Interesting Smith-Morra Gambit

This is was played between me and Squelch and it was a fun game. I had a few ideas on this line and tried to see if they could work. This wasn't the normal Morra gambit in the sense that not too many fireworks were used by both players. Anyway here are my thoughts on this game and any help and/or discussion are expected and welcommed.

Game 4010788

[Event "Challenge"]
[Site "http://www.chessatwork.com"]
[Date "2007.09.08"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Squelchbelch"]
[Black "adam warlock"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[TimeControl "0"]

1. e4 c5
{
The Sicilian Defence. An assymetric, ready to fight response to 1.
e4. Black says: I'm going to attack on the queenside so do your worst at the
king side. By this early loss of symmetry on re-establishing the equilibrium
black is not fighting for coming out of the opening with equal chances, black
is indeed fighting for coming off the opening on top.
}
2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3
{
The best way to refute a gambit is to accept it so we got ourselves
the Smith-Morra Gambit accepted. White gives way one pawn for a quicker
development and strong attack. Right now it may not seem like it but with the
c and the d file semiopen and both center pawns out of the way seems can get
real messy for black. Bishops are free to roam the board and soon enough both
rooks will be ideally posted. This seems to be an uphill battle for black
but as a regular sicilian player I really want to grab any chance I get to
study this and bot get stomped if I ever get to face this gambit whiule
playing OTB. Enough with this yadda yadda and on with the game.
}
4... e6
{
I think
that nowadays the most popular way for black to play is 4. ... d6 but I
prefer this way. One thing that I've learned in the pre-study of this gambit
is the importance of the dark squares so I think that the sooner black
contest them the better.
}
5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bc4 a6
{
Untill now this all standar
commom knowledge of the gambit. Don't play either side of this gambit untill
you know this. Particularly 6. ... a6!
}
7. O-O Nge7
{
Inviting the pin
}
8. Bg5 f6 9. Be3 Ng6
{
On my pre-study of I've seens many of black set ups and this
was the one that suited me best. All that play this gambit are aware of the
consequences of the e5 pawn push by white. I really think this a resource to
fear on white's arsenal so I adopted this formation. Now I've taken control
of e5 and the pawn pusk lost all (well it lost a lot of it anyway, I'm just
patting my back!) of his sting.
}
10. Bb3
{
And at this point Squelch got the
best of me. No game in my database had this move by white so I think that is
safe to say that at this point we started playing our chess.
}
10... Be7
{
Iim
sorry to say this but I totally missed Squelch's next move and lasting
cramping effect it would have on my position. But move was also kinda forced
due to the central position of my king. I feared the quick attack and thought
that maybe I should get the monarch on a cozy little spot and take him away
from the action.
10. ... b5 {Instead I could have played this move and
taken away the a-4 square from the knight and went with the plan behind the
6. ... a6 move. Let's see how things could have happened.} 11. Qe2 Be7 12.
Rfd1 O-O 13. Rac1 {So now white has completed his normal development and
black's king is safe too. And on top of that black has a free ready to flow
position. That and the extra pawn should have done it for me but I lost this
chance. Anyway this is jsut the line I'm seeing maybe white had better moves
and that's why I annotated my actual tenth move with a ?! instead of a ?}
}
11. Na4
{
Already taken advantage of my not so energetic move. Chess this days
is getting so ruthless!
}
11... O-O
{
Making room for the queen.
}
12. Nb6 Rb8
{
And
this what I meant when I talked about a cramped position. No b5 push. A
bishop that is going to get exchanged by a white sooner or later and also
gaining some somewhat weak central pawns that will reveal themselves later
on.
}
13. Qe2 f5
{
Trying to free up something on my position. My queen side
counterplay has been smothered so maybe white can be nice and open up the
f-file for me. And I'm also threatening to harrass the dark square bishop on
my next move and take him from that real nice square.
}
14. Rfd1 Qe8
{
Queen on
a light square and out of the d-pawn's back. Tactical shot may appear at e6
with white's bishop so I ran for it. I am greedy and like to hang on to my
munched pawns int he opening!
}
15. e5
{
Interesting move. This keeps the
f-file closed for both players but allows me to harass the bishop and
