Good job making the annotations!
Re: Game 1
Tl;dr cliffs
The two main lessons that I've learned from the game:
1. If you play an opening where you put pawns on both c6 and e6 while keeping the bishop on c8 (incl. the Semi-Slav and the Modern Caro-Kann), you have to do it with a pre-designed plan that helps you push one of them soon enough, otherwise your queen's bishop will be out of play, as after a b7-b5 push, the c6 pawn becomes backward and is then harder to push. (The same, with the board flipped, applies to the Colle System.)
2. To slow down an opponent's attack in an opposite-side castling position, when he challenges your pawn with his, consider pushing your pawn instead of exchanging it, in order to keep as many files closed as possible, even if this involves sacrificing your other pawn. (I think this technique is often seen in the Sicilian, the Dragon in particular, you can find plenty of games in those lines.)
As a club player, I'd prefer the Classical Variation (4... Bf5) if the Caro-Kann were in my Black repertoire. There's nothing wrong with the Modern Variation (4... Nd7 that you chose) in top-level competition but I find games easier to play when my light-square bishop is developed instead of sitting on c8. Once the bishop is brought out to f5-g6, White can certainly take it with the knight (Ne4-g3, Ng1-f3-h4/e5xg6) but he'll lose tempi on knight moves and open the h-file for Black's rook in the process so he won't be much better even despite the bishop pair. Plus, Black avoids the complicated Nxe6/f7 lines typical of the Modern Caro, which is useful if Black feels that White is booked up. It's a matter of taste, though.
You're correct in that it was risky to play h6 before move 7. However, once you played the key move 6... e6 and White spent a tempo on the calm move 7. c3 instead of playing the sharpest option 7. N1f3, you could have kicked the knight with 7... h6 already - 8. Nxe6 fails to work then because of 8... Qe7 (pinning and winning) and White's underdevelopment as opposed to the 7. N1f3 h6 8. Nxe6! line that
Deep Blue used to crush Kasparov (and White wasn't a tactically precise computer in your game anyway), while 8. Nxf7 doesn't give White enough compensation either - it seems to me that Black's king will feel quite comfortable on g8, though, as mentioned, I'm not a Caro specialist and there are a lot of tactical finesses in the Modern Caro.
As played at move 7, you're correct in that 7... Bd6 is significantly better than 7... Be7 (and about as good as 7... h6 - this and Bd6 can be played in any order) and I don't see why you thought that h6 would be impossible after Bd6.
One seemingly thematic computerish line goes like this: 7... Bd6 8. N1f3!? h6 9. Nxe6?! Qe7 10. O-O fxe6 [of course not Qxe6?? 11. Re1] 11. Bg6+ Kd8 12. Re1 Kc7 13. b4 b5 (intending Nd7-b6 taking control of the c4 square and defending e6 with the dormant bishop, also Nf6-d5 to interpose the a2-g8 diagonal) 14. a4 a6 15. axb5 cxb5 16. Qb3 Nb6 17. Ne5 Bxe5 18. Rxe5 Nfd5 19. Bd3 Kb8 20. c4 bxc4 21. Bxc4 Nxc4 22. Qxc4 Qc7 and, believe it or not, Black is holding and winning.
Again, it's all complicated, but as opposed to the Deep Blue game, the inserted moves c3 and Bd6 make it much easier for Black to defend - the d6 bishop plays a good defensive role, while the c-pawn comes to c4 in two moves instead of one.
However, the first real inaccuracy in your game is 10... Nb6?! The best move is 10... b6, intending Bb7 and c5 (activating the initially bad bishop!). Having a firm grip on d5 that's preventing White from pushing a pawn to this square, Black is in a position to open up the a8-h1 diagonal for the monster bishop. If, after c5, White plays dxc5 (not having moved his b-pawn), then Black can comfortably recapture with the knight or, if White has a bishop on f4 at that moment, even play e6-e5-e4 gaining tempi and space. In fact, 10... b6 gives Black an advantage. Having a bishop with a great scope is more important here than having a decent knight on d5.
As played, at move 11 (and at move 14 too), it was still appropriate to push c6-c5. Black's bad light-square bishop needs to be developed sooner or later; in this case (after the Nd7-b6 that has blocked the b-pawn), it's supposed to come to c6 through d7.
You did see the problem and eventually deploy that bishop to b7, but the issues with your setup (with the knight on d5 and the pawns on a5 and b5) are that:
1. The knight blunts the bishop and can't go to another active square to open the bishop up.
2. The b-pawn lacks support on b5 and requires the c-pawn to remain on c6 instead of being pushed to c5, so the bishop remains bad on b7/a6.
3. To resolve the loose b-pawn issue, you could push it to b4, but then White would simply reply with c3-c4 hindering your attack. Compare it with the c6-c5 push that White wouldn't be able to meet with d4-d5.
The setup with the pawns on a6 and b5, the bishop on b7, the knight on d5 and the c-pawn pushed to c5 would be better, though White would have a plan to push c3-c4 challenging the knight (prepared by a2-a3 or b2-b3), exchange his c-pawn for the b5 one and target Black's weak a-pawn. So I'd still prefer a setup with the pawns on a7 and b6 (and the c-pawn exchanged on c5), the bishop on b7 and the knight on c5.
Fortunately for you, White didn't work out these positional subtleties either and played 14. O-O-O?! instead of 14. a4!
Then he found the good (but quite standard when White is castled long, Black is castled short and has a pawn on h6) move 15. g4! but immediately blundered with 16. f4? instead of (equally good) 16. g5 or 16. Nf3.
Fast forward to move 22 (with no arguable points in between), the plan in opposite-wing positions is to fight fire with fire on the opposite flank like you correctly did, but to avoid exposing your own king too much, in particular, try to use an opponent's pawn as a shield for your king.
For subtle concrete reasons, that's what you should have done 3 moves later: 25... g6! 26. h5 bxc3, the points being 27. hxg6 fxg6 28. Bxg6? Bg2! 29. Rg3 Rf1 30. Be4+ Kh8 -+, 27. Qg1 Kh8 28. Qxg6? c4! (deflection) 29. Bxc4 Rf1+ 30. Nc1 Rg8 31. Qd3?? Rgg1 -+ (White has to give the queen to prevent a fast mate).
As for the further game, you annotated it quite well so I'll stop here.
Thanks for sharing this instructive game!
I don't have enough time to go through game 2 yet.
Last edited by coon74; 01-08-2017 at 02:00 PM.
Reason: put the cliffs first