Annotated chess game: Bludgeoned by the Cochrane Gambit

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ANNOTATED GAME

Bludgeoned by the Cochrane Gambit
mateintwo (2428) vs. bucklehead (1789)
Annotated by: bucklehead (1200)
Chess opening: Petrov (C42), Cochrane gambit

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1. e4

In mid-2005, mateintwo (then, as now, one of GK's top-rated players) offered to take white in a series of unrated games against all comers. I was not one to shy away from such a challenge.

1... e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6

At this point I am still quite optimistic...perhaps not about getting a full point, but at least making a game out of it. The Petrov is my wheelhouse, so to speak, and I was well-prepared on the theory of whatever was coming my way in the next few moves.

4. Nxf7

But at this, my heart sank. The Cochrane Gambit is a swashbuckling remnant of the bygone Romantic age of chess, but still retains a good deal of punch. Indeed, it is still occasionally essayed at the highest levels of chess--Topalov managed a draw with it against Kramnik at Linares in 1999. In my experience, black does well if he can weather the initial onslaught, activate his KR, and get his king to safety...but against a strong player those are three very big "ifs."

4... Kxf7 5. d4

The canonical move, from Steinitz to the present day. White is up two pawns for the piece, and he therefore immediately puts these to use in pressuring black's position.

5... c5

A popular choice, with black immediately returning some of his material advantage to disrupt white's pawn front. Of course not 5... Nxe4? 6. Qh5 g6 7. Qd5 Kg7 8. Qxe4 /-

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6. dxc5 Nc6

The c5 pawn is taboo, of course, as 6...dxc5 leaves black's Q hanging. Black instead aims for quick development in the hopes that his extra piece can be made to count for something--before everything else collapses.

7. Bc4+ Be6 8. Bxe6+ Kxe6 9. Qd3

The novelty from the standpoint of the GK databases. A search of other publicly available databases brings up only a single game with this position (Eade-Burrell 1997), which appears to be an IECC email game. The most popular white move at this point is 0-0, though this serves to press white's attack on black's dangerously exposed K. However, I was puzzled by mateintwo's move because...

9... Qa5+

...it allowed me to regain the pawn I'd given up following move 5. This, I reasoned, would also put my queen in a position to parry threats white's Q might make from the center. As it happens, though, the computers are unhappy with my choice. Instead, they favor 9. ...d5, which further disrupts white's pawn-rolling potential. In retrospect, I concur with this analysis, especially as it is consistent with the thought behind 5. ...c5. Note, by the way, that white's attempt to regain a pawn with 10. Nd2 Qxc5 11. Qb3 d5 12. Qxb7 is met by the strong, initiative-gaining 12. ...Rb8.

10. Nc3 Qxc5 11. Qe2

Another confusing queen move. I recall being really disturbed by this because I could make no sense of why it was superior to 0-0. My best guess at the time was that mateintwo was regrouping behind the e-pawn to engineer a push, but otherwise the purpose of 11 Qe2 is cloudy to me. The only thing I knew was that I had a brief moment in which to run, and my K dutifully high-tailed it out of the center.

11... Kf7 12. Be3 Qb4

The less-greedy 12. ...Qe5 would have served me much better, as will soon become apparent.

13. O-O-O

If there was a conscious point behind 11 Qe2, this may well have been it: black's Q is sidelined and the half-open d-file is under serious white threat.

13... Be7

My Q is not in immediate danger--I can still retreat via the clumsy Qa5-c7 if necessary--so I decide to move ahead with my duck-and-cover plan. Ideally, I want to get that KR into play and move my K in behind it...but I don't have the time. The fact that I won't make it is clear from even the most basic analysis, but I admit I didn't run though things very well at this stage. Better moves for black are not easy to find, however. 13... Ne5 could be considered here, especially since the attempt to drive the N immediately away via 14. f4 fails against 14. ...Nc4!

14. a3 Qa5 15. Qc4+ Kf8

No choice!

16. Nd5

Holding out a tempting piece of fruit. In situations like this, I tend to jump at any chance to simplify; in this case I lunged. I saw that he would recapture with the R and thereby attack my Qa5, but I noticed a chance to stabilize things somewhat.

16... Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Ne5

A trade of queens at this point would be decidedly in black's favor, of course.

18. Qb3

18. Qd4 amounts to much the same kind of pain I'm about to experience: 18. ...Qc7 19. Rd1 Nf7 20. Bf4 /-

18... Qc7 19. Rhd1 Nf7 20. f4

A new pawn roller, long in the wings, now materializes. This again illustrates an interesting quirk of the Cochrane Gambit: according to a count of "points," black is ahead 30-29; the downside is that his KR is locked away while white's pawns are mobile.

20... a5

This was more of a "gut" move than an analysis-based one. I wanted to discomfit his queen in some way, and I also wanted to get my a-pawn out from under the thumb of the Be3.

21. Kb1

Safe and without any downsides, but in retrospect it's easy to see that 21. e5 might have been much stronger. 21. e5 a4 ( 21... dxe5 22. fxe5 a4 23. Qb5 Rc8 24. R1d2 Qc6 leaves white with a strong passer and no troubles) 22. Qb5 Rc8 23. Qxa4 and black is without much hope.

21... a4 22. Qb4 Kg8

I've conceived a long and drawn-out plan to get my K under cover and activate the dusty KR, but it mostly serves to give white the time to coordinate his forces for the final stage of the assault.

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