My first posted game. A Caro-Kann

This will be the first game that I'm going to post here. I played this one two nights ago in the week night tournament hosted by the Queen City Chess Association. I played against a solid player whose rating is 1214. Since I have almost 300 rating points on him I was a strong favorite. However, as one might guess there is no strong favorite when your rating is around the 1500s. I still make many mistakes so good moves are still required.

1.e4 c6
This is the basic Caro-Kann Defense.

2.d4 d5 3.f3
Here White goes for the Fantasy variation.

3...e6
Here I am out of my personal book. I have not yet reviewed this variation so I just happened to find the same move that Chess Master 11 suggests. Here is its feedback: The new approach by Black is 3...e6 4.Nc3 (4.Be3 may be White's next try for advantage) 4...Bb4! where White is only 5% better.

4.Be3
This is the move that Chess Master suggestions however when I saw this during the game, my mind instantly began to look
for ways to win a pawn through the Qd4+ move. With this thought in mind, I didn't even consider the option that Chess Master
suggested at this point (Qb6)

4...dxe4 5.Nc3
At this point, I think that White has to give up a pawn, however in doing so he can obtain some a great developmental advantage. If he would have moved 5. Nd2 and after exf3, Qxf3 then White will be down a pawn but will have developed his queen, a bishop and a pawn to the center of the board and can quickly castle queen side and continue to develop while Black has only two pawns off their starting square.

5...Bb4
Creating the pin and following the plan to win a pawn.

6.fxe4 Qh4+ 7.Ke2
Kd2 would have been better as it doesn't lock in the White Square Bishop (WSB). However, moving the king was better than blocking with the g2 pawn which could open the rook to attack after Qxe4 and Bf2 also allows White to capture the e pawn with check.

7...Bxc3
Creates a weakness by the doubled pawns and allows white to capture the e4 pawn.

8.bxc3 Qxe4 9.Qd2
I'm not sure what White is trying to achive with this move with the exception of adding a protector to the c3 pawn but that isn't being attacked yet. White should have taken this move to develop his g1 knight.

9...Ne7
Black again makes a plan to win the c2 pawn by using his knight to capture the Bishop on e3. Not necessarily a good plan. Black should start looking to develop his pieces and start a solid attack instead of going for a pawn at the expense of his second developed piece.

10.Nf3 Nd5
Black took a while to decide on this move. White has the option of Ng5 which might allow for the chasing of Black's queen.

11.c4
Ng5 would have been better as this allows Black to win the c2 pawn.

11...Nxe3 12.Qxe3 Qxc2+ 13.Nd2 Qb2
Black is still being greedy and goes for another of White's pawn and creates an outside passed pawn which could prove decisive in an endgame.

14.Rb1 Qxa2 15.g3
White is working to develop his bishop and connect his rooks. The connected rooks could cause serious issues for Black's lone queen.

15...Qa5
Moves the queen to a square that allows retreat away from White's rooks to c7 or across the 5th rank if necessary.

16.Bg2 Nd7
Black tried to develop a piece here but he might have been better served by castling. this would allow him to leverage the half open d file and put his king in a pretty safe position.

17.Ra1 Qc7 18.Qa3
The queen now prevents Black from castling and there is very little that Black can do about it. It also creates some very strong squares for White along the a3 - f8.

18...c5
Black needs to make some space here. The d and c pawns are pretty strong as they can be backed by the rooks and supported by the queen.

19.Ne4 O-O
This was a critical move. Without a castle here Black will start to get cramped and can eaisly fall apart.

20.Nxc5 Nxc5
Black trades down material and hopes to ride his two pawn advantage and the newly created "weakness" of the doubled c pawns. Although, I'm not sure if the c pawns are a big weakenss because they reach to the fifth rank and restrict the movement of Blacks queen and b pawn while White's bishop pins down Black's bishop and a rook.

21.dxc5 Rd8 22.Rhd1 Qe5+
Black was looking to develop the queen a bit before capturing on D1.

23.Kf2 Rd4
Black was hoping that White would capture the rook, which would have been a blundering by also dropping the c4 pawn after Qxd4+.

24.Qc3
This was a strong move, however it would have been slightly stronger to have done Qb2, which still partially pins the rook and provides a secondary attack on b7.

24...Qf5+
Black has to free the rook from the pin.

25.Bf3
White moves the bishop into a pin. He would have been better served by moving the King to e1, away from danger but still centralized.

25...Rxd1 26.Rxd1 Qxc5+
Grabs that advanced c pawn with check.

27.Kg2 Kf8
Black makes this move to centralize his king and to bring it to bear against Rd8+. However CM indicated that this was really bad but I'm not sure if I fully agree with the system. I think I'm going to have to have someone else look at this for another view of the position. Here is what CM indicates: "Leads to 28.Rd8+ Ke7 29.Qd2 Kf6 30.Rg8 e5 31.Qd8+ Qe7 32.Qxe7+ Kxe7 33.Rxg7 h6 34.Bd5 Kd6 35.Rxf7, which wins a queen for a queen and two pawns. Better is h6, leading to 28.Rd8+ Kh7 29.Qd3+ f5 30.Re8 Qc7 31.g4 Qb6 32.gxf5 exf5 33.Kf1 Qb2 34.Qd5 Qc3, which wins a pawn for a pawn. This was black's only significant error, but the game remained within reach of either player. White eventually resigned."

28.Qd3
As I'm not sure about CM's review of Rd8+, I thought White made a good attacking move here. He is threatening mate and the h7 pawn. If White takes h7 with the queen then Black will lose major material. It took a while for me to find this move as well and it is what I consider one of my best moves of the game.

28... f5
Protects against Qxh7 and creates room for the king to run with Qd8+. !!

29.Qd8+ Kf7 30.Bxb7
This is a major blunder and White resigned after Black recaptures with his bishop and calls check. (White has lost a bishop for a pawn and will lose his queen for a rook.)

30...Bxb7+
White resigns after this move.

Overall, it can be said that when you are up in material it is easy to lose the game. I almost did that here. I need to be more concerned with position and solid moves that I am with grabbing pawns hoping for a winning endgame. After all, not all chess games get to the end game.

The other thing that this points out is my poor understanding of the major Caro-Kann Defenses out there. I'm trying to play this opening as one of my primary responses to 1.e4 but I have never seen this opening before. So, I pulled out my MCO and there it is. So, I need to hit the books harder I guess, even the books that I already own.

Have fun all.