SPORTS

Chess Game Analysis- Match 1

by Theo Dmochowski-Spoor

This game was played at the Shore League Playoffs in 2024. I was playing first board on the Ocean Township High School Chess Team with the black pieces. It is a good demonstration of the play of semi-strong amateurs. 

1.c4 Nf6—My opponent, Alejandro, played the English opening. I played flexibly with Nf6. This move develops (removes from starting square) a piece and invites white to play 2. d4. The idea of playing Nf6 is to control the e4 square without committing my center pawns to any particular formation. Pawns can’t move backward, so once you move them you’re stuck with it.

2. Nc3 g6 — Nc3 is a solid move. Nc3 with g3 and Bg2 is a fundamental English opening plan. The idea is to let black build a big center with their pawns and then attack it from the flanks with pieces. I wanted to castle kingside as quickly as possible. At this point, I was more biding my time and trying to get a solid position than anything else. 2…g6 prepares Bg7. 

3. g3 Bg7 —. My opponent wants to play Bg2 on the next move, putting his bishop on the long light square diagonal to put pressure on the center of the board from the flank. I’m developing my pieces and waiting for my opponent to commit to a structure so I can make a concrete plan. I have a lead in development(I’m getting my pieces off the back rank faster), but this is temporary because I need to move my pawns eventually if I’m ever going to make progress.

4. Bg2 O-O — O-O means castles kingside. Castling means my king is safe, and I’m ready to start taking concrete action in the center of the board. Playing e5 looks good because I want to control the center. My d pawn can’t go to d4 because the knight, bishop, and pawn control that square. 

5. Nf3 Nc6 — Nf3 doesn’t have an idea behind it. The point is to develop a piece and prepare castling. In chess, the best moves are multipurpose, and Nf3 is one-dimensional. It does control the center, most importantly d4, but if white wanted to put a pawn on d4 they could have played 5.d4 instead of Nf3. The same is true of Nc6. It doesn’t create any weaknesses and gets another piece into the battle. It’s not flexible and doesn’t work towards a goal. Nowadays, I would play 5…d5 without hesitation because Nf3 reduced white’s control of this vital square by obstructing the g2 Bishop. The d5 square is key because black wants to play their pawn to d5 to control the center of the board and hasten the development of their queen and bishop.

6. O-O d6 — Castling makes sense here for white because they want to get their king out of the center. Kings aren’t safe in the center of the board because pieces can maneuver most freely from the center, which means pieces can be most easily maneuvered for an attack from the center and to the center. The move d6 is simply preparing to develop my light square bishop. I could have played either e5 or d5, which are superior to d6, but there’s nothing strictly wrong with this move either. I was expecting to play Bg4 later on. 

7. e4 e5 — Finally, concrete action in the center of the board. Strictly speaking, neither move is best, but they are more than half decent. We have both obstructed our bishops, though I thought nothing of this in the game. It’s incredible how my positional senses have grown since. 

8.  a3 a5 — This is the kind of sequence that confuses beginners. The point of a3 is to try to gain space on the queenside with a later b4. He can’t play b4 immediately because the c6 knight would capture it. a5 is a way to improve my control over the b4 square and lock down my opponent’s play on that side of the board, while also gaining my own space. 

9. d3 Be6 — White’s move is simply defending the e and c pawns while also preparing the dark square bishop to develop, probably to g5 to pin my knight to my queen. The idea of Be6 is to follow up with Qd7 and Bh3, trading off white’s light square bishop, which is defending the king. After that, I can play Ng4 followed by f5 and an all-in attack on the enemy king. Unfortunately for me, this idea doesn’t work. After Qd7 my opponent has Ng5, which eliminates my bishop because it can’t go anywhere(if Bg4 white plays f3). Also, my light square bishop is better than white’s because it’s not shut in behind the pawns. This was a good moment to play Bg4 instead.

