game to analyze

i'd like to analyze this game...i think i had it won at a few points but only ended up with a draw. comments are welcome and if anyone would like to go over it with me in more detail i'd appreciate it.
Game 2883997

27. exf5

what about gxf5 -- opening up a file against the king?

Originally posted by Shinidoki
27. exf5

what about gxf5 -- opening up a file against the king?

if 28.gxf5
well i was worried about 28...gxh4 if i try to control the g file with
29.Rdg1+ Kh7 30.Rg2 Rdg8 31.Rhg1? h3! 32.Rxg8 Rxg8 33.Rh1 Rg3
and black has the upper hand. At the very least it is black that gains control of the g file, with 28.exf5 i was content to hold the h file.

I prefer 26. g3 over your 26. g4. With a queenside majority, you are better off stabilizing your pawn structure on the kingside, with the intention of trading off rooks via Be2. If Black allows both pairs of rooks to be traded off, White has very good winning chances by advancing the queenside majority.

Your 27. Nf5 dissipates most of your advantage, because although you remain up a pawn, you have allowed Black to enter an endgame with bishops of opposite color, which gives Black excellent drawing chances. I think a better choice is 27. gxh5 intending 27... gxh4 28. Ng2 h3 28. Ne3 and 29. Ng4. Although this line also leads to an opposite color bishop endgame, here you would be up two pawns and still have some winning chances.

Originally posted by aginis
i'd like to analyze this game...i think i had it won at a few points but only ended up with a draw. comments are welcome and if anyone would like to go over it with me in more detail i'd appreciate it.
Game 2883997

Personally I don't like 27.Nf5, I think the immediate hxg5 is better for white there. I'm not sure it would make that much difference, so I'm running it quickly through F9 and will give you the analysis when it's done.

Originally posted by cmsMaster
Personally I don't like 27.Nf5, I think the immediate hxg5 is better for white there. I'm not sure it would make that much difference, so I'm running it quickly through F9 and will give you the analysis when it's done.

Fritz agrees with me - and found some other stuff.


[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.playtheimmortalgame"]
[Date "2006.12.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "aginis"]
[Black "gecian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Annotator "Fritz 9"]
[PlyCount "161"]
[EventDate "2006.??.??"]

