Annotated chess game: A great win against great defense!

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ANNOTATED GAME

A great win against great defense!
ethansiegel (1723) vs. bleddy71 (1573)
Annotated by: ethansiegel

(1986)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B21), Andreaschek gambit

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This is my favorite game from my ongoing mini-tournament on the Smith-Morra gambit. It features a lot of interesting themes -- gambiting pawns for a lead in development, turning the developmental edge into an attack, and using a speculative attack with lots of threats to culminate in a very rare end -- a mate with just two knights!

1. e4

Here's the description from my mini-tournament, which starts with the moves 1. e4 c5 2. d4!? Ken Smith played this opening a lot... 1. e4 c5 2. d4!?, which has a lot of interesting variations that aren't normally seen here on gameknot or anywhere, for that matter. One time Bent Larsen was annotating a game where Smith's opponent played the French Defense, and the annotations went: 1. e4 e6? (Better is 1... c5!, which wins a pawn)

1... c5 2. d4 cxd4

The first move actually made in the game -- an obvious and natural one, too. This is a regular sicilian thus far, with just a different move order.

3. Nf3

White has the option of recapturing right away (3. Qxd4), developing with 3. Nf3 and daring white to try to hold onto the pawn with 3. ...e5 (as in this game), or going into the Smith-Morra gambit proper (3. c3), which looks a lot like the danish gambit (for those familiar with 1. e4 e5 2. d4!? exd4 3. c3).

3... Nc6

Black decides against e5, and gives me the option to turn this into a standard sicilian game with 4. Nxd4.

4. c3

...but how boring would that be? 4. c3!? isn't the soundest gambit, to be sure, since it appears white is offering a pawn for just one tempo, but if I can develop quickly and efficiently, maybe I can turn this into an effective attack. (That's the goal, anyway!)

2 comments

4... dxc3

I approve of this move, since allowing 5. cxd4 allows white to hit back in the center and regain his pawn -- this is black's best shot for an edge.

1 comment

5. Bc4

!? Very speculative -- offering a second pawn for one more tempo. If black bites and plays cxb2, the white bishops will be extremely powerful, but will they be worth two pawns?

1 comment

5... e6

Black isn't biting, and in fact looks to be trying to reduce the influence of white's Bc4 with this move, which gives him a paulsen-like setup.

6. O-O

Castling seems like a normal developing move here. Now, I'm still willing to allow cxb2, because my bishop will become very powerful on that long diagonal, especially if black plays Bc5 or the like, which e6 seemed to prepare.

1 comment

6... a6

I didn't understand this move initially, until I realized that black was preparing to play b5, driving my bishop off of c4. Well, if he's going to be pushing pawns...

1 comment

7. Nxc3

Then I'm going to keep developing pieces! My goal is to use my edge in development and slight space advantage to launch an attack down the open c- and half-open d-files.

7... Bc5

Of course, this is going to require a balance of defending as well, as black is not without his own resources.

1 comment

8. a3

Black may not like the looks of my bishop on c4, and I don't like the looks of his on c5. This move prepares to knock the Bc5 into the corner.

1 comment

8... d6

?! Now, this move is perfectly fine, and even makes it into the gameknot game DB (with a win for white), but it is not a good move here. Why? First, it prevents the bishop from retreating to e7. Second, the new moves it allows, Bd7 and Qd7, are not moves black is going to make! Nge7 was my preferred move here, as if I were black, I'd want to neutralize white's developmental edge as soon as possible!

1 comment

9. b4

Forcing the bishop to a7, as Bb6 would block the b-pawn, hampering the light-squared bishop, and allow further harassment by either a5-a6 or Na5, or even a future Nd5.

9... Ba7

The best move, given the circumstances.

10. Bg5

Bf4 is probably going to be preferred by many of you reading this, but what I was thinking is that it was going to be most beneficial to provoke weaknesses in black's kingside, since that's clearly where he's going to castle.

1 comment

10... Nge7

This is probably the best and safest move, as Nf6 would leave black exposed to a dangerous future e5 thrust, and f6 weakens the light squares around black's king.

11. Rc1

Putting a rook on this open file can't be a bad idea, can it? As it turns out, this move never does much, but I was happy to develop this piece to a good square for now.

2 comments

11... O-O

Totally consistent. Black is nearly caught up in development, and I can see that after b5 and Bb7, he'll have his development nearly completed, and all I'll have to show for my pawn is a space advantage. At this point, I realized I was going to have to turn up the pressure if I wanted to get a (hopefully winning) attack going!

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