Annotated chess game

go easy on him. sheesh.

A lesson from an E rated player. Is that possible?

Don't defend, counterattack! 2... Nf6 If 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d6 Bc5 6. Bg5 Nxe4 7. Bxd8 Bxf2+ 8. Ke2 Bg4# What was white's bad move? 3. took a pawn 4. took a knight 5. protected his center pawn 6. pins the knight 7. took the queen

f6 is not a losing blunder. This is a misconception, as with correct play by black white does not have a forced checkmate. 4. Qh5+ Ke7 5. Qxe5 Kf7 6. Bc4 d5 (the game-saving move as the black Bc8 now controls f5, and in doing so staves off checkmate. Not that I think 2. f6 is a good move, of course...

2...f6 is a weak move, not so much a losing move, as inferior to several alternatives Black has available. At that, Black need not be so complaisant as to retake on e5. Instead (after 2...f6 3.Nxe5) Qe7 keeps Black in the game. It is easy for White to misread the position: 4.Qh5ch? g6 5.Nxg6 Qxe4ch. The main line of the Damiano defence runs: 1e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6? 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.Nf3 and [A] 4...Qxe4ch 5.Be2 Nc6 6.0-0 with threats of Nc3 or Re1 giving White an edge in development; or [B] 4...d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4 Qxe4ch 7.Be2 Bf5 8.Nd4 Bg6 9.0-0 and Black is having a tough time of it. At least one great Master has tried the Damiano. The game Schiffers-Tchigorin (1897): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5 Qe7 4.Nf3 d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4 Qxe4ch 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 Bd7 9.Nc3 Qg6 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.Bh5 winning the queen for two pieces.

The fatal mistake of black is by moving his KBP to f6. He made that move without knowing what will happen to him/whats behind that move.

Two things: 1. Oriagnglrgi is right, as the trap isn't really hard to figure out. 7. h4 is a wasted move -- not a bad move, per se, but wasted. 2. A MESSAGE TO ALL COMMENTERS: PLEASE READ OVER YOUR RESPONSE BEFORE POSTING. I can't stress this enough. Oriangnglri, 4...d5 is impossible. Perhaps you mean 7...d5, but definitely not 4...d5. It's unfair if you harshly criticize scottw's analysis while having errors in your commentary.

After 7. Qf5+ Kh6 8. d4+ g6 & now 9. h4 is the right move!

Difficult as it is, Black's defence can be improved by "getting in" 6...d5 7.Bxd5 Kg6. The reason is that that the c8-bishop can have an influence on events along the light squares. For instance, 6...d5 at once prevents the continuation mentioned by ruachessnut2: 6...Kg6? 7.Qf5ch Kh6 8.d4ch g5 9.h4 etc. Even after the better 6th move alternative, though, Black's defence is near impossible: 6...d5 7.Bxd5ch Kg6 8.h4 h5 9.Bxb7 with the idea 9...Bxb7 10.Qxf5ch Kh6 11.d4ch g5 12.Bxg5ch etc.

What?

Black's position is already looking pretty much hopeless. Maybe with the ...d6 counterattack on White's queen, Black hoped to rattle White into an overhasty move. Another idea that won't work is 7...Qf6 (8.h5ch, or, better yet, 8.Qe8ch Kh6 9.d3ch g5 10.hxg5ch Kg7 11.gxf6ch and mate follows on f7.). Black could try 7...h5, partly to prevent White's h-pawn's further advance, but also to give the K somewhere to run, but then comes 8.Qf5ch Kh6 9.d4ch g5 10.hxg5ch (or 10.Bxg5ch Qxg5 11.hxg5ch) ...Qxg5 11.Bxg5ch Kg7 12.Qf7#

That is, the pawn move 9.d3 discovers (in the sense of removing the mask from) the check by the c1-bishop.

I would have moved Pawn to 8. d4+ but thats a matter of your playstyle logical black response 10.g5 hxg6+ e.p. 11.Kxg6 Qh5+ 14. Kg7 Qf7# (just looking at your next board. it is already there   )

Although Black's play in this Damiano Defence can be improved upon, it's probably better just to play something other than 2...f6.

3...Qe7, not...f*e5

WRONG MOVE Kirby.