Lichess4545 Game Analysis 7

Summary
I finally turned in something besides a loss to my 4545 team! Hoo. Ray. I was black and opted for a Sicilian defense, something I don't really play but I'm trying to keep my opponents from doing any prep work--maybe not the best idea. I briefly looked at the najdorf and dragon, openings I'm vaguely familiar with just because I watch a fair amount of the Super-GM tournaments and I've at least seen some of the general ideas play out in those games. The problem with just "trying stuff" in my opening is that I don't really have a reliable opening repertoire. I think so far in almost all my 4545 and Lonewolf games this season, I've got out of the opening down a pawn or in an awkward position. I can't recall a feeling of "I'm solid here" at all.

In this one, my opponent played an unexpected bishop move pretty early and we never went down any kind of classical open Sicilian type game I was thinking. I ended up castling pretty late because my opponent rightly opened the position while my king was in the center. Then I got a weak c-pawn that I ended up losing. After some trades I then lost another pawn to some intermezzo tactics and then the endgame I had to chase down two outside connected passed pawns with my king. I'm sure that was completely losing but I gave it a go because we both had one knight and I knew if I could collect the outside pawns and get my king and knight back over without losing too many of my pawns, there were promises of getting it down to rook-pawns which are very hard to promote. That's what happened and we ended up drawing after a nearly 3-hour game.

I think the most telling fun fact of this game was that 8 of my first 9 moves were pawn moves. After 9 moves I had 3 pawns out, my structure was weird and all my pieces were on their original squares. White had one piece out, they were castled, and their structure was better. A totally winning opening for white I think. My 4th, 6th, and 7th moves were the most careless.

My annotations without engine assistance:
Copy and Paste this into a lichess study or the ChessTempo PGN Viewer. My opponent also informed me they added a lot of "whisper" notes into the spectator room so I'll try to track those down when I'm home and add them in!