pseudo-free my self on the queen side. But it sure is best that allowing me
to take the pawn or taking my pawn and allowing me to open up a file.
15.
exf5 Rxf5 16. Bc2 Rf8 {A cheeky position that diserves some further
analysis.}
}
15... f4 16. Nxc8 Rxc8
{
16. ... fxe3 17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. Qxe3 {And bye
bye gambited pawn! So this line didn't look very attractive to me.}
}
17. Bb6 Bd8 18. Bxd8 Rxd8
{
Still no queen behind my pityful d-pawn!
}
19. Rac1 Qe7
{
At
this point b5 is out of sight. I wnated to keep two defenders on my knight
and at this tage of the game I see that move only as tempo wasting. White has
enough initiative on him as it is. I was reaaly depressed with my position
and at this stage I started analysing as a mad man. My two central pawns
should have been my greatest assets at this stage but they are so weak and
just waitnig for tactics to happen. My f-pawn and white's e-pawn are both
bones on the other's guy throat but I feel that Squelch's bone is choking me
more that I am choking him. I could have moved my king to h-8 in order to
run away from tactics at e-6 but I would be giving a free tempo for white. So
I really didn't like my chances.
}
20. Qe4
{
At first I didn't see white's
point in this move. But in a few moves it would hit me like a hard early
morning slap.
}
20... Nh4
{
Since I'm a pawn up and got my hands all tied up let just
invite Squelch to trade off a fiew pieces and loosen the knot around my
throat.
}
21. Nxh4 Qxh4 22. Rc3
{
And like a slap The revelation of Qe4 came
to me. The dreaded rook lift. A tactic that is very easy to miss. White now
threatens Rh3 with rook and queen hitting on h7; and Rd3 doubling on the file
and making a mockery of my pathetic d-pawn. Each option very nasty and
unfortunately for me only one threat could have been parried.
}
22... Qh5
{
So I
decided to parry the h7 bust and live in the misery of a rook battery on the
d-file.
}
23. Rh3
{
Doubling on the d-file was better for white in my
option. Now the initiative will slowly swing to my side of the board and the
future is turning sunny to me.
23. Rcd3 {Doubling on the file and tying me
up. Now I feel like I have no good move o make and white can regain his pawns
while having a superior position.} b5 {For instance this natural looking
move.} 24. Rxd7 {Taking the e-pawn support} Rfe8 25. f3 {Threatening R1d6!}
Nb8
}
23... Qf5
{
And the queens have to be exchanged or white will be two pawns
down. I dont think a lkot of people would like to go to an endgame with that
onus.
}
24. Qxf5 Rxf5 25. Bc2
{
Still hitting on h-7
}
25... Rxe5
{
And now my central
pawns breath. Particularly the d-pawn that gets to be a passed pawn. And with
my major pieces that would really tie down white's forces.
}
26. Bxh7+ Kf7
{
Now the white bishop needs to retreat but on d3 he blocks the rook. On c2 it
allows me to win time. On b1 he becomes useless.
}
27. Rf3
{
With this move
white regains his gambited pawn but hands over his bishop. This move made me
remember of Fischer's blunder against Spassky. I had a possible line analysed
but what I saw did seem to be better for me that for white and I'll show it
in the following variations.
27. Bd3 Nb4 28. Bc4 Rf5 29. a3 Nc6 30. Bd3 Rf6
{Nice position for black}
27. Bc2 Re2 28. Rc1 Rf8 29. Kf1 Re5
27. Bb1
Re2 28. b3 e5 {And this too seems to be favourable to black. In all of this
variations my plan would be trying to cause the rooks exchange and go for
minor pieces and pawn endgame with me having the extra pawn or even better
going for a king and panws endgame.}
}
27... g6
{
Trapping the bishop.
}
28. Rxf4+ Kg7 29. Rh4
{
This move seems to hold on the bishop but what it really does is
to condemn that rook to passivity. But what else to do?
}
29... Rd5
{
This what I
like to do when I have a material advantage. To simplify things and get the
rythm of the game dictated by me. Letting me rule ove the file was
unthinkable so Whithe had to take my rook. Downsides of my move: Three
connected passed pawns on my king side. Gulp. Even with an extra piece things
would be very hard for me.
}
30. Rxd5 exd5 31. f4
{
And white resigns. I think
Squelch could hanged on for a while more and best for him would be the move
on the variation. Anyway it was a fun game were the momentum swung from one
side to the other and some less accurates moves were played by each side but
a great learning experience for the both of us. At least with was for me.
31. Bxg6 Kxg6 {Down a piece but with three connected passed pawns and things
get really sticky for my side. Any missplayed move I think that it is safe to
say that Squelch could win this.}
}
0-1

