The Greek Gift - Sacrifice on h7

On the subject of the f7 and h7 targets, I thought I'd look at some sample games with such attacking themes. Here is an example of a sacrificial strike on h7 with the French Winawer.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. Qg4 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Bd3 c5 8. Bxh7 Kxh7 9. Ng5+ Kg8 10. Qh5 Rfe8 11. Qxf7+ Kh8 12. Nxe6 1-0

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Gross Miscalculation

In my latest club match I thought I had it all sown up on move 6! My opponent made an opening 'faux pas' by moving his Bishop to g4 on move 5 supposedly pinning my Knight on f3? I was hoping he might try something nonsensical like this because I have a simple three move combination 6.Bxh7+ Kxh7 7.Ng5+ Ke8 8.Qxg4 winning the piece back and gaining a pawn. My opponent has now forfeited his right to castle and the game should be routine.

My opponent had a few tricks after 15.g3 Qg5, but on 19.Qe2 Kd7? 20.Qb5+ Kd8 21.Rf7! (which stupidly I didn't play - but looked at for 15 minutes!) the Bishop on g3 is won ... I confess that I got rather spooked after the thought of the Rook move 21.Rf7 because I thought my opponent could simply play 21...Qg4 preventing the checkmate, but then I can simply take the Bishop on g3 ... and he cannot recapture the pawn but he has a check on d1 - but the Queen retreats to f1 blocking the check - and White runs out of checks rapidly here !

This was a position that demanded a clear and cool head - something I hope to gain with more practice - the lesson learnt is to be more objective rather than subjective and fearful. It was stupid of me to 'bottle out' of a winning attack, just because my opponent had a (losing) check!

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 d6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 Bg4 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Ng5+ Ke8 8. Qxg4 Nd4 9. Qd1 Bh6 10. O-O e5 11. Nf3 Bxf4 12. Nxd4 cxd4 13. Nd5 Nf6 14. Nxf6 Qxf6 15. g3 Qg5 16. Qe2 Kd7 17. Kh1 Bxg3 18. Qb5+ Kd8 19. Qe2 Bf4 20. d3 Rf8 21. c4 Kc7 22. b4 Qh6 23. Ba3 b6 24. c5 b5 25. Bc1 dxc5 26. Bxf4 Rxf4 27. Qc2 Qf8 28. Rfc1 a6 29. Qxc5 Qxc5 30. Rxc5+ Kd6 31. Rd5+ Ke6 32. Rac1 Ra7 33. R1c6+ Kf7 34. Kg2 Rf6 35. Rc8 Re6 36. Rh8 Kg7 37. R5d8 R6e7 38. Kg3 Rac7 39. Kg4 Kh6 40. Rc8 Kg7 41. Kf3 Kf6 42. h4 h5 43. Rhf8+ Ke6 44. Rg8 Rf7+ 45. Kg3 Kf6 46. Rge8 Rxc8 47. Rxc8 Re7 0-1

The game ended up in a time scramble which I lost!




PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Blindfold chess

I have found an interesting Blog with a short article on Blindfold chess. It is a difficult skill to master but I'm reliably informed that it is very important to be able to visualize moves and variations in your head as well as having continual sight of the board ...

http://superconscious1.blogspot.com/2008/01/learning-blindfold-chess-playing.html

Deflection

Here is an example of a deflection on the back rank to deliver a simple mate ... The game was a blitz of 5 mins each and was NOT a model opening for either player concerned!  I was playing Black and have been studying these type of tactics a great deal - on my android phone ...

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Bd2 Bxc3 6. Bxc3 Ne4 7. Bb4 Bd7 8. Nd2 Nc6 9. Ba3 Nxd4 10. Nxe4 Qh4 11. Nc5 O-O-O 12. Nxd7 Rxd7 13. e3 Nf5 14. g3 Qe4 15. Rg1 dxc4 16. Qa4 Nxe3 17. Bg2 Nxg2+ 18. Kf1 Rhd8 19. Rxg2 Rd2 20. Re1 Qd3+ 21. Kg1 Qe2 22. Rxe2 Rd1+ 23. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 24. Re1 Rxe1# 0-1

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

The 'approach to study'

http://roadtograndmaster.com/
This guy's blog is a very interesting read. From reading it, he appears to face a dilemma. Should he continue practising lot's of varying material within a 7 hour period or should he concentrate on one particular area? Nimzowitsch seems to think that concentrating on many chess disciplines in one day will only lead to confusion ... Therefore a choice is made. The guy on the road to grandmastery will now concentrate on just 'one' subject area until he's totally nailed it! I'll try and take the same approach ...!

Mine's a double-Scotch!

My latest club game was a Scotch. I know a little about the Scotch opening - so I got a little lucky there ... I'm pleased to report, to my utter relief that I managed to win convincingly - a Kingside attack, followed by a Bishop sacrifice on g6, which incidentally I spent some time looking at just in case of tricks! Here is the game ...

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 Qe7 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 Re8 10. Bd2 Bb7 11. e5 Nd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. c3 Ba5 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qg4 c5 16. Bg5 Qf8 17. Qf4 Re6 18. Re3 Bc7 19. Bf6 Bd8 20. Rae1 Bxf6 21. exf6 Rae8 22. Rxe6 dxe6 23. h4 c4 24. Bc2 h6 25. Re3 h5 26. Rg3 e5 27. Qg5 Kh8 28. Bxg6 fxg6 29. Qxg6 Qg8 30. Qxh5+ Qh7 31. Qxe8+ 1-0

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Draw? It never even started ...

My opponent seemed to be somewhat cagey - once out of the opening he offered a draw, just when the game was getting interesting. I exclaimed that it was a little early to accept a draw, but given the circumstances - it made perfect sense for me to accept it!

1) My colleague had just won the first game for the team - we were 1 up
2) My opponent is a higher graded player
3) I had the Black pieces

It summised that had he wanted to play on he would have played Bd4 in an attempt to rid the game of dark squared Bishops. This strategy might well be the right one - if all minor pieces come off and he beats me to the 7th rank in a rook and pawn ending then I'd be fearful of not being able to hold on - he may get a passed pawn on the 'a' file and promote before me?! I haven't put this game through Fritz yet - but that is exactly what I MUST do! All will be revealed. As per usual, any comments welcome ...

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. a4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 g6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. h3 a6 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Qd3 Qa5 14. Bd2 Qb6 15. Rab1 Nd7 16. Be3 Qc7 17. f4 Rfb8 18. Rfd1 0.5-0.5

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/