Any comments about this game I played

[David Blower]

1.d4 d5 { Both move our queen pawns forward 2 } 2.c4 Nf6 { He moves his c pawn I develop knight } 3.e3 e6 { e6 gives my d pawn some more protection } 4.a3 Nc6 { I develop my other knight } 5.Nf3 dxc4 6.Bxc4 { An exchange of pawns } 6...Bd6 { And I then develop my Bishop } 7.Nc3 Bd7 { He develops his knight, I develop my other Bishop } 8.O-O O-O { We both castle } 9.d5 exd5 10.Nxd5 { An exchange of pawns } 10...Nxd5 11.Bxd5 { Is followed by an exchange of knights } 11...Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 { Another exchange this time of Bishops } 13...Ne5 { I bring my knight to the centre of the board, of course i am also attacking the queen } 14.Qd1 c6 { Pawn attacks the Bishop } 15.Ba2 { The Bishop retreats } 15...Qe7 { The lady comes out connecting my rooks } 16.b4 Rad8 { Bringing my rook to the centre } 17.Qc2 Ng6 18.Bb2 Be5 19.Bxe5 Nxe5 { An exchange of Bishops } 20.Rad1 Rd6 ( 20...Rd7 ) 21.Rxd6 Qxd6 { An exchange of rooks. The original plan was to get both rooks in line. Peraps Rd7 on move 20 was better? } 22.Rd1 Qf6 23.Bb1 g6 { Blocking the queen and the Bishop on that diagonal. A draw is offered by my opponent here, I reject it saying "not yet!" Was I right to play on in this position? } 24.Qc5 Re8 25.Qd6 Kg7 { King protecting the queen in case of an exchange } 26.Qxf6+ Kxf6 { We exchange queens. With only 2 pieces for each side I decide my king may be useful now as an attacking piece. } 27.Ba2 b5 28.f4 Nc4 29.Bxc4 bxc4 { Another exchange of pieces. At least I have a passed pawn now. } 30.Kf2 h5 31.Rd6+ Re6 32.Rxe6+ Kxe6 { Another draw offer rejected by me. I wanted to try out the end game for a while yet. } 33.Ke2 Kd5 34.Kd2 f5 35.Kc3 h4 36.a4 a6 37.a5 Ke4 38.Kxc4 Kxe3 39.Kc5 Kf2 40.Kb6 Kxg2 41.Kxa6 Kxh3 42.Kb6 Kg3 43.a6 h3 44.a7 h2 45.a8=Q h1=Q { OK I was really enjoying this game, even if my headache wasn't. } 46.Qxc6 Qg1+ { I wanted to avoid exchanging queens } 47.Qc5 Qg2 48.Qe3+ Kg4 49.b5 Qa8 50.Qe5 { Draw agreed } 1/2-1/2

[Mike Truran]

2 ... Nf6 isn't such a good idea. 2 ...e6 or 2 ...c6 keeping control over the centre are better. 2 ...Nf6 allows 3 cxd5. If you take back with the queen, 4. Nc3 gains time and central control. If you take back with the knight, 4. e4 does the same.

[IM Jack Rudd]

What would you have done in response to 33.e4?

[David Blower]

Forgot to say, I was black in this game. Although I guess that was obvious anyway from the comments I made.

Since that game I have always played e6 in response to the Queen's Gambit.

33 e4 from my opponent, keeps my own king at bay. I think there is plenty of flexibility with the king side pawn structure though. 33... f6, is my initial thought at first glance.

[Matt Mackenzie]

2 ... Nf6 isn't such a good idea. 2 ...e6 or 2 ...c6 keeping control over the centre are better. 2 ...Nf6 allows 3 cxd5. If you take back with the queen, 4. Nc3 gains time and central control. If you take back with the knight, 4. e4 does the same.

Though there is a little trick White needs to know in that line - if 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nf6!? 3 cd5 Nd5 4 e4 Nf6 5 Nc3 (or 5 Bd3) then Black can strike back in the centre with 5....e5! Thus it is generally considered better for White to prepare the pawn advance with 4 Nf3!

Tbh I don't think 2.....Nf6 is terrible (hence my notation above) and some quite strong players have used it as a surprise weapon.

[LawrenceCooper]

2 ... Nf6 isn't such a good idea. 2 ...e6 or 2 ...c6 keeping control over the centre are better. 2 ...Nf6 allows 3 cxd5. If you take back with the queen, 4. Nc3 gains time and central control. If you take back with the knight, 4. e4 does the same.

Though there is a little trick White needs to know in that line - if 1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nf6!? 3 cd5 Nd5 4 e4 Nf6 5 Nc3 (or 5 Bd3) then Black can strike back in the centre with 5....e5! Thus it is generally considered better for White to prepare the pawn advance with 4 Nf3!

Tbh I don't think 2.....Nf6 is terrible (hence my notation above) and some quite strong players have used it as a surprise weapon.

