Chess is a game of skill played out among some of the world’s greatest strategic minds. Legend has it that chess is the result of attempts by ancient military commanders and kings to demonstrate their battle strategy before engaging in conflict. In the case of the great players like Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and Magnus Carlsen, victory often came to the player whose strategic understanding and execution of the game was faster and more devious than their opponents. For those of us who spend our lives at the bottom of the ratings barrel, victory often comes to the player who makes the next to last mistake.
This game was played last month and is an excellent example of tactical play and some intriguing choices in tight situations.
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[Event “Live Chess”]
[Site “Chess.com”]
[Date “2015.05.17”]
[Round “?”]
[White “914”]
[Black “AmishHacker”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B01”]
[WhiteElo “914”]
[BlackElo “799”]
[Annotator “Stockfish 6 64”]
[PlyCount “56”]
[EventDate “2015.??.??”]
{I get nervous whenever I see a player with an ELO around 100 points higher
than mine. However, with that anxiety comes an increased sense of focus.
Higher players tend to play more like the games I have studied, which can make
them much more fun, more challenging, and less frustrating than a noob who
wants to move his Queen around the board for 16 moves gobbling up minor pieces.
In this game, white and black take on some interesting tactical positions, but
ultimately it is the one who makes the last mistake that will give the game
away…} 1. d3 d5 2. e4 d4 {I have only recently started making this move on a
regular basis. Leaving the pawn on d5 and reinforcing it with Nf6 or e6 has
traditionally created more havoc for me than I would like.} 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Be2 {
White would have been within his right to trade Knights, but the threat of a
Queen also bearing down on the d4 square was most likely cause for second
thought.} Nf6 5. e5 {This is the move that made me avoid playing f6 earlier.
There are several options here, but I have not had much consistent luck with
many of them in the past.} Nd5 6. c4 Ndb4 $16 {Stockfish notes that I should
have taken c4 en passant. Instead, the blunder on Nb4 costs me a Knight for a
pawn.} 7. a3 Nxd3+ $18 {Nowhere to go…} 8. Bxd3 e6 9. O-O Bd7 10. b4 f6 $2
$18 {Perhaps it is my constant disagreement with my engine analysis that has
kept me at such a low ELO for so long. Stockfish instead recommends moving my
Knight to Ne7, but I wanted to eliminate the f3 Knight’s stronghold on the
kingside, so f6 was an intermediate move to exchange Knights.} 11. b5 Nxe5 $2
$18 12. Nxe5 fxe5 $2 $18 {The exchange is complete and a path is now open to
begin assaulting the kingside.} 13. Re1 $2 $18 Bd6 14. Be4 $18 {White misses
the better 15.Qh5+ in favor of threatening the protected Rook on a8. Sure,
the e1 Rook protects the Bishop, but from what?} ({Stockfish prefers:} 14. Qh5+
Kf8 15. Nd2 Kg8 16. c5 Bxc5 17. Qxe5 Bd6 18. Qe4 Qf6 19. Nf3 Rf8 20. Bb2) 14…
Rf8 $18 15. Bxb7 Qf6 $2 $18 {Stockfish hated this move, and for good reason.
This move effectively sacrifices the a8 Rook while betting on white making a
huge blunder to allow black’s battery forces to force him into a corner. In
fact, this is why I made the move. I was willing to sacrifice the Rook if
white was willing to spend his time going after it.} 16. Rf1 $2 $18 {This is
an understandable move, but also a dangerous one. Yes, the King is once again
protected within his fortress, but black’s forces are gathering strength and
will soon bring the castle walls down.} Rb8 17. Bf3 $2 $18 Bxb5 $2 $18 18. cxb5
Rxb5 $2 $18 19. Be2 $2 $18 Rc5 20. a4 $2 $18 Ra5 $2 $18 {The only purpose of
this move was to stop the advancing pawn before it became a Rook to Rook trade.
} 21. Bd2 $2 $18 {Just as he did earlier with my Knight, white is determined
to scoop up the Rook and in turn, he devotes all of his available resources to
capturing that single piece.} Rc5 22. Bb4 {At this point, the Rook is not as
important as my waiting d6 Bishop. It must be sacrificed…} e4 23. Bxc5 Bxc5
{White was probably excited at this point. A Bishop for Rook trade is a sweet
deal.} 24. Nd2 Bd6 $2 $18 {This was an obvious setup for Bxg2, so I was
expecting white to counter with a pawn advance. Instead, he chose to ignore
the attack and continue playing his own game.} 25. Nxe4 {Forking the Queen and
the Bishop is a good move, but not since the Bishop has a checking move in its
sights.} Bxh2+ 26. Kh1 $2 $18 {This move confused the hell out of me! Why did
the King not take the Bishop? Was he concerned that he would lose the Knight
through Qf4+? Still, moving to Kh1 is a suicidal gesture and it decisively
cost him the game.} Qh4 27. g3 $2 {A valiant attempt to counter the assault on
the King, but the Bishop will easily take the pawn and force the King into
mate.} Bxg3+ 28. Kg2 Qh2# {A beautiful end to a challenging game! White
played good chess, but it all came down to who made the last mistake.} 0-1
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