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ { B51 Sicilian Defense: Canal-Sokolsky Attack } Nc6 {I'm okay with doubled c-pawns, it'll help with my center. Plus I didn't want to allow bishop trade with Bd7} 4. O-O {Safe king. I wouldn't castle until move 16, lol} a6 {I should've developed a kingside piece instead. If 4. ...Nf6 I didn't like 5. e5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 hitting c6 twice but 6. ...Qc7 should work there, and if Qf3, I have Bd7 if I need more support.} 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. c3 e5 {Not sure why I played this, I don't think e5 from white would hurt, and my move only delayed my kingside development. At this point, AKA move 6, I have five pawns off their original squares and no pieces developed (one traded off)} 7. d4 {probably correct from white to open up the center} exd4 {Bg4 might be best here. I shouldn't let the center open up. Bg4 gets a piece out, slows white down some, and protects the queen in case a queen trade ever happens.} 8. cxd4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 c5 10. Nf3 Ne7 {10. ...Nf6 11. e5 dxe5 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. Nxe5 with a good knight for white and Nxf7 threat} 11. Nbd2 {I didn't see 12. Nc4 idea} g6 {11. ...Be6 12. Ng5 so perhaps Nc6 is okay with Be7 and 0-0 to come} 12. Nc4 d5 {12. ...Nc6 protects d6. I feel like I'm just reacting with no attack of my own but I think d5 isn't the right move. I recall being worried about e5 at some point but d5 would work in response I think.} 13. exd5 Qxd5 {Trying to take off some attacking pieces to get my king safe} 14. b3 {Unexpected. I was expecting the queen trade and calculating, I like black's position if 14. Qxd5 Nxd5 15. Rd1 Bb7 16. Ne3 Rd8 or 0-0-0. so maybe that's why white didn't go down that. Black's c-pawn is a weakness though.} Bg7 {Trading queens just gives white the d-file and I didn't see another move that'd prevent Bb2 from white which would be sadness.} 15. Bb2 Bxb2 {15. ...0-0 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Re1 Qxd1 18. Rxd1 and that must be losing for black.} 16. Nxb2 O-O 17. Rc1 {Simply attacking the weakness. I didn't give white much trouble in the opening. They dictated play well and I mis-played a few moves. It's equal material but white is centralizing rooks and has targets whereas I am not fully developed and my pawn structure is bad. Seeing how the game played out and the c-pawn weakness, I think one of my biggest errors was 12. ...d5} Rd8 {I don't see how to save the pawn so my strategy will be to get pieces off the board and trade off pawns. I'm playing for a draw at this moment.} 18. Rxc5 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 20. Nxd1 {Here is the endgame. The obvious imbalance is material, white has two connected queenside pawns to my one. White's rook is also more active but I do like that I have a bishop. I feel okay about holding this.} Nf5 {if Be6 21. Nd4} 21. Nc3 Be6 {Looks like a good square. I missed the next simple move though. I guess ...h6 was better} 22. Ng5 {Oh. Shit.} Rc8 23. Nxe6 {Missing tactics now.} Re8 {I felt I was getting clever, noticing the knight is pinned to stop back-rank mate. I am, however, not looking ahead to 1 and 2 move tactics.} 24. Rc6 Nd4 {Played quickly, thinking I had cool tactics with the back-rank mate issue. I attack a pinned piece a second time, but I was getting too cutesy with trying to just get the piece back. Best is Rxe6 which trades rooks or 25. Rc8+ Kg7 26. f3} 25. Rxa6 {Another missed intermezzo} Nxe6 {Rxe6 forces the rook trade but I'm now down two pawns so I play to keep the Re1# threat open. It is hope chess though, a good player will see that in a long time-control game.} 26. Ne4 Nc5 27. Nf6+ {This forces consolidation and was completely missed by me. My goal was to get pieces off the board and hopefully draw a pawn-down endgame but I dropped a second pawn and this should be losing.} Kf8 28. Nxe8 Nxa6 29. Nf6 {A bumpy road to get to a losing endgame. I have to corrall the connected passers. White likewise should have raced his king over there.} h5 30. Nd7+ Ke7 31. Nb6 Kd6 32. f3 Kc5 33. Nd7+ Kb4 {I'm getting close to gobbling} 34. Ne5 Ka3 {I have to sac the f-pawn for these two pawns, they were white's big threat.} 35. Nxf7 Kxa2 36. g4 {White must find some maneuver to capture black's two pawns while black's king and knight are so far away: 36. h4 (one pawn freezes two) Kxb3 37. Ne5} Kxb3 37. g5 Nc5 38. Ne5 Ne6 39. f4 Nxf4 40. Kf2 Nh3+ 41. Kg3 Nxg5 42. Nxg6 Kc4 {42. ...Ne4+ 43. Kh4 Nf6+? 44. Kg5 losing the pawn} 43. h4 {white did well not to play Kh4 here. This must be a draw.} Nh7 44. Kf4 Kd5 45. Kf5 Kd6 46. Nf4 Ke7 47. Nxh5 Kf7 48. Ng3 Nf6 {If black can keep his knight here, white can never play h5} 49. Kg5 Nh7+ {Still drawn, but there is no need for me to move my knight. I can just hover with my king to keep it protected and white never can safely advance the pawn. These plans are hard to come up with in time pressure but they're essential in endagmes.} 50. Kh6 Nf6 51. Nh5  Nxh5 52. Kxh5 Kg7 53. Kg5 Kh7 54. h5 Kh8 55. Kg6 Kg8 56. h6 Kh8 57. h7 { Draw by stalemate. } 1/2-1/2



Here's the raw PGN:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ { B51 Sicilian Defense: Canal-Sokolsky Attack } Nc6 4. O-O a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. c3 e5 7. d4 exd4 8. cxd4 cxd4 9. Nxd4 c5 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Nbd2 g6 12. Nc4 d5 13. exd5 Qxd5 14. b3 Bg7 15. Bb2 Bxb2 16. Nxb2 O-O 17. Rc1 Rd8 18. Rxc5 Qxd1 19. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 20. Nxd1 Nf5 21. Nc3 Be6 22. Ng5 Rc8 23. Nxe6 Re8 24. Rc6 Nd4 25. Rxa6 Nxe6 26. Ne4 Nc5 27. Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Nxa6 29. Nf6 h5 30. Nd7+ Ke7 31. Nb6 Kd6 32. f3 Kc5 33. Nd7+ Kb4 34. Ne5 Ka3 35. Nxf7 Kxa2 36. g4 Kxb3 37. g5 Nc5 38. Ne5 Ne6 39. f4 Nxf4 40. Kf2 Nh3+ 41. Kg3 Nxg5 42. Nxg6 Kc4 43. h4 Nh7 44. Kf4 Kd5 45. Kf5 Kd6 46. Nf4 Ke7 47. Nxh5 Kf7 48. Ng3 Nf6 49. Kg5 Nh7+ 50. Kh6 Nf6 51. Nh5  Nxh5 52. Kxh5 Kg7 53. Kg5 Kh7 54. h5 Kh8 55. Kg6 Kg8 56. h6 Kh8 57. h7 { Draw by stalemate. } 1/2-1/2