That e5 trick is useful to know, I'll revise my advice to juniors accordingly

[Roger de Coverly]

33 e4 from my opponent, keeps my own king at bay. I think there is plenty of flexibility with the king side pawn structure though. 33... f6, is my initial thought at first glance.

Doesn't White just win with the plan of Ke3-d4xc4? The structure of pawns on a7, c6 and c4 is very difficult to defend.

[FEN "8/p7/2p1kpp1/7p/1Pp1PP2/P6P/5KP1/8 w - - 0 33"]

I would be inclined to think this is the critical position, where both players have to consider which endgame structures are in their favour

[FEN "4r3/pp3p1p/2p2kp1/4n3/1P6/P3P2P/B4PP1/3R2K1 b - - 1 27"]

I don't like .. b5 at all, although there's a tactical problem of finding a square for the Knight after f4. Perhaps .. Re7 to allow the Knight to retreat to d7.

.. g5 even to give g6 as a retreat square and to break up the pawn majority.

It's an unbalanced ending, both with the respective pawn structures and the Bishop against the Knight. Fischer would demonstrate that the Bishop was the better piece in such positions.

[Matthew Turner]

It seems to be that you have a very good understanding, but that there are a couple of lessons to be learnt in the opening. In most 'simple' openings White will try to establish a pawn on e4 or d4 and Black a pawn on d5 or e5. That means that in principle 2....nf6 is not a good move because it will lead to a situation where Black doesn't have a pawn in the centre of the board.
Similarly, it is unusual to see the move Nc6 in d4 d5 openings. If you understand why this might be the case then it will take you a long way in understanding the d4 d5 set up. You might start by thinking that if you want to undermine White's d4 pawn you'd like to play c5 - then the knight or c6 gets in the way. If on the other hand your centre was under attack you might need to play c6 to support your d5 pawn and again the knight on c6 gets in the way. Where then should your knight go? And what does this this mean for where the rest of your pieces are headed and the order in which you develop your pieces.
Best of luck, but I imagine you'll be a relatively strong player in short order.

[David Blower]

33 e4 from my opponent, keeps my own king at bay. I think there is plenty of flexibility with the king side pawn structure though. 33... f6, is my initial thought at first glance.

Doesn't White just win with the plan of Ke3-d4xc4? The structure of pawns on a7, c6 and c4 is very difficult to defend.

[FEN "8/p7/2p1kpp1/7p/1Pp1PP2/P6P/5KP1/8 w - - 0 33"]

I would be inclined to think this is the critical position, where both players have to consider which endgame structures are in their favour

[FEN "4r3/pp3p1p/2p2kp1/4n3/1P6/P3P2P/B4PP1/3R2K1 b - - 1 27"]

I don't like .. b5 at all, although there's a tactical problem of finding a square for the Knight after f4. Perhaps .. Re7 to allow the Knight to retreat to d7.

.. g5 even to give g6 as a retreat square and to break up the pawn majority.

It's an unbalanced ending, both with the respective pawn structures and the Bishop against the Knight. Fischer would demonstrate that the Bishop was the better piece in such positions.

I have to say, on reflection, that 27... b5, is probably a bad move from myself. The light squared bishop for white, is a more powerful piece, than my knight, and b5 simply fixes my pawns on the colour of the bishop, making them potential targets for the rest of the game.

[David Blower]

Best of luck, but I imagine you'll be a relatively strong player in short order.

Thanks. Without looking at the ECF database, would you be able to take a guess at my grade?

[Matthew Turner]

David,
Most people wouldn't play Nf6 on move 2 very often, so I am guessing that you are very new to competition. That perhaps makes it doubly difficult to make a stab at your grading, but you didn't make any big mistakes and if that were typical then I guess you'd be at the top end of minors, so just into three figures. Apologies, or congratulations, if that is wildly inaccurate.
However, the more interesting question (for me) is where you'll be on the Jan 2018 grading list. I'll guess the top end of majors, so using a highly scientific calculation I'll go for 158.
Matt

[David Blower]

David,
Most people wouldn't play Nf6 on move 2 very often, so I am guessing that you are very new to competition. That perhaps makes it doubly difficult to make a stab at your grading, but you didn't make any big mistakes and if that were typical then I guess you'd be at the top end of minors, so just into three figures. Apologies, or congratulations, if that is wildly inaccurate.
However, the more interesting question (for me) is where you'll be on the Jan 2018 grading list. I'll guess the top end of majors, so using a highly scientific calculation I'll go for 158.
Matt

Hmmmmm the game was played on Monday 12th December 2011. It was my 2nd ever ECF graded game.

I'm currently graded 121.

Don't think you were too far out saying I was very new to competition. I'll aim for the 158 for January 2018!

[Matthew Turner]

David,
Do you fancy showing us a more recent game so that we can see where you've improved and where there might be more potential?
Matt

[Jon Mahony]

2.Nf6 not one of Frank’s best ever ideas I used to get a lot of these in the minors when I was a QG player. It isn't loosing for black though, a couple of years ago a few CC players in the 2200+ grading area used it against me, with some early Queen moves soon after.