: And A Guide To Gambit Play
It's kind of funny how chess knowledge (even random things) seem to show up when a clock is ticking. I understand what Lasker meant when he talked about trying to forget everything he had learned.
Well, today I guess I finally snapped. The old Greenpawn crept into my mind with the clock ticking.
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 e5!! just begged to be played.
The "gambit" originated in 2010 in this thread
Thread 133575 .
This is only an unrated blitz game against a much lower rated player, but it takes an interesting course. I think my opponent played considerably well.
I also think this game serves as a guide to gambit play and the way compensation is gradually achieved by slight advantages here and there.
[Event "ICS Unrated blitz match"]
[Site "freechess.org"]
[Date "2012.07.22"]
[Round "-"]
[White "1200"]
[Black "paulbuchman"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "1200"]
[BlackElo "2099"]
[TimeControl "180"]
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 e5 {Greenpawn! Stay out of my head!} 3.Bxe5 Nc6 {Here's my compensation. He has to move his bishop twice. LOL Actually, black has gained a little time and taken the London player out of his usual frame of mind.} 4.Bg3 Nf6 {Greepawn prefers 4. ... h5, but I forgot my "theory". Luckily, I get back on course with h5 on move 6.} 5.e3 Ne4 {One idea is to get in h5, force h3, and then capture on g3, giving white at least some weakness.} 6.Bd3 h5 7.Bxe4 {He's on to me. White is aware of the Nxg3 idea and makes it possible to play h3 without the threat.} dxe4
8.h4 Bg4 {Again trying do induce some weakness. 9.f3 exf3 10.gxf3 may not be great for black, but at least the pawns/weakness are something to work on. 9.Ne2 looks ok.} 9.Qd2 {Here Qd5, laying claim to the white squares and centralizing the queen would be nice. White, however, can just flick the queen away with Nc3. My move aims to take the c3 square away from the knight.} Bb4 10.c3 Be7 {Now, Qd5 is ready to go. If 11.c4 to prevent it, then 11. ... Nb4 and Nd3 looks good. The white squares are weak because of the lack of a bishop and a move like c4 just creates more weaknesses.} 11.Ne2 Qd5 {This hangs c7, but white probably should waste any more time. 12.0-0 looks good.} 12.Nf4 Qb5 {Keeping white in the center} 13.a4 Qb3 {Qc4 looks better, now that white can not play b3.} 14.O-O {White is doing fine, and the shabby pawn sac isn't giving quite enough compensation.}
g5 { A must ... I need open lines to get something going. Now that he has castled, the kingside seems like the prime spot.} 15.Ne2 {Not too good. He abandons his nice outpost. I think he should have taken on g5, but even that looks a little dangerous.} Qc4 {Attacks e2, and sneakily guards c7 . see later} 16.f3 {This will cause white trouble too. He is opening his king up too much. Maybe just 16.Re1. Nevertheless, I think the gambit has suceeded to a certain degree. White has had to make a lot of unnatural London moves. The pressure is building, and there are some possibilities against white's king. Black's chances went from very slight to having a real shot in the game just by a few small inaccuracies from white.} exf3 17.gxf3 Bh3 18.Rf2 gxh4 19.Bxc7 Nxd4 {The trick black prepared with Qc4. Unfortunately, it might not be good.} 20.Be5 {20.Qxd4 looks like a draw. I'll give the line after the game. 20.Be5 is a mistake. It looks like a fork but ...}
Rg8+ 21.Kh2 Nc6 {After the game, I looked at this very briefly with a computer. I think it preferred 21. ... Rg2+ with a fork on f3 as a theme.} 22.Bf4 Rd8 {This may be a mistake too. Setting up a battery with the bishop and queen and heading for h3 seems right to me, although it doesnt quite work yet -Ng1} 23.Nd4 Bc8 {Given time, Nxd4 and Qe6-Qh3 would be curtains} 24.Na3 Bxa3 {Nb5 seemed like a real nuisance and I thought I was accelerating my attack. Actually, this hinders me in a move or two.} 25.Rxa3 Nxd4 {To play Qe6} 26.exd4 Qd5 {Qe6 only gets the queen pinned. The removal of a bishop from e7 and the opening of the e file have slowed me down considerably. I believe time trouble was nearing as this is only a 3 minute game to start with!} 27.Re2+ Be6 {Qf5 and Qh3 lingers ... Here white blunders in time trouble. The correct move is 28.Qd3 !! This completely halts blacks attack and returns the advantage to white.} 28.Bg5 {??} Rxg5 29.Re3 Qf5 {Qh3 menaces again. I'd say the theme of this game, if it has one, is weak white squares. They seem to haunt white from all directions.} 30.f4 Qxf4+ 31.Kh1 Qf1+
32.Kh2 Qg1#
SUPPLEMENT (With 20.Qxd4):
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 e5 3.Bxe5 Nc6 4.Bg3 Nf6 5.e3 Ne4 6.Bd3 h5 7.Bxe4 dxe4
8.h4 Bg4 9.Qd2 Bb4 10.c3 Be7 11.Ne2 Qd5 12.Nf4 Qb5 13.a4 Qb3 14.O-O
g5 15.Ne2 Qc4 16.f3 exf3 17.gxf3 Bh3 18.Rf2 gxh4 19.Bxc7 Nxd4 20.Qxd4 {This is much better than the game continuation.}
Rg8+ 21.Kh2 Qxc7+ 22.Kxh3 {I had planned Rg3, but it doesn't actually win.} Rg3+ 23.Kh2 Rxf3+ 24.Kg2 Rxf2+ 25.Kxf2 Qh2+ {This draws, I think. For one thing, the king can't run to the d file or the queen will be pinned. 26.Kf3 Qh1+ 27.Kf4 loses to Qg2, so it appears white must repeat the position. }
Return Of The Greenpawn Gambit : And
22 Jul '12 20:25
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