Blondie, Phobias and Daft Knights

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. e4 {Black should play 5...Bg4 here developing and putting the impressive looking White centre under pressure. 5...Bg4 is an indirect attack on the d-pawn. When faced with such a centre you must never let it settle.} 5... Nh5 {This is bad. The Knight is now out of the game. Why was it played? Perhaps some time in Black's past he has let a Bishop get to f4 and a Knight on b5 hitting c7. Knights winning Rooks on c7 is a common phobia.} 6. d5 Nb4 {And that moves drops a piece. Black is not going to get the chance to play Nd3+. He had to play 6...Nb8 and try and dig himself out of this wretched position.} 7. Qa4+ Bd7 8. Qxb4 b5 9. Nxb5 {That Knight is eyeing up c7 so Black chops it. (that phobia again) 9...Rb8 pinning the Knight was a try although White could ignore it and go for 10.Qxc4 Bxb5 11.Qxb5 Rxb5 12.Bxb5+ winning the Black Queen.} 9... Bxb5 10. Qxb5+ Qd7 11. Bxc4 Qxb5 12. Bxb5+ Kd8 13. Ne5 {Knight checks on f7 winning h8 Rooks is another phobia that keeps players awake at nights so...} 13... Kc8 14. Ba6+ {14...Kd8 allows 15.Nxf7+ there is no way White is going to be allowed to play that.} 14... Kb8 15. Nc6 {Checkmate. That is every chess player’s phobia.}

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nf6 {I like this move v 2.Qh5. I'd play it against anyone. The pawn sac and tempo gained is in my opinion worth it.} 3. Qxe5+ Be7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Qf4 Nd4 {This lad likes the Nc7+ Rook winning ideas.} 6. Bd3 Nh5 {There is that silly Knight move again. Creating two undefended pieces in any position is asking for trouble.} 7. Qe5 {And once again it drops a Knight.} 7... c5 8. Nd5 {White shuns the h5 Knight. It so harmless out there it can be ignored.} 8... Nf6 9. Nc7+ {Seems kind of poetic justice that White gets this shot in.. White went onto win without any histrionics.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. d4 exd4 5. Qxd4 {Black should play 5...Nc6 defending and developing.} 5... Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 c6 7. Be2 b5 {Far too many pawn moves. Get some bits outs.} 8. O-O h5 9. Nh4 {White's play so far has been OK. He had developed and castled and can now start thinking about creating mischief. This move is OK. The Knight threatens to get into g6} 9... Ne7 {To stop Ng6.} 10. Qb3 Qc7 11. Be3 g5 {This pawn 7th move out of 11 should have given Black a terrible position.} 12. Nf5 Nxf5 {Now the simple 13.exf5 is the move. The open e-file will favour White who is far ahead in development. Instead he hits the sacrificial path.} 13. Bxh5+ Rxh5 14. Qg8+ Ke7 {White should now continue with 15.Bc5+ Nd6 16.e5 and White's attack is shaping up nicely, The Rooks will come into the game with severe threats. White can pick up the loose the h5 Rook with Qg7+ and Qg6+ instead he stops mid-attack to pick up a Knight.} 15. exf5 Qxh2 {Black picks up a King.}

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 e5 {This should have given White a comfortable position with play against the isolated Queen pawn.} 6. dxe5 Nxe5 {Now 7.Qe2 Qe7 8.Bb5+ Nc6 9.Be3 and White is on his way to taking a lead in development. Black will have to untangle his Kingside to catch up.} 7. Bc2 Nf6 {See the difference. If you don't punish a slack opening move it often turns out to be a good move. The IQP is looking good as Black develops without hindrance.} 8. Bf4 Bd6 9. Nd2 O-O 10. Ne2 Bg4 {The White f4 Bishop is open to Nd6+ and Nf3+ trick shots. White pulls it back to defend it.} 11. Bg3 Nh5 {Black plays hunt the Bishop. I'm liking 11...Re8 first.} 12. f3 {A save the Bishop trick if 12..Nxg3 12.hxg3 and the sudden hit on h7 turns the tables.} 12... Be6 13. Bf2 Re8 14. O-O Qg5 {Nervous days for White as he sits there looking at the Black army taking up positions so close to the his King.} 15. Ng3 Ng6 16. Re1 {Black can win a pawn here with 16...Nxg3 but swaps off two attacking pieces so he doubles Knights on the h-file.} 16... Nh4 17. Ndf1 {White throws his pieces over to the Kingside to help his anxious King.} 17... Nf4 {Black has marked the g2 pawn as a target.} 18. Ne3 {To hold g2.} 18... Bc5 {Hitting the defender of g2. The basics of Chess. Floozy it up with clever fancy words if you wish but basically this attack something, then hit it's defender is the root of the game.} 19. Qd2 {And that's not too clever. An undefended Queen. Undefended pieces are the foundations of defeat. Also observe the White King and Queen are in a Knight Fork Pattern.} 19... Nfxg2 {The g-pawn falls - the threat is Nxf3+.} 20. Qe2 {Black now grabs the e1 Rook. Good enough and it gives us a humorous slow motion action replay.} 20... Nxe1 21. Rxe1 Bh3 {Getting ready to plonk the other Knight on g2 to put the squeeze on the pinned e3 Knight.} 22. Bd1 Ng2 23. Qd2 Nxe1 {Them Knights from the rim have picked up two Rooks on e1.} 24. Qxe1 Bxe3 25. Bxe3 Rxe3 26. Qf2 Rae8 {White has seen enough of this game and resigned.}

