Hey guys, that other thread where some guy posts a game was pretty cool. In preparation for the tournament that'll start next Monday, I'm looking back at games I played ages ago! Here it is, along with my comments on my moves back then.

Here is the game in .pgn format for your convenience (I copy-pasted the game into an existing PGN header):

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[Site "FICS"]
[GameBotGameNo "16454952"]
[White "garcia1000"]
[Black "wat"]
[WhiteElo "1412"]
[BlackElo "1680"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
[Date "2009.03.17"]
[WhiteClock "0:05:00.000"]
[BlackClock "0:05:00.000"]
[ECO "A21"]
[PlyCount "38"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be2 Be6 9. O-O O-O 10. f4 exf4 11. Bxf4 Nc6 12. Qe1 Rc8 13. Rd1 Ne8 14. Qg3 Bh4 15. Qf3 Bf6 16. Bd3 Ne5 17. Bxe5 Bxe5 18. Rfe1 Nf6 19. Nd5 Ng4 20. h3 Bxd5 21. Qxg4 Be6 22. Qf3 Bxb2 23. e5 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Bxe5 25. Be4 Rc3 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qh6 Qf2 28. Rf1 Qg3 29. h4 Qh2# 0-1


I have used Fritz to tell me whether my moves were great or not. I have marked bad moves by and blunders with .

White: garcia1000
Black: opponent

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
6. Be3 e5
7. Nb3 Be7
8. Be2 Be6
9. O-O O-O

So far, according to book!

10. f4 exf4

Well, it is time to attack, so let's push some pawns!
I'm pretty sure the exf4 is not the best move for black, and Fritz says that ...Nc6 is better.
It opens a file that only I can use, and my e-pawn is hard for him to attack.

11. Bxf4 Nc6
Fritz recomends Rxf4 here. I am inclined to agree.

12. Qe1 Rc8
Kids do the darndest things! Qe1 here is a waste of time. This is bad since the position is open and the center isn't clarified yet.

13. Rd1 Ne8
After ...Ne8, his d-pawn is protected very well. My next move wastes time and is a blunder.

14. Qg3 Bh4
Maybe I didn't see ...Bh4? Anyway, Qg3 is a pretty awful move. Now Nd5 would be my first move because of the positional maxim "block the square in front of a weak pawn". Note that Nd5 also gains lots of space, threatens to jump to b6 any time, and is just basically a monster. My game would be superior, although black would still have counterplay.

15. Qf3 Bf6
This pins the knight to the b-pawn. Now it is another critical moment.
Fritz recommends 16. e5 Nxe5 17. Qxb7 Nc4 18. Nd4 Rc7.

16. Bd3 Ne5
Bd3 misses the point of the position - the e4 pawn is not under attack, and now black has the option of Bxc3 messing up my pawn structure. It also doesn't take into account black's plan, which is to break out in the center and claim space. After ...Ne5, I think black has equalized or is better.

17. Bxe5 Bxe5
I give up the two bishops for no clear advantage. One of my previous weaknesses was a willingness to go for exchanges without considering other factors, something I have improved on. With this bishop gone, my king is vulnerable and the a7-g1 diagonal is really vulnerable.

Black is now clearly better with his powerful bishops and the threat against c3/b2. In comparison, my minor pieces are doing nothing.

18. Rfe1 Nf6
This move wastes time (e4 is not being attacked, and the e5 bishop can't be dislodged now), and doesn't consider the c3/b2 threats. TBH, I didn't know anything at all about strategy and didn't know what I should have been doing here. This is also an area I improved on.

19. Nd5 Ng4
h3 was needed to prevent Ng4. Well it is pretty much gg from here. I will give the rest of the moves without comment.

20. h3 Bxd5 21. Qxg4 Be6 22. Qf3 Bxb2 23. e5 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Bxe5 25. Be4 Rc3 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qh6 Qf2 28. Rf1 Qg3 29. h4 Qh2# 0-1


---

In conclusion, I made a long series of bad middlegame moves here.

What would you say were the reasons I made these moves - i.e. do you see any evidence of systematic weaknesses in my game that could be eliminated?

I've put my comments in red

White: garcia1000
Black: opponent

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
6. Be3 e5
7. Nb3 Be7
8. Be2 Be6
9. O-O O-O

So far, according to book!

