ICC Game Anlysis, eezy VS. MusiqueWand. Opening: Slav SW

This is a rather unique case where I was playing my Slav-SW-system as Black against a player I knew in advance who plays the SW as white. That gave me the opportunity to play some finer nuances I could not normally play.


[Event "ICC"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2011.01.09"]
[White "eezy"]
[Black "MusiqueWand"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1877"]
[BlackElo "2347"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Opening "Queen's pawn game"]
[TimeControl "2700+45"]

1. d4 d5 2. e3 c6 3. Bd3 

( Noticed how White’s pawn structure prevents his DSB from pointing at the h6 square. That allows black almost exclusive opportunities both to initiate his plans in full but also to play … Nh6 straight away. And this is important why? Because Black could then follow up with Bg4! Developing his “bad” Bishop out side of the future pawn chain. )



3… Nh6!!? 

( This is already untypical. For someone without any knowledge of what Black is attempting to do that will most probably appear as a beginner’s mistake, a Knight odd or plain goofing around. )

4. f4 



4… Bg4! 5. Nf3 

( With very strong pawn chains from b7-d5 and f7-d5 Black is already solid. After developing his LSB out side of these pawn chains, I feel I can already state that Black more or less solved all his opening problems. At move 4 no less!!?? )



4… e6 6. O-O f5 

( It’s interesting to see how White’s Bishops are blocked inside his own position by his own e3 pawn and Black’s f5 pawn. Black on the other hand has two good Bishops. Is anyone thinking what I’m thinking?? That is, that Black is already better!? White may hope that Black’s early Bishop move will give him an attacking route via Qd1-b3-b7 but as you can clearly see in the diagram Black can easily defend against this rather harmless and perhaps even unpositional idea )



7. Nbd2! Nf7 

( Black hurries up with … Nf7 to protect the e5 square from an early Ne5 ventures. That also strengthens his counter blow with … g5 should White make a mistake and allow it. It’s also interesting to see that 8. h3 is not forcing Black to trade his Bishop for the f3 Knight. Black can feel calm and play the Bishop to h5 and maintain both the pressure and the dynamics of his LSB ) 



8. c3!!? 

( If anyone was expecting a sacrificial/tactical game… that ain’t gunna be it! No matter, both sides have obtained a bunker type pawn structure. Solid indeed. )



8… Nd7 9. Qb3?! 

( I find this move rather dubious at best. Perhaps even a clear mistake. I don’t know where to place it though. It is not a critical mistake or even one that could be defined as strategic it is simply pointless and misses the point. the truth is that the Queen belongs on the Kings side! So I’d say that this move fail in over all game plan sort of way. Here Black has a few moves and aside from … b6 they’re all decent replies. Since I miyself wanted my queen to go to the King side I ended up playing the most boring of all moves and perhaps the one that was the least precise. Still, it was okay. )



9… Rb8 10. c4! Be7 

( White feels that his development has matured enough to allow for c4 or at least he felt that it was necessary. I can’t disagree, if not now then soon.
I think that … Be7 was a very good move. Keeping everything at bay, hardly committing to anything and allowing 0-0. )



11. cxd5 cxd5 12. Bb5 a6 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. Ne5 Nxe5 15. fxe5 O-O 

( Position assessment: Black is better! The e3 pawn is weak, Black has more space and greater piece-play. His Rooks are free to occupy the c-file and he is getting ready to make some noise on the King side. But what about poor White? Is he really doing so badly? Well, this might be defendable but I wouldn’t call this drawish. With careful play White can hold his ground. Rybka’s assessment: -0.60 )



16. Nf3! g5!? 

( A surprising move? No I think this should be expected but apparently not the most precise at this time. Perhaps some extra preparation was needed or in compression, a simple Rook move to the c-file would have proved more useful. But with all honesty, as a human player… I like this move a lot! It sets challenges and changes gears to a King side assault. Black already has the plan of g5-g4, this will open the g-file and make way for Kh8 / Rg8 etc. )



17. Bd2 Bxf3 18. gxf3 g4! 19. Bb4!? gxf3 20. Rxf3 Kh8! 21. Bxe7 Qxe7 22. Kh1

( a word about the players: this was the first time during the game where my opponent actually started to pay closer attention and think for longer periods of time. Until that point he was having a very big time advantage. So a note to the player, don’t start thinking when you already have a losing position! Go to ICC and watch some of Heisman’s videos about time management and general ways of handling your play.
It’s hard to make suggestions from this point on because I feel that black’s ideas are easy to understand. The rook is heading to g8, the Queen to h4 and from that post White is hanging by his teeth. There are dangerous Queen paths leading to e4 from which a Rook may fall or the e3 pawn. Or even the simple threat to g2 and mate. Another nice idea is Rg8-g3. The same goes for the Queen side. Black is getting ready for … b5 and with Rf-g8 and Rb-c8 Black has almost full piece-play and full initiative. This is pretty much game over. )



22… Qh4 23. Rf4 Qh3 24. Rf2 Rg8 25. Re1 Qh4 

( The Queen is attacking both Rooks and threatens to go to e4 and the Rooks are very active. These threats are very strong and requires White to play best moves which he was certainly capable of!! If he only played that well in the opening this might have been a simple draw. )



26. Qc2 Rbc8 27. Qe2 Qe4+ 28. Qf3 Qxf3+ 29. Rxf3 Rc2 

( A very basic endgame theme. Rooks activity. Black controls both the c-file, g-file and b2-rank. White’s pawns on h2, e3 and b2 are all weak and about to fall. A technical endgame. )




30. Rb1 Rgg2 31. Rh3 Rxb2 32. Rxb2 Rxb2 33. Rh6 Rb6 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. Rf6 Rc6 36. Kg3 b5 37. Kh4 b4 38. Kg5 a5 39. Rh6 a4 40. Rh3 b3 41. axb3 axb3 42. e4 Rb6 43. Rxb3 Rxb3 44. exf5 h6+ 45. Kf4 Rd3 46. fxe6 Rxd4+ 47. Kf5 Rh4 

( The White king is in paralysis and has no squares to spare. The Black king can defend against White’s e6-e7 move but white is stuck on the f5 square and is unable to to stop the inevitable promotion of the Black d-pawn. White resigns )



0-1
 As usual you can find this game on my ICC library, game number 34.