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This is a game I recently played and that leads me to the inevitable question which country to name it after.
It started with a French Defense.
It continued with the Armenian variation.
It ended after a Greek Gift.
Sometimes I wonder whether there's a country without some kind of chess-thing named after it... |
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1. e4
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The first time I played e4 on gameknot. I have come to prefer this move to d4 because it's a bit more likely to get into very sharp positions - I use to call them interesting positions. |
  1 comment
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1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
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The Winawer variation of the French. Nothing special so far. |
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4. e5 c5
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All commonly known. White lacks of other good options to protect the pawn, so he moves it. After e5 White will normally attack on the kingside while Black tries to break up the pawn chain, undermining the pawn on d4 with the thematic c5. |
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5. a3 Ba5
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The first surprise. I had never seen this move before, only the exchange on c3. As far as I can tell, there is not too much theory to this move. It is called the Armenian variation of the French Defense - and according to the few games I found, it is favourable for White. But still, you've got to prove that first. |
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6. b4
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Interrupting the bishop's pin. Another possibility would be 6.Bd2, but I like this one better. |
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6... cxb4
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From here on I could find only two sources of information: The GK database and a book which says more or less 'After 6...cxb4 white will easily get an advantage, too.' Oh, how I love all these comments without any explanation...
The more common move seems to be cxd4 but both options lead to a sharp game, eg. 6...cxd4 7.Qg4. |
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7. Nb5
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Logical, and it seems to be the only (sensible) option. For the pawn minus white will get a lot of compensation. |
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7... bxa3+ 8. c3
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8.Bd2 is possible as well, however, I did not like the possibility of black playing 8...Bxd2+. I will get a nice position after 9.Qd2 and 10.Nd6+, but, to be honest, I wanted to keep things complicated. And my bishop to get to a3 before he dies. |
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8... Bc7
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Without 8...Bc7 there are some nasty variations where black needs to play very carefully, for instance 8...Nc6 9.Nd6+ Kf8 10.Qf3 Qc7 11.Kd1 (11.Bxa3? Nxd4) f6 12.Bxa3, always threatening some kind of discovery, and...
Well, let's simply put it this way: I wouldn't mind my opponent playing things like Nc6 here. |
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9. Bxa3
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Obviously. This bishop is starting to become very annoying now. For black, of course. I didn't mind him so much. |
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9... Ne7
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Not only to allow castling but also to prevent 10.Qg4. Eg 9...Bd7 10.Qg4 g6 and the dark squares around the black king look horrifying, especially since White can always exchange his knight for black's black-squared bishop. |
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10. Bd3
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Bd6, the other choice, wasn't entirely convincing. Of course I get the black king to stay in the centre, whether black exchanges on d6 or not (which he rather shouldn't), but I'd have to give up my bishop with Bxe7 in order to play Nd6+. I liked my bishop.
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10... O-O 11. h4
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All the other games I found (which is, to be honest, only the two in the GK database) continued with 11.Qh5. However, I had some ideas of a possible Bxh7 after Nh3 (in order not to block the queen) and didn't want my pawns to be restricted by that. Since he has also castled, a pawn storm seems to be an appropriate measure, too.
However, in retrospect Qh5 seems to be a bit better because it gives black fewer possibilities to defend. (Threat on h7)
But 11.Qh5 h6 would have ruined all those nice variations with a bishop on h7...
By the way, White still is a pawn down. But don't you think he's got more than enough compensation? The knight on g5. The two active bishops. And no black piece has left the seventh rank yet. What more could white want? |
1 comment
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11... Re8
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?
I suspect this move is to unpin the black knight, however, it leaves the f7 square guarded only by black's king. Black ought to have either developed (11...Nbc6) or pushed away the annoying knight on b5 (11...a6). |
2 comments
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12. Nf3
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Here I considered 12.Bxh7 for quite a long time. It's a huge lot of variations, most of them work and it might work in an actual game, but after all it was 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.Nf3 Nf5! 15.g4 Nh6 16.Bc1 Qd7 17.Bxh6 g6 18.Qg5 Bd8 19.Qxd2 Qxb5 -+ that made me refrain from it. But still, Black has to play very accurately. 14...g6, for instance, gives white a nasty attack after eg. 15.Qg4 Bd7 16.Bxe7 Rxe7 17.h5 Bxb5 18.hxg6 fxg6 19.Qxg6+ Rg7 20.Qxe6+ and so on - I'm still not sure whether it is enough but I'd have played it. It looks like fun.
However, I preferred Nf3. Not Nh3, which I had thought before, because this seemed to be more logical, not blocking the rook in case of a further advance of the h-pawn. Which seemed likely. But I am still not entirely sure which one is better. |
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12... a6
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Chasing away the white knight. Or that's the plan. |
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13. Bxh7+
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13.Ng5 is good, 13.Bxh7+ is much, much better. (A Greek Gift after the Armenian variation of the French Defense. Seriously, it's too many country names in chess openings.)
If 13...Kxh7, 14.Ng5+ Kh6 (14...Kg8(h8) Qh5(+)+-,14...Kg6 15.h5+ Kxg5 (15...Kh6 16.Nxf7+ leads to very similar play as in the main variation)16.Bc1+ Kf5 17.g4+ Ke4 18.f3# - note that except for the b5 knight all white pieces are in their original positions. It doesn't take too much maneuvring to checkmate an opponent, it seems) 15.Nxf7+ (thanks to 11...Re8?) and after 16.Nxd8 black is lost. 13...Kg8 loses to 14.Ng5, Qh5.
The text move loses, too.
Actually, black is lost whatever he does, so it doesn't matter so much. |
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13... Kf8 14. Ng5
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After this move black's best reply is probably 14...g6, however, after 15.Qf3 f5 (what else?) 16.exf6 it's checkmate in a couple of moves. Another try is the desperate 14...Bxe5, but it doesn't help, either. I think whatever black does, with accurate white play it's checkmate in about ten and with inaccurate white play it's ruinous loss of material. At least.
Simply put: it's dead lost. For Black.
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14... axb5
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Not even delaying the inevitable. |
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15. Qh5
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Black has only one move to prevent 16.Qxf7#, thanks to the Ba3 the Ne7 is pinned. (I knew there was a reason not to exchange him!) |
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