Championship Games Download + The Bridge.

1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 {Very popular at the lower levels, but checks the stats. 87 played White wins = 21 Black wins = 64 and one draw, This is one of Black wins. White usually loses a tempo with this Bishop on c4 in the Sicilian.}
2... Nc6 3. d3 e6 {Keep your eye on this wee chappie. Here it prepares d5 to null White's first move advantage.}
4. Bf4 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bb5 Nf6 7. Nf3 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 d4 {Now the pawn is going to pick off a Knight.}
9. Qe2+ Be7 10. Ne5 {All credit to White he is making a fight of it. If he was castled here then White would be looking good. Pity that White blew a tempo with Bc4 - Bb5.}
10... dxc3 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. Nxc6 {White is threatening mate on e7. Pity it's Black's move. (thank Bc4-b5 for that.)}
12... cxb2+ 13. Qd2 {Total collapse. The only chance, the only very slight chance, the only one in a million chance was 13. Nxa5.}
13... bxa1=Q+ {The plan of promoting the e-pawn in action.}
14. Ke2 Qxd2+ 15. Bxd2 Qxh1 {The second Rook goes into the side pocket.}
16. g3 Qxc6 17. Kf1 Qh1+ 18. Ke2 Bg4+ 19. Ke3 Qf3+ {That is checkmate.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 {The Mieses Variation of the Scotch. }
6... Qe7 {This clumsy looking move which frustrates the development of the f8 Bishop is infact played to frustrate the development of the f1 Bishop. From now on I declare we call this the Frustrated Bishops Variation.}
7. Qe2 Nd5 8. c4 Ba6 9. b3 g6 {The Black frustrated Bishop seeks....(what's the opposite of frustration....).....Satisfaction.}
10. f4 {As played by Kasparov in one his games v Karpov. These two are playing with a big boys position. (Who has the better book?).}
10... d6 {10...f6 As played by Karpov or 10...Qb4+ as played by Kasparov when he was Black are the known moves. But there cannot be too much wrong with the move 10…d6.}
11. Bb2 Bg7 {Well that is the f8 Bishop satisfied.}
12. Qf2 {Breaking the pin on the c-pawn.}
12... Nf6 {In turn exploiting the pin on the e-pawn.}
13. Be2 {The f1 Bishop too is satisfied. Now is everyone else satisfied?}
13... dxe5 14. fxe5 Nd7 15. O-O O-O 16. Nc3 {Offering the e-pawn. Black can take it three ways. 16...Qxe5 just looks bad due to 17.Na4 - though 'looks bad' is never a reason to reject a move. But in the absence of lengthy analysis which I am not prepared to do and you won't read we will concentrate on what was played.}
16... Bxe5 {I think 16...Nxe5 was OK. The reason why Black took with the Bishop will soon be revealed. Ignoring the pawn and playing 16...Rad8 was surely OK. get all the bits active then consider nicking pawns.}
17. Bf3 Nf6 {This backfires. Black offers his c-pawn with a free hit on the a8 Rook so he can play Bxh2+ or Ng4. Good tactical thought but on the wrong board. To catch the good boys napping you have to set them deeper than that. (I know this to my own personal cost.) 17…Qc5 get the lady off those open files.}
18. Rae1 {The refutation is quite simple. The pin wins. White had something like this in mind when he offered his e-pawn.}
18... Qd6 19. Rxe5 {Although easy too see (NOW!) it still has to be seen . Many a weaker player would cover the threat of Bxh2+.}
19... Qxe5 {Careful now. Slipping into 'any move wins' mode can result in tears, 20.Ne4 Nxe4! 21.Bxe4 Qd6 and the game goes on with White the exchange down.}
20. Nd5 {Correct! Black resigned. 21...Q anywhere 22.Nxf6+ and the resulting discovered check sinks Black.}

