A success

Sometimes I feel I post a lot of failures here. Here's a game where I succeeded. I'm quite happy with it because I had a textbook lead in development and was able to carry off a successful attack. This seems like a big stride forward for me because I see plenty of examples of this kind of thing in teaching materials but always felt like I didn't think I would be able to pull such a thing off myself.  It seems like I successfully recognized a situation where an attack was called for and pulled it off.  Of course, it should be said that I didn't really see anything ahead all through the attack.  I was just playing the move that looked most like an attacking move in each instance.  I'm ok with that.  Anyway, here it is.

globulon - Retiornot

Result: 1-0

Site: Internet Chess Club

Date: 2014.9.12

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 exd4 Technically I believe black is not supposed to take here as it is "the surrender of the center" leaving white with a strong central pawn as opposed to black's more modest one on d6. Still, it seems all the Phillidor players take here. 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 ♘bd7 6.♗c4 a6 7.O-O ♘e5 Up until here I was just playing simple developing moves without a plan but now I start thinking about the fact that I have a lead in development and his king is in the center. 8.♗b3 b5 9.f4 I think one reason that this move occured to me was as a result of a crushing defeat I suffered in a voja simul on ICC the night before. It was a similar situation in that I got tangled up and my king was stuck in the center and he used f4 to start his attack. Of course the other is that it looks great to get another pawn in the center and kick that knight. 9...♘g6 10.e5 My idea here is just to open lines to the king while he's still in the center. Looks like black could have played this part better though. 10...♘d7

10...dxe5 I didn't have any of the following worked out before, but this is what I expected him to play. Not sure about best play but there seem to be a lot of ways for him to go wrong. 11.fxe5 ♘xe5 This seems to lose a piece but it's hard to see where to put the f6 knight otherwise.

11...♘g4 12.e6 ♘f6 13.exf7 ♔d7 (13...♔e7 14.♘c6#) 14.♘e6 ♔c6 15.♘xd8

(11...♘d7 12.♗xf7 ♔e7 13.♘d5#) 12.♖e1 ♗d6 (12...♕d6 13.♗f4) 13.♘c6 ♕d7 14.♘xe5 ♗xe5 15.♕xd7 ♗xd7 16.♖xe5

11.exd6 I'm successful in opening his king. 11...♗xd6 12.♖e1 ♔f8 Now he's lost the right to castle. This often seems to be a key feature of the attack on the king in the center. (12...♗e7 13.♘c6 wins the queen) 13.♘c6 Moving the knight deeper into enemy territory with an attack on the queen. The queen doesn't really have anywhere good to go, but it seems to me Qf6 was probably better than what was chosen. I could hit it there with the other knight but only at the expense of blocking one of my attacking pieces. I thought about playing g3 instead when Nc6 wins the queen since it's trapped, but that seemed to be playing for a trick and I figured it gives him a free move instead of keeping up the pace of the attack. 13...♕h4

13...♕f6 14.♘e4 ♕h4 (14...♕f5 15.g4) 15.g3 The queen ends up sidelined anyway, but the knight's blocking the e-file now. (15.♘g5 Another possibility.)

14.g3 Here I was trying to figure out what to play and looked at sac'ing the bishop on f7 to see if anything would happen. Then I noticed that simply Qd5 is pretty threatening. Unfortunately, Qd5 immediately allows Qxe1#. At least I can play g3 with tempo. 14...♕h3

14...♕f6 This seems like it might be better at first sight because it seem it will do more defensive work here, but the queen is trapped after Ne4. 15.♘e4 ♕f5 16.g4

16.♘xd6 Looks good at first because of the result if cxd6 but the queen check wins the knight. 16...cxd6 (16...♕c5 17.♔h1 ♕xd6) 17.♕xd6 ♔g8 (17...♘e7 18.♕xe7 ♔g8 19.♕e8 ♘f8 20.♘e7#) 18.♘e7

15.♕d5 Threatens mate in one, the only way to avoid it is to shed material. 15...♘de5 16.fxe5 ♗e6 17.♕f3 Keeps the queen in a more attacking position. 17...♗xb3 18.axb3 ♘xe5 Obvious blunder loses a piece.

18...♗c5 19.♔h1 ♕c8 Better, but I remain a piece up and still have some initiative.

19.♘xe5 ♗c5 (19...♗xe5 20.♕xa8 ♔e7 21.♕xh8) 20.♔h1 Mate in 1 still hovering. 20...♕e6 21.♕xa8 ♔e7 22.♘d5 ♕xd5 23.♕xd5 Retiornot resigns

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