1. e4 c6 2. c4 This move introduces the Pseudo-Panov Attack 2... d5 Another way for Black to meet the Pseudo-Panov is to play 2... e5. But I have usually found that it is quite easy for White to gain an advantage in that line 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 Generally seen as the best move because if 4...Qxd5 then White develops the Queen's Knight "for free" i.e. 5. Nc3. Best after 4...Nf6 is for Black is then to play the other Knight first to d7 and then to b6 and only then to take the pawn on d5. Usually, White cannot prevent this capture 5. Bb5+ 5. Qa4+ is another major line. 5... Bd7? A weak move Black should play 5... Nbd7 Then if 6. Nc3 a6 7. Qa4 Black's best move is 7... Rb8 followed by ...b5. . White simply cannot hold on to the pawn on d5. After ...Rb8 I prefer 8. Be2 with the idea of of 9. Bf3, 10. Nge2 and perhaps 11. Nf4 to what is usually played here i.e. 8. Bxd7+ etc 6. Bc4 After I played this my opponent thought about his next move for over 20 minutes. Perhaps only now did he suspect that he had made a small error playing 5...Bd7 6... Bg4 7. f3 An alternative was 7. Qb3 but after 7... Qb6 White really has nothing better than exchange Queen's i. e. 8. Qxb6 and while it is true that Black has a weakened Queen side pawn structure it is not easy for White to take advantage of it 7... Bf5 Probably better than 7...Bc8 as played by Gorelov played against Mikhail Tal [World Chess Champion, 1960-1961] in the 1982 Moscow Blitz Championship 8. Nc3 Nbd7 Of course ! 9. d3 The idea is to have a pawn on c4 if the Knight takes the Bishop on c4. 9... Nb6 The first original move of this game i.e. everything up to now has been played before . 10. Qb3 Rc8 The threat is to play ...Nxc4 and then ...Qc7 and then White will have difficulty protecting the pawn on c4 11. Be3 Normal developing move. My aim is to force Black to take on c4 and also to bring my rook to c1 11... Nxc4 12. dxc4 b6!? Better would have been 12... Qc7 and perhaps even better 12...Nd7 with the idea of 13...Nc5. The main problem though, is that Black is lagging behind in development 13. Rc1 According to plan 13... Qd6 If now 13... Qc7 then 14. Nb5 If Black plays 14... Qe5 then White can try to set up a Queen trap with Ne2 and Bf4 14. Nb5 Qd7 15. Nd4 Here I calculated for about 25 minutes to see if 15. Ne2 was in fact better than this move e.g. 15... e5 16. dxe6 Bxe6 17. Nf4 a6 18. Nd4 etc etc. But I decided that trying to establish a passed pawn on d5 was a better idea. 15... e5 There is not much Black can do apart from this to complete his development. If 15... Bg6 16. Nge2 e6 17. dxe6 fxe6 gives White an easy game after 18. Rd1 16. Nxf5 Qxf5 17. Ne2 Qd7 18. Nc3! If 18. O-O then 18... b5!? undermining the d5 pawn looks quite good for Black 18... Be7? A weak move in my view. Black should play ...Bc5 to exchange bishops 19. O-O O-O 20. Rfd1 Rfd8 21. Ne4 Ne8? Black wants to get his knight to d6 - usually an excellent idea in relation to a passed d5 pawn - but this is not a good idea here because it will be vulnerable to pressure from White's bishop Better was 21... Nxe4 22. fxe4 Qg4! and then the game might go like this : 23. Qd3 Bc5 24. Bxc5 22. c5! White's pieces are on their best squares. Black has just retreated a piece to get it to a better square. Conclusion : attack ! 22... bxc5 Now we come to an important question : what is White's best plan ? Well there are three (1) attack pawn on a7 (2) attack square in front of the d5 passed pawn in order to try to advance it and (3) invade with rooks via the 'c' file. I decided that (1) and (3) are best and that my bishop should be established on c4 for just this and this may prevent a rook invasion down the 'c' file by Black. Now the really difficult question ... . given that White wants to target the a7 pawn and advance the d5 pawn which pieces should be exchanged ? Well, I decided that for (1) and (3), best would be Queen plus one rook and my bishop and worst for Black would be Queen plus one rook and the knight. Then Black would be so tied up in a defensive role that he would not be able to do anything else. The next moves are designed to bring about just that : Q + R +B v. Q + R + N. 23. Nxc5 Bxc5 24. Rxc5 Rxc5 25. Bxc5 Nd6 I would have played 25... Nf6 with the aim of getting it to d4 and exchanging it for the bishop - even for the loss of a pawn. Knights are usually just great for blockading isolated passed pawns but here the Knight is more of a hindrance than a help on d6 26. Qb4 f6 27. b3 Kf7 Perhaps to put the King on d6 so as to use the Knight from another square ? 28. Qa5 Ra8 29. Qa6 Nb5 30. d6 Rc8 31. b4 Rb8 32. a4 Nc3?? Blunder. Loses the Knight to a double attack. Better was 32... Nd4 Then I would have played 33. Qxa7 and perhaps only later exchanged on d4 33. Qc4+ Kg6 34. Qxc3 Rd8 35. Qd3+ Kf7 36. a5 To prevent the possibility 36... a5 by Black undermining the protection of my Bishop 36... Qc6 37. d7! Ke6 38. Qc4+ Kf5 39. Qg4# Conclusion : after some inaccurate play in the opening Black's big mistake was in not finding a good middlegame plan (1) involved the exchange of my "good" bishop for his bishop or knight [my dark-squared bishop is "good" because the d6 square and d8 square for my passed pawn are the same colour] in combination (2) the economical blocking of the passed pawn on d5 and (3) the advance (once-supported) of his King's side pawns i.e. e5 => e4 and f7 => f5 etc. Essentially this game was about my good bishop v. his bad knight in relation to the effect of advancing the passed 'd' pawn 1-0