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1. e4 Nf6
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I have played thousands of games of chess, but every once in a while a game comes along that really teaches you about so much more than just this simplistically complex game we all love so much-- call it "life imitates chess", if you will, although the myriad wizardry & poetic musings lofted upon this, the "Quintessentially Mortal Game", do NOT do it justice...The unbridled enthusiasm with which Black develops and unleashes his unrivaled strategic genius upon a shocked and helpless White is only surpassed by Black's sheer resolve to win, in this come-from-ahead masterpiece...Enjoy! |
 
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2. e5 d5
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White immediately attempts to control the center with his e pawn, but black is up to the challenge. The f6N and the d5 pawn are combining to comfortably control the white squares in the center of the board. |
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3. exf6 gxf6
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Black concedes a few points in material for the sake of controlling the center with his middle pawns. While a double pawn on the f file may seem troublesome, recall that Bobby Fischer once remarked that double pawns in the center of the board can be surprisingly effective. |
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4. Qe2 Bg4
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Notice how White uses the tempo gained from Black doubling up his f pawns to establish position on the half opened e file. Black challenges this position by threatening White's queen. It is always a good idea to force your opponent to move the same piece multiple times in the opening, and as we can see Black already has White's Queen on the run... |
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5. Qa6 e5
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White's queen escapes from the bishop threat, and Black uses the tempo gained to strengthen his stranglehold on the center of the board. |
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6. Qxf6 Be7
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Note how the Be7 move removes the option of White trading Queens. In the early part of a game it is generally unwise to trade Queens unless it is to gain a legitimate material advantage. |
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7. Bb5+ Nd7
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Some checks are scarier than others. This check by white is really putting pressure on the center pawns, as the bishop pin leaves the e5 pawn unguarded... |
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8. Qxe5 O-O
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White is happy to take the center pawn gift, while Black is happy to castle his King into safety. Garry Kasparov noted that losing a pawn in material for the sake of King safety can oftentimes be the difference between forcing a draw or even winning a game from a lost position, as opposed to being checkmated very quickly. |
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9. Bc6 Re8
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White attacks the vulnerable b7 pawn, but Black counters with Re8 which threatens a discovered attack skewering of White's queen...Black is slowly uncoiling like a snake, preparing to strike... |
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10. Qg3 b5
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White moves his queen to safety, Black moves b pawn to safety. |
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11. Ne2 Ne5
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Oftentimes in the middle game you will see a series of knight moves as both sides attempt to find a knight outpost. Both sides are pursuing this goal masterfully! |
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12. Bxa8 Ba3
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White swipes the unprotected Black rook, but this material gain is not without consequence, because now black has several tactics at his disposal, in addition to placing the b2 pawn under heavy attack. |
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13. Bxd5 Nd3+
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White greedily takes black's center pawn, only to fall into a vicious trap by black...The e5N moves to d3, Forking the King and the black bishop on c1 -- simultaneously, the rook on e8 is pinning white's e2N...Its a Pin and Fork sandwiched together --- its a "Pulled Pork Sandwich"! |
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14. Kd1 Qg5
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White moves his King to safety away from the menacing rook, while Black moves his Queen in position to pounce. It was suggested by a much lesser chess player that a better move for black would have been Bxe2#, but that is actually a clear blunder because it would have defeated the purpose of maintaining the significant threat of tempo established by the previous "pulled pork sandwich". |
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15. b4 Qxd2+
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Now here in the 15th move of the game, Black makes the first real mistake that we have seen. The d3 pawn had several defenders, including the bishop on c1 and the knight on b1. Always keep track of the number of attackers vs the number of defenders, and remember, you need one attacker more than the number of defenders to safely take a piece in most circumstances. It would have been more wise for black to remove a defender by taking the c1 bishop with either the d3N or the a3B. Note that Bxe2# continues to be an unqualified blunder, although it is debatable whether Bxe2# would be better or worse then Qxd2, since Black really only manages to trade his queen for a pawn and manages to go down -18 points in material as a consequence. However, there are substantial subtleties at play with Qxd2+, none more influential than the the complete and total opening of the d file, which will prove to be significant for black's coutnerattack, eventually culminating in vicegrip control of the d3 square... |
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16. Nxd2 Kg7
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White is forced to take the black Queen to get out of check (and frankly it is doubtful if White would have in fact taken the Black Queen had it not been necessary for the legality of the game), while the Black King satiates his need to search for safety, as the White Queen is staring down at him on an open file. I cannot stress enough the importance of paying attention to which files are open and closed -- remember, queens and rooks love open files...Still not a good idea for black to move Bxe2#, less in this instance because of the monumental collapse of tempo that it would cause, and more due to the risk of disruption of the carefully crafted and ever so delicate balance between the pulled pork sandwich of move 14 and the truly delicious skewer of move 9. |
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17. Qd6 Rd8
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White recognizes the potential threat to his King from the open d file, and so moves his Queen to help control it. Black counters by challenging the queen in that file with his rook. This also sets up Bxe2+ as a viable option by removing the possibility of #, because the struggle for control of open space in this game is now concentrated on the d file, and no longer the e... |
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18. Ne4
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White |
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18... Bxe2+
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White makes a serious error by moving the d2N out of the open d file, and black takes advantage with Bxe2+, the move that black patiently waited to make until the timing was ripe for maximum results! |
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19. Kd2 Bxc1+
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White's King is now under siege! |
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