Full game: https://lichess.org/drJWlh2PdUBS

I played the white pieces.

 

This game started out simply with a King’s Indian Defense (1. d4, g6 2. c4, Bg7 3. Nc3, Nf6 4. e4, d6 5. Be2, O-O 6. Nf3, Nbd7). This opening is popular among top players (top 10% of players) so much that at 6 moves for each player, nearly 150,000 games had been played in this position on Lichess. The position developed naturally until the first mistake by my opponent. On move 7, black played c5. This is a mistake because it blocks his own knight from moving to the c5 square. Placing his knight on c5 is very powerful as it reaches far into my position and severely restricts the movement of my pieces as well as attacking important, central pawns. In addition, with the move a5, it is extremely hard to remove the knight from c5. I have included an example position where, just a few moves later, his knight would be very strong.

 

The game continued with each player playing relatively accurate moves until move 14. On move 14, I played b4. My initial thought was to play b4, Bb2, and challenge the c5 square. Unfortunately, my opponent played on the kingside with Nh5 and Nh3 which won an exchange on the spot with the threat of Bd4, pinning my rook to my king. (15. Rf2, Bd4). While playing, I did not see my opponent’s idea.

 

Even worse, on move 16, I missed a tactic that, if my opponent had seen, would have outright given black a winning advantage. While playing, I saw a set of potentially game ending moves 16. Bb2, cxb4 17. axb4, Qb6 18. c5, Nxc5 19. bxc5, Qxc5.

This would have allowed my opponent to win an exchange and 2 pawns. Also, there are many ideas to start attacking with many pieces near my king and easy pawn breaks such as f5. Fortunately for me, my opponent also missed the tactic and so, the game went on.

 

On move 19, black played e5, opening the position. I responded with bxc5 and trading in the center had many pawns come off the board. (19. Kxf2, e5 20. bxc5, Nxc5 21. fxe5). Trading pawns in the center significantly opens the position. In general, opening the center is a double-edged sword and usually benefits the player with the stronger king protection. In this game, I believed both sides had poor king protection, but the semi-open g-file on his king gave me better attacking chances. Also, opening the center would allow my bishop on b2 larger vision to point at his king.

Then on move 21, black played e5, giving up the protection of the e6 square. This is a critical error since, a couple moves in the future, I can place a protected passed center pawn on e6.

 

On move 24, I played e5, forcing his queen away from the center to then play e6! e6 is such a powerful move in this position as it develops 3 important ideas. Firstly, it completely opens the sight of the B2 bishop. The bishop now cuts off important escape squares for the black king and creates many different attacking ideas along the diagonal later into the game. Secondly, black’s bishop on c8 is staring at a protected pawn and is essentially a useless piece for black. For my opponent to get his bishop into better position, it would take 3 tempos of b5, bxc4, and Bb7, and even then, it would be looking at a protected pawn. The poorly placed bishop also creates problems for the a8 rook. The rook is staring at the c8 bishop and so it will take at least 4 tempos to get the rook into a useful position. Thirdly, the pawn covers the f7 square, taking away yet another important escape square. 

 

A few moves later (24. e4, Ne4 25. Kg1, Ng5), my opponent threatened to take my h3 pawn with his knight due to the pin of the g2 pawn. Playing h4 was not an option as the same pin would lead to the capture of my knight on f3 without the likely prospect of taking the knight back. So, in this position, I considered Nxg5, Kh1, and Ne5. As much as 26. Nxg5 leads to a trade of knights, it is also a waiting move of sorts. My pawn center is a massive advantage as it heavily restricts black’s pieces, and many moves later, the pawns will likely lead to a promotion. Although this plan is fine and completely winning, it requires calculating many moves down the line with many variations. 26. Kh1 has similar ideas of Nxg5 with letting the massive pawn center leading to a victory, but similarly, it is not forcing. 26. Ne5 is a more complicated move to initially analyze. Most obviously, Ne5 attacks the queen, so it forces my opponent to make a choice of 2 moves, move the queen to g7 or play Nxh3+. Playing the queen to g7 puts the queen in line with the bishop on b2 in which I would play Ne2 leave in 1 piece between my bishop and my opponent’s queen. This variation gives a clear, massive advantage to white and so, Nxh3+ needs to be considered. After Nxh3+, I thought that playing Kh2 would be the best as it attacks the knight, but more importantly, the white king cannot be put into check from this position, and it sets a trap. Also, after Kh2, the queen is still attacked by the knight on e5, forcing a queen move and allowing the capture of the knight with the g2 pawn. gxh3 as compared to Kxh3 is important as it opens the g-file, opening a direct line to the black king. Here again is the importance of 24. e6 as it opens the c5 for the knight to jump into. Overall, I played 26. Ne5 as it was the most forcing line. The game went as I described after Nxh3+ (26. Ne5, Nxh3+ 27. Kh2, Qg5 28. gxh3).

After 28. gxh3, my opponent played Qf5+, with the idea to take the knight on e5. On move 29, I played Kh1, as opposed to Kg1 or Kg2 to ensure that I could play Rg8 if needed. Black’s next move was Qxe5, regaining the material advantage but leaving a huge weakness, Rg1+!!. From here, the black queen is trapped and has to give itself up to prevent immediate checkmate, but directly after Rg1, my opponent resigned.

1-0

 

Key concepts:

Material advantages are only valuable if the pieces are serving a role in the game.

Controlling the center with connected pawns is very valuable.