Annotated Game #313: An unnecessary squeeze

This second-round tournament game was notable for White's attempt to enter a Blackmar-Diemer gambit type structure with 5. f3 - without having to gambit a pawn. As a rule, I never go for this kind of d- for f-pawn swap in the opening, although the engines think Black is fine; the BDGers as White are often almost religiously focused on the opening and undoubtedly will have (lots) more experience in it. I play a conventional way to decline exchanging on e4 and we get into a French type structure, which is all right if a little cramped for Black. The problem is that I later pass up ways to play actively, even in minor ways, so White ends up with a full-on squeeze by the end, which is brought to conclusion by an unfortunate blunder. My opponent simply outplayed me, however, so it only hastened the final outcome.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Class A"] [Black "ChessAdmin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "D10"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "67"] [GameId "2186607709503550"] {[%evp 0,14,19,-12,34,26,26,21,29,29,45,-30,0,-7,5,-1,31]} 1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. f3 Nc6 {long think here.} (5... Qa5 $5 {occurred to me, and is a way to hinder White's immediate plan of e2-e4, but I chose a more conservative/conventional path.} 6. Qd3 $6 {insisting on advancing the e-pawn is fine for Black.} Nc6 7. e4 e5 $1 {the engine likes playing dynamically in the center.} (7... Nb4 $11) 8. dxe5 Nxe4 9. fxe4 d4 10. Nge2 dxc3 11. Nxc3 Bb4 $15 {with ...O-O to follow.}) 6. e4 {this would be similar to the Blackmar-Diemer gambit, if I took on e4 (the engine's preference).} e6 {instead, I opt for a French Defense structure which gives White a small space advantage.} 7. e5 $14 Ng8 {actually the best, according to the engines. The point is the knight can be effectively redeveloped, and would be worse on d7.} 8. Be3 Nge7 (8... Qb6 {immediately is more active and a thematic response to the early queenside bishop development.}) 9. f4 Nf5 10. Bf2 {after this I had another long think here. This time, unfortunately, I did not choose the conventional move.} h5 $6 {is too optimistic. The idea is to preserve the knight on f5 by discouraging g2-g4, but after White's next my kingside looks loose.} (10... Be7 $14 {maintains the balance.}) 11. Nf3 $16 {simple but effective development. Of course Black's h-pawn advance has left g5 weaker.} Qb6 {played late, this move now leaves the kingside dark squares even weaker.} (11... Be7 $16) 12. Qd2 Bd7 13. Be2 Rc8 14. O-O Be7 {I thought for a while here and did not have a concrete plan.} (14... Na5 {occurred to me but I thought it was a bit premature, or could wait.}) 15. Rac1 g6 {this is actually not a bad idea, reinforcing h5.} 16. Rfd1 Qd8 {after more thinking I decided to bring the queen back, not seeing much coming of queenside play with it.} (16... Na5 $5 17. Na4 {is what deterred me.} Qb4 $16 {would be necessary.} (17... Bxa4 $2 18. Rxc8+ $1)) 17. Bd3 {now that h5 has been reinforced, moving to the b1-h7 diagonal threatens to trade the "bad" bishop for Black's best piece.} Nh6 {correctly avoiding the trade.} 18. h3 {further limiting the knight's reach.} Kf8 {the correct idea for once. Castling would just remove the rook from the more valuable h-file.} 19. a3 Na5 {now this does work, or at least is not as bad as other moves.} 20. Qe1 Kg7 (20... Nb3 {the engine considers equivalent, but I did not see it leading to anything useful.} 21. Rc2 $16) 21. Nb5 $6 {this cedes the advantage.} Bxb5 {I also considered swapping rooks first, but by this point had used up a lot of time on the clock, so just played for the simple option.} 22. Bxb5 {unfortunately my follow-up play unnecessarily gives White a positional bind.} Nc6 $6 {here I spent too much time overthinking this and believing other moves were too risky.} (22... Qb6 $11) 23. b4 $6 a6 $6 {played too quickly. The unfavorable positional transformation is obvious.} (23... a5 {preserves the equal pawn structure.} 24. bxa5 Qxa5 $11) 24. Bxc6 Rxc6 25. Rxc6 bxc6 $14 {Black is hardly lost, but has no counterplay while White can just play for two results.} 26. Qc3 Qb6 27. Bh4 {again I overthink the response.} Nf5 {my bishop will be eliminated anyway, so why not just place the White knight on the rim?} (27... Bxh4 28. Nxh4 Ra8 $11 {preparing ...a5 to help simplify dealing with the queenside pawn structure.}) 28. Bxe7 Nxe7 29. Rc1 Rc8 $6 {normally placing your rook opposite the opponent's queen is a good idea, but here it accomplishes nothing.} (29... Qb5 $11 {this idea occurred to me earlier, but not here. Now if} 30. Qc5 Qd3 {and Black's queen activity ensures the draw.}) 30. Qc5 Qb7 $6 (30... Qxc5 31. Rxc5 {I was afraid that my weakness would be permanent, but after} Nf5 $11 {Black holds.}) 31. g4 {the correct way to keep the pressure on.} hxg4 $2 {under time pressure, I didn't see anything else here.} (31... a5 $1 {is found by the engine, the point being} 32. Qxa5 Ra8 33. Qc5 Rxa3 $11) 32. hxg4 {while at first glance this doesn't look lost, Black is tied in knots and White can shift his pieces to penetrate and attack.} Rh8 {covering the most obvious weakness, the open h-file.} 33. Kg2 $18 Qc8 $4 {now the game abruptly ends with a blunder, as I forgot my knight would be hanging, but my opponent had outplayed me anyway.} (33... Rh7 {a sample continuation.} 34. Kf2 Rh3 35. a4 Rh8 36. a5 Rh3 37. Kg2 Rh8 38. Ng5 Nc8 39. b5 cxb5 40. Qc7 Qxc7 41. Rxc7 $18) 34. Qxe7 1-0