Surprised he didn't play 29. Kh5 or 29. h3 to avoid 29. ...Qh3#, but basically, this guy seemed like an extremely solid opener who destroyed me in 26 moves the last game and, quite frankly, I have no idea how to play against the English. BabasChess referred to my response in move 1 as the Anglo-Indian Defense, so I figured I did at least something right (:P). I can't see how my sacrifices could work unless he blunders, which I'm pretty sure he did at least twice, so I'm hoping you can help me out.


[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "Free Internet Chess Server"]
[Date "2009.07.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "atyb"]
[Black "troycm"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1764"]
[BlackElo "1433"]
[ECO "A17"]
[TimeControl "1200"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 b5 7. Qb3 Nc6 8.
Nxb5 a6 9. Nc3 Rb8 10. Qc2 Nd4 11. Qd3 Bb5 12. Qb1 Bb4 13. Nf3 Bxc3 14. bxc3
Nxe2 15. Ba3 Bd3 16. Qd1 Ne4 17. Ne5 Nxf2 18. Kxf2 Qf6+ 19. Nf3 Nxc3 20. dxc3
Qxc3 21. Qa4+ c6 22. Rac1 Rb2+ 23. Bxb2 Qxb2+ 24. Ke3 Qe2+ 25. Kf4 O-O 26.
Qd4 f6 27. Kg4 Bf5+ 28. Kh4 Qxg2 29. Qe3 Qh3# {atyb checkmated} 0-1

What are you thinking with 6. ... b5? Nxb5 just wins it directly. I can't see what the point is even if he randomly doesn't take it, since you just made his Bg2 into god. Lucky for you, he made about 20 bad moves in a row, and you actually went and tried to threaten things, and it worked (14. ... Bxe2 wins a piece I think). He's mated by force (quickly) after Kf4, but one of the guys with an engine can give you the fastest line.

yeah, I knew 6. ...b5 was a blunder. I'm a pretty fast-acting player and I normally don't take more than a minute to make a move unless I'm heavily pressured, but I saw that it would be defended by the bishop so I impulsively made it before realizing that that pawn's attacked twice, not just once.

14. ...Bxe2 immediately drops the knight on the d-file, which is defended by the queen but attacked by both the c-pawn and the knight on e3, so that's no good.

I'm not sure how a fast mate is forced after 25. Kf4 because the knight guards d2 and the queen guards e4. One idea, I guess, is 25. ... e5+ 26. Nxe5 Qd2+ 27. Kg4 f6+ 28. Kh4 (Kh3) Qh6#, I have nothing more to pressure him with if he just decides to play 26. Kg4 g5+ 27. Kh3 and he can seal the game with Qxc6+ if I don't castle. Correct me if I'm wrong.

After this and the previous game, I'd strongly encourage you to just focus on basic opening principles and not hanging material in the early stages of the game. So here, I think 6. .. Bc6 is good. Just challenge his super strong bishop while protecting b7 and developing a piece. I'd probably have preferred 5. .. Nd7 planning a timely Nb6 but your way is fine too imo.

After 6. .. b5 things get kind of random. Just work on developing your pieces naturally, make one or two central pawn moves, castle your king and only start attacking when it's justified and you have something decent to go after.

You hit his queen with Bxe2. I didn't mean he was mated by a series of checks, just that he's not getting out of it.

You need to make sure your moves have at least a nominal point- at your level, even getting pieces on reasonable squares is a decent approach to the opening. A move like b5 is just.. inexplicable as anything other than a 1-ply threat. You can't have thought it does anything good by force (oh no, the queen moves, then what?), and it doesn't make any sense as part of any plan. I mean, 1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 g5?!?! makes more sense, and it's obviously not a good move either.

Jeez, I didn't even notice the discovery there, even though I think that was the point of Rb8 to begin with. Probably psyched myself out after white played Nf3. I feel stupid now. :<

While I'm generally happy with my middle game when I've accomplished good opening development and my pawn structure's good, I lack good fundamentals altogether, especially with openings and the points leading up to the endgame (which lead to me typically losing endgames), and watching videos and absorbing minor observations during my own games doesn't seem to help me realize anything real important, so I've been wanting to post a lot more in 2p2's forums, and it is helping me realize a lot of stuff I think I should have realized already, but haven't, probably because I've been winning a lot more than I think I should due to good midgame combos that I find when my opponent doesn't play the best move at a given point. So, yeah, it's not showing better results overnight, but I'm definitely appreciate of your help, guys.