The Evans Gambit and......a Smurf

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 {It now had a 'think'. It's in trouble if it's going to play the Black side of an Evans Gambit off the cuff.} 4... Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O b5 {A TN!. It can see 7...dxc3 bumps into 8.Bxf7+ and Qd5+ so it pulls the Bishop away from aiming at the f7 square. We shall look at this sac in the next game.} 8. Bxb5 {I could have played 8.Bb3 but that is a retreat. I don't do the retreating moves and anyway this move sets up Bxc6 tricks.} 8... dxc3 9. Nxc3 Nf6 {It thinks it is going to castle. No castling for it in this game.} 10. e5 Ng4 11. Qd5 {Anticipating it's next move.} 11... Bxf2+ 12. Rxf2 Nxf2 13. Ba3 {As I said. No castling in this game. What about the f2 Knight. I'll let it worry about that. I'll pick it up in a move or two. Watch and weep.} 13... Ng4 14. e6 {Threatening 15.exf7 checkmate.} 14... fxe6 15. Qh5+ g6 16. Qxg4 {Told you I would get that Knight. Now all I have to do is wait whilst it untangles itself and pick it off.} 16... Qf6 {Hits and pins the c3 Knight.} 17. Bxc6 {Will it see 17...Qxc3 18.Qxe6 and mate next move. I told you I'd have a Bxc6 trick up my sleeve.} 17... dxc6 18. Qc4 {A tickle on the c6 pawn and hold the c3 Knight. Of course I have no intention of playing Qxc6+ and taking that stupid a8 Rook but it does not know that.} 18... e5 {That's naffo. 18....Bd7 and try and hold on but it's all looking gloomy after 19.Rf1.} 19. Re1 Bd7 20. Nxe5 g5 {It's given up. This piece of nonsense is to give the King a flight square on g6} 21. Nxc6+ {Yes 21.Ng4+ wins a Queen but I was seeing if I could mate it without taking the Queen.} 21... Be6 22. Rxe6+ Kf7 23. Re7+ Kg6 24. Qd3+ Kh6 25. Qh3+ Kg6 26. Ne5+ {Could not see a way of mating and leaving the Black Queen on the board.} 26... Qxe5 27. Rxe5 {And mate in a few.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O dxc3 {OK here we go...} 8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 9. Qd5+ Kf8 10. Qxc5+ d6 11. Qxc3 Qf6 12. e5 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 {All very plausible although I can find no other examples of it on here or OTB.} 14. Qxc7 {White just left the a1 Rook hanging....and Black did not take it! If 14...Qxa1 15 Nc3 and the Black Queen is trapped and just waiting for White to play Ba3 or Bf4/Bg5 /Bh6 depending on what Black plays. All good fun. We continue.} 14... Nf6 15. Ba3 {Again the a1 Rook is left and again Black did not take it. This one is easy. 15...Qxa1 16.Bxd6+ Kg8 17 Qc4+ mates.} 15... Ne8 16. Qc2 {Once again Black decline the Rook.} 16... Bf5 17. Qd2 {These notes are getting monotonous, White leaves the a1 Rook hanging yet again....In the actual game Black played 17...Rc8 and the game was agreed drawn a few moves later. We take the Rook (anything to stop these repeating notes.)} 17... Qxa1 18. Nc3 {The Queen is trapped but she gets the two Rooks for it.} 18... Qxf1+ 19. Kxf1 {What is happening here? White has a hit on the d6 pawn with a check and there is also the move Qf4 to worry about. It pins and wins the f5 Bishop. Try...} 19... Bg6 20. Bxd6+ Nxd6 21. Qxd6+ Kg8 22. Qd5+ Bf7 23. Qxb7 Re8 {That's a trap. (typical me analysis) If White takes the a2 pawn. Bc4+ wins. Interesting stuff in there. May pay a dividend if you poke around saving it up for for a later date. It all looks plausible to me after 7...dxc3.}

1. d4 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Qa4 e5 {Now c5 looks OK. Instead White decides a double fianchetto is the way to go.} 6. b3 {And suddenly the Queen is looking vulnerable, it takes some alert play to take advantage of this.} 6... Nd4 {The rule of thumb about moving pieces twice/thrice in the opening is just that, a rule of thumb. You have to know when to break them} 7. Qc4 {The rule of thumb about excessive Queens moves in the opening can on rare occasions also be ignored. But wait..another rule of thumb is being ignored. The one about using the Queen to defend. White has hit his thumb with a hammer.} 7... d5 {White resigned. It is an awful position he is heading for. If 8.Qc3 then Bb4 wins the Queen. The only other move to prevent Nxc2+ is 8. Qd3 and that meets 8...Bf5 when c2 does indeed fall.} *

[FEN "5rk1/5pbp/6p1/5p2/8/2P5/qP1BQPPP/4R1K1 w - - 0 24"]

24. Bf4 Ra8 25. h3 {This obvious move giving the King luft hides a fiendish trap.} 25... Rc8 {Of which Black is blissfully unaware.} 26. Qe8+ {That would have been a shock.} 26... Rxe8 27. Rxe8+ Bf8 28. Bh6 {The Rook and Bishop will mate Black.} 28... Qa1+ {Black plays one more move just so we can see the full idea of h3. Without it Black would have won with this move.} 29. Kh2 {Now Black resigned.} *

