Stats, Blunders and Traps.

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d5 {Had enough Blitz games with this. Time to give it a spin in a real game.} 3. Bxe5 {Often in blitz games my opponent has missed this. If they spot it then it does gain a few seconds on the clock whilst they look around for a trap this is not there.} 3... Nc6 4. Bb2 {That is all Black has for his pawn sac. A lead in development.} 4... Nf6 5. e3 Bd6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Ne2 O-O 8. Ng3 {OK. Now what? Start pointing things in the general direction of the King.} 8... Ne5 9. Bxd7 Qxd7 10. d3 Rfe8 {4 bits developed (I never count the Queen as being developed) and castled v 2 bits developed for a pawn. Sounds good but But White is solid.} 11. O-O c6 {Aimed at stopping Nc3 and Nb5 wood chopping ideas. Also waiting to see what my opponent does.} 12. Nh5 {This is encouraging and he is neglecting development. 12.Nbd2 was better.} 12... Nxh5 13. Qxh5 Re6 {I will soon be out-gunning him on the Kingside. My attackers will outnumber the defenders.} 14. Qh3 {Pinning the Rook to the undefended Queen.} 14... Qe7 {Now f4 and the fight is on.} 15. Qg3 {Asking for a blistering attack.} 15... Rg6 16. Qh3 Rh6 {I think most of the good lads will now see what is coming.} 17. Qf5 {Now 17...Nf3+ 18.gxf3 Bxh2+ looks tempting. Can we improve on this....} 17... g6 {This wee sneaky move sets up White for a sac-sac mate combo.} 18. Qf4 {Only move. I now use Deep Mode and sent the following continuation.} 18... Nf3+ {Now White does not have gxf3 giving his King g2 as a flight square.} 19. Qxf3 Bxh2+ 20. Kh1 {20...Be5+ wins the b2 Bishop and the a1 Rook. But there is better....} 20... Bg3+ {Prevents Qh3. My opponent resigned. The conditions were...} 21. Kg1 Rh1+ 22. Kxh1 Qh4+ 23. Kg1 Qh2

1. e4 e5 2. Qf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. g4 {This attack does have it victims. The idea is pure enough, the threat is g5, the Knight moves and Qxf7 mate.} 4... Nd4 {This is the move that stops it.} 5. Qe3 {White now sits in the same sinking boat as all those before him who have brought out their Queen too early.} 5... Nxc2+ {A family fork.} 6. Ke2 Nxe3 7. Kxe3 {We play on just to show Black missing a mate in two.} 7... d5 8. exd5 Nxd5+ 9. Ke4 Nf6+ 10. Ke3 Qd4+ 11. Kf3 {Black played 11...Qf4+ and won in a canter. However he did miss.} 11... Qxg4+ 12. Ke3 Qe4{Checkmate.}

1. e4 e5 2. Qf3 d6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. h3 a6 5. g4 {Now 5...Nc6 with the Nd4 idea.} 5... b5 6. Bd5 {Just chop the Bishop and play Bb7.} 6... c6 7. Bb3 c5 {Black is threatening to smother the Bishop.} 8. g5 {The Qf3-Bc4 g4 idea in all it's glory. Black should play 8...c4} 8... Nfd7 9. Qxf7

[FEN "1r4k1/5p1p/1r2p1p1/3nP3/6P1/7P/3R1R1K/8 w - - 0 34"]

34. h4 Ne3 35. Kg3 Rb3 36. Kf4 {Black is winning but seeks to wrap to up in style.} 36... R8b4+ 37. Kg5 {I thought Kg7 threatening Rxg4 mate or h6 mate was coming. Black found another way.} 37... Nxg4 38. Rg2 h6 {The first pawn mate of the Championship.}

[FEN "r3k2r/pppq1p2/2n5/3p2pp/3PnN1P/NP2PRP1/P1P5/R3Q1K1 w kq - 0 16"]

16. hxg5 Qg4 17. Kg2 h4 18. Nxd5 {Black has h3+ and Qxf3 or even 0-0-0 and he is coasting to a win.. Alas he sees a pawn on g5......} 18... Nxg5 {...completely missing......} 19. Nf6+ Ke7 20. Nxg4 {Black resigned a few moves later.}

[FEN "r1bq1rk1/2p3bp/1p1p2p1/P2Ppp2/1BP1n3/4PN2/2Q1BPPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 17"]

