Annotated Game #331: Derailing in the opening

This next first-round tournament game saw me derail as White in an unfamiliar opening. I've been learning the Colle and my opponent deviated from anything I had in my new repertoire on move 4. The principles are similar to other lines - chase the light-square Black bishop and exchange it - but it was nonetheless unfamiliar and the first time facing the position over the board. Black played well and surprised me with 8...Bd6, threatening h2, which I focused on directly opposing with 9. f4? rather than countering with 9. Qb3, which is a key idea in these types of positions. The power of a significant lead in development is then demonstrated by Black, as my opponent is able to make natural moves and achieve a major positional plus, which he then accurately leverages to collapse my position. Learning an opening the hard way can be...hard.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "ChessAdmin"] [Black "Class C"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "ChessAdmin/Dragon 3.2"] [ECO "D04"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "52"] [GameId "2271414718836533"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 Bf5 4. Nh4 $5 {an independent Colle line that challenges both players early on.} Be4 5. f3 Bg6 6. c4 $6 {there's really no benefit to not taking immediately on g6.} (6. Nxg6 hxg6 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3 e6 9. Qb3 {1-0 Maksimovic,B (2488)-Goryachkina,A (2545) Titled Tuesday intern op 30th Jul Early Chess.com INT blitz 2024 (8)}) 6... e6 (6... Bxb1 $11 {is now a better option for Black, keeping the kingside pawns intact.}) 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Nc3 (8. cxd5 {appears best, to preventively lessen the impact of a ...c5 break by Black.} Nxd5 (8... exd5 $6 9. Qb3 $14) 9. Nc3 $11 (9. Qb3 {no longer threatens taking on b7, with Nf6-d5 having cleared the d8-h4 diagonal, as Black can immediately counterattack:} Bd6 10. Qxb7 Nd7 11. Nc3 Rb8 12. Qc6 Rb6 13. Qa4 Qh4+ $15)) 8... Bd6 $6 {this was an unwelcome surprise to me at the time, targeting h2. White however can simply ignore the threat to the h-pawn.} (8... c5 $11) 9. f4 $2 {the direct solution for the attack on h2, blocking the bishop, unfortunately turns out to be worse than the original threat.} (9. Qb3 Bg3+ (9... Rxh2 $2 10. Rxh2 Bxh2 11. Qxb7 {material balance is immediately restored and with no rook on the h-file, Black is hardly threatening White's king.} Nbd7 12. cxd5 $18 {White wins material and has the better piece placement, along with control of the center.}) (9... Bxh2 $2 10. Kd1 $16 {and the Bh2 is pinned against the rook, which cannot move off the file.}) 10. Kd1 dxc4 11. Qxb7 Nbd7 12. Qc6 Rb8 13. Na4 $14) 9... c5 $1 $15 {I did not anticipate this break, expecting castling first. However, both kings are in the center and Black is a little better developed, so benefits.} 10. cxd5 (10. dxc5 Bxc5 $15 {I didn't like Black's space advantage and targeting of e3, so did not consider this option for very long.}) 10... exd5 11. Qf3 $2 {this looks active, but Black is not fooled.} (11. Be2 cxd4 12. Qxd4 Nc6 13. Qd3 $15) (11. dxc5 $5 {would limit the damage.} Bxc5 12. Be2 $15 {White is awkward, but at least has some play.}) 11... cxd4 $1 12. exd4 O-O $19 {now I'm simply too far behind in development. Black can play natural moves and gain an easy, large positional advantage.} 13. Be2 Nc6 14. Be3 Re8 {simple and strong.} 15. O-O Qb6 $1 {also missed during my thinking process. Now my position is falling apart, with b2 and d4 simultaneously threatened.} 16. Nb5 {the idea is to block the b-file and at least pose some kind of challenge to Black, but this is easily resolved.} (16. Bb5 $19 {I briefly looked at.} Nxd4 {may be simplest in response.} 17. Kh1 (17. Qf2 Rxe3 $19) 17... Re6 $17) (16. Na4 $2 Qb4 17. b3 b5 $19) 16... Bf8 {unfortunately, now I can do nothing good with the tempo gained against the bishop.} 17. Rfd1 a6 18. Nc3 Qxb2 {I had thought to try to trap the queen, or at least threaten it to regain material or for a draw by repetition, but Black has too many active threats.} 19. Bf2 {protecting the Nc3 with the queen, but now} Bb4 $1 {the bishop returns with a vengeance and the knight has nowhere good to go.} 20. Bd3 (20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Qxd5 Rxe2 $19) (20. Rab1 Qxc3 $19) 20... Qxc3 {this is now resignable.} 21. a3 {sheer desperation, as the bishop can just take the pawn, but my opponent finds an even more effective finish.} Nxd4 22. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 23. Kh1 Bc3 24. Rab1 Re3 25. Qf1 Rae8 26. Bc2 Qc5 0-1