I mentioned this game in Thread 144805 where I sac 3 pawns in an opening and then chuck everything at black and see what happens. Well this game has finally finished, so feel free to add feedback and missed move for either side.
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PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Ng1f3 {Standard King's Gambit setup} Bf8e7 {The Cunningham Gambit, threatening Bh4+} 4. Bf1c4 {I welcome black on} Be7h4 5. g3 {The Bertin gambit, sacrificing all my kings pawns for an attack} fxg3 6. O-O gxh2 7. Kg1h1 Bh4g3 {All theory up to here, my king is well defended behind black's pawn and remains there for most of the game. I have a good lead in development, however have to watch the a8-h1 diagonal}
I've been in this position twice before Game 7953764 and Game 7201950 with one win and one lose. In the win I played 8.d4 next allowing my c1 bishop in the game, in the lose I played 8.Bxf7+ and ran out of steam very quickly.
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FEN
rnbqk1nr/pppp1ppp/8/8/2B1P3/5Nb1/PPPP3p/RNBQ1R1K w kq - 2 8
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[FEN "rnbqk1nr/pppp1ppp/8/8/2B1P3/5Nb1/PPPP3p/RNBQ1R1K w kq - 2 8"] 8. d4 {So I play d4 allowing me to develop more freely} Ng8f6 {Possibly d5 here is stronger allowing black to get his c8 bishop up and running} 9. e5 {!? Risky, the a8-h1 diagonal is crucial to this game} d5 {Planning to attack the weak diagonal I think} 10. exf6 {I go for the attack and stop black castling} dxc4 11. fxg7 Rh8g8 {Got one pawn back. Here, I could have been 'sensible' and tried and hold on my g7 pawn, but I was in an attacking frame of mind} 12. Bc1g5 {Getting my bishop into the fray} f6 {Qd6 might be a better move here} 13. Bg5xf6 {And saccing my bishop straight away. Note Ne5 nearly works, but black has Qd4+, I spent a lot of time looking at this weak diagonal} Qd8xf6 14. Nf3e5 {Now, the black queen can't get onto the a8-h1 diagonal} Bc8f5 {So he brings his other bishop out eyeing up the e4 square} 15. Qd1h5 {I can play Qe2 here, but I prefer dragging his bishop to g6 first} Bf5g6 16. Qh5e2 {Back to e2 and threatening a lot of doom here}
Here black has to move his queen to either e6 or e7 and I had a sneaky combo to Qe6:
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rn2k1r1/ppp3Pp/5qb1/4N3/2pP4/6b1/PPP1Q2p/RN3R1K b q - 5 16
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[FEN "rn2k1r1/ppp3Pp/5qb1/4N3/2pP4/6b1/PPP1Q2p/RN3R1K b q - 5 16"] 1. Qe6 Rf8 2. Rxf8 Nxg6 {Now I think the best defence for black is Rf1+ saccing the rook back and I've got my piece back, although black can play Qc6/Qd5+ causing a bit of trouble. However, if he takes the queen...} 3. Qxe2 gxf8=Q 4. Kd7 Nc3 {And my attack is still going strong}
But, alas my opponent missed my super-trick and played the sensible Qe7
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rn2k1r1/ppp1q1Pp/6b1/4N3/2pP4/6b1/PPP1Q2p/RN3R1K w q - 6 17