17. axb6 Rxa1 18. Rxa1 cxb6 19. Bd3 {White is threatening to nick a pawn on e4. I played......} 19... Bf6 {...and there followed.} 20. Bxe4 fxe4 {Now Ne2 and the Black e4 pawn will drop and then this bit would have been about the dangers of setting traps. Instead my opponent forgot the Blog and….} 21. Qxe4 Bf5 {The Point as Tartakower used to say. The Queen is trapped. The game finished.} 22. Qb1 Bxb1 23. Rxb1 e4 24. Nd4 Bxd4 25. exd4 Qf6 26. Rd1 Qxf2+ 27. Kh1 Qf1+

[FEN "r4rk1/ppp1q1pp/1bnppn2/4p1N1/1P2P3/P1N5/1BPP1PPP/R2QR1K1 w - - 0 1"]

1. h3 {Black can now play 1...Bxf2+ 2.Kxf2 Nxe4+ and 3...Nxg5. Nicking two pawns in broad daylight and wrecking White’s position.} 1... Nd7 {Opens up an attack on g5. White should play 2.Nf3 but then 2...Rxf3 with Raf8 and Nd5 and Qh5 in the offing plus the b6 Bishop pointing at f2. This looks good for Black.} 2. Qh5 Bxf2+ 3. Kh1 {There is no such thing as an automatic capture in Chess. STOP and look at the board before you take anything. What is he threatening. Black should play 3...Nf6 and then he pick up the e1 Rook.} 3... Bxe1 {I'll let you have three guesses what White played next?} 4. Qxh7 {That will be Checkmate.}

[FEN "r2q1rk1/pbpnbppp/1p2p3/3pP3/5P2/1P1BP3/PBPN2PP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 12"]

12. Qh5 g6 13. Qh6 Nc5 14. Rf3 {With the plan of Rh3 and mate on h7.} 14... Nxd3 {Rh3 and Qxh7+} 15. cxd3 Bb4 {Rh3 and Qxh7+} 16. Rd1 d4 {Rh3 and Qxh7+} 17. e4 Bc3 {Rh3 and Qxh7+} 18. Bxc3 dxc3 {Rh3 and Qxh7+} 19. Nc4 Bxe4 {And now ...At last...Black forces White to play Rh3.} 20. Rh3 {The d-pawn is still pinned and with the Bishop on e4 all Black has to play g5 protecting h7.....} 20... c2 {It's a disaster.} 21. Qxh7

[FEN "4r3/3kr2p/1p2p3/p1pq2Q1/5P2/1P1PR1P1/2P3KP/4R3 w - - 0 30"]

30. Qxd5+ exd5 31. Rxe7+ Rxe7 32. Rxe7+ Kxe7 {White has traded down to a King and Pawn ending. Traditionally the easiest to play as it just involves in a lot of cases simple counting and no calculation. Indeed in this game Black started calculating instead of counting.} 33. Kf3 {White should have played c4 to stop Black from creating an outside passed a-pawn with b5.} 33... Ke6 {b5 threatening to play a4 was the move here.} 34. Kg4 {This is wrong. Now the White King has no chance of stopping the passed a-pawn. c4 had to be played.} 34... Kf6 {Again Black misses his chance to play b5 and run home the a-pawn.} 35. f5 b5 {At last. Now he sees it.} 36. Kf4 a4 37. bxa4 bxa4 38. g4 {The White King cannot catch the running a-pawn so he tries a few token gestures on the Kingside.} 38... h6 {Which Black should simply ignore. Running home the a-pawn wins.} 39. h4 a3 40. g5+ Kg7 41. gxh6+ Kxh6 42. f6 a2 43. f7 {And all Black need do is Kg7 and it's 0-1. But no. Black stops to think about it and spots a trick.} 43... a1=Q {And now if f1=Q Black can play Qf1+ and pick up the Queen. Brilliant play.} 44. f8=Q+ {CHECK! Black has no time for his Qf1+} 44... Qg7 {This just allows White to trade down yet again to a won ending. Better was keeping the Queens on and try and check the White King to dust on an open board..} 45. Qxg7+ Kxg7 46. Ke5 Kg6 47. Kxd5 {Black resigned a few moves later. A needless loss.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5 {I think you can do this. It leads to a good game for White.} 4... Qg5 {Now White should castle 4. 0-0 Qxe5 5.c3 with 6 d4 to come. Good Luck.} 5. Nxf7 {Tempting but wrong. The player of the White pieces need feel no shame. This trap, the 'Blackburne Shilling' has caught thousands of players - I mean that, thousands. 211 on RHP alone.} 5... Qxg2 6. Rf1 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 {And here I have OTB examples of Black missing the mate and taking the Queen with Nxc2+} 7... Nf3