[Event "2012 Arcadia Spring Open"]
[Site "Arcadia, CA"]
[Date "2012.04.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Titus Wu"]
[Black "Jeff R Schroeder"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "929P22"]
[BlackElo "1864"]
[Opening "Sicilian: Cochrane (Burger) attack"]
{This game, despite my loss, was the game that I could have said changed my
whole perspective of chess. My opponent, after my game, invited me to analyze
the chess game with him. I was hesitant at first, but finally agreed. During the
analyzing, he was teaching me things that I would have never thought of. It gave
me insight to how a pro would think. Little did I know that Mr. Schroeder was
one of the most respected chess players in our area.} 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Nf3
d6 4. c3 {White has made a poor move, despite the fact that he is getting ready
for a pawn push. Because of this move, the moves of the queenside knight will be
limited, instead of the advantage of having the knight at c7.} 4... Nf6 5. d3
{During the analyzing, my opponent (black) told me that this move was what gave
away the advantage of white, which is the control of the center squares, despite
the fact that I used it to protect the e-pawn.} 5... g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Be3 a6 8.
a4 {Here we see that white has seen black's planned pawn push to b5.} 8... Bd7
9. Nbd2 O-O 10. d4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Ng4 {This caught me totally by surprise, yet
gave me the most insight. Here, we see black's main purpose: to threaten the
bishop. (Mr. Schroeder told me that he would most of the time sacrifice a knight
for a bishop.) However, a second hidden purpose, mabye the most important one,
is to have two attackers, instead of just the knight, to threaten the d-pawn.}
12. Bf4 {Alas, my fatal mistake! I did not know of this attacker-defender thing
at the time. So I moved the bishop, leaving my d-pawn open to two attackers and
with only one defender. Now, black can basically take my main central pawn for
free. Not only that, it will weaken my pawn structure.} 12... Nxd4 13. h3 Nxf3+
14. Qxf3 {Probably not a very bright idea for white to use the queen. My
opponent suggested that I had used the knight instead, giving my knight more
space to move.} 14... Ne5 {A smart move from black! Not only is black
double-attacking white's queen and white bishop, he is also offering a choice to
give away the black or white bishop.} 15. Bxe5 Bxe5 {White decided to give away
his black bishop, but should have given his white one. The reason being that all
of white's advancing pawns are on white squares, thus limiting the white
bishop's freedom to move around. Also note how white's pawn structure looks
compared to black's pawn structure. Plus, the fact that white has tons of open
space gives black a variety of ways to attack white. Take for instance black's
black bishop, who can now roam freely and constantly threaten his foe on the
a1-h8 diagonal.} 16. Qb3 {A move from white intended for three purposes. One, to
protect the b-pawn the black's darker-squared bishop is threatening. Two, to
threaten black's b-pawn. Three, to use the combination of queen/bishop to
somehow later form an attack on black's king.} 16... Rb8 17. Nf3 Bg7 18. Rfd1 b5
19. axb5 axb5 20. Bd5 {Bad move. That postion can have black advance his pawns
on the white bishop, leaving it trapped.} 20... e6 21. Ba8 {Despite the fact
that white was to lose that bishop anyway, white shouldn't have moved it there.
Perhaps better was to allow the attacking e-pawn to kill the bishop, thereby
ruining black's pawn structure.} 21... Rxa8 22. Rac1 {White is following the old
practice of not swapping when you're in downplay. However, white did lose his
bishop without gaining anything from black. Also notice the importance of pawn
structure. White, with his no-more pawn structure, is now vulnerable to attacks
on the c-file.} 22... Qb6 23. e5 {A big fatal mistake white made. This move now
cost white's knight a good place to attack.} 23... d5 {The biggest error of
white's previous move can be seen here. While white's intention was good, so
that the d-rook could kill the light-colored bishop, black made this move that
white was very unprepared for. First, black's move strengthened black's pawn
structure. Secondly, it blocked off the white queen's range of attack and the
d-rook's range of attack. Mr. Schroeder later told me that that move made his
game a whole lot easier.} 24. Qb4 Rfc8 25. Qe7 Qd8 26. Qd6 Bf8 {I almost passed
out on that one. Thought my queen was dead.} 27. Rxc8 Qxc8 28. Qb6 Ra6 29. Qe3
Rc6 30. Nd4 Rc4 31. Nb3 b4 32. Rc1 Ba4 33. Rxc4 Qxc4 34. Nc1 Bb5 {Black is
preparing for Qf1+.} 35. Ne2 Qxe2 36. Qxe2 Bxe2 37. f4 Bc5+ {This here shows
white should not have made his previous move of f4, which leaves the king even
more vulnerable. With black making this move, the king is thereby "trapped" and
cannot move across the board to attack the soon-to-be-queen pawns.} 38. Kh2 d4
{Seeing that I can do nothing to stop those advanc
