F-file attack!

Hello there to all my fans. That's right, I'm talking about you. Here is a game in the Philidor's defense where I did well in the early parts of the opening, got into some minor trouble with the king safety, but then was able to quickly counterattack while defending my weaknesses on the kingside. [Event "rated blitz match"] [Site "Free Internet Chess Server"] [Date "2009.01.16"] [Round "?"] [White "waparker"] [Black "----"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1157"] [BlackElo "1129"] [ECO "C41"] [TimeControl "600"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 The Philidor defense with 3. d4. White aims to take control of the center. If it were white to move, white would exchange pawns, then Queens, then white would win the e-pawn and black would lose the right to castle. Usually black here will develop the queen's knight to d7 to protect the e-pawn (3 ... Nc6 is regarded as a bad move, as it can transpose into a variation of the Ruy Lopez favorable for white, the Steinitz Defense, and doesn't resolve the threat of removing the Queens from the board). The other options are to exchange the center pawns, or to gambit the pawn with f5. 3 ... exd4 Black choses the exchange variation. In fact I've never seen anyone play anything else on the internet in the Philidor's defense. 4. Nxd4 Bd7 Perhaps this move is too passive. A better line seems to be 4 ... Nf6 attacking the e pawn, 5. Nc3 g6 preparing the kingside fianchetto. 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. O-O Nf6 7. Nc3 Black has finally started to challenge my presence in the center with ... Nf6. I have some slight pressure on the f7 pawn. 8 ... Ne5 8. Bb3 Be6? After a quick inspection of this position I realized I would win a center pawn by exchanging. However, for whatever reason I took with the bishop first, giving me two knights in an open game. Better is 9. Nxe6 fxe6 10. Bxe6 9. Bxe6 fxe6 10. Nxe6 Qe7 11. Nf4 I chose Nf4 because I want to establish a knight on d5 on the open file. It will tempt black to play c6 to kick the knight which permanently weakens the d6 pawn. This is from Nimzowitsch's theory of play on open files. 11 ... O-O-O 12. Nfd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 Qd7 14. Bg5 Re8 15. f4 h6 16. Bh4 Nc6 17. Qd3 g5 This is where I felt I went slightly off. My bishop has become a target to allow white to open the files directed toward my king. Rybka still gives white a two pawn advantage, so I guess it's not that dangerous. I missed Rybka's choice 18. Nf6 in this position, forking the queen and rook. 17. Qd3 seems quiet but I wanted to connect the rooks and the Queen becomes very useful on the f1-a6 diagonal later. 18. fxg5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 Not only have I won another pawn, but the f-file is now open for me to double rooks. 19 ... Re5? This looks like a blunder. It allows me to exchange my problem piece, this hanging bishop, for one of the rooks by playing... 20. Bf6 Bg7 21. Bxe5 Bxe5 Black's compensation is a very strong bishop on e5 looking straight at my king. Here's where I start making defensive mistakes, which, if black had played "energetically" would have made for a much tougher position for me. Here Rybka suggests 22. h3 22. g3? Qh7 23. Rf2? Here Rybka suggests 23 ... Bxg3 24. Qxg3 Rg8 pinning the Queen to the king. 23 ... Bd4 Trying to pin my rook to my King, but I found Ne3 blocking. 24. Ne3 Be5 Now the threat of Bxg3 isn't as dangerous after I double rooks on the f-file because I can force the exchange of rooks. 25. Raf1 b6? This seems to be a losing move, as it opens up the diagonal for Qa6+. 26. Qa6+ Kd8?? Better was Kb8, as Rf8+ can be blocked by Nd8. This is the losing move. After this move Rybka's analysis jumps up to +300 (i.e. forced win for white). 27. Rf8+ Rxf8 28. Rxf8+ Ke7 What is the winning move in this position? 29. Qc8!! 1-0 I am glad I found this move. Here is the position: White threatens mate in two places: if this were white to move, he could play Nd5# or Qe8#. It is impossible for black to guard these two squares at once. So, for example, if Qg6 then Nd5#, if Nb4 then Qe8#. If Nd8 then Qxd8+ Ke6 Qe8#. For black, Qf7 covers both squares, but is met by Nd5+ Qxd5 Qe8#. This is the point in the game where black resigned. In fact there is only one move that black can play: d5, to create an escape square. Rybka continuation: [29 ... d5 30. Re8+ Kf6 31. Qe6+ Kg7 32. Nf5+ Black must give up his queen for the knight. 32 ...Qxf5 33. exf5 Bd4+ 34. Kg2 Ne5 Black must protect from the mate on g6, but now black does not protect f6. 35. Re7+ Kf8 (35. ... Kh8 36. Qc8# ) 36. Qf6+ Kg8 37. Qg7# 1-0 ] So in summary, black played a bit passively in the opening, and I won a few pawns and then the exchange of bishop for rook. Then I blundered, allowing black to get some pressure on the h-file, but black missed the move Bxg3. After doubling on the f-file and a final pair of blunders from black, I reached a devastating mating position (mating net). Thanks to chessvideos.tv for their diagram generator, and to Chessops for the info on the Philidor's defense. Finally I completed a game on this blog.