[FEN "1r3rk1/pp3pnb/2p5/N1bpP1RP/Q4B2/2N2P1q/PPP5/2KR4 w - - 0 24"]

24. Nxb7 {White starts the ball rolling with this mock piece sacrifice where he will get the piece back plus two pawns.} 24... Rxb7 25. Qxc6 {A triple hit! Attacking the loose Rook and the Bishop but the real threat is Qf6 when White crashes through to the Black King. Black spots the major threat. Qf6.} 25... Kh8 {Taking the sting out of Qf6.} 26. Qxc5 {Possibly a hasty error. I’m still undecided.} 26... Ne6 {Maybe White missed this resource attacking Queen and Rook and defending the f8 Rook.} 27. Qxd5 Rfb8 {Now who is attacking is attacking who?} 28. b3 {White plays this forced move and then must see if Black likes the idea of being a piece up.} 28... Nxf4 {Black does indeed like the idea of being a piece up. Rc7 X-Raying the square c2 was a better move. It's this move (Rc7) at Black's disposal that makes me think White stumbled along the way. No stumbling with the next series of moves.} 29. Qd8+ {Excellent, someone somewhere is listening to the 'Check all Checks' advice.} 29... Rxd8 {The Queen has to be taken. If Bg8 then Qf6 mates next move.} 30. Rxd8+ Bg8 31. Rgxg8+ Kh7 32. Rh8+ Kg7 33. Rdg8 {Checkmate. All that was forced after the Queen sacrifice.}

[FEN "8/8/R7/3pBpk1/2r5/5K2/P1r3PP/8 w - - 0 41"]

41. Bf6+ Kh5 {White is the exchange down for a pawn. he now makes his defensive task much harder by allowing his Rook to be swapped.} 42. h4 Rc6 43. Rxc6 {Forced.} 43... Rxc6 44. Bg5 {Still some technical difficulties for Black to overcome but a plan seems to be to grab the a-pawn, keep the d-pawn and when the time is right chop the Bishop with the Rook and coast home in the pawns ending. But, as we shall see, it's tricky.} 44... Ra6 {No. d3 first so the Rook can go hold onto the f-pawn with the Rook. Black has dismissed this as a win and is concentrating on his other games.} 45. Kf4 d4 46. Kxf5 {Careful now. Ra5+ is the only move - it drops the d-pawn and the game is drawn but it was better than....} 46... d3 47. g4 {Checkmate.}

[FEN "6r1/p7/8/1N2k3/3R2B1/7P/PP3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 32"]

32. g3 {As Black one can either resign in such positions or take extreme measures.} 32... Rxg4 {The result of a difficult and masterly decision. Black has given up all hope of winning this game so settles for the next best thing. A draw.} 33. Rxg4 a6 {He is going for stalemate, the beauty of the whole idea is he is going to rid himself of that pawn one move at a time.} 34. Nc7 a5 35. h4 a4 36. h5 a3 37. bxa3 {OK all the bits have gone, now the lone King must make some careful and discreet moves to give the impression he is just waiting for the inevitable checkmate.} 37... Kf5 38. f3 Ke5 39. h6 Kf6 40. h7 Kf5 41. h8=Q {And that Ladies and Gentlemen is Stalemate.}