This was a fun game against a portable computer. I have been trying to gain some stealthy moves in various openings against the computer and have been able to generate some Tal-like looking moves in some of them.
This game has to be my most risky where I sacrifice a knight and 6! pawns to gain a good attack, and to play some Tarasche styled impeding moves.
I strive to play like Tal or Leonid Stein as much as possible, and this game is my effort at carrying on the tradition.
In the game, the open space around my king is in stark contrast to the congested pawns in blacks position, at least until the end when I take away pawns around the king to win.
I annotate my games without computer assistance, so there are a lot of notes and thoughts included. The game is in PGN format, so best viewed in a pgn view. I used Chesspad2, an excellent free program.
Take a look and tell me what you think?
[Event "Man vs Computer"]
[Site "A home"]
[Date "2009.12.10"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Matt Thomas"]
[Black "Computer - FH020"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D90"]
[Opening "Gruenfeld: three knights variation"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 {The game takes on an Indian flavor.} 4. Nf3 {More
typical is 4.e4 for strong central control with a long range strategy, but I
play against an immediate 4...e5 knowing that after 4...d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4
black has to make a choice of ...Nb6 or back to ...Nf6 and white has control of
e5.} 4... d5 5. Bf4 {!? I decide on the fly to play a gambit. The bishop is
developed to a controlling square where it can have influence on the black
position, and leaving the option of e3 to be played with the bishop outside the
pawns.} 5... dxc4 {Black accepts the gambit which frees d5 for a knight now that
the c4 pawn is removed.} 6. e4 {I decide to play a risk move for mobilizing the
bishop and with a threat of e5 to the knight. Safer is 6.e3, but I like the
tempo gained every time a pawn is sacrificed.} 6... Nh5 {Black opens a bishop
line to d4 while attacking the loose bishop. The pawn is held for now.} 7. Bg5
{The bishop move is played to encourage a weakening ...f6 or ...h6 by black
before choosing Bh4 or Be3.} 7... Nc6 {Black now has a triple threat to d4
against the double guard by white.} 8. Qa4 {Applying a pin, after which Qxc4
gains some central control in a tradeoff for the d4 pawn.} 8... O-O {Black
breaks the pin to the knight so that ...Nxd4 is possible.} 9. Qxc4 {Equalizing
for the moment materially.} 9... Nxd4 {Black gains material while increasing
central control, but the bishop at g7 is not the only sliding piece that will
influence the center.} 10. Nd5 {!? Threatening Nxc7. Alternatively 10.Rd1 could
have been played with 10...c5 expected, but I like the text move because it
forces the knight back out of the center.} 10... Nc6 {Indirectly guarding c7.}
11. Rd1 {! A threat to the queen which siezes the d file and forces ...Be7,
because if 11...Qe8?? then 12.Nxc7 ! forks queen and rook. The text move forces
black to incur a pin as a result.} 11... Bd7 12. g4 {! Forcing clearance for h4,
h5 moves.} 12... Nf6 13. h4 {! The g pawn is offered in sacrifice to gain a
break in the castle.} 13... Nxg4 14. h5 {! The text move virtually forces
14...gxh5, because otherwise 14.hxg6 has two bad responses of 14...fxg6?
15.Nxd7++ or 14...hxg6? opens the h file for a queen rook battery.} 14... gxh5
15. Rxh5 {Now white exerts pressure on h7 and will next work towards aligning
the queen on h7 as well.} 15... Bxb2 {Black now has a 3 pawn advantage, but the
text move is perhaps a bit greedy because it loses 2 tempos that could have been
used for defense.} 16. Qc2 {! The queen aligns on h7 while making black spend
another tempo on a retreating move that while defensive is not bringing in
another piece to the kingside.} 16... Bg7 17. e5 {! Another powerful move opens
a mating threat to h7 forcing blacks next move.} 17... h6 {Black seems to have
defended against all attacks for the moment, but white has some excellent
positional advantages like the rook threat to the queen, the advanced pawn at
e5, the next move Nh4 will bring in another piece with further attacking
potential, and a rook lift is on the way, and the f1 bishop can be developed
into the attack aimed at f7 and g7. The bishop at g5 is safe because of the
mating threat after ...hxg5?? Qh7 mate.} 18. Nh4 {Playing the knight with
considerations for a Ng6 sacrifice.} 18... Rc8 {Black defends c7 with the rook,
which now frees the queen to be mobilized.} 19. Bc4 {Giving black pause before
attempting to push the f pawn.} 19... Re8 {Black aligns on the king with the
idea of creating a pawn break to open the e file.} 20. e6 {!! Locking the rook
out of using the e file and forcing ...fxe6 because of the rook threat to the
queen would give white a free tempo, and freeing g6 for the white queen.} 20...
fxe6 {Forced or the bishop is lost.} 21. Qg6 {! Sacrificing the knight to gain
attacking potential. The text move is better than trying to sacrifice the d5
knight anywhere because that would allow black to make a freeing move.} 21...
exd5 22. Bxh6 {! The threat of Qxg7# forces blacks next response. Sacrificing
the bishop for initiative.} 22... Nxh6 23. Rxh6 {The rook is safe by pin to the
bishop and offers Qh7+ for white. The c4 bishop is offered, but not expected to
be taken due to the impending threat of mate by Rh7 and Qxg7 mate.} 23... e6
{Black makes a freeing move to gain ...Qe7, but is behind by a tempo.} 24. Qh7+
{The beginning of a forcing positional king hunt.} 24... Kf8 {Alternatively
...Kf7 leads to a slower mate in 30 moves.} (24... Kf7 25. Bd3 Ke7 26. Qxg7+ Kd6
27. Nf5+ Kc5 28. Rc1+ Kb6 29. Qb2+ Ka5 30. Qb5#) 25. Ng6+ {Forcing move.} 25...
Kf7 {The g7 bishop becomes pinned again, this move is the only one possible.}
26. Rd3 {! Bringing in the next piece needed to finish the mating net.} 26...
Kf6 {Forced because otherwise Rf3 forces ...Qf6 as the only blocker to mate, and
then the queen is lost to Rxf6. Only move.} 27. Rf3+ {Another forcing move.}
27... Kg5 {Only move.} 28. Rh5+ Kg4 {Only move.} 29. Rg3# {An intesting mate
pattern where white uses the white squares for the mating pieces, except for g3
a dark square not under blacks influence.} 1-0
Grunfeld sacrificing N and 6P to win
Linear Mode