Originally posted by adam warlock
This is was played between me and Squelch and it was a fun game. I had a few ideas on this line and tried to see if they could work. This wasn't the normal Morra gambit in the sense that not too many fireworks were used by both players. Anyway here are my thoughts on this game and any help and/or discussion are expected and welcommed.

[gid]4010788[/g ...[text shortened]... e to
say that Squelch could win this.}
}
0-1

I recommend 8...h6!

Originally posted by Northern Lad
I recommend 8...h6!

What if 9.Bh4? My darksquare bishop isn't going nowhere no time soon I think...
And have you anything to say about the annotation. I'm trying to learn how to analyse games so any help on that would be very much appreciated.

Firstly, well played.
At no point in the game did I feel like I had any prolonged attacking pressure.

I think the key point of the game was 18.Bxd8? which simplifies too quickly & loses the B pair. Looking at it now, 18.Bc5 looks like it's crying-out to be played & keeps my position alive. My play deadened it!

After exchanging so much material off (23.Rh3? seems an ill-concieved plan now) & making a terrible hash of tying my Rh3 & Bh7 up, the game could have continued but it would have been a painfully slow death.

I can't really see any improvements for you (no significant ones anyway) & you beat me in my own backyard openings-wise, after having played 35 SMG's here & won 26 & drawn 3.

Once again - very well played 🙂

Originally posted by adam warlock
What if 9.Bh4? My darksquare bishop isn't going nowhere no time soon I think...
And have you anything to say about the annotation. I'm trying to learn how to analyse games so any help on that would be very much appreciated.

The bishop is less well placed on h4 than g5, because it can't easily return to e3, which may turn out to be the best square for the bishop. Also h6 is a less weakening move than f6.
I might also add that I played this way as white in my last ever Morra Gambit 20 years ago against a strong Soviet GM, who played 8...h6!. I got stuffed and the post mortem wasn't much fun either, as after every move I tried came a couple of swift moves in reply and the grim refrain "nye kompensatsiya za peshku" (or something like that)!

Originally posted by Northern Lad
The bishop is less well placed on h4 than g5, because it can't easily return to e3, which may turn out to be the best square for the bishop. Also h6 is a less weakening move than f6.
I might also add that I played this way as white in my last ever Morra Gambit 20 years ago against a strong Soviet GM, who played 8...h6!. I got stuffed and the post morte ...[text shortened]... moves in reply and the grim refrain "nye kompensatsiya za peshku" (or something like that)!

Very interesting indeed. I'll try to see games with your line then and see if I can understand the ideas behind that move. The thing is that in my mind I was thinking that h6 is more weakening than my move. Thanks a lot!

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Firstly, well played.
At no point in the game did I feel like I had any prolonged attacking pressure.

I think the key point of the game was 18.Bxd8? which simplifies too quickly & loses the B pair. Looking at it now, 18.Bc5 looks like it's crying-out to be played & keeps my position alive. My play deadened it!

After exchanging so much material ...[text shortened]... se, after having played 35 SMG's here & won 26 & drawn 3.

