Game reviewed at the Dayton Chess Club on June 12th, 2013.  G/15, names removed.  Game commentary and analysis by:  M. Kellie

1.   e4                   g6

2.  d4                    Bg7

3.  c3                    c6

Position Look:  White has control of center and Black seeks to attack the center with an unconventional approach, possibly delaying a counterstroke in favor of many other possible transpositions.

4.  Bd3                 d5

5.  e5                    h5?

Position Look:  Black is now mixing systems; is this a Caro-Kann, a King’s Indian, or perhaps even a French?  The move h5 here is very aggressive and strikes immediately for a possible King wing attack; perhaps, Black even wants to make White think twice before castling to the King side?  h5 also  delays giving away Black’s opening ideas and patterns and gives many, many non-standard possibilities to the second player.

6.  Ne2                 Nh6

7.  O-O                 O-O

8.  Nd2                 Bf5

Position Look:  What patterns are we now seeing?  A reversed London system or Caro-Kann?  The mixing of systems is said to be ‘not-so-good’, and yet, Black seems to be doing just fine thus far!  Which proves that rules or principles of the game are not…’set-in-stone’.  Part of the fun of chess is knowing when to break the rules or principles and when, …not to!

9.  Nf3                  Bxd3

10.  Qxd3             e6

11.  Nf4                Nf5

12.  h3                  h4!

Position Look:  Black seems to stop any King side counter-attack possibilites with h4!

13.  Bd2               Nd7

14.  Rae1             c5

Position Look:  Both sides now signal their attack intentions.  White desires to play on the King side and Black desires to blow a opening through the Queen side.  Who’s intention is more committal and therefore, unlikely to succeed?  IMO, …White…for how does White blow a opening through the King side?

15.  Re2               Qb6

16.  Bc1                cxd4

17.  cxd4              Bh6

Position Look:  Black now seems to forget about his plans on the Queen side?  Is this move necessary?  IMO, …NO

18.  Rfe1              Kg7

19.  b3                  Rfc8

Position Look:  Black now goes ‘All-In’ for his Queen side play/ideas.  What can White do?  It appears that Black’s ideas will likely win since White is stalled in the middle and on the King side.  Black must now feel very good about his break-through possibilities!  After all, he owns the only open ‘highway’ on the board…the open “c” file!

20.  g4!                hxg3 e.p.

21.  fxg3              Nxg3

Position Look:  Yes,  White has sacrificed a pawn and greatly weakened his King side position; however, White has also shifted the focus back to the King side and, created many tactical possibilities…as we’ll now see…

22.  Nxe6+!         fxe6?

Position Look:  Better would have been Qxe6! but as expected, Black is stuck in his Queen side ideas.  Now, with the risked move sequence White had hoped for, Black opens the floodgates to White’s …ideas; remember, ideas in this game are more important than material (usually), not to mention part of the fun of chess.  Ideas, Ideas, Ideas!  It’s about IDEAS!!!

23.  Bxh6+           Kxh6

24.  Qe3+             Kg7

25.  Rg2                Nf5

26.  Qg5               Nf8

27.  Qf6+             Kg8

28.  Kh2!              Qc7

29.  Reg1             Ne7

30.  Ng5               Nc6

31.  Nxe6             Qf7

32.  Rxg6+           Resigns