[Event "2012 Arcadia McGuire Open"]
[Site "Arcadia, CA"]
[Date "2012.05.21"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Titus Wu"]
[Black "David King"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "993"]
[BlackElo "1813"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann: advance variation"]
{This game was one of the most revolutionary chess games that I had ever played.
Before, I had thought it ridiculous to memorize openings. I never understood why
experts did memorize them.This game, however, showed me why.} 1. e4 c6
{Obviously black decides to do the Caro-Kann Defense. For some reason I decided
to research this up, and it was the first time I ever researched on an opening.
I realized that this defense statistically gave blacks more wins because it gave
black a better pawn structure. So I would say a nice choice for Mr. King.} 2. d4
{I did not know it during that time, but that move I played was in fact the
usual continuation of the Caro-Kann defense. The real reason I did it was that I
thought my pawns could gain better control of the center.} 2... d5 3. e5 {White
goes with the advanced variation of the Caro-Kann defense. Again, I did not know
that. Anyhow, white does begin to feel the effects of a vulnerable pawn
structure. Perhaps better would be exd5, allowing white and black to have
equally weak and equally strong pawn structures.} 3... Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. a3 c5 6.
Be3 cxd4 7. Bxd4 Nc6 {Note how black's choice of the Caro-Kann defense has
significantly ruined white's central pawn structure. It seems that David King
memorized this variation of the Caro-Kann well.} 8. Bb5 {It could have been my
fatal misstep. Fortunately, I noticed the soon to be pawn fork if I had done
the following move in the brackets below. In response, I did Bb5 to pin black's
knight to black's king.(8. Be3 d4)} 8... Ne7 {Black does this to not only to
defend his c-knight, but primaririly that if white's bishop did kill the
c-knight, black would still be able to execute his pawn fork.} 9. Nce2 a6 10.
Bxc6+ Nxc6 11. Bc3 {Through the recent combination of moves, white has managed
to not only fend off black's pawn fork, but also get prepared if his foe's
d-pawn should ever advance. Take note of how it also protects white's e-pawn
from getting killed.} 11... Bc5 12. h3 d4 13. Bb4 Nxb4 14. axb4 Bxb4+ 15. c3 {I
had previously planned for black's d-pawn to kill white's c-pawn, thus I could
make a queen trade. I really needed a queen trade cause I felt the only thing
from black that could stir up trouble for me was his queen. However, this was
thwarted once black moved his queen out of the d-file.} 15... Bc5 16. Nxd4 Qb6
{I did notice it at that time, but black is getting prepared to check my king by
Bxf2, once I move my knight away.} 17. Qa4+ {Aha! This catches black totally by
surprise. Now black's king will be forced to move and not be able to castle
anymore.} 17... Kf8 18. Qb3 {Blunder for white.} 18... Bxd4 19. Qxb6 Bxb6 20.
Nf3 {As obviously seen, white moves his knight so he could make way for castle.
But perhaps his choice to where to move the knight was poor, for, as seen later
in the game, it prevented white from also castling. In the following brackets
are the possible consequences if white had moved his knight to Ne2. That way,
white could still castle.(20. Ne2 Bd3 21. Nf4 Bc4 22. b3 Bxb3 (22... Bb5 23.
c4 Bc6 24. O-O) 23. O-O)} 20... Be4 {So what is black trying to do here? If white
lets black kill his knight, then white's g-pawn will have to kill his bishop,
thereby ruining white's kingside pawn structure and making castling useless. If
white moves his knight away to safety, the bishop can kill white's g-pawn,
forcing the white's kingside rook to move and thereby not able to castle.} 21.
Nh4 g5 {White attempts to solve both problems, but is easily thwarted by black's
recent move.} 22. Nf3 Bxf3 23. gxf3 Bc7 24. h4 gxh4 25. Rxh4 Bxe5 26. Rb4 Ra7
{At first, I had thought this a poor move for black, because it now restricted
the rook's movements. Later in the game, however, it came to a tremendous
advantage.} 27. Rd1 Ke7 28. f4 Bd6 29. Rbd4 Rd8 30. Ke2 {I made this move so
that my opponent's bishop wouldn't cause trouble for my king.} 30... Bc7 31. Re4
b5 32. Red4 {Probably not a smart idea to offer a rook trade, especially when
white's down two pieces.} 32... Rxd4 33. Rxd4 Bb6 34. Re4 f5 35. Re5 Bc7 36. Kf1
Bxe5 37. fxe5 Rd7 38. f4 Rd2 39. b4 Rc2 40. Kg1 Rxc3 41. Kg2 Rc4 42. Kf3 Rxb4
43. Kf2 a5 44. Ke3 a4 45. Kd3 a3 46. Ke3 {White resigns, obviously seeing no way
out of this.} 0-1