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[FEN "rn2k1r1/ppp1q1Pp/6b1/4N3/2pP4/6b1/PPP1Q2p/RN3R1K w q - 6 17"] 17. Qe2g4 {Without the ace up my sleeve I set a few tricks around the weak c8 square hoping black will played something like Bxe5} Nb8d7 {I prefer Nc6 here, it defends the c8 square well enough and allows more counter play with the knight} 18. Ne5xg6 {I decide now is the time to cash in and get the pieces I've sacced back} hxg6 19. Qg4xg6 {Allowing black to counter attack on the g-file but stopping him from castling - a fair trade in my eyes} Ke8d8 20. Qg6xg3 {Finely getting bishop back after my earlier sac} Rg8xg7 {And now black is starting to look quite dangerous} 21. Qg3f3 c6 {Nice, defending the b7 square and giving the king a square to move to, to allow the other rook in} 22. Nb1c3 {I finish developing my queenside letting my a1 rook breathe} Kd8c7 {And black does the same} 23. Ra1e1 Qe7d6 {And suddenly I'm out of attacking options and things are looking rather balanced}
This position terrified me at the time, black can now quite easily throw everything at my king and his h2 pawn starts to look a bit dangerous. Moves like Rg8, threatening Rg1 leading to mate where particularly worrying:
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6r1/ppkn2r1/2pq4/8/2pP4/2N2Q2/PPP4p/4RR1K b - - 4 24
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[FEN "6r1/ppkn2r1/2pq4/8/2pP4/2N2Q2/PPP4p/4RR1K b - - 4 24"] 1. Rg1+ Rxg1 {forced} 2. hxg1=Q+ Rxg1 3. Qh6 {leading to mate}
24.Qf4 doesn't work as black can reply with 24...Rg1+ 25. Rxg1 hxg1=Q+ and my queen drops so I had to go for the stupid looking 24.Rf2 trying to take the h2 pawn asap after it served as my kings defence for a long time - cruel irony 😉.
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r7/ppkn2r1/2pq4/8/2pP4/2N2Q2/PPP4p/4RR1K w - - 4 24
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[FEN "r7/ppkn2r1/2pq4/8/2pP4/2N2Q2/PPP4p/4RR1K w - - 4 24"] 24. Rf1f2 {I prefer this to Re2 as it allows my king to run to f1 in case of 24... Rg1+ 25.Rxg1 hxg1=Q+ 26. Kxg1 Qg6} Ra8f8 25. Qf3e3 Rg7g3 26. Qe3d2 Rg3xc3 {?? Don't ask me why black played this, I really don't know} 27. bxc3 Qd6d5 {Kxh2 puts me back into trouble, now the h2 pawn is back on my side} 28. Rf2g2 {Possibly the move black overlooked when played Rxc3} Nd7f6 {Now all I need to do is swap off and win - simple(ish)} 29. Qd2f4 Kc7b6 30. Re1e5 Qd5d8 {Not Qd6 which loses to Rb5+} 31. Re5f5 {I like this move, puts pressure on the f6 knight and allows Qe5} Qd8e7 {? - someone missed Qe5} 32. Qf4e5 {Threatening mate aswell, the queens have to come off} Qe7xe5 33. dxe5 {And I get rooks off and a pass pawn} Nf6d7 34. Rf5xf8 Nd7xf8 35. Kh1xh2 {Finally my king takes the h2 pawn, which has been integral to my defence for most of the game} a5 36. Kh2g3 c5 37. Kg3f4 Kb6c6 38. Kf4f5 b5 39. Rg2g6 {And this is the final nail in the coffin really} Nf8xg6 40. Kf5xg6 {Black now can't stop my e-pawn queen} b4 41. e6 Kc6d6 42. Kg6f7 b3 43. cxb3 {Black has had enough}
So there you have it, a kitchen sink attack that somehow led into quite a balanced endgame until my opponent blundered. Although I probably would have accepted a draw at move 24.
Hi I have opened a tournament for the Cunningham Gambit, which is move 7 (Kh1)in this game, rather than the Bertin Gamibt (5. g3). If you want to play or just watch the fun - It is run by Gambit Fantasy Club (Club 236), tournament Tournament 13940.
Originally posted by VelvetEars Thanks for the comments guys. For the next game I annotate, I'll make sure it has a grandstand finish - this one was a bit of an anti-climax!
raiox: Good luck with the tournament, I'll keep an eye on it!
Cheers for the post. I am always on the look out for fun gambits. The tournament filled up quickly so it looks popular. I think we will run it again in the future.
