Rapid Album: Very specific example of badly placed piece

 

A strange looking position of black knight was the main cause of loss for black. It was Alekhine Defense played in one of my recent online rapid games (15 min). After white pawn advance to a5, black knight from b6 was forced to go to a8 and remained there till the game was finished.

How did I use the fact that my opponent technically run out of one piece, check in the following diagram.

[Event "15m + 1s"] [Site "Rapid Online"] [Date "2024"] [White "Kristijanzd"] [Black "Black"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. exd6 exd6 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Nbd2 {There is no fear of Be2; white can recover from loosing the pawn on c4 as shown in variation line, still I didn't want to go into early complications.} (9. Be2 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nxc4 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. Qa4 Nb6 13. Qxc6+ Qd7 $14) 9... Qd7 10. Be2 O-O-O $6 {Suspicious idea when white is almost ready to start pushing queen side pawns.} 11. O-O Be7 12. a4 Bf6 $6 {It was 'last cal' to deal with a4-a5 threat. Pawn move a7-a5 might look as hard decision to make, but then Kb8 would make some space for knight from b6 to c8 from where it could still be set back into the game.} (12... Kb8 13. a5 Nc8) 13. a5 Na8 {This is very important moment in the game. Once black knight was pushed back to a8 and has no any meaning in the game and no bright future at all, it is no longer first priority for white to launch violent attack against black's king or to take chances with any tactical/uncertain plans, but to play as it is one piece up; as game would go towards the endgame, absence of knight on a8 will be great advantage for white.} 14. Re1 Bxf3 15. Nxf3 Rhe8 16. Qd2 Qe7 17. Bd3 {As it was said earlier, just normal moves work quite well for white, at certain point, deep into the endgame the innactive knight on a8 will become big handicap for black.} g6 18. b4 d5 (18... b6 19. a6 b5 {It may be considered as a way to make outlet for the knight from a8 to b6 but this compromises king's safety.} 20. cxb5 Nb8) 19. c5 Qf8 20. b5 {The idea behind moving pawn on d5 is that at certain moment black would have to play c7-c6 in order to try to employ Na8 but then there will be b5-b6 move contolling the c7.} Ne7 21. Bh6 Bg7 22. Bxg7 Qxg7 23. Re2 Nf5 24. Bxf5+ gxf5 25. Rxe8 Rxe8 26. Re1 Rg8 27. g3 c6 28. b6 a6 29. Qf4 Qf6 30. Qe5 (30. Re5) 30... Qxe5 31. Rxe5 {Finally we have reached the endgame where white is technically one piece up.} Kd7 32. Rxf5 Ke6 33. Rg5 Rxg5 {All the black pieces are removed from board, but generally black could do nothing instead. Now it is visible what I was going for in this game, white has advantage of full piece in the endgame since black knight on a8 is trapped.} 34. Nxg5+ Kf5 35. Nf3 {Nxf7 would work too.} Ke4 36. Kg2 Kd3 37. Kf1 Kc4 {Black king would reach a5 pawn but...} 38. Ke2 Kb5 39. Ne5 Kxa5 40. Nxc6+ $1 Kb5 (40... bxc6 41. b7) 41. Ne5 a5 42. Kd3 Kb4 43. c6 bxc6 44. b7 Nb6 {So at the end, black knight is getting back but too late.} 45. b8=Q Kb5 46. Nd7 {Black resigned.} 1-0  

Dynamic game preview provided by  Chessbase.