if in this position,i would play the Ruy Lopez.

The only other option I know is the Hungarian, 3...Be7. 3...d6 and 3...h6?! are played by lower level players, but are not very good. White can get a good game against almost any Black move except 3...Bc5 or 3...Nf6 by playing 4.d4.

In fact jkarp, ionadowman means 3...Bc5

I used to play the Hungarian in younger days, but it goes have the drawback of allowing White too free a hand in the early stages to build a powerful position. @jkarp and paulmorphy91 thanks for pointing out the typo. I have corrected it.

IMO h6 is really not that bad... I wouldn't play it but I would understand, especially in a OTB game. People know that Ng5 is a threat and they just don't want the game to be played like that so they play h6. It may be a lost tempo but there's a good possiblility black should play h6 later anyway since the bsb is looking to pin the knight after d3 or d4.

The pawn sac removes a pawn blockage on e5 and can lead to an advantage in development.

wow!!

@jkarp: it is true that pawns can decide the game in the endgame, but you need to have pieces to help them promote. So it's not good to exchange a piece for a pawn, unless you get a really, really good attack for it.

It seems all a tactic matter, that's all. The queen's check in d5 after Bxf7 deprives the black king the possibility to shield in g1, and then it starts a deadly walk on the board that will lead to a mate. Queen, knight, dsb and a rook in 2 moves and a lot of pawns in front of an enemy's king trapped in the middle of an open board, + the possibility to recover at least a piece (Ne4) giving check... all this is familiar to other famous games. I've seen so many, but my memory is not accurate enough to tell how similar was this position to the ones I remember. And a little difference can make a big one.

I thing Re1 is better

What would you have done in the case of Nxe4? Rook to e1? EDIT: Um, never mind, Nxc3 is stupid for obvious reasons...oops! Ignore me!

Emms recommends 6....Nxc3 stating "...there is no need to get embroiled in complications" He cites Trajkovic-Trifunovic, Yugoslav ch 1952 and S.Sokolov-Grodzenski, corr 1976 to show how Black gets a clear advantage (with 6...Nxc3)

Nxc3 seems perfectly playable and more safe. White still would have to recover the pawn.

@ x-machine: I think blake78613 has at least partially answered your question (if indeed you were enquiring after 6...Nxc3). Black eschews material gain to keep things under control. After all, he would have had two pawns in his pocket still, and even he gives up one of them, White will have to find the means to justify his investment.

Blake, so this is a dead way, if black knows it. Anyway, the point should be why 6. Nc3 should be better for white than Re1... and it seems that it is not, on the long run...

@ jkarp: Even in an endgame, you find in general (there are exceptions, of course) that a minor piece is still worth roughly three pawns. The values change, as you would expect, the closer the pawns are to promotion. In some very special circumstances, a pawn one square away from promotion is equal to a whole queen; two pawns two squares from promotion can defeat a rook. But in the middle game, the greater mobility of a minor piece is likely to overcome even 3 pawns.

i knew that was coming.

@jkarp: from an objective point of view, the game stands, right now, as 'too close to call.' A canny betting man would probably put his money on Black, even, did he not know who the players were. There are some twists and turns in the game still...

yes I should have had the guts to put my King on Kf6. Exposed or otherwise and my retreat proved indeed fatal!

so what do you do if black does move kf6? I'm currently playing this exact scenario and my apponent has just done this. I have therefore moved Re1 .... gameknot.com

It is very strange: nobody spent a word about Kg6. I'm not saying it is good or bad, but... not a word? QxN+, K can return to f7, or try Kh5, I'm afraid that this is a mate in some moves or something, no time to check, but... it smells heavily like this.

@mr_kill: Sounds like a reasonable response. Black's King would look horribly vulnerable out on f6. Apart from anything else the skewering possibilities along the h4-d8 diagonal would catch White's eye... @damalfi After 8....Kg6 9.Qxe4ch Kf7 10.Qd5ch Black has nothing but 10...Ke8 available to him, after which 11.Re1ch or 11.Bg5 and White really is shovelling wood into the fire.

@ jkarp - the point is what really comes after. After picking up the knight ( a gimme), White will still be a piece and pawn behind (observe that right now White has captured exactly one pawn, whilst giving up Bishop, Knight and 2 pawns. On the Reinfeld scale: minus 7! So White's attack has to look much deeper than the e4-Knight.

Food for brain on a cold an rainy sunday afternoon on winter... I wish so much I could!

This is the sort of things that happens to me very often, when analyzing my games, and that it makes it so "dangerous". It can take a lot of time to get the track of all you are doing, why, if, so... hehe, that's why I love chess, but... !! [Ion, I guess you mean 11. ...Kf8 on your last line...]

Further investigation suggests a better defence for Black after 10...Be7! 11.Bg5 is 11...Kf8! 12.Rae1 Bf6! w White would probably do well to take this moment to snap off the pawn at c3, and leave it to Black to find a move. Black's defence after 10...Be7 is not easy to find, for one thing, and Black's game remains poised on a knife-edge (White threatens 13.Rf4, and if Black tries 13...h6 14.Nh4! looks unpleasant). If 11...Kf8 is viable, however, then Black's 9th move is vindicated. [Thanks damalfi: sorted]

well, black was under series pressure.

I have always thought that the emptiness and fullness of a glass (or any vessel) depended upon context. 'Half empty' might quite easily bespeak a more positive outlook than 'half full' in some circumstances, e.g. if the empty space is of more value to you than the occupied space. But that's by-the-by. Black was indeed under such pressure the game was already pretty much lost, whatever he did. But you are right, in that Black had to evaluate as objectively as he could the alternatives available to him, and select whichever he thought offered the best chance of survival. 13...cxb2 was a prevaricating move that might have bought time (though 14.Qxb2 is a good reply). A Queen move to d6 or d7 might have been met by 14.Qxg7. There was really no good defence. It's just that, under pressure, Black lit on the worst one.

Yes, I got a masterful lesson from ionadowman and rightly so. - and also lacking was my weak foresight.

Crazy gambit!!

nice gambit, and game  

Nice gambit, ionadowman. I will try to analyse it more since i love playing Giuoco Piano and The Two Knights Defense especially in blitz. Congratulations  

This is the best annotated game I've seen so far. Truly played like a GM by ionadowman. I give this game and annotation 5/5 stars!

i really loved this one also. Has encouraged me to play in quite a different style than i normally do. Note my comment at 8 pII, my apponent did decide to kf6 and somewhere along the line i have let him get away and now a draw is the likely result.

Thanks for your responses, guys: I appreciate it! @ paulmorphy: it seems to be an ideal line for blitz if you have a headstart in knowledge of the opening! mr_kill's game: game.