Welcome to my English Opening (ECO A16) game with Donnell6909 page!

On this page I have posted one my chess games in which I played the White side of the English Opening . The game includes analysis and diagrams. I played the Botvinnik system and got a wild game here. My opponent walked into a checkmate in a position that was unclear. This is my second win against Donnell6909. The ratings are those of each player after the game was over.

[Event "ICC 20 12"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.07.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "OnGoldenPawn"]
[Black "Donnell6909"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "1550"]
[BlackElo "1501"]
[Opening "English opening"]
[ECO "A16"]
[NIC "EO.64"]
[Time "20:44:22"]
[TimeControl "1200+12"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. d3 d6 6. e4 Re8 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8.
O-O e5 9. h3 Nc5 10. b4 Ne6 11. Be3 h5 12. f4 exf4 13. gxf4 Nf8 14. Rc1 N8h7
15. Nd5 c6 16. Ndc3 Nd7 17. Qe1 f5 18. Qg3 Ndf6 19. Qxg6 fxe4 20. dxe4 Re7
21. Bd4 Kh8 22. e5 dxe5 23. fxe5 Nf8 24. Qg3 Ne4 25. Nxe4 Ne6 26. Ba1 Qb6+
27. c5 Qd8 28. Nf6 Qf8 29. Qg6 Bd7 30. Qh7# {Black checkmated} 1-0

Online Chess Game
ICC
Game Played 7 July 2007
White: Mike Serovey (1550) Black: Donnell6909 (1501)

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. d3 d6 6. e4 Re8 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. O-O e5

English Opening after 8... e5.

White's setup is the Botvinnik system as taught to me by USCF Life Master Tom Stiers. Pete Tamburro has done a series of lectures featuring the Botvinnik system and they can be found at chess.fm. I have found the series quite helpful in understanding how to play the Botvinnik system and I also gained a few ideas about how to play against it. Black's setup is fairly typical and causes no real problems for White. White now plays 9. h3 in order to keep the Black Knight of g4 prior to playing Be3. In this position Nd5, Bg5 and f4 should all be considered. It is just a matter of which order to play those moves in.

9. h3 Nc5 10. b4

English Opening after 10. b4.

Although my goal is to attack on the Kingside I will expand on the Queenside too if the position calls for it. Now, White needs to be mindful of the Black Bishop on the diagonal that runs from a1 to h8. The Bishop will come to life if the Black pawn at e5 ever gets traded off or advanced. The main reason that I played 10. b4 was to get the Black Knight off c5.

Ne6 11. Be3 h5

English Opening after 11... h5.

Black's last move puts a damper on my plan's to play g4. However, the rest of my strategy will still work. Playing Bg5 now is OK because the Bishop can no longer be chased away by a pawn. First I wanted to open the f file and play the Knight to d5 before pinning the Black Knight to the Black Queen with Bg5.

12. f4 exf4 13. gxf4 Nf8

English Opening after 13... Nf8.

I don't like to play the knights to the edge of the board unless I am moving them to better squares. I think that Black's last move was played in order to prevent White from playing 14. f5. I played 14. Rc1 in order to get that Rook off the long diagonal prior to playing Nd5.

14. Rc1 N8h7 15. Nd5 c6

English Opening after 15... c6.

If Black had played 15... Nxd5 I would have played 16. cxd5. Now White must move his Knight at d5. In similar positions I have captured on f6 but decided that I would retreat here. I like keeping the Black Knight at h7 because it isn't doing much there.

16. Ndc3 Nd7 17. Qe1 f5?

English Opening after 17... f5?

Black's last move is a positional error because it makes the g pawn weak. I was planning to move my Queen to g3 anyway and now Black has made that move even better by giving me a target to attack. I don't know why Black failed to defend the g pawn on move 18. Maybe he thought that he could trap my Queen after I took the pawn, but all he really did was to weaken his King's position. Up to this point the material is even, but things get wild shortly.

18. Qg3 Ndf6? 19. Qxg6 fxe4 20. dxe4 Re7

English Opening after 20... Re7.

White is now up a pawn and he has a space advantage. Black has a Rook that is doing nothing and a Bishop and Knight that aren't doing much. White's pieces are more actively placed and he has a passed pawn on the f file. White is better here. White now prepares to play e5 by first moving his Bishop to d4 in order to support that pawn at e5. That move also puts his dark-squared Bishop on the same diagonal as Black's defending Bishop.

21. Bd4 Kh8 22. e5 dxe5 23. fxe5 Nf8

English Opening after 23... Nf8.

Black moved his Knight from one square on the edge of the board to another one on the edge of the board. Most of Black's pieces are tied to defending his King while White's pieces and pawns keep moving to better squares. White now has a passed pawn on the e file that is attacking Black's Knight at f6. However, White's Queen is en prise and has to be moved before his attack can continue.

24. Qg3 Ne4?? (Loses the Knight for nothing. Better here was 24... Ng8.) 25. Nxe4 Ne6 26. Ba1 Qb6+!

English Opening after 26... Qb6+!

Black is now down a Knight and a pawn. His last move threatens to win the pawn back but he declined to take the free pawn and moved his Queen back to d8 instead. I don't understand why.

27. c5 Qd8? 28. Nf6 Qf8 29. Qg6

English Opening after 29. Qg6.

White is threatening to checkmate on h7 and Black missed it! Instead of playing 29... Bd7?? Black could try 29... Bh6 which defends the mating square. After 29... Bh6 White can try 30. Rc4 followed by Rh4 to keep up the pressure on the Black King. Black's Rook on a1 never got into the game and that hurt him. If Black did successfully defend against all mate threats all White would need to do is to trade down into a won endgame.

Bd7?? 30. Qh7#1-0

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