Asymmetric disadvantages that count to my opponent's favor.

(At the time I started writing this, I was still very confused by why I was at a disadvantage. I come up with some attempted explanation along the way.)

Let's look at the position around move 12:



I seriously imagined I was doing well here. White had to choose between losing a pawn and losing castling rights. White keeps the pawn. My king looks safe, I'm soon fully developed, and surely, says the voice in my head, I should be headed for a comfortable victory.

Not so, says the engine, and not so, says the outcome of the game. Apparently white leads by +1, after 12...Be7 13.a3 I have nothing better than the weird Nb8, and the maneuvers I take instead have a bad tactical weakness (which my opponent misses, but maintains a lead, some blunder-counterblunder combos notwithstanding which I ask you to kindly ignore).

How should I have been looking at the positions to have figured out that I'm already not doing well around moves 10 to 12?

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Well, after a bit more thinking I guess I can attempt to summarize some kind of answer: What I have is a combination of at least two problems: 1) The Ne4-Bf6-Nd6-Qd7 idea failing tactically (which I was concerned about, but should have taken more seriously) and 2) white controlling the center and so much space that the only alternative ways for me to make any progress are so slow that by the time I would have advanced to supposedly go and take advantage of the white king's awkward situation, he's already had the time to castle manually. And he still has the center, a big space advantage, and also the bishop pair. Thus the inconvenience I created for white's king was an illusory advantage.

This asymmetry of central control + space advantage versus compromised castling isn't something I've had to consider before, and it seems I failed to do so properly here.

Is that a decent analysis? Anything else to note?

How easily would an advanced player evaluate this?

I'd be curious to see other similar situations.

Hey !
I read your analysis with attention and i agree with you on two points :
- white has a great center control ;
- and this result in a space advantage.

But when i have chosen not to castle, i had not this two points in mind. I was disappointed because my purpose was to keep the option of castle to queen side and i did'nt see your bishop's move Bb4+ (shame on my head).
Anyway, Kf1 is probably not a bad move, you can find plenty of games with that idea (french opening, winawer variation for exemple) where black play that move even in a very tight position. But in that variation, there is a blocked center and i think it makes a real difference.
At last, in our game, move 12, maybe you have to consider the activity of white pieces versus black's ?

thanks to you again for the game
(and to ignore both of my bad tactic AND english level) :o)

@Birdmoon Actually I may have been mistaken regarding the tactics. I was following the engine variation beginning with 16.g4, and in its final position it looks like I'd be losing a piece that's pinned to the queen. But that only happens because the 22.e5 move is simply bad, which is understandable because the last moves in an engine line are by definition not deeply analyzed.

However, the 16.g4 move itself is really strong, ruling out any Nf5 ideas I might have, which ensures I can't go after the d4 pawn, and just leaves my pieces really stupid. I've run analyses on a bunch of different lines following from that in lichess.org/study/Y3i4u5ti .

So you were right to highlight the comparison of piece activity. I guess the lesson for me here is to remember to keep an eye out for space disadvantage, and if such a thing exists, try to see whether that indeed translates into badly diminished opportunities for my pieces, or whether it's instead something tolerable. Here it clearly wasn't.

Thanks for the response!

Also, I was very saddened by your 54.h4 move, lol.

As already mentioned, black's pieces are way too passive for the lack of castling to offer black any compensation. Sure, maybe white needs a few extra moves to untangle, but black needs many more moves to put up a good resistance.

Very concretely, black is lacking space, and does not have any good pawn breaks. Perhaps in the long term c5 or e5 could be pawn breaks to consider, but you're a long way from achieving them. Moreover white has the two bishops (and you don't) which makes it unlikely that opening up the position offers black an advantage. I agree with the engine assessment of a solid advantage for white, which can easily become a big advantage with accurate play.

By the way, having played the 2... Nf6 Scandinavian myself, I'd recommend you go for 5... Nb6 instead, and fianchettoing your dark-squared bishop on g7. Then you will be putting serious pressure on white's center (d4-pawn), and you will be able to strike more easily with e7-e5.

@tpsinnem your 53.Ng3 was very sneaky ^^, really nice try.

@thijscom The issue of availability of pawn breaks is something I'll have to ponder further. Also, thanks for the Nb6 suggestion; I'll look into it!

5...Nb6 or 5...Nf6 is a matter of taste, both have advantages and disadvantages. Really wrong was 9...Bxf3 giving him the bishops' pair.

An uncastled king is not uncommon. Examples

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4 Qh4+ 4 Kf1
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 Be2 cxd4 7 cxd4 Bb4+ 8 Kf1
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bxb4 5 c3 Bc5 4 d4 exd4 5 cxd4 Bb4+ 6 Kf1