Welcome to my Queens Gambit Declined game with Silent Knight page!

On this page I have posted one my chess games in the Queens Gambit Declined. My opponent got out of the book early by playing c5 on move 3. I don't know my opponent's real name, but I do know that he is from New Zealand. The ratings below are what each of us was at the end of the game. The game was played at Stan's Net Chess.

[Event "Game 376824"]
[Site "Stan's NetChess"]
[Date "2006.12.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Silent Knight"]
[Black "mserovey"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. c5 c6 4. b4 Nf6 5. e3 Be7 6. a4 O-O 7. a5 a6 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9.
Bd3 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. f3 Bh5 13. Bb2 Nfd7 14. Nh3 Nc4 15. Bc1 Bg5
16. Nxg5 Qxg5 17. O-O Qf6 18. g4 Qxc3 19. gxh5 Qxa1 20. Qd3 g6 21. hxg6 fxg6 22.
f4 Rae8 23. h4 Qg7 24. Rf2 Nde5 25. fxe5 Rxf2 26. Kxf2 Qxe5 27. Qe2 Qh2+ 28. Ke1
Qxh4+ 29. Qf2 Qh1+ 30. Qf1 Qxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Nxe3+ 32. Bxe3 Rxe3 {White resigned} 0-1

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. c5

White deviated from "book" at this point. I intended to play the Cambridge Springs Defense but cannot now that the White pawn is on c5. I intended to transpose into a line that was in my book, but White's next move prevented that as well.

c6 4. b4 Nf6 5. e3 Be7

At this point I had considered playing g6 followed by Bg7. However, I decided to try to keep my pieces as close to the Cambridge Springs Defense as possible. I now consider the other plan to be better because the fianchettoed Bishop helps to support the pawn push to e5 and puts pressure on d4 and the Rook at a1.

6. a4 (White is pawn storming on the Queenside when he has no pieces developed!) O-O (Continuing with normal development.) 7. a5 a6 8. Nc3 Nbd7

White has finally developed his first piece! Although White has more space on the Queenside, Black has a big lead in development. Unfortunately, Black's piece placement makes exploiting that lead difficult. White catches up in development while Black repositions his pieces.

9. Bd3 e5

Black needed to break open the Center while the White King is still there. Also, the Queenside is locked up and both of Black's bishops are on bad squares and are thus doing nothing. The black Knight has a good square on e5 and that also frees the light-squared Bishop. If White had not captured on e5 Black could capture on d4 and thus open the Center that way.

10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Bc2 Bg4

Black now has all of his pieces developed and most of them are on good squares. Even so, Black doesn't have much of an attack going. After 12. f3 I had considered both Be6 and Bh5 and decided on the latter because it keeps some pressure on f3.

12. f3 Bh5 13. Bb2 Nfd7 14. Nh3 Nc4 15. Bc1 Bg5

I don't like exchanging a Bishop for a Knight on the edge of the board. Even so, I wanted to attack and win the pan of e3. I later realized that if I did capture that pawn with the Knight on c4, it would become pinned to the Queen on g5! I didn't like that pin so I declined the pawn that I was originally trying to win.

16. Nxg5 Qxg5 17. O-O Qf6

Black is attacking the Knight on c3 and indirectly attacking the Rook at a1. If the Knight moves Black takes the Rook at a1. If the Bishop moves to either b2 or d2 to protect the Knight then Black can capture that Bishop. Instead of protecting the Knight on c3, White decided to counter attack the Black Bishop at h5. Playing the pawn to g4 weakens White's pawn structure around his King and thus is not the best plan of action here!

18. g4? Qxc3! 19. gxh5?? (Loses a Rook.) Qxa1

Black is now up a Rook and expected White to resign here. Instead of resigning, White threatens a checkmate and Black has to deal with threats on the kingside before he can exploit his extra piece.

20. Qd3! g6 (I had considered playing 20... f5 here too, but thought that 20... g6 was safer.) 21. hxg6

Theory says to capture towards the Center. White has been able to trade off his doubled pawn that was at h5, but has somewhat weak pawns at e3 and f3. I decided to capture with the f pawn so that my Rook would be putting pressure on White's f pawn.

fxg6 22. f4 Rae8

This is an interesting position. If White moves his Rook off the first rank then Black can capture the Bishop at c1 with check. If the Bishop moves to b2 or a3 then Black can capture it with his Queen. If Bd2 then Black can capture the Rook at f1 with check, followed by the Knight taking the Bishop at d2 and then the rooks doubling up on and winning the backwards e pawn. White decided to continue his Kingside attack even though this leaves his own King a little weak.

23. h4 Qg7 (Getting the Queen to safety and helping to defend the Black King.) 24. Rf2 Nde5!?

Black saw that White had planned on playing his Rook the g2 and then his pawn to h5. This could win Black's Queen for a Rook and weaken Black's King's position enough to give White the advantage. Black decided that he needed to get White's Rook off the board even if he had to give back some of his extra material. If White accepts the sacrifice then Black would be up the exchange and a pawn. I honestly don't know what I would have played if White had declined the Knight sacrifice! If 25. Rg2 then 25... Nf3+ 26. K-any Nxh4 followed by Nf5 and Black has all kinds of pressure on e3.

25. fxe5 Rxf2 26. Kxf2 Qxe5

Now Black has the position that he wanted when he sacrificed the Knight. If 27. h5? Black can capture with his Queen leaving his pawn structure intact. Black is threatening Qh2+ winning the pawn on h4. For some reason that I don't understand White lets Black have that pawn!

27. Qe2? Qh2+! 28. Ke1 Qxh4+

Now White is down the exchange and two pawns! I expected White to resign here but he continued to play until he was down the exchange and three pawns! If 29. Kf1 then Qh1+ winning the Bishop at c1 and then the pawn at e3. If 29. Kd1 then Qh1+ 30. Qe1 Qxe1+ 31. Kxe1 Nxe3 leaving Black up the exchange and three pawns.

29. Qf2 Qh1+ 30. Qf1 Qxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Nxe3+ 32. Bxe3 Rxe3 0-1

Here White is down the exchange and three passed pawns. If White had continued to play this out from here I would have played my Rook to c3 attacking the White Bishop and then the Rook to c4 winning the pawn on b4. At some point I may have sacrificed the Rook for the Bishop and then won the endgame with my passed pawns.

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