10. Be3 Qd7 — My move was a continuation of my earlier idea. Be3 is a move that develops, but not in a meaningful way. Instead of Qd7, I can play Bg4 because Be3 is such a waste of time for white that it doesn’t matter that I spent two moves getting my bishop to g4. Even better is to follow through on my idea of trading bishops with Qc8, which after Ng4 allows the bishop to retreat to d7.

11. Nd5 Ng4 — Nd5 is an annoying move. Knights like advanced, central squares, so theoretically Nd5 puts the knight in a strong position. However, it’s not doing anything on d5, so this is illusory. Ng4 harasses the bishop on e3 and forces it backward to a more passive square. Knights and bishops are roughly equal in a vacuum, but having the bishop pair is an advantage. This is yet another moment I could have played Bg4. I was in attack mode, so I played without thinking. 

12. Bd2 Nd4 — Bd2 retreats the bishop. Nd4 was me saying to my opponent, “You’re not the only one who can have a knight in the center”. It wasn’t connected to a good plan, but there’s nothing wrong with it. My best move was to play the surprising but very logical a4. The point of a4 is that it is prophylactic. My opponent wants to play b4 because they have the support of the bishop on d2 and the knight on d5. Still, after the sequence b4 axb4 they want to take back with a pawn to keep the structure intact, and with my pawn on a4 instead of a5 I can take en passant after b4. 

13. Nxd4 exd4 — This was white’s best move. My knight on d4 is well placed and white’s knight on f3 isn’t, so it makes sense to trade these knights. This has the extra benefit of doubling my pawns on the d file. Still, my pawn is going to be stuck on d4 for the foreseeable future because it’s difficult for white to attack it. It controls e3 and c3, which is bothersome for white’s dark square bishop. It also gives me the e5 square for my pieces, either my knight or bishop.

14. Bh3 c6 — Both of these moves were terrible. Bh3 is just dumb. My opponent was tired of the bishop being terrible on g2, but it has tactical issues on h3. I have two good moves here. I could have played Ne5, which is the best move. The point is to win the d pawn. Do you see how? The other one is to sacrifice the knight on f2. The reason I played c6 is that I thought it would be a helpful addition, and then to Ne5 because I didn’t see any useful squares the knight could retreat to, so I might as well remove it from its strong post on d5. What I should have considered was useful squares the knight could move forward to, namely b6.

15. Nb6 Qd8 — The knight is now forking my rook on a8 and my queen on d7, so I’m going to lose material. I’m lucky because white only has a small advantage, but that’s not how it felt during the game. I thought I was going to lose my very first tournament game. This is a classic problem: push a pawn you shouldn’t have pushed and suddenly end up in a losing position(I'm not losing yet though)

16. Nxa8 Nxf2 — During the game, I was very proud of Nxf2. The point is that if I take the knight on a8 immediately then Bxe6 and I’m certainly worse. Nxf2 gives me some counterplay after the continuation of the game. Unfortunately, it was the right idea executed in the wrong way. Ne3 was better, but I didn’t see it at all. The problem is that white can play g4 on move 18 and trap the bishop on h3. 

17. Rxf2 Bxh3 — The smoke is almost clear. 

18. b4 Qxa8 — The last part of this tactical line. White plays b4 to open the position for their rooks and sets up a small trap. Again, g4 was better here. Black can’t play axb4 because when white recaptures the knight is suddenly defended and black is just down a rook. Qxa8 avoids this. Black has the bishop pair and a safe king as compensation for the exchange(an exchange being a rook for a minor piece). White also has doubled pawns after bxa5, which is something. The bishop pair doesn’t matter so much because the center is closed. White has a material advantage and an active position. 

19. bxa5 Qa6 — Qa6 is a bad move. When I was first looking back at this game, I didn't see why I played this, but the phrase “right idea, wrong implementation” stuck in my head. The point is to support the d5 pawn break, which would open the center and free my bishops. It does this indirectly by pinning the c pawn to the d pawn. The problem is that white can play g4 in this position to trap my bishop, and even if they don’t, their attack is still faster than my counterplay. I should have played h5 to prevent g4. 