Once again - very well played 🙂

Once again thanks for the compliments and for giving me a game! 🙂
your improvement on move 18 completly bypassed me and I'll try to analyse it tomorrow but looking at it quickly I think I would have played Be7 or Rf7 but both seem a little bit awkward for me.

I just think that on my part 10. ... b5 could have been better. Castling seems to be pretty delayable and that way I would avoid my cramped position on the queenside.

I think I'll do some more pre-study of some openings cause it really seems to work.

Originally posted by adam warlock
Very interesting indeed. I'll try to see games with your line then and see if I can understand the ideas behind that move. The thing is that in my mind I was thinking that h6 is more weakening than my move. Thanks a lot!

In the above game (after 8...f6), I think white chose the wrong plan. He should on move 10 or 11 have played Nd4 with the idea of following it up with Qe2 (or Qh5 immediately if propitious), Rad1, f4, and Qh5 with a strong attack. The f6 move is now shown clearly to be a weakness.

Originally posted by adam warlock
What if 9.Bh4? My darksquare bishop isn't going nowhere no time soon I think...
And have you anything to say about the annotation. I'm trying to learn how to analyse games so any help on that would be very much appreciated.

8. ... h6 is given by Palkovi in his book "Morra Gambit" when follows:
9. Be3 is the recommended retreat keeping the B on its best diagonal. There follows:
9. ... Ng6;
10. Nd4! .. Be7;
11. f4 .. 0-0;
12. Bb3 .. b5;
13. Qh5 .. NXd4, etc (Palkovi suggests 13. Bb7!?) in the game Zelic v MI.-Cebalo 1995 Portoroz 1-0.

8. ... f6 is given by Palkovi as "the most frequent and best"
9. Be3 .. Ng6;
10. Nd4 (not Qe2?! which is a mistake in this set up).
10. ... Be7;
11. f4 .. 0-0;
12. f5 .. Nge5;
13. Bb3 .. Na5! (returning the pawn with counter play). In this line blacks ... b5 has not been played.

After 8. ... f6; 9. Be3 .. b5 is the most common, when follows:
10. Bb3 .. Ng6;
11. Nd4 with plenty of options for both sides.

In his book "The Modern Morra Gambit" by Hannes Langrock he quotes the position after 8. ... f6; 9. Be3 as scoring an impressive 60% for black and gives 8. ... f6 as "the most popular version" with
9. Be3 .. b5;
10. Bb3 .. Ng6;
11. Nd4 .. NXd4;
12. BXd4 (previously) thought to be the strongest line, but now
12. QXd4 leaves white very active and with a strong centralised queen preserving options.

He does mention the game V.Zakharov - A. Gusev where black plays 8. ... f6. There follows
9. Be3 .. b5;
10. Bb3 .. Ng6;
11. Nd5!? when Zakharov went on to win.

and the game F.Roeder v W.Pesch which continued
9. ... Ng6 (an attempt to avoid the Knight sacrifice in the preceeding game)
10. Bb3!? .. Be7;
11. Nd4 .. b5;
12. NXc6!? when white again went on to win.

Originally posted by Dragon Fire
8. ... h6 is given by [b]Palkovi in his book "Morra Gambit" when follows:
9. Be3 is the recommended retreat keeping the B on its best diagonal. There follows:
9. ... Ng6;
10. Nd4! .. Be7;
11. f4 .. 0-0;
12. Bb3 .. b5;
13. Qh5 .. NXd4, etc (Palkovi suggests 13. Bb7!?) in the game Zelic v MI.-Cebalo 1995 Portoroz 1-0.

8. ... f6 is given by Pa ng game)
10. Bb3!? .. Be7;
11. Nd4 .. b5;
12. NXc6!? when white again went on to win.[/b]

Black's plan looks wrong to me in the Zelic-Cebalo game quoted. Black should be trying to exchange material; after all he is a pawn up! One idea is 10...Nge5 followed by Nxd4 and Nc6, with possibly Na5, b5 and Qc7 to come, so as to be able to counter a white f4 with Bc5 exchanging more material.

