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Hey TL because there was some excellent discussion, and wonderful critique of my play- i was hoping if i could press you for some more responses, with this game.
here i am playing white, and while i had opened with the reti, i was hoping to transpose into the ponziani opening. However black surprised me by going with queens pawn. Black ends up resigning, but i was just wondering if you could give me a recap of the exchange that happened in the moves prior. Did i have the advantage even though i was down a pawn?
Thanks again for your time and words of wisdom
here is some music for your enjoyment:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2116169/Stella.mp3
and the game is here
http://lichess.org/analyse/tso10b
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United States24799 Posts
Have you been having computers analyze your games also? A strong computer with enough time can give you a very high-level critique... and if you still want to discuss the game in a blog that can become another talking point... trying to interpret the computer.
The computer even gives you a number to show how much of an advantage/disadvantage you are at including material and position.
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ohh i should really take a look and get one of those programs
thanks for the help micro- ill do that right away, i don't want to sound like a help vampire hehe
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of course you had the advantage, in such a sharp double-edged situation, that tempo you have is worth way more than a pawn.
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i'm not that pro of a chess player but you definitely had the advantage.
I'm practicing to learn chess right now and don't really know much of the terminology but you had the positional advantage no matter what. You've completely collapsed all of his defences from the Queen side which means that the knight over there is 99% dead...and if i remember correctly a pawn<knight.
Please don't flame me if i'm wrong, just dropping my two cents.
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You definetly had the advantage. Your forward pawn is doing some structure damage and your pieces are more active than blacks are.
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I would probably give you the edge in that position, but I don't think your position is good at all, he can still castle while you can't and if we assume that he will pull his rook on a8 to d8 in 2-3 moves, which he should. Then you are going to have problems getting your king to a safe position while also trying to get your own rooks out in the open. His Bishop on f5 is also very annoying since it controls a very nice offensive diagonal. If you can take advantage of his undeveloped position before he can do anything about it you should be in good shape, but if you can't then he is in a much better position.
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[B]Did i have the advantage even though i was down a pawn?
It's really hard to tell without looking at possible moves in detail. My guess is that black is probably winning. He should play b7-b5 to defend against the discovered check with c6xb7 and then put the rook on d8 and white is completely paralyzed.
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When you sacrifice material (such as your pawn sacrifice out of the opening), your goal is to gain significant dynamic compensation for the material. An example is the Smith-Morra gambit in the Sicilian-Defense:
![[image loading]](http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/34g6neasbqg4s.png)
After the sequence 1.e4 c5 2.d4!? cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxf3 - we achieve the above position. White has sacrificed a pawn out of the opening in exchange for a development advantage and open c and d files for his rooks. While the Smith-Morra gambit may not be completely sound at the world-class level, it is a very sharp and effective weapon against the sicilian defense for club players and even masters. White's typical setup in the Smith-Morra will look like this:
![[image loading]](http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/3are2lh4tqxi.png)
Where white has plenty of attacking chances in exchange for his sacrificed material.
Sacrifices can be for other purposes as well - a common novelty in a line of the english opening:
![[image loading]](http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/175sh9ply30y.png)
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Re8 9. f3 e3!?
This novelty was played in a world championship match between Kasparov and Karpov, and is a completely sound sacrifice. Yet what is black gaining? He doesn't have open lines or a development advantage, but if white accepts the sacrifice, he weakens his pawn structure and has an extremely awkward position. After the hypothetical 10.dxe3, look at all of white's awkward pieces and isolated pawns. In fact, black will inevitably gain the practically hanging pawn on c4 in the near future:
![[image loading]](http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/407kcgjppm04s.png)
In fact, white's best try is to simply decline the sacrifice with 10.d3 (Which Kasparov played after thinking for over 30 minutes)!
Pawn sacrifices can even create weak squares:
![[image loading]](http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/256o04o76p8gw.png)
1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4.c4 e6 5.dxe6 Bxe6 6.d3
In this line of the Tal Gambit, Black has created a permanently weak square on e4 (suitable for a knight outpost) and gains a target on d3 to attack later in the game.
All of the above are considered adequate compensation for a sacrificed pawn.
So after all of this, lets take a look at your position:
![[image loading]](http://www.chessvideos.tv/bimg/4fv43y15aehe.png)
So what compensation do you have for your pawn? You do not have a development advantage, your king is stuck in the middle of the board over the open d-file, black has no weaknesses in his position... You have no dynamic compensation for your sacrificed pawn and arguably in a worse position even with the pawn!
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Here are my humble opinions:
1.Nf3 d5
2.c3 Nc6
3.d4 Bf5
So far the play has been a little strange from both sides but no big mistakes.
4.Qa4 This is a questionable decision, it is better to develop your other pieces before you start playing around with your queen.
4...Qd7 A good response from your opponent, removing the pin.
5.Nd2 f6 This move by black is not good. It seems like he may have been worried about you moving your knight to e5, but that was not possible (do you see why?) This pawn move blocks in his kingside pieces.
6.e4 I do not think you will get full compensation for this pawn, but it will be difficult for him to complete his development so you are not far behind either.
6...dxe4
7.d5? A definite mistake that you opponent fails to take advantage of. You are throwing away another pawn here.
7...exf3 While this is not terrible, simply taking the pawn with 7...Qxd5 was better.
8.dxc6 Qe6+
9.Kd1 resigns.
I don't see any justification for resigning here. After 9...bxc6 10.Nxf3, black is a pawn ahead, and will be able to unravel his kingside with the maneuver 10...Qd7+ followed by 11...e5. I would say slight advantage to black in the final position.
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EPT
