of position crops up and see how it goes...
Hi eric, it's been a while! - I wasn't calling 17. Nxg5 a mistake, my ? was to show surprise as I didn't expect this move from my opponent. You are right, the white king doesn't have to capture on f2.
If Kf1 then Bb6 and white has a hole in his kingside defense, not that I would be good enough to exploit it of course!
It is pretty much your style in black king pawn games
to go for a classic setup where you choose Bc5 over Be7
On the queenside this means looking out for Na4/Nd5 and playing ... Na5
if white's white squared bishop is getting on your nerves.
In the centre it means getting d5 or not what with the risk to e5 on a Na5 move.
The king side has the risk of Bg5 and whether you should prevent with h6
or exploit the attacking pressure on f2.
Then there is the do I care about Bg5xNf6 g7xBf6?
My mindset is influenced by c3,h3 and c6 as I quite like ... Rg8,Bxh3,Qb6 (hitting a dangling b-pawn)
as a general Bronstein type thought process.
The other flavour h6,g5 I lack the confidence with.
I guess it is reading the board to know.
+++
So we are where are on 7. ... being ...Na5 or ...h6 just as 6. ... was a ponder.
9. ... Bb6, as noted when is a pin not a pin. 9. ... Bxf2+ 10. Ke2 Bg3
( just as well I have not seen this game, my final comment would be did I mention Bxf2+ )
"13... c6 not sure about this move, I just wanted to some more room"
Now me I see Rc4 which puts pressure on [e4] and [c3]
I also like the edge that white has to think "bxc, nah I get double isolated pawns and b2 is sore"
Remember a dynamic counter to Bg5 is weak black squares on the queenside.
There is also the other theme aspect of Re8, pressure white has a problem with as Re1 is always
unsound when black has f2 pressure.
See the theme waffle above.
15. Nb3?!
Now for black this is where it all comes together.
The downside of g5 is more than compensated for with Qb3, Ra1, uncastled king AND the e-pawn going.
Have you seen: 15. ... BxNb3 16. QxBb3 g5 17. Nxg5 ?! hxNg5 18. Bxg5 Bxf2+ !(theme) 19. Kd1 d5! 20. BxNf6 (say) QxBf6 21. exd5 Qg6!
When [g2] and the only problem is which rook is best on d8 ...
18. ... Kh7 oh, clearly not. Still this plodding variation works.
22. Ke2?!
Now me nine moves ago I fancied ... Rc4 after this ... Qc4+
It is a good five minute think between 22. ... d5 and 22. ... c6xb5
Do I think there is more chance the bishop, queen and a timely check from the queen rook is mating
and that trumps losing the pinned knight. Oh yes I do.
22. ... c6xb5 23. a4xb5 Qc8 (I want the check sod the knight)
24. BxNf6 Qxc4+ 25. Kd1 RxBf6 26. QxRf6 (Qh5+ Kg8) Qd3+
22. ... d5 23. e4xd5 c6xd5 24. Rhd1 (pin the pawn) e4 25. Qf4 Qc8
26. BxNf6 Qxc4+ 27. Ke3 Bc5+ 28. Bd4 BxBd4 29. RxBd4 Qc3+
What can we learn here well (BxN Qc4+) and white is toast.
In the 22. ... d5 line it is helpful to see that 23. Rd1 d5xe4 still means that black gets Qc8
23. ... Kg7, even ... Qe6 is better but of course now it is ... c6xb5
Your castling strategy got you into big trouble. Black should wait for white to castle first. He took you apart when you chased his bishop. I don't get it.
Your opponent king is in the centre. Open the centre and start attacking it.
Ashvapathi wrote:
Your opponent king is in the centre. Open the centre and start attacking it.
Yeah. Specifically on move 22.
ihammes wrote:
Your castling strategy got you into big trouble. Black should wait for white to castle first. He took you apart when you chased his bishop. I don't get it.
The castling part is perfectly ok. I doubt the chasing of the Bishop is that bad. Black is obviously winning at that point. But it is true that care still has to be exercised in that situation since White does have some play on the kingside.
Hi Rat, some good stuff here, thanks.
It is really useful to go over all these moves and variations on the analysis board which I will need to do again. Not opening the centre is the thing that has stuck with me the most and something I need to add to my mental list. I can see that my main two moves at 22 are 22... d5 or 22... cxb5, my queen is already in position and can come to c8 as you point out.
I'm most disappointed I didn't see Bxf2+ at move 18 because that is where I should have stopped, taken a breath and thought, right what is my plan. I went straight after the bishop on g5 with my rook, I still had queen rook and queen doing nothing and need to just formulate something solid, then I may have seen the tactic?
I take your point about Rc4 but even more obvious is Qc4+ which ties in with opening the centre (I do remember I was half thinking 22. Qe7 followed by 23. Qe6 leading to 24. Qc4+ but the thought never fully materialised sadly).
Eric - I am glad you disagree with the castling comment, that confused me so I ignored that one!
I think the chasing bishop refers to move 16... g5 or perhaps 19... Rg8 but looking again I think these weren't mistakes.
As previously mentioned, I began to throw the game away at move 22 where I should either have gone through with my plan of getting the queen to e6 attacking c4 with check or open up the centre with pawns.
This game is about 3 years old. I'm not sure why it's come again but good to go over as I was better then than I am now! 
Optimissed wrote:
Hi, why not 18 ... Bxf2? Looks fine. Incidentally, white could have played Nxe5 on moves 5 or 6.
9. bxc4 and I think white may be better so the opportunity to play Bxf2+ wouldn't arise.
In the game as played, that tactic is fairly simple and you should be looking at forcing moves in a sharp position.
Yes you are right, why not 18... Bxf2 indeed?
It's pretty much a rule of thumb that when playing ...h6 followed by ...g5, as black, I tend to lose.
Another similar game where I go to pieces following ...h6 and ...g5 -
I've been lazy lately and not notated any of my games in the forum for ages, something I used to do regularly.
What I HAVE been doing for the last six months is discussing a lot of my online games in private with another member and thanks to their input, I do believe my overall game is improving slightly. What I have realised is that I have many weaknesses including rook and pawn endgame technique, not spotting tactics in the middle game and putting games to bed, panicking under pressure and folding very quickly. This game highlights a couple of these elements and is one that I have not looked at before. I only used to a computer to highlight mistakes and blunders so I am aware of the bigger errors in this game.
It was a 30 minute live game against a player with a similar rating to me and one I think is useful to notate.
There may be obvious things I've missed, if so your comments would be appreciated.