EppsNet Archive: Modern Defense

Chess Game of the Day: Modern Defense

 

One of my online chess games. Some annotations below . . . 2. …Bg7 Modern Defense 11. Ng5?! 11. b4 is a safe alternative. 12. Ne6?! 12. Nf6 is positionally better than leaving a pawn hanging at e6, but then what was the point of moving the knight to g5 in the first place? (Spoiler alert: This move will turn out okay.) 14. …Rb8 14 …b6 would have been better. 15. Rd1? In hindsight, I think 15. c5 would have been stronger. The rook move gives Black time to play 15 …c5 (which he doesn’t do) and prevent White’s c-pawn from advancing. 15. …Nf6? Much worse than 15 …c5. 16. …c6?? The game is pretty even here, but Black needs to get the king to h7, out of the White queen’s line of fire. Instead he makes the worst move on the board, allowing a discovered check, losing the queen… Read more →