10. f4 exf4

Well, it is time to attack, so let's push some pawns!
I'm pretty sure the exf4 is not the best move for black, and Fritz says that ...Nc6 is better.
It opens a file that only I can use, and my e-pawn is hard for him to attack.
Actually I think Black is in trouble after 10...Nc6?! 11. f5 Bd7 and White will get a free hand on the kingside while you aren't getting any counterplay in the centre. Maybe Black can get away with 10...Qc7!? 11. f5 Bc4. It looks kind of artificial but there are a a lot of situations in this opening where White really wants to keep his light squared bishop even though it looks like a bad piece.

In any case taking on f4 is common enough in these positions - in return for the open f-file Black has the use of the e5-square and maybe the long dark squared diagonal. It makes the d6-pawn look even weaker but that mostly an optical illusion.

11. Bxf4 Nc6
Fritz recomends Rxf4 here. I am inclined to agree.
I would automatically take back with the bishop, maybe Fritz sees some tactical point but I don't.

12. Qe1 Rc8
Kids do the darndest things! Qe1 here is a waste of time. This is bad since the position is open and the center isn't clarified yet.
again I disagree. e1 is a better square for the queen than d1 and you clear d1 for a rook. Unless there's some specific reason you need d5 covered here, but I don't think so, d7-d5 is going to be an option for him either way.

The alternative is to reroute your b3-knight b3-d4-f3 or f5, but you would probably need to play Kh1 first. Maybe this is better. But if you can't come up with this idea then Qe1 is perfectly sensible, you can't call it a blunder.

13. Rd1 Ne8
After ...Ne8, his d-pawn is protected very well. My next move wastes time and is a blunder.

14. Qg3 Bh4
Maybe I didn't see ...Bh4? Anyway, Qg3 is a pretty awful move. Now Nd5 would be my first move because of the positional maxim "block the square in front of a weak pawn". Note that Nd5 also gains lots of space, threatens to jump to b6 any time, and is just basically a monster. My game would be superior, although black would still have counterplay.
I agree Nd5 is a more natural idea, the queen isn't doing enough on g3 or f3. However you have to make sure it is tactically justified here. After 14. Nd5 Bxd5 15. Rxd5 Nf6 you are having problems with your e- and c-pawns: 16. Rd3!? Qb6+ (16...Nxe4!? Bg4 wins the pawn back at least) 17. Be3 Qb4, and it's definitely complicated. This is where Fritz is useful: you can plug in Nd5 and check a few positions and make sure your move is tactically OK. But Fritz won't be much good at evaluating whether a Qg3 plan is fundamentally better than a Nd5 plan.

15. Qf3 Bf6
This pins the knight to the b-pawn. Now it is another critical moment.
Fritz recommends 16. e5 Nxe5 17. Qxb7 Nc4 18. Nd4 Rc7.
Interesting idea fron Fritz, but over the board I wouldn't be so eager to give up my centre pawn and drag his knight to a nice square in return for his b7 pawn and a chance to win his a-pawn. If I thought Nd5 didn't work for whatever reason I'd play something like Rd2 or Kh1 which will at least make some of those tactics not work for Black.

16. Bd3 Ne5
Bd3 misses the point of the position - the e4 pawn is not under attack, and now black has the option of Bxc3 messing up my pawn structure. It also doesn't take into account black's plan, which is to break out in the center and claim space. After ...Ne5, I think black has equalized or is better.
I agree. This piece is a nuisance to you though, if you could magically put it on d5 you would be much better. maybe you could try to put it on f3? If it wasn't for the Bh4 resource you could go Qg3 and Bg4, if I was playing a stronger player I would do this figuring he would either let me improve the bishop -or allow a draw by repetition.

17. Bxe5 Bxe5
I give up the two bishops for no clear advantage. One of my previous weaknesses was a willingness to go for exchanges without considering other factors, something I have improved on. With this bishop gone, my king is vulnerable and the a7-g1 diagonal is really vulnerable.

Black is now clearly better with his powerful bishops and the threat against c3/b2. In comparison, my minor pieces are doing nothing.
well you are already faced with giving up one of your bishops if Black wants to take on d3. But yeah giving up your dark squared bishop like that has to be bad. IMO your position was already very difficult though: you either have to give up the bishop on e5 or sacrifice material after 17. Qf2 Nxd3 when Black will have Bc4 or Bxc3 depending which way you take back.