[FEN "2r2r2/1R2Q1bk/5p2/1N4pp/5B2/1P3PP1/q3P1KP/2R5 b - - 0 1"]
(Black is a piece and two pawns down and is facing mate in one on g7. Resigns? Not yet. Just one more punt up the field. White might score an own goal.)
2... Rf7 3. Qxf7 {And White (who by the way has just scored an won goal) was possibly thinking Black would have to play 2...Rg8 here and considered sending the conditional move "if 2...Rg8 3.Qxh5 mate."}
3... Qxe2+ 4. Kh3 g4+ {Careful. If 3.Kh4 Qxh2 mate. (It would have been good if Black had sent that as a conditional move.)}
5. fxg4 {Black's turn to be careful 4....hxg4+ 5.Kh4 Qxh2+ is not mate, it losses.}
5... Qxg4+ 6. Kg2 Qe2+ 7. Kh3 Qg4+ 8. Kg2 Qe2+ 9. Kh3 Qg4+ 10. Kg2 {Well I'm bored doing this....}
10... Qe2+ 11. Kh3 Qg4+ 12. Kg2 {Let us move on.. This is what happened - game drawn by perpetual check.}

[FEN "r3r3/p4pk1/6p1/1p2P1Bp/2nP4/2P2PP1/P1K4P/3R3R w - b6 0 25"]

26. d5 {Blunders away the e-pawn. I can only guess that White thought...}
26... Rxe5 {...he now had Bf6+ winning the Rook.}
27. f4 Re2+ 28. Kb3 {.....er....Black has 3..Rb2 mate. A Hook Mates covered in full in a previous blog.}
28... a5 {Black missed it....}
29. Rb1 {...and White has just spotted it.}
29... Rd2 30. Rhd1 Rxh2 31. d6 {White is now at the dice rolling and praying stage.}
31... Nd2+ {Enough. Black picks up the exchange (Nxb1) then plays f6. White timed his resignation perfectly.}

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nxd4 {This floating bomb on d4 has sunk more ships than I have had hot dinners……and I hate salads.}
8. Nxd4 Qxd4 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ {Black resigned. After 10...Kxd7 11.QxQ, The victims of this disaster must number in the thousands.}

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. d5 c6 5. e4 Na6 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bd3 cxd5 8. cxd5 d6 {OOPS! 8...Nc5 first.}
9. Bxa6 {Black now realises that 9...Bxa6 is met with 10.Qa4+ and 11.Qxa6. so....}
9... Qd7 {The expression going from bad to worse springs to mind.}
10. Bb5 {It just got worse. 1-0.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Bg4 4. Nc3 Nc6 {Now instead of 5.Nxe5 the correct way was...}
5. h3 Bh5 6. Nxe5 {The difference being the Bishop on h5 is unprotected. If 6...Bxd1 7.Bxf7+ mates and if 6...Nxe5 7.Qxh5. But…. Black now has 7...Nxc4 and Black is still a piece up. Let us look at it.}
6... Nxe5 7. Qxh5 Nxc4 {Black is a piece up.}
8. Qb5+ {White wins back the piece and is a good pawn up,}

[FEN "8/8/8/8/8/2Rp3r/5K2/3k4 b - - 0 1"]

2... Kd2 3. Rc8 Kd1 4. Rd8 d2 5. Rc8 Rh5 {The correct rank, Black builds a bridge. in my game I went one rank too far! (not a bridge too far….a rank too far.) and had to do it all again. It’s what you call being an idiot.}
6. Rc7 Rf5+ {Now if 6. Ke3 blocking the e-file then 6...Ke1 the pawn promotes.}
7. Kg3 Ke2 8. Re7+ Kd3 9. Rd7+ Ke3 {If now 8.Kg4 Rf1 I'll show the White keeps checking line so you can see the 5th rank bridge method.}
10. Re7+ Kd4 {The King heads towards the rank the Rook is on to form the bridge. }11. Rd7+ Rd5 {The bridge. And the pawn Queens.}