Never played such a DEADLOCKED board. Comments?

23. Nxe7 would be a possible continuation or 23. g4 would be interesting.

I think doubling your rooks on e file was a bad plan, rooks become powerfull when there are open/semi open files (pawns removed) and there are none so there should be pawn breaks first if you want to let your rooks come into play.

Also moving the king with everything into play and nothing pinned seems like there wasn't a strong plan behind it, you could have played something else. Combined, you could have played King to h1 and move your rooks to g1 and f1 and push those g and f pawns, that would be an interesting continuation in the middle game.

 

It was a mistake to double your rooks....your attack is insufficient in the view of the bloced pieces which were attcking a fairly defended queensde of his which means you cant do much about his unsafe King ...and his pawns are also fairly passed and that leaves and exchanging on that side unsafe as you have doubled rooks ..Nxe7 would be a fair continuation considering these......ya it was right to have taken a draw as  there was no clear plan for him either..but your opponent definitely had an advantage

Mistake to offer a draw, and I honestly think you had the edge. Playing Rf1 followed by shifting the knight on f3 and then playing f4 would have broken open the position, and suddenly your queen and both rooks have access against the black king. By contrast, black has a rook and bishop stuck on the queenside where they're doing nothing, and you can try and blast through with an attack.

I think the problem was that while you were developing you weren't focusing on controlling the center. It's good to get all the pieces out but you also want to develop them with an idea of controlling the center of the board. Controlling the center usually gives you pieces more space and possibilities. 

4.d4 looks good here. White moves a pawn into the center and opens up the bishop on c1. White is also threatening to win a pawn with dxe5. 

After 4...h6 5.d4 looks even better because Black's last move doesn't help development or control the center. It's almost a wasted move.

While 6.d3 is playable it isn't helping you control the center as 6.d4 would. Even if we give White five free moves such as 6.d3, 7.Be3, 8.Qd2, 9.Rfe1, and 10.Rad1 you'll find that if you don't play d4, which once again seeks to gain control of the center, there won't be much else for White to do. 

However if after these five free moves White played 11.d4 and the game continued 11...exd4 12.Nxd4 White's pieces would suddenly look very active. This is why both sides look to control the center early in the game. There are exceptions to this but most of the time both players want to develop their pieces, control the center and castle. So during much of the game you may find that d4 is a good move even though White has played d3 already. 

7.Be3 is a move White has to be careful about because Black can sometimes play ...Ng4 to win this bishop. Then Black will have the pair of bishops which is usually better than a knight and a bishop. To prevent this  White plays h3 first and only then Be3.

The position after move 9 is important because Black has created a pawn structure that prevents d4. If White doesn't find a way to play d4 or get play elsewhere then he may simply become passive. Maybe White can play for f4 instead by playing h3, Nh2, g3 and f4. 

The important thing is that you focus on controlling the center.

I love playing around games like these

I concur with others that doubliing rooks on the d file was mistaken by white.  

I also don't like 15 b3.  It markedly decreases the scope of your light squared bishop, weakens the Q side dark squares and there isn't a real need to play it.

I don't agree with the idea you should play Nxe7.  At least not straight away.

I think black's last move, B-a8 is poor.  I advocate 22 ... N-b6, and after the d5 N is exchanged for either N or B, ... R-c7 followed B-c8.  That gets rid of Ws best piece and blacks worst piece starts heading towards the action.

This shouldn't be a locked game, since you still have 2 Knights! They are kinda like tie-breakers since they can jump over Pawns.

Let's start at the end position.

What pieces are playing? Minor pieces

What pieces are not playing? Major pieces, namely the rooks.

How to activate the rooks?

A pawn break is called for to grant your rooks an open or half-open file to work with.

This could have been established on move 13 by not capturing with your queen on e3, and instead your pawn. Doubled pawns bad? Not in this case. Look what new possibilites exist now for your rooks...Rf2 and Ra-f1 to follow. Black had best now watch over f7.

Another option would be during move 16. 

Instead of Ra-d1 (moving your rook from a closed file to a closed file), N-d2 to clear the way for.... f4

pawns open things up move the king the h1 or even more preferably to the queenside (tho i don't see how) and play for f2-f4 for g4-g5.

an inspiring game to play a kingside attack on a closed board

It's interesting that some people had the idea of the f4 break, but black has a f5 break sooner. White has more space, but black's position looks defendable. You definitely had a lot more play in this position. As pointed out,you need to find a semi open or open file for your rooks.

20 g4 would prevent f5, but it does weaken your king position. Whether black can take avantage of that or not, I don't know.

Am I the only person who thinks if the position is opened with pawn breaks black's 2 bishops may shine.  And white could get left with a bad bishop.

Also, if one or both players break by advancing their f pawns, then whites king position on f1 becomes bad.

TitanCG,

I don't see how the d4 move would control the center.  It would probably just be traded with the black pawn on e5.  (..e5xd4)

I have to start being OK with f4.  I have a real block against disrupting my king pawns.  But, that is one way to disrupt the center pawn with a side pawn.

I offered a draw b/c I got sick of this game, and neither side was interested in the opening salvo.  Good feedback, thanks.  I need to be less rigid, and let my king pawns get into the action sometimes.

The simplest reason is that after ...exd4 Black is left with a position with less space than White. The removal of the e5 pawn opens the d-file and allows a knight to occupy d4, a center square.

Ok folks, I took the d4 advice to heart and did not shy away from attacking (and thus dominating) the center in this subsequent game.  Made for a very awkward position for black.  

A horrible game by your opp, but your moves were more or less perfect. Good job. :)

kasmersensei wrote:

It's interesting that some people had the idea of the f4 break, but black has a f5 break sooner. White has more space, but black's position looks defendable. You definitely had a lot more play in this position. As pointed out,you need to find a semi open or open file for your rooks.

20 g4 would prevent f5, but it does weaken your king position. Whether black can take avantage of that or not, I don't know.

blacks ...f5 doesn't work because the white squares become too weak, also white could have played for the f4 break before black even castles.