18. Rfe1 Nf6
This move wastes time (e4 is not being attacked, and the e5 bishop can't be dislodged now), and doesn't consider the c3/b2 threats. TBH, I didn't know anything at all about strategy and didn't know what I should have been doing here. This is also an area I improved on.
this is true, however I don't see any good moves for White. Maybe 18. Be2.

19. Nd5 Ng4
h3 was needed to prevent Ng4. Well it is pretty much gg from here. I will give the rest of the moves without comment.
This is obviously your biggest mistake. After 19. h3 you are much worse but your opponent still has to find some good technique. Below master level players are going to fail to convert these positions all the time. Really - even now would you be confident of winning here if you were Black against a player rated 300 points higher? So it's disingenuous to say "oh I got outplayed strategically and the win followed as a matter of course." It should be "oh I got outplayed strategically and then I made a blunder in a position that was still complex enough for me to have 25% chance to win."

20. h3 Bxd5 21. Qxg4 Be6 22. Qf3 Bxb2 23. e5 Qb6+ 24. Kh1 Bxe5 25. Be4 Rc3 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qh6 Qf2 28. Rf1 Qg3 29. h4 Qh2# 0-1


---

In conclusion, I made a long series of bad middlegame moves here.

What would you say were the reasons I made these moves - i.e. do you see any evidence of systematic weaknesses in my game that could be eliminated?

I think you aren't giving the old you enough credit for trying to play moves that were at least tactically decent. You now have a better understanding of strategy and positional play but it sounds like you have got lazier and regard the tactics as an inconvenient distraction from trying to find some grand strategic plan. For all that you went through your game with Fritz you didn't really seem interested in the concrete variations he offered.

However this obviously wasn't your problem in this game. I think your problem was that you never really had any understanding of what you or your opponent should be doing. I play these positions all the time as White and it always turns out that Black has a wealth of resources even when his pieces and pawns look useless.

Your plans in this position (say around move 12) are limited to restraining the d-pawn or attacking the king but it may be that the first part of either plan should be 12. Kh1!?

I'd actually go back, even into the 'book' moves.

8. Be2: obviously a fine move, but I think this is also a bit of a committal move as I'm not sure how much sense Be2 followed by a later f3 would make, so you're probably going to be heading to o-o here. Not bad at all, but I think I'd prefer f3 here keeping open the option of Qd2/o-o-o and remaining a bit less committal.

9. o-o: again obviously fine. But I would prefer Nd5 here. First it has the same perks as f3 above. It's noncommittal and keeps white's options open while obviously putting the knight on quite a strong square. And it's a move that already starts forcing black to make some decisions and gives him a couple of ways to go wrong. As for its other pros/cons it's a balancing game. You give up longterm pressure of d6/d5 ideas in exchange for a substantial space advantage and the possibility of getting things moving real fast on the queenside.

10. f4: Wild! The thing is, this makes black's plan and proper action of play quite clear. I'd prefer a more restrained move like Qd2 organizing your forces a bit. Black's position is not that easy to play here. Qd2 keeps all your options open (man this is becoming a theme isn't it?) and slowly improves your position. It's not so easy for black to just keep improving his position, and Qd2 gives him a chance to lash out with some sort of rash idea like d5?!

10. .. exf4: This seems obligatory with Nc6 looking borderline suicidal. The problem is you have a massive threat of f5 which is really dangerous. It would simultaneously open the door to a really easy kingside rush with g4/etc, but also it gets rid of the light bishop's cover of d5 also opening the doors for white to get crushing central light square control.

And the problem for white isn't his e4 pawn, but the e5 square! That's now a perfect home for a black knight, and with Bf6/etc black can start organizing some good central and queenside counterplay. Your opponent did a good job of demonstrating these ideas.

11. Qe1: This isn't nearly as bad as your chastising yourself for. It's logical and improves your position.

14. Qg3: Yeah, this isn't great but again I would not call it a blunder.

15. Qf3: But I would call this one a blunder! Qf3 makes no sense. It interferes with your ability to double on the f file and the queen has no future (Qh5 stuff makes no sense without Bd3 or whatever or rook support, and you can't get a rook on the third rank with the queen in its way!) And on top of all of the cons of Qf3, Qe3 has plenty of pros. It covers/reinforces important dark squares all over the board from b6, to d4 and all over the place on the kingside.

