An Old Piece Sac Against the Evans

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 f5 6. d4 fxe4 7. Bxg8 exf3 8. Qxf3 Rxg8 9. Qh5+ Kf8 10. dxe5

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5
4. b4 Bxb4
5. c3 f5
6. cxb4 fxe4
7. b5 exf3
8. Qxf3 Nf6
9. bxc6 bxc6
10. Ba3 d5
11. Bb3 Ba6

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 f5 6. cxb4 {I played this because of the idea that the best way to refute a gambit is to accept it} fxe4 7. b5 {Armed with the info about the weak d4 from the blog I decided to attack the knight straight away. I also thought it better to keep the Queen at home until I decide whether it is better on the King side or the Queenside.}exf3 {Was a knight move necessary here?} 8. Qxf3 Nf6 9. bxc6 bxc6 {I had mainly looked at dxc6. If then 0-0 Qd4 forking B and Rook Qb3 Qxa8 Bb2}
10. Ba3 {At the time I liked this because the bishops stop Black castling whether he plays d6 or d5 and it will take him a long time to block both diagonals.However I wonder if castles was better as black now has a chance to stop me doing so} d5 11. Bb3 Ba6 {An irritating move. Black has created a central pawn roller that looks quite intimidating. I could visualize my King trying to fend off connected passed pawns on the c and d files backed up by Queen, Rooks and the a6 Bishop } 12. Nc3 e4 13. Qg3 Kf7 {Yashin gave this some thought but felt there he had little choice} 14. f3 {played after some analysis with a pocket set. The idea is to counter against blacks centre whilst his d pawn is pinned as well as providing an escape route for my king to allow the king's rook out, much as black is doing. After all it is difficult to demonstrate the advantage of an extra piece if it is not brought into play.} Re8 15. Kf2 {here I had to be careful about Black's knight ending up on e4 forking queen and king, but this is easily avoided provided I don't rush into exchanges on e4} Bd3 16. Rc1 {this threatens the pawn on c7 by Nxd5 Nxd5 Bxd5+ cxd5 Rxc7 which looked pretty strong} Rb8 {I thought he intended to answer Nxd5 with Rxb3} 17. Rhe1 {all my pieces are now in place and accidents on e4 are covered. Black has many pitfalls to avoid as the pin on d5 is quite limiting} Qd7 {I couldn't see what he was getting at with this move - perhaps he wanted to play to f5} 18. Nxd5 {I considered moving the king away to g1 first but came to the conclusion that I could play this now} Nxd5 {I had half expected Rxb3. Now the knight is pinned and if cxd5 Rxc7} 19. Bb2 {attacking g7, threatening Rxc6 followed by Rxc7 into the bargain} Kg8 {I had thought Kf8 unpinning was best. I had not made up my mind how to continue in that case as Rxc6, Bxd5 and fxe4 would all have to be looked into} 20. Bxd5+ {there are not many ways to stop the check and although the b2 bishop hangs moves like Bxc6 fxe4 Rxc7 acting against g7 are all in the air. Black resigned}

[Event "RHP"]
[Site "Evans Thematic"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Yashin"]
[Black "Ragwort"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 f5 {The start position for the piece sac line.} 6.d4 {Played because I had got in first in the other game with cxb4. Yashin considered other typical Evans' Gambit moves such as Qb3 and 0-0} 6...fxe4 7.Bxg8 exf3 8.Qxf3 {Threatens mate at f7.} 8...Rxg8 {Preventing mate and if White should play cxb4 he will still be a pawn in arrears.} 9.Qh5+ {Yashin looks for more by threatening moves like Qxh7 and Bg5.} 9...Kf8 {As far as I was concerned this dealt with it all by protecting the rook in the event of Qxh7 and if he checked on the f file I would play Qf6. The c pawn is pinned so Nxd4 followed by Nc2+ with a fork is one of my threats.} 10.dxe5 {Prevents Qf6 as well as recovering the pawn. Yashin felt however that in my place he would now have retreated the Bishop and waltzed into the next phase of the game a clear piece up.} 10...Qe8 {But I thought that if the queens come off he has nothing and I can win either the e pawn or the c pawn or both. He has no pieces out and if he goes pawn grabbing on h7 Then my Q can take with check on e5 pinning the c pawn in another direction and I should be able to take over the initiative. } 11.Qxe8+ Kxe8 12.cxb4 {No choice he said, but to go into an ending a pawn down.} 12...Nxb4 {In retrospect I think I played the rest of this game very poorly. He made several moves that I had simply failed to take into account despite the fact they were obvious. I also should have taken the e pawn but I was absorbed by the prospect of several dangerous knight forks available to me if I took the b pawn that I lost objectivity. } 13.Kd2 {Forced but fine.} 13...Rf8 14.f3 {Did not account for this.} 14...Nc6 15.Re1 {I had only looked at Bb2 for no other reason than it was what I thought I would have played.} 15...Rf5 {This is to keep the rook active so that the king can go to f8 or f7 to unpin and then d6. If I had taken the e pawn this would have been an unnecessary concern.} 16.Bb2 Kf7 {Secures the g pawn if the Bishop discovers on it, and unpins the e pawn. d6 is now possible. I was relieved to see that he cannot play Nc3 without dropping the e pawn.} 17.Na3 d6 {I realized he could arrive on b5 and win the c pawn but I didn't like further delay with a6 when I thought Nc4 with further action on d6 looked annoying. At this stage I shut down and didn't consider the obvious follow up b5 at all.} 18.Nb5 Nxe5 19.Nxc7 Rb8 20.Bxe5 Rxe5 21.Rxe5 dxe5 22.Re1 Be6 {Here I analyzed that I could not hold the e pawn whether I played this threatening the a pawn, or Kf6. I thought about running the b pawn with b5 but in all honesty I felt I had squandered any winning chances. I offered the draw which Yashin agreed saying he felt he had no further prospects in the game either as well as a number of off the board activities to attend to. In neither game was either player able to produce the flowing attacks of GP's blog examples, but then both players were able to shut down many of these opportunites for their opponent, even with sub optimal play, certainly on my part.}

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "New game"] [Black "?"] [Result "*"] [PlyCount "14"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. O-O d6 7. d4 Bb6 {So if 8.Qb3 the fork Na5 is possible, although not immediately b/c of Bxf7. Lasker won many games with this.} *