Thursday, March 24, 2005

Quickie time. . .

During the last Corustournament I played with black a very quick game (11 moves!!) against an opponent with a rating of 1791.

1.f4 e5
I always play the From-gambit against the Bird.

2.e4
That's the risk. White can transpose to the King's gambit.
But Birdplayers have often a playing style that's not very suited for that.
I play the Kingsgambit myself and there was a variation that caused me a lot of trouble the last 3 years. Only recent I found the solution.
I decided to test if my opponent knew what to do.

2. ... Bc5 (the classical variation)
3. Nf3 Nc6
4. Bc4 d6
5. c3
Here starts the trouble for white. He has to reckon with Bg4 and Nd4.
c3 prevents this, but moving pawns is not the main reason to play a gambit.

5. ... Nf6
6. d3
White has now moved four pawns and is not able to castle yet.

6. ... O-O
7.Qe2 d5
Black has developed at lightning speed.
It's time to open lines against the enemy king.
Even if that costs some wood.

8. exd5 exf4
Sacrifices the Knight.

9.Bxf4
White is afraid to take the Knight. But this is worse.

9. ... Re8
10. Ne5 Nxe5
11. Bxe5 Bg4 (see diagram)



And white resigned. The Bisshop can't be saved and the position is a wreck.
So should it be all the time!

Pgn:
1.f4 e5 2.e4 Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bc4 d6 5.c3 Nf6 6.d3 O-O 7.Qe2 d5 8.exd5 exf49.Bxf4 Re8 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.Bxe5 Bg4

4 comments:

  1. Nice job. There sure were some questionable moves by White on 9 and up.

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  2. Yes, it happens about 10 % of the time that a player who has 100 ratingpoints more looses his head.
    I have a whole bunch of games that are so (<20)short.
    Their normally positional and quiet approach is so shaken that they forget everything they learnt.
    All their normal idea's are of no use. Who cares about the bisshoppair if mate is delivered. Some simply cannot retune their play.
    My average gamelength is 24 moves!
    BTW even if he had taken the knight I shouldn't like to be on the white side.
    The dark force is OK!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You certainly seem to have your fair share of Bird players. I rarely see it. Nice mini-minature.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don,
    We have two Birdplayers at our club.
    I even tried it myself for a half year. My succes was very poor and I managed to score the quickest game at our club: 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.h3?? Bg3#
    Which was ofcourse before I studied tactics. . .

    ReplyDelete