[Event "FICS unrated blitz game"]
[Site "FICS, Fremont, California USA"]
[Date "2003.02.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Luy"]
[Black "flbernardo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1112"]
[BlackElo "1155"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[ECO "C41"]
[Annotator "Luy, Bracco"]
[EventDate "2003.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 {Philidor's defence. A very common opening. I sometimes
play that myself although I prefer four knights defence. -Annotator- It's a
matter of taste! Four Knights and Philidor are two perfectly playable openings}
3. Nc3 c6 {This move was strange. I suppose he tried to increase centre
pressure on d5. -Annotator- This move is thematic in the Philidor. To be
honest, I heve never seen any game whit c6 played at this early stage, but I
can't see any refutation so far. The  proud c6 pawn basically prevents any
White piece intrusion on the d5 square (a Knight or the Queen, very dangerous
if combined with a Bishop in c4 with pressure on f7). If White advance his d
pawn to d5, Black has two options: to trade the pawns with cxd5 or to further
push his c pawn in c5 without allowing dxc6 e.p., that leaves black with a
weak pawn in d6} 4. d4 {IMHO a normal aggressive move to keep the pressure on
the centre and develop an knight. -Annotator- Your Humble Opinion meets the
approval of hundreds of Grandmasters all over the world !!! :-)} 4... Qe7 {
This move was really bad and I should've taken more advantage of that. The
queen blocks the dark bishop and the queen might eventually get pinned in
front of the king. -Annotator- Qe7 is a poor move, but there's no immediate
way to exploit that. Hadn't Black played c6, an aggressive plan could have
been 5.Bg5,Nf6 6.Nd5! and Black is forced to weaken his kingside pawns. Note
that the pawn in c6 prevents Nd5, the most straight action versus themisplaced 
black Queen} 5. Bc4 {I just wanted to be able to castle and I thought this
would be ok and as aggressive as possible. -Annotator- A develop move cannot
be bad in such a position. The misplaced Queen will be catched later} 5... h6 {
I was not gonna move my knight there for a couple of moves. He tries to block
my path with my knight but I didn't find that very important. -Annotator- An
useless weakening and a waste of time. Nothing serious was threatened; a
simple development move like Nf6 would have beenbetter} 6. d5 {I didn't want
to take and allow him to develop his queen to e5 so early. -Annotator- I would
have prefer the kingside castle, for three reasons: 1) Development 2) You
moved twice a pawn in the opening with several pieces still at home 3) With d5
you blocked the center. Let me try to explane these three points. 1) the
easiest one: Unless you have a valid reason to postpone that, please develop
your pieces! 2) In the opening, move your pieces/pawns only for the strictly
necessary number of times. In this case black was threatening nothing (exd4
could have met by Qxd4! - the e5 square is under White control). 3) In closed
positions one or two tempo doesn't make a relevant difference; in open
position they do! Black moves like Qe7 and h6 could have been punished
effectively with a fluid center. Did you consider 6....., c5 as an answer to
your push in d5? Black has closed the center and can take some breath (b6, Ba6
and Na6/d7 or g6, Bg7 and Nf6)} 6... Nf6 {He just increases pressure on my e4
pawn in a normal developing move. -Annotator- correct} 7. dxc6 {-Annotator-
There was no need to alter the central structure. The center is VERY VERY
important. One should alter the central structure only when it represents an
advantage. Once more castling was preferable} 7... bxc6 {I expected him to
take back with his knight, but I suppose he wanted to avoid wholes in his pawn
structure on the c file.-Annotator- Nxc6 would have removed the control of d5
square and weakened further the d6 pawn. With a pawn in c6 Black sooner or
later can hope to get rid of the d6 weakness pushing in d5} 8. O-O Ba6 9. Bxa6
{I thought that I could lure out the knight to the edge as it would be less
useful there. -Annotator- Correct} 9... Nxa6 10. Re1 {Trying to get rid of
pawns so that I can check and catch his queen. -Annotator- Excuse me, but I
can't figure out how you can get rid of your (blocked) pawn in e4 putting a
Rook behind it :-). The only way to clear the center was to leave your pawn in
d4, inviting black to capture it with his e5 pawn, but you played d5 a few
moves ago.... I would have preferred Qe2 (winning a tempo: the a6 Knight must
leave his post) followed by Rd1, putting under pressure the backward pawn in
d6} 10... g6 {Black prepares fianchetto.} 11. Qd3 {I increase central support
and threaten the edge knight. -Annotator- Qe2 could have done the same,
furthermore would'n have allowed the response Nc5!} 11... Nc5 {
... Which results in a counter threat. -Annotator- :-) read my previous comment
} 12. Qc4 {I'm wishing to get rid of the knight so that I can check by Qxc6+
and then Qxa8+. -Annotator- Black is not forced to move the c5 Knight. Did you
consider Qe6 as an answer to your Qc4 move?} 12... Bg7 13. Na4 {
An attempt to lure away the knight to check on c6.} 13... O-O $2 {-Annotator-
This is a mistake that leaves Black with an horrible pawn strusture. Qe6 was
the only move here} 14. Nxc5 dxc5 {Black gets isolated double pawns which
should be a weakness, but I was too tired to see any immediate attacking
strategies. -Annotator- Black weaknesses are the most relevant theme in this
position. A simple plan is to put the pawns under pressure keeping the
initiative. If Black resists without any material loss, White can try to trade
off as much figures as he can and play an endgame. With this pawn structure,
if  we imagine for a moment to take off all figures from the board, the pawn
endgame is definitely winning for white!} 15. b3 {I wanted to be able to
fianchetto the queen bishop and increase pressure on e5. -Annotator- Too slow.
