Where is the fatal move? Is the white doomed?

[umberto]

Hi,
I am in no way an expert. I spent the last three days (couple of hours a day) to understand two things about this game:


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 e6 6. Be3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 Bd7 9. a4 Nd4 10. Nh4 Rc8 11. a5 Bc6 12. b3 Qc7 13. b4 Rfd8 14. bxc5
dxc5 15. Nf3 (15. f3 Nxe4 16. fxe4 Bxh4 17. Rf1 Bf6 18. Qg4 Nxc2) 15.. Bd6
16. Ng5 Bxh2+ 17. Kf1 Rb8 18. Bc1 Rbc8 19. Nf3 Nxf3 20. gxf3 e5 21. Bb2 h5
22. f4 exf4 23. Qf3 Ng4 24. Qh3 g6 25. e5 Re8 26. Ne2 Rcd8 27. d4 cxd4 28.
Bxd4 Bd5 29. Bb5 Re6 30. Rec1 Bc4 31. Rd1 Bxb5 32. Bxa7 Bxe2+ 33. Kxe2
Qxc2+ 34. Kf3 Rxd1 35. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 36. Kg2 Qg1+ 37. Kf3 Rxe5 38. Qg2 Qd1# {
Black mates} 0-1

Is the white doomed after move 18-20? Or is there a strategy that couldl bring him to the victory? And where is the fatal error?

I appreciate experts comments :-)

Umberto

P.S. I know the game was badly played...

[Dame]

Umberto welcome to the forum

Since I am by no means an expert I would like to leave giving an opinion and/or advise to other members here who definitely have more experience than I do.


I hope they will read it and react

[csmullen]

I shall react this afternoon!, i will take about an hour to browse through it and comment, but i will reply!,, just bit bust atm. Im sure we have a residential Grandmaster lurking on the forum somewhere:P maybe he could give us an opinion

Ill probably disagree with him, just for the thrill of it:P

[umberto]

Thanks everyone. I will also run this game through an engine to see the comments. I was just surprised that after move 18-20 I didn't found any good move!

Thanks again also for the welcome,
Umberto

[chicharon]

Dear Umberto,
White's problems began with the patzer move 10. Nh4. Instead of this, White could have taken with either the bishop or the knight; e.g. 10. Bxd4 or 10. Nxd4 and either way he wins material and gets a clear edge. Before 10. Nh4, both white and black were playing like masters until move 9 when white essayed 9. a4?!, a move I cannot find in my database of 3 million games.
I wanted to analyze the whole game for you but it's not really worth the effort. It's too flawed and there were so many weak moves starting from move 10 that the game does not deserve to be studied, I'm sorry to say.
The move 9. a4?! was apparently intended to prevent an ...a6 then ...b5 sally by black, but the move creates a permanent weakness at b4.
White would do well to read more on the openings, and endeavor to learn tactics and strategy.

[umberto]

Thanks a lot for the analysis... I am very new to chess and I am learning. Sometime I win sometime I don't... :-) I knew this one was played very badly. At least I got 9 moves ok ;-) I'll check my game again from scratch tonight. Thanks again!

Umberto

[potfur]

Hi ,

1. Why didn't you put your d-pawn to d4 in your third or fourth or fifth move? Do you usually play that way against sicilian or you just wanted to experiment? Do you like position with the blocked center? Some players do.

2. I guess that you and your opponent wanted to keep the center blocked and that was why you did not noticed black's 6.. d5! or black's 7.. d5! or blacks 8.. d5 moves. Or.. you saw 6.. d5 but hoped to win in the tactical complications (after 7.Bb3 d4, 8.e5 Nd7 9.Bg5 f6 10.exf6 gxf6 11.Qe2) ?

3. You 9.a4 was not the best move but if you went 14. b5 instead of 14. bxc5? the was no reason to lose immediately.

4. Yes, 10.Nh4 was.. far from ok. Try 10.Nxd4 next time.

5. After 18. g3 you would trap black bishop. Look at that.

..to be continued

[umberto]

Very nice indeed. I see now the bad move at 10. Tactics tactics

Thanks a lot!

Umberto

[potfur]

So there were three important moments imho:

1. You did not play d2-d4 and in consequence you had no space for your pieces.

2. You started a very.. original action with 9.a4 and 10.Nh4. And you could get a very nice game with 14.b5 and 15.Nf3

3. The 14. bxc5 was not good (some would say it was awful) as you opened the d-file and the b8-h2 diagonal for Black's attacks.

What do you think?

[umberto]

So...

1. Correct. I agree on this. Wrong move.

2. have to look into this line... mmmmh

3. Ehm yes.

All right. Thanks for your analysis! Fascinating!

Thanks to all

Umberto