20. Qc1 d5 — Qc1 makes white’s position worse because they lose the option to play g4. I remember thinking, “If they play Bh6 I’m going to resign” because without the bishop pair my position just looked hopeless, but  Bh6 immediately would have been a blunder. Instead of d5,  I could have prepared it with Rd8, which also nullifies the danger of Bh6 because then Bh8 preserves my bishop pair, but I was so dead set on d5 that I played it without thinking. 

21. Rb1 dxe4 — You cannot imagine my relief when my opponent played Rb1. It’s a blunder, and the position is equal again. The crazy thing is that most moves won for white, including exd5 followed by Rb1. I knew immediately that Alejandro wanted to play Rb6 to attack my queen. This signaled that he didn’t know what to do in this position. But dxe4, breaking up white’s center and opening up the bishop pair gives black enough to hang on. I was back in the game, and I knew it. 

22. Rb6 Qa8 — I still didn’t think I could win this game. I was playing for a draw. However, Rb6 is another poor move from white. It lets me bring my queen around to the kingside. 

23. dxe4 d3 — My passed d pawn is a major headache for white, and my g7 bishop now has free range over the open diagonal. The crazy part is that dxe4 from white is the only move that avoids a slight disadvantage. See if you can spot the other idea behind d3; it is key to the game.

24. Rb3 Qc8 — Qd8 was better, but getting the queen to the kingside was the right idea. Right idea, wrong implementation once again. The issue with Qc8 instead of Qd8 is it allows white to trade bishops with Bc3. The g7 bishop is a monster and white shouldn’t allow it to continue to exist. The other, more evident, issue is that it lets white play Rxd3. I honestly didn’t notice that my pawn was hanging. My opponent must have overestimated my abilities, as he played Rf3.

25. Rf3 Qe6 — Alejandro probably thought that there would be a problem with Rxd3, but that there couldn’t be one if the rooks were connected. Black is slightly better now. Qg4 was better than Qe6, but not by much. The point is that after either rook takes my pawn I can take the e-pawn. 

26. Rbxd3 Qxe4 — This position is dead drawn, but black is the one with pressure. White’s king is exposed, and Qe2 and Bd4+ are major threats. The position is so difficult that if white had played Rexd3 instead of Rbxd3, black could either force checkmate or win the queen(can you see how?).

27. Rde3 Bd4 — This was the final nail in white’s coffin. White wanted to attack my queen and force me to move it, but I merely pinned it to their king. It seemed like the most obvious tactic in the world. The rook is lost, after which black is still attacking. 

28. Qe1 Qxf3 — Qe1 was another blunder. My opponent forgot that his pinned rook wasn’t defending his other rook. My queen threatens Qg2#. There’s a forced checkmate in 3 moves here after any move by white. Try to spot it. 

29. Qf2 Qd1+ —Qd1+ was simply a move I played too quickly. As is common, I saw that Bxe3 led to checkmate immediately after: 29…Bxe3 30. Bxe3(white can’t play Qxe3 because of Qg2#, they can’t leave the bishop on e3 because of Bxf2#, and they can’t take my queen because their queen is pinned) Qd1+ 31. Qf1(or Qe1) Qxf1#(or Qxe1# if Qe1 last move). 

30. Be1 Rd8 — Rd8 was silly and based on nothing. It was more of a show of force than anything else. The continuation of the game is forced. 

31. Rxd8 Kg7 — This whole line was based on a miscalculation. I should have played Kg7 first instead of Rd8 immediately. 

32. Re3 Qc1 — These moves are both forced. White can’t afford to lose the queen, so they must block my bishop with their rook. I want to keep my huge material advantage, so I add pressure to the pinned rook with Qc1. 

33.  Qe2 Qxe3+ — The rest of the moves in this game are better understood as a unit. I work to checkmate my opponent with my two bishops, and my opponent goes for stalemate by running themselves out of moves. 

34. Qxe3+ Bxe3+ 35. Kh1 Kf6 36. c5 Bxc5 37.g4 Ke5 38. a6 bxa6 39. g5 Ke4 40. a4 Kf3 41. Bf2 Bxf2 42. a6 Bg2#