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This game was played in the seventh and final round of the 1985 National Primary Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. I recommend breaking out a practice board if you want to follow the analysis. Playing White was Joshua Waitzkin and playing Black was David Arnett. My comments are based on the annotated game from Ubisoft's Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition, annotated by Mr Waitzkin himself. Josh has just turned eight years old, and he's the top rated kid in the country for his age. 'This is my first chance to win a national championship. I'm cocky, sure of myself, puffed up with the confidence that no kid can beat me. I've cruised through the first six rounds of this tournament and now I'm on the first board in the last round. My opponent's name is David Arnett. He goes to the Dalton School in New York City. He looks scared. What I don't know is that Dave is considered by everyone who knows him to be a genius. At three years old he had memorized the New York City Subway map. At five he was doing high school mathematics and at six he had been the top-rated first grader in the country. As far as I was concerned, he didn't have a chance.' We'll soon see. |
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1. e4
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Opening by taking the centre. |
 
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1... e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
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This, so far, is still 'book,' but Arnett came up with something that caused Waitzkin much surprise. |
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3... Nd4
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And this move appears to just leave Black's pawn on e5 undefended. Waitzkin can just play 4. Nxe5, or he can play 4. Nxd4. Or he can simply castle. Castling is a good move, completing his development. 4. Nxd4 is also fine. Arnett will reply 4. ... exd4, his pawns are doubled, which is usually a weakness. And then there is the opportunity for Waitzkin to castle. |
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4. Nxe5
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A terrible decision. White has fallen for Black's trap. |
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4... Qg5
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Black plays a very powerful move, and now, from the very beginning, White's in trouble. This opening is actually called the Costage Trap. Playing 4. Nxe5, White allowed this move. Black is threatening both White's knight and pawn. The problem is that if White just moves his knight to f3, after Black takes the pawn, he is threatening the rook on h1, which would come with check, and now in this position the knight is open to attack. If White moves his rook, Black takes on f3 with his knight with check, and this is terrible for White. And if White takes the knight on d4, then after 6. ... Qxh1 he's lost a rook, the king moves to e2 or blocks with the bishop, and then Black can take on e4 with check. Castling is actually a good move here, but Waitzkin believes 5. Bxf7+ would've been the best move. Black has to move his king. Now, though, if White moves the knight to d3 to save it from the Black queen, his pawn on g2 is open to capture. White then has to defend the rook playing 7. Rf1. But Black then plays 7. ... Qxe4+ and it is all over. White's king is trapped and can't move to f1 because the rook is there. The only move he can play is 8. Qe2 to block the check. Black then plays 8. Qxe2#. So White can't do that. If he plays a move like 5. Nxf7, Black plays 5. ... Qxg2. White will have no time to take Black's rook on h8, because his rook on h1 is under fire, and if he moves it to f1, then after 6. ... Qxe4+, he loses his queen. After 7. Qe2 Nxe2 8. Bxe2 Black plays 8. ... Kxf7, winning easily. If White blocks with 7. Be2 Black plays 7. ... Nf3#, a smothered mate. |
1 comment
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5. Ng4
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Waitkin tries to keep it all together. He tries defending his knight by moving it away and blocking the attack on the g2 square. This might seem like the best move, but, in fact, what it does is give Black some time to develop a strong attack. |
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5... d5
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Here, Black has a discovered attack. A very strong move. He is attacking White's bishop on c4 and he has opened up a discovered attack from his bishop on c8 onto the knight on g4. 6. Be2 would have been the right choice. Of course, Black can win a piece. He plays 6. ... Nxe2, removing the defender of the g4 square. Then White plays 7. Qxe2 and Black responds with 7. ... Bxg4. Here, White can block with 8. f3 and be okay. 'My king is okay. I can castle soon, get my king to h1, open up the centre. I can start to fight back. This would have been okay, not good, but okay. That is where comebacks begin.' |
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6. Bxd5
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White knows that he has lost a piece, and so makes sure to get a pawn out of it. |
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6... Bxg4
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Black has won a piece, and, now, to save his queen, White's only move is 7. f3. |
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7. f3
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For Black, 7. ... Qh4+ is okay. White would play 8. Kf1, getting out of the way. Black's bishop would have to move back and then White could start to defend. Notice that White can't play 8. g3 here, blocking the check and attacking the queen. This might initially seem good because if Black's queen moves, White can take on g4 and he's won a piece back. But, here, Black has the very strong 8. Nxf3+. Now White's king has to move. Black can then moves his queen away, and White is in huge trouble. Black can also play 7. ... Bxf3. After 8. gxf3, Black plays 8. ... Qg2, attacking the rook on h1 and the pawn on f3. But, after 9. Rf1, there is a forced win and Arnett could have won the national championship this way. The best move would have been 9. Be7, a very strong attacking move. A quiet move, to be sure. The idea, of course, now, is 10. ... Bh4. This is going to be a mating attack. After 9. ... Be7 there is no way for White to guard the h4 square. 10. ... Bh4 is going to come next and win the game. |
1 comment
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7... Bd7
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'But, look, Dave gave me another chance. He didn't realise how much danger I was in. He didn't have the presence of mind himself to seize the moment. Now I have a new lease on life, a little bit.' Waitzkin has two pawns for a piece. Black is still threatening to capture on g2. White can castle here, and have an alright game. If Black plays 8. ... Bc5, White can just play 9. Kh1. If Black plays 8. ... Bh3, threatening mate, White can play 9. Rf2. And the next move will be 10. Kh1. |
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8. Rg1
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'But, again, think about my psychological state. I was an 8-year old boy, everything was falling apart for me. For some reason, I couldn't gain my clarity of mind back. After this move, I set up a whole new set of attacks for Dave.' Indeed, Waitzkin is in some serious danger now. |
1 comment
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8... Qh4+
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Arnett's idea is that White's king on e1 is in trouble. If White plays 9. g3, blocking, then Black can take on h2. |
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9. Kf1
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After 8. ... Qh4+, Waitzkin didn't want to play 9. g3 because after 9. ... Qxh2 he considered it 'just terrible.' |
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9... Qxh2
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White should now play a move like 10. d3, the next move being 11. Be3 to cover up the king. |
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10. Bxb7
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White trys to get another pawn. His idea is okay, as he has to try to take some material to begin some attacking of his own. 'But, before I could begin the fight, I had to consolidate my king's position.' 10. d3 and 11. Be3. Instead, after this move, Waitzkin let Black continue with his attack. |
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10... Rb8 11. Bd5
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Black can play 11. Nf6 or 11. Bc5. Both moves bring a new piece into the attack. 11. Nf6 would have been an okay move, eyeing the bishop, and then he would have 12. ... Nh5 and then 13. ... Ng3, which is very strong. But 11. ... Bc5 has more immediate threats. |
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11... Bc5
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He is eyeing the rook on g1 which is very difficult for White to defend because his queen and bishop are so well placed. When Black's knight moves it will expose the bishop's attack on the g1 square. So then Black could play 13. ... Qxg1+, which would be terrible for White. So in this kind of situation, anywhere the knight moves will open up this deadly attack. The knight has a free move to f3, 12. ... Nxf3. He could take on c2, attacking White's rook on a1. He could play 12. ... Nb3, attacking the rook on a1 again. 'At this point, things were really terrible. I just tried a last ditch attempt.' |
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12. b4
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White's idea is to distract the bishop from the g1 square to ease some pressure. If Black had played 12. ... Bxb4, Waitzkin would have succeeded. But Black didn't, of course. He used the rook, instead. |
2 comments
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12... Rxb4 13. c3
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And, after the fork, Arnett just went back to his previous idea. |
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