16. Bd3: Note how much better your position would cohere with Qe3, with a natural move like Rf3 or whatever here. I would call Bd3 a blunder for the reasons you mentioned.

17. Bxe5: Definitely a blunder, but not because of you giving up the two bishops - but because of how strong your dark bishop is relative to all your other pieces. Your bishop is by far your best piece, and after getting rid of it - you're left with quite a lifeless position. Like imagine if you could somehow trade your light bishop for his knight. You should hop on that in a heartbeat even though you'd be giving up the two bishops!

But yeah, after that your position is dead so there's no use analyzing further.

All in all, there seemed to be a theme throughout here that you forced your opponent to play well. If you look at the game from his side, he did absolutely nothing at all. He just developed his pieces. His first move that wasn't just developing a piece to it's most natural square was 13. .. Ne8 and probably a small mistake. But once you failed to capitalize on it, he again played nothing but some of the most obvious and simple moves for the rest of the game and quickly ended up with a crushing position.

I would definitely start looking at things as far as what each side can accomplish and not just in terms of move-by-move. Like I mentioned before, black's position at the start of the game is not that easy to play well. But with your play as white, you left him with very few options besides what he played - the problem being is that that left him with quite a great position.

I think that the commentary is great, RoundTower. I was going to reply to mention that exf4, Qe1, etc. didn't seem like mistakes at all, and in particular these are not moves that Frtiz is going to be great at anticipating.

As far as how to improve, my advice would be to think more about what the grand goals of the opening are. That way, when you enter into the early middlegame, you have some idea to draw upon that are "generically good" and when your opponent acts in a strange way (by not playing exf4, say) your instinct isn't to open the f-file by fxe5 (which is basically a terrible move) but to play (or prepare) f5.

Neat comparing analysis. I'm surprised you didn't comment on 15. Qf3 RoundTower. That move just makes my eyes bleed.

I had a few surprising successes against higher rated players playing this line of the Najdorf as White. Against lower rated opponents, my score was also higher than expected. (actually, I played 6. Be2 and later Be3)

The Be2/Be3 line is probably the quietest approach for White against the Najdorf. So, I don't think your attack with 10. f4 is in the spirit of the line. If you want an aggressive attacking line, obviously the 6. Bg5 or 6. Bc4 lines can get very wild.

My games tended to continue like this.

10. Qd2 Nbd7
11. a4 Rc8
12. a5 Qc7
13. Rfd1 Rfe8
14. Qe1

It's not an attacking line. White is first focusing on preventing Black from making either the ...d5 or ...b5 breaks. Then, he'll try to mobilize his pieces to occupy d5 with a piece (not trade pieces and end up with his e4 pawn on d5). The knight maneouver Nb3-c1-a2-b4-d5 would be ideal. Though, it's a bit slow.

One opponent (expert on his way to master and achieving an IM norm) was determined to get a piece on c4 immediately and took this apporach.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be2 Be6

9. Qd2 Nbd7 (no castling in this line)
10. a4 Nb6
11. a5 Nc4
12. Bxc4 Bxc4
13. f3 h5 (opponent acknowledged ...h5 was just plain bad after the game)
14. Kf2 Rc8
15. Rhd1 Qc7

The game ended in a draw and my opponent commented that he was a bit frustated by his constrained position. Najdorf games tend to be slugfests with aggressive attacks against each other's Kings (the reason for his weak ...h5. He thought I was preparing g4 and a pawn storm, which I wasn't considering).

The bishop on c4 has surprisingly little influence on White's side of the board since f1, e2, and d3 aren't squares White would typically occupy with any piece other than his bishop.

good point, I agree. I think I just figured the queen is badly placed on any square so it might as well be f3 as e3.

Roundtower and Dire, thank you very much for both of your analysis. Dynasty, too!

It appears that I didn't make as many mistakes as I thought. But I was bad at spotting two tactical threats, made a bad exchange, and wasted a bit of time. Also, I didn't make things difficult for my opponent.

I was pretty clueless about openings back then. (I still am) So I also did not know some of the themes of the openings, for example the d6 backward pawn is pretty safe despite appearances, and so on.

Posting a game and getting your feedback was really helpful! I may do it again and I encourage others to do it, too. Next time I will add in some diagrams as well.