Originally posted by Northern Lad
In the above game (after 8...f6), I think white chose the wrong plan. He should on move 10 or 11 have played Nd4 with the idea of following it up with Qe2 (or Qh5 immediately if propitious), Rad1, f4, and Qh5 with a strong attack. The f6 move is now shown clearly to be a weakness.

Hmm. In the post below Dragon Fire seems to be quoting a the plan you gave for 8. ... f6 as a refutation for 8. ... h6. I have to look at this posts more carefuly when I have more time.

Originally posted by Dragon Fire
8. ... h6 is given by [b]Palkovi in his book "Morra Gambit" when follows:
9. Be3 is the recommended retreat keeping the B on its best diagonal. There follows:
9. ... Ng6;
10. Nd4! .. Be7;
11. f4 .. 0-0;
12. Bb3 .. b5;
13. Qh5 .. NXd4, etc (Palkovi suggests 13. Bb7!?) in the game Zelic v MI.-Cebalo 1995 Portoroz 1-0.

8. ... f6 is given by Pa ...[text shortened]... ng game)
10. Bb3!? .. Be7;
11. Nd4 .. b5;
12. NXc6!? when white again went on to win.[/b]

This is very intersting! In my CM8K database the line that appears more often is f6 too and black wins a lot on it. The only book I have on the Morra-Gambit is one by Timothy Taylor and he advocates 5. ... d6. I prefer 5 . ...e6 and my set up for the reasons I gave in the annotation. But I really need to have more time to look at all of this more carefuly

Originally posted by adam warlock
Hmm. In the post below Dragon Fire seems to be quoting a the plan you gave for 8. ... f6 as a refutation for 8. ... h6. I have to look at this posts more carefuly when I have more time.

Yes, but the point I'm making is that it doesn't work against 8...h6 if black plays as I suggest. I know that 8...f6 is the normal move, but I believe 8...h6 to be stronger for the reasons I give.

Originally posted by Northern Lad
In the above game (after 8...f6), I think white chose the wrong plan. He should on move 10 or 11 have played Nd4 with the idea of following it up with Qe2 (or Qh5 immediately if propitious), Rad1, f4, and Qh5 with a strong attack. The f6 move is now shown clearly to be a weakness.

8…f6 Be3 b5 Bb7. White to move. Find a promising line for white.



After …f6, Black plays moves like b5/Bb7/Na5/Nec6/Be7 and white doesn’t have sufficient compensation for the pawn. If, as is possible in some lines, Qh5+ g6 Qh6, Black plays Bf8-g7 followed by castling.

I don’t think that the threats you noted are quick enough; i.e. the mistake is in 9…Ng6 not …f6. I like the idea of 9…Ng6 - freeing the dark squared bishop and covering e5 – however it is bad because of the threats you outlined (particularly, I think the idea of f4-f5 could be strong for white with the knight on g6; however, it is not when the knight is not g6).

Of course, h6 is fine too and white will not have sufficient compensation for the pawn but if the threats you mentioned are illusory it will not technically be quite as strong (although objectively the same result).

Anyway, Bc4 is wrong when d6 or f6 has not already been played as the bishop is ineffectual on the a2-g8 diagonal as e6 is sufficiently protected.

I know there is lot of theory in the Smith-Morra, so I apologize if I am presumptuous.

Originally posted by Yuga
8…f6 Be3 b5 Bb7. White to move. Find a promising line for white.

[fen]r2qkb1r/1b1pn1pp/p1n1pp2/1p6/4P3/1BN1BN2/PP3PPP/R2Q1RK1 w kq - 0 11[/fen]

As given above by me there follows:

10. .. Ng6;
11. Nd4 .. NXd4;
12. BXd4 (previously) thought to be the strongest line, but now
12. QXd4 leaves white very active and with a strong centralised queen preserving options.