Be3 would have put immediately under pressure the c5 pawn and posted the
bishop in a better square (watching to both sides)} 15... Rab8 {I don't see
any meaning with this move. -Annotator- Hard to say. Perhaps Black intention
was to attack your queen by mean of Rb4} 16. Ba3 {Just pinning the c5 pawn to
improve my position, perhaps I should make it more active somewhere on the
king side instead. -Annotator- With Be3 you mean? :-)} 16... Nd7 17. Rad1 {
My rook has finally found an "open" file. -Annotator- A gorgeous one!} 17...
Rfe8 {This only adds protection to e5 which isn't really threatened.} 18. Rd3 {
I want to be able to move it along the third rank to begin a king side attack.
-Annotator- This is a very important information to discuss. Rd3 looks like a
doubling manoeuvre, but you played it with a different purpose, a King side
attack. That's why FICS annotators want to know which was the idea behind
every relevant move. In this position, as I told before, the most important
theme is the bad pawn structure of Black. His castling is pretty well defended
and has no weaknesses. The real problems for Black are the c5 pawn and the "d"
file. The Knight in d7 looks somewhat silly defending the pawn, and doesn't
allow the Black rooks cooperation.} 18... a5 {Black wants to split up the
middle to develop the rook, but a rook and a pawn is not enough.} 19. h3 $2 {
I prepare a square for my knight regardless of the small weakness I just
created. -Annotator- useless to say that this move is a waste of time. Since
you were following a wrong plan, all the moves pertaining to it are at least
useless. Better would have been Red1, winning the c5 or c6 pawn.} (19. Red1
Red8 20. Rd6 $18) 19... Rb5 20. Nh2 Nb6 21. Qc3 {
We both seem rather locked on the queen side.} 21... h5 $2 {-Annotator- I
can't see any reason to further weaken the black castle. Without this move
hardly white could have get any result from his attack} 22. Rg3 $2 {-Annotator-
Despite the new weakness, the Black castle is far from be dead.  White was
still in time to play on the "d" file with Red1 or Qd2, a more secure plan.}
22... Kh7 {He wants to put his king in a position he considers being safer.}
23. Bc1 Qe6 {-Annotator- Black could have played for some activities with 23...
., a4, followed by the a4xb3 pawn trade and Ra8} 24. Nf3 {
Now I got the knight where I wanted it.} 24... Bh6 {I wanted to exchange
bishops so that I could be able to check with the queen. Not important but it
would feel good. ;)} 25. Bxh6 Kxh6 26. Qe3+ Kg7 27. Ng5 Qe7 {-Annotator- A
more or less forced sequence. You missed a great opportunity playing.....} 28.
Rf3 $2 (28. c4 Rb4 29. a3 $1 {-Annotator- and black must give the knight for
two pawns if he want to save the rook} 29... Nxc4 30. bxc4 Rxc4) 28... Rf8 29.
Rg3 {-Annotator- c4 was still possible} 29... Rb4 30. c4 {I was also
g a3 to make the rook move away, but I decided to trap it instead.} (30. c3 $1
{-Annotator- This was the correct sequence for trapping the rook!} 30... Rb5
31. c4 Rb4 32. a3 $18) 30... a4 31. Nf3 f6 $2 {
-Annotator- An horrible move. Why the g6 pawn must be abandoned in this way?}
32. Nh4 $1 Nxc4 33. Rxg6+ {Checking with the knight would also be possible
with both of us losing our queens as a result, but I wanted to improve my
position and kill his queen without me having to lose mine. -Annotator- there
was no hurry to capture on g6} ({after} 33. bxc4 Rxc4 34. Nxg6 $1 {
stronger than Rxg6} 34... Qe8 35. Nxe5+ Kh7 (35... Kh8 $4 36. Qh6#) 36. Nxc4
$18) 33... Kf7 34. Qh6 Ke8 35. Nf5 Qd8 36. Ng7+ {-Annotator- bxc4 was better:
the knight his captured and the attack keeps all its options} 36... Kd7 37.
Rd1+ Nd6 38. Qxh5 Rxe4 39. Qf5+ Kc7 40. Ne6+ Kb6 41. Nxd8 $4 {-Annotator- Why?
This move throws away almost all white advantage. Qxe4 was the correct move}
41... Nxf5 {Black resigns -Annotator- The most surprising move to me was this
resignment. Black has suffered for fifteen moves, and now that white has
blundered he resigns.:-)  What can we say about this game? Black made a couple
of poor moves (Qe7, h6) in the opening. White didn' take the opportunity to
complete quickly the development (d5 and d5xc6) and black was reinstated in
the game. Then black missed Qe6 and white created a bad weakness in the black
pawn structure. Suddenly white turn its attention to a wrong plan, but black
transformed it in a winning plan by means of two positional horrors (h5 and f6)
. In my opinion both the players need to improve their strategical knowledge. 
 I hope you find these comments helpful.} 1-0

