With no knight on f6 and all that artillery naturally pointing to my king-side I'd instinctively shriek at the prospect of "castling into it." I hate the black side of French Defenses as is, but here I'd probably play ...Nd7 and ...Ng6 instead, and then (depending on what white does) decide later if I want to castle at all. Maybe think of the feasibility of f-pawn levers at some point.

Oh... deary, deary me! Should my 'Greek Gift' comment at move 7 have been labelled with a spoiler alert? I saw it then as a distant - not-very-likely - possibility. One of those little latent, background motifs unlikely to see the light of day. Before I turned this page, I recalled the 'simple sacrifice' comment in Charles's preamble. 'No,' thought I, ' It couldn't be!' It bally well could!

This sac might not actually be White's best choice in this position, as certain features are different from those I mentioned at move 7.

I remember that bigpeta made a very similar sac against me in a WTW game. He won, but the reason was my failure to properly develop since he was down a piece for pawn without adequate compensation. And, I'm sure that ION would remember since I annotated the game, and he commented on it.

In my earlier comment, ...Kh8 was better, but still lost; here it is worse, after 12...Kh8 13.Ng5 Ng8 14.Bxg8!? (also 14.Bd3 or Qh5) Kxg8 15.Ra3! f6 16.exf6 Rxf6 17.Qh5 g6 18.Qh4! e5 (preventing Rh3) 19.Nh7!!

I would've thought the same thing as you Charles. In fact, I'd be thinking about what to do with the K which would've led to me playing the same thing that you're about to play.

An easy thing of overlook. In most of these classic "greek gift" positions in chess books on attack there is no ...Qxc2 counter!

This was the difference between the hypothetical position I envisioned at move 7 and the actual game! There, ...Kg8 led to a forced mate. Here, to a ... different outcome...

In contrast, this is the first thing that I would've seen because I mated Ted in a very similar way on Friday.

Instead 13...Kg8! 14.Ra3!! would have retained for White an attack, and some advantage. The 'obvious' 14.Qh5?? would, as Charles has pointed out, have led to a lost game. The game might have continued: 13...Kg8 14.Ra3 g6 15.Rh3 f6 16.Nh7 (+/=) ... It is surprising how the presence of a familiar motif in a position can deceive. The smallest change of feature can render an easy win problematical, or even transform it into a loss.

I agree with Fritz, that 14...f5 asks more questions of White, but Black is busted anyhow. The knight move Black plays loses so much material, it is scarcely worth troubling about the checkmate!

I see the material that white's about to win.

Instead 14...f5 15.Qh4! (NOT the e.p. capture, this time!) 15...Qxe5 (forced) 16.Rae1 Qb2 (sample line: there are other Q moves, none of which helps much) 17.Nxe6 Bxe6 18.Rxe6ch Kf7 19.Re7ch Kg8 20.Bh6! ... To save the King Black will have to give up the queen.

But, with the masked battery which I saw, the Q will fall.

fine game!! Excellent annotation.

Botvinnik and Korchnoi would probably weep at black's treatment of the French Defense here, but it goes to show that main-line theory is often "main-line" for a reason.

One of those games that would serve as a fine example of a certain type of attack, an introduction to the 'Greek Gift' sacrifice, and to illustrate just how small changes of feature can make a big difference to even familiar looking territory.

Many thanks for all the comments!

Another 5 star rating for Charles.