{B94: Sicilian Najdorf: 6 Bg5 Nbd7} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e5 7. Nde2 (7. Nf5 Bxf5 (7... h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Nd5 Qd8 10.
Nfe3 Nc6 11. Qd2 Be6 12. a4 Rc8 13. Be2 Be7 14. O-O O-O 15. Bg4 Bg5 16. Bxe6
fxe6 17. Nc3 Nd4 18. Rac1 Qb6 19. Ncd1 Rc7 20. Qd3 Qa5 21. Nc3 Qb4 22. Rb1 {
Lai Xu Rong,W-Neubronner,S/Thailand 2005/CBM 106 ext/0-1 (33)}) 8. exf5 Nbd7 9.
Bc4 Rc8 10. Bb3 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. Qf3 b5 14. Rfd1 g6 15. fxg6
hxg6 16. Qb7 Rc5 17. Qxa6 d5 18. a4 b4 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Qb7 Qc7 21. Bxd5 Qxb7
{Jakubiec,A (2488)-Gutman,L (2533)/Darmstadt 2001/CBM 081/1-0 (39)}) 7... Be6
8. Ng3 $146 {Black is behind in developement} (8. g3 Nbd7 9. Bg2 h6 10. Be3 b5
11. O-O Nb6 12. b3 Ng4 13. Bc1 b4 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. exd5 Bf5 16. c4 bxc3 17.
Nxc3 Be7 18. h3 Nf6 19. Be3 O-O 20. Rc1 Qd7 21. Kh2 Rfc8 22. Qd2 Bd8 {
Donner,B (2300)-Hengelbrock,J/Germany 1996/GER/1/2-1/2 (74)}) 8... Be7 9. Qd2 {
Black has a cramped position} O-O {Black castles and improves king safety} 10.
O-O-O Qc7 (10... Nbd7 11. Nf5 Bxf5 12. exf5 $11) 11. Bxf6 (11. Nf5 Bxf5 12.
Bxf6 Bxf6 13. exf5 Nc6 $14) 11... Bxf6 $14 12. Qxd6 (12. Nf5 Nc6 $14) 12... Qa5
$11 13. a3 Nc6 14. Qd2 Rfd8 {Black threatens to win material: Rd8xd2} 15. Nd5
Qxd2+ 16. Rxd2 Bg5 {Black pins: Bg5xd2} 17. Ne3 Na5 (17... Nd4 18. Kb1 $11) 18.
Bd3 (18. Ngf5 $142 $5 $16) 18... Rac8 $11 19. Kb1 Nc4 (19... Bxe3 $5 {
should be considered} 20. fxe3 Nc4 $11) 20. Nxc4 $14 Bxc4 21. Rdd1 Be6 (21...
Bxd3 22. Rxd3 Rxd3 23. cxd3 $14) 22. Nf5 $16 g6 23. h4 Bf6 24. Ne3 h5 25. f3
Be7 26. g4 g5 (26... Kg7 27. g5 $14) 27. Nf5 (27. hxg5 $5 hxg4 28. fxg4 Bxg5
29. Nf5 Bxf5 30. gxf5 $16) 27... Bxf5 $14 28. exf5 hxg4 (28... gxh4 29. g5 Bxg5
30. Rdg1 $16) 29. fxg4 (29. hxg5 $142 $5 Bxg5 30. fxg4 $16) 29... gxh4 $11 30.
g5 Bxg5 31. Rdg1 f6 32. Rxh4 Kg7 33. Rb4 b5 (33... Rc7 34. Rb6 $14) 34. a4 {
White threatens to win material: a4xb5} Rc5 35. axb5 axb5 36. Rxb5 Rxb5 37.
Bxb5 e4 38. c4 Kf8 39. Re1 e3 {He broke from his leash} 40. Kc2 Rd2+ 41. Kc3
Bf4 {Manoeuvre Bg5-f4-e5-b2-c3-d2} 42. b4 Be5+ 43. Kb3 Rd3+ 44. Ka4 Bb2 45. Bc6
Ke7 46. c5 Bc3 47. Re2 (47. Bb5 Bxe1 48. Bxd3 Kd7 $16) 47... Bd2 $14 {
Praise the bishop!} 48. b5 Rd4+ 49. Kb3 Rb4+ 50. Ka3 Rf4 51. b6 {
Pushes the passed pawn} Bb4+ {Black forks: a3+c5} 52. Ka4 (52. Kb3 $142 $5 {
deserves consideration} Bxc5 53. b7 Rb4+ 54. Kc3 $14) 52... Bxc5+ $11 53. Kb5 (
53. Ka5 Kd6 54. b7 Kc7 $11) 53... Kd6 $15 54. Rb2 Rxf5 55. b7 Ba7+ 56. Ka6 Bb8
{The bishop blocks b7} 57. Bb5 Rc5 58. Rb3 Rc2 59. Kb6 Bc7+ 60. Ka7 e2 61. Re3
{White threatens to win material: Re3xe2} Rb2 {
Black threatens to win material: Rb2xb5} 62. b8=Q {White has a mate threat.}
Bxb8+ 63. Ka6 Ra2+ 64. Kb7 {White threatens to win material: Kb7xb8} Ba7 {
Black threatens to win material: Ba7xe3} 65. Rxe2 Ra3 66. Bc4 Be3 67. Re1 f5
68. Rf1 f4 69. Be2 Rc3 70. Bf3 Bd4 71. Bg2 Ke5 72. Bc6 Kf5 73. Bd7+ Kg5 74. Bc6
Kg4 75. Kc7 Bc5 76. Kd7 Re3 77. Bh1 Kg3 78. Kc6 Bd4 79. Kd5 {
White threatens to win material: Kd5xd4} Ba7 80. Be4 Ra3 81. Bh1 1/2-1/2

now that i think about it 29.hxg5 looks like a winner what do you think?

Originally posted by cmsMaster
Personally I don't like 27.Nf5, I think the immediate hxg5 is better for white there. I'm not sure it would make that much difference, so I'm running it quickly through F9 and will give you the analysis when it's done.

I prefer hxg5 too. Later on, I like 33. Rh5, trying to stack the rooks on h. I guess white could trade Rooks, but the resulting position suits me fine.