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 {The Four Knights Opening - Guess how it got it's name?} 4. a3 {That is a waste of time. The idea is probably b4 and b5 chasing away the c6 Knight and taking the e-5 pawn. It's far too slow. Black takes over.} 4... d5 {We have Scotch Four Knights in reverse, with the move 4.a3 thrown in. Black gets in his threat on the e-pawn first.} 5. Bd3 {And this.......}

[FEN "r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n2n2/3pp3/4P3/P1NB1N2/1PPP1PPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 0 5"]
5... Bg4 {Black carries on developing pinning the f3 Knight.} 6. O-O {Cannot argue with that though most would have played 6.h3 to get the Bishop to declare it's intentions.} 6... d4 {Gains space, the drawback is it takes the pressure off the e-pawn and robs the c6 Knight of a possible Nd4.} 7. Ne2 {7.Nb1 looks best. Black can now....}

[FEN "r2qkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n2n2/4p3/3pP1b1/P2B1N2/1PPPNPPP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 7"]
7... Nh5 {Black does not mess up the Kingside pawns. This Knight is headed for f4. White should be thinking along the of playing Ng3, Be2 and d3.} 8. h3 {But...}

[FEN "r2qkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n5/4p2n/3pP1b1/P2B1N1P/1PPPNPP1/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 8"]

8... Bxf3 {Black takes full advantage of White's last move which actually encouraged him to make a good move.} 9. gxf3 Qg5+ 10. Kh2 Qh4 {The threat is 11...Nf4 hitting the h3 pawn and the g2 square. Note playing 11.Ng1 holding the h-pawn does no good as Black plays 11...Nf4 and White cannot stop 12...Qg5 and Qg2 mate.} 11. Ng3 {White's position is that bad Nf4 and mate cannot be prevented, that Bishop on d3 is winning the game for Black.} 11... Nf4 12. Rh1 Qxh3+ 13. Kg1 Qg2 {And...}

[FEN "r1bq1rk1/2pnn1bp/pp1p2p1/8/3P4/2NBBN2/PPP3PP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 12"]

12. Qe2 Bb7 13. Ng5 {The threat of Ne6 prompts Black's next move.} 13... Qc8 14. Ne6 Re8 15. Nxg7 Kxg7 16. Bh6+ {That's clever. If Kxh6 then I presume Rf7 and the Black King is in trouble. Black believes him.} 16... Kh8 17. Rf7 Nf5 18. Qg4 {The tempting 7...Nxh6 forking the Rook and Queen meets 8.Rxh7+ and mates.} 18...Re7 {White now lifts the game up a notch.} 19. Qxf5 {Looks good, White has a Rook, a Bishop and nervous Black King for his Queen.} 19... gxf5 20. Bg7+ Kg8 21. Rxe7 Qd8 22. Rae1 {Black is in trouble here. He makes an attempt to shut down the connection between the Rooks. h6 or h5 to give his King some air was needed.} 22... Be4 23. R1xe4 {Yes. Material does not matter. any check on the Black King is fatal.} 23... fxe4 24. Bc4+ {Black resigned. It's mate next move. Good Game.}

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 {7 moves of mainline Dragon. 7.f3 is a handy move holding the e-pawn, prepping a g4 and stopping Ng4 Bishop hunting ideas.} 7... a6 {I've seen this before. It can transpose back into a mainline Dragon.} 8. Qd2 O-O {Usually White has a Bishop c4 here. It often drops back to b3 and then exchanges itself for a Knight on c4. 7...a6 has put him off Bc4 but he is saving tempo.} 9. g4 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. h4 b5 12. a3 {That's a move I'd shy away from playing preferring instead to play g5 or h5. The point of it is obvious, to stop b4. In this case it invites a serious blunder.} 12... d5 {As Black before you play d5 in the Sicilian give it a real good look. If it works it often steals the initiative, if it is dodgy then it is often regretted. 12...Rb8 and push the b-pawn must be better.} 13. Bf4 Nc4 14. Bxc4 {White has gained two tempi over the mainline with this exchange.} 14... bxc4 15. e5 Nd7 {It easy to see without looking too far that Black's d5 has failed.} 16. Nc6 Qb6 17. Nxd5 {And now the tricks are popping up. 17...Qxc6 18.Nxe7+ winning the Queen.} 17... Qb7 18. h5 {Black has shot his centre busting bolt with a poorly timed 12….d5.. White carries on unhindered with his Kingside attack.} 18... Re8 {Giving the King some room and offering token resistance.} 19. Ndxe7+ Rxe7 20. Nxe7+ {If 20...Kf8 then 21 Qd6 looks like the end.} 20... Kh8 21. hxg6 Nf8 {So now White carefully worked out a Rook, Queen sac combo. Quite easy when you have all the time in the world and it's all done with check.} 22. Rxh7+ Nxh7 23. Qd8+ Bf8 {24.Bh6 works but 'Check all Checks' and keeping checking them till they either run out or you have checkmate.} 24. Qxf8+ Nxf8 25. Rh1+ Kg7 26. Bh6+ Kh8 {27 g7+ and mate next move may have been the original continuation. But....} 27. Bxf8 {...Checkmate is better. A good game that one.}