Chess Game: Co-ordination

I know, it's been a long time since I published a Chess game on this blog. It's a bit disappointing for a website called daveschessgames.blogspot.com, but that's the way it goes sometimes! I played this blitz game on chess.com last week, and even as I was playing it - at high speed - I realised how well co-ordinated my pieces were, and how poorly my opponent's were. Rooks are better when they're either connected or doubled (covering each other horizontally or vertically) and are of no benefit when they're disconnected (on different ranks and files). Bishops, meanwhile, work best on long, open diagonals. Long, or open, but ideally both. hernin1 vs David, 19 February 2022, 10 mins per player.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 I was taught to always capture towards the centre, and it makes sense here.

6. Qf3 Bb7 7. Bc4 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. Bb3

9. ...  Bb4+ 

10. Bd2 Qe7+ 

11. Qe2 Qxe2+ 

12. Kxe2 Ba6+ 

13. Kd1 Bxd2

White loses castling rights, and strands his king in the centre of the board.  Still, that can't be too dangerous with the queens off the board, right?
 

14. Nxd2 O-O 

15. Re1 c5 

16. c4 d4 

...and I've blocked White's bishop out of the game - at least temporarily.  If I can move my bishop to b7, then it will have an uncontested view of the long diagonal.  And with c4, I've also created a passed pawn.

17. Ne4 Nxe4 

18. Rxe4 Bb7 

19. Rg4 

A strange but necessary move to protect the pawn on g2.  White's rooks are now completely separated from each other - it would take several moves to get them on the same rank or file, and white has also vacated the central e-file. I'll be looking to take ownership of that e-file...

19. ... Rfe8 ... and there's no time like the present.

20. Bc2 Re7
21. a4 Rae8 

I'm not sure what a4 was aiming for, but I now have doubled rooks on the open e-file.  My bishop stands unchallenged on the long diagonal, while white's pieces are in disarray.  And the worst of it?  I'm threatening to capture white's rook with with 22. ... Re1+ and Rxa1

22. Kd2 Re2+  white plays the best move (avoiding the loss of the rook on a1), but is heading for trouble.

 23. Kd3 Rxf2

 24. Rd1 Re3# 0-1

White moved the rook to a safer square, but neglected his open king.  Yes, this was as blitz game, but I was very pleased with how I handled the pieces.  I was also surprised at how my opponent failed to co-ordinate his pieces, which were spread across the board with no clear aim, and subsequently fell to a direct attack in the centre of the board.