[Chess Blog] Checkmate to end 2013

So I start as White.
1. e4 c5


Sicilian! NICE! I wanted a sharp, aggressive, wild game and he’s going to give it to me!

2. Nf3
Now, I never actually formally learned any particular line against any variations of the giant family that is the Sicilian D. However, I figured if I want some sharp game, this is probably the best bet. (although I heard something like Grand Prix Attack is supposed to be really aggressive as well? But I don’t know a thing about that line, so Open Sicilian it is!)
2…. d6
3. d4 cxd4
This is where I decided to spice things up. Instead of the normal Nxd4, I decided to surprise him (hopefully) with the… Qxd4!
4. Qxd4


I don’t know much “book line” when it comes to Sicilian, so the faster we go “out of book”, the better for me.

4… a6


This was a bit of a bummer. I was hoping he would play Nc6, so that I can pin his knight with Bb5, and when he then plays a6, I was going to take the knight so I can leave the Queen where it is.

5. Bc4
I mean… I have to develop my bishop somewhere, and I thought c4 was just fine. It kind of looks like the white side of Italian game except the Queen is in the middle.
5… Nc6
6. Qd1


Wasn’t entirely sure where I should put my Queen once it was attacked. I supposed the safest bet is to just put it back to d1 although it completely undermines the point of taking the pawn with the Queen…eh, whatever.

6… Nf6
7. Nc3


Just simple developing moves. I thought about pushing my e pawn and potentially trade Queens (and take away his right to castle) instead of Nc3 but ultimately decided against it. Didn’t really see anything concrete in that, not to mention HE can take away MY right to castle lol.

7… e6


Woah there. This is like Najdorf + Classical + Schevenigen pawn structure. I don’t know too much about Sicilian yet to know whether that’s normal or not, but I am not afraid.

8. Bg5 Be7
9. 0-0


Pinning his knight, him unpinning his knight, I castling. So far so good…tension is rising.

9…. b5


Attacking my Bishop. I actually contemplated on sac’ing my knight on b5 and pin the knight on c6, but eventually realized the horrendousness of that move haha. I was about to retreat my bishop to b3, but decided to, at the last second, to spice it up by pushing my e pawn.

10. e5


Didn’t really put any thought into this move, literally just made the move right at the last second just to mix things up.

10…. dxe5
Calming taking my pawn. The scenario that I was somewhat hoping for was him taking my bishop and me taking his knight. But yet again, he manages to stifle me. Here I actually spent about 3 minutes (I think) contemplating on what to do. So many things I can do here, and so many combinations or permutations of orders in which I can do them. I didn’t see anything particularly exciting though, so I simply retreated my bishop.
11. Bb3


I just gave away a pawn, but since he has doubled pawn, I figured I can relatively easily get it back… even though the specifics of how does not immediately come to mind I was interested to see if he would trade the Queens at this stage.

11…. Qc7
The answer is no.
12. Bxf6 Bxf6
13.Ne4


I wanted to get my knight to e4 to blockade his doubled pawn, so I got rid of his knight on f6. And now, threatening to take away his bishop pair.

13…. Be7


Hmmm…not a whole lot that I saw I could do. One thing that I have going for me is that I do control the open d file, but I would rather have a rook control it, so I wanted to move my Queen from there.

14. Qe2 0-0


At this point, I saw, potentially, some tactical ideas in the kingside. With two knights pointing at g5 and Queen poised to enter the fray, I had a feeling I could potentially…possibly… set up some mating threat over there.
But I decided to wait on that idea for now, because I didn’t want to deal with the possibility of his knight coming over to d4 and potentially forcing me to capture it which leads to undoubling his pawns and… just causing some headache. So I played the preventive c3.

15. c3 Kh8


Now this move surprised me. Or rather… befuddled me. I know there are some lines in some openings where you make this kind of move because you anticipate some sort of diagonal attack against g8 in the future. But in this particular situation, I didn’t see the point in that move. In fact, as it will turn out, that move will hurt him.

16. Rfd1
Putting my rook to the open file.
16…. Bb7
Developing his bishop.
17. Nfg5


Finally, I decided that the time is ripe to initiate this kingside threat. Still wasn’t entirely sure how it will turn out, but at least it’s something to be excited about.

17…. h6
My opponent wasn’t too impressed. He just wants to kick my knight back out.
18. Qh5


Aha! Making him pay for putting his King on h8!

18…. Bxg5
19. Nxg5


He wasn’t too happy about my knight, so he got rid of it with his bishop…only to have another take its place.
At this point, I saw a fantastic opportunity to win some material (or at least win back my pawn) with tactical idea of Bxe6, followed by Nxe6, forking the Queen and Rook.

19…. Qe7


But my opponent saw it. Not only defending the e6 pawn, but threatening to win a knight by QxN.

20. h4
I like my knight here, so no retreating.
20…. Na5


He didn’t appreciate the influence my bishop is having, so looking to trade it.

21. Bc2
Not gonna let that happen.
21…. f5


Beginning of a pawn storm? Simple space grab? Ploy to take my bishop out of the game? I don’t know, but I certainly didn’t like the look of this. So I decided to undermine it.

22. g4


Here I realized if he took, I can move my Queen over to g6 and mate.
Too good to be true right? Right…

22…. e4


LOL, my bishop is now pretty much out of the game…booooo….
Again, just about the only thing that I have going for me is that I control the open d file, so I figured doubling my rooks there would manifest into something.

23. Rd4


I don’t think this was a good move at all (lol) since he can just gain a tempo with Nc6. Fortunately, that’s not what he played.

23…. Kg8
He decided hes had enough of my pieces hanging around ominously in front of his King, so he unpins his h pawn and forces my knight to retreat.
24. Nh3
At least he has a knight on the rim too…
24…. Qf7


Now that my knight is gone, he wants my Queen gone too. I don’t have a way to save this Queen, so no choice but to trade it.

25. Qxe7 Rxe7
26. g5


If he goes fxg4, then my knight is toast. Not to mention his rook would have a path into my territory, so I had to play g5. If he goes hxg5, then my knight can have a pretty pleasant place on g5 again.

26…. Nc6


Finally attacking my rook with his knight. But with his Queen gone, I can now go where I couldn’t before.

27. Rd6


Ta-Da! At this point, I realized that I can actually get something out of this by focusing in on this e6 pawn. From hence, my entire strategy was to target the e6 pawn.

27…. Re8
Defending
28. Bb3


My bishop is back in the game and more pressure on e6. I also noticed the fantastic diagonal pin along the a2-g8 diagonal.

28…. Nd8


Just two moves into attacking e6 and his situation is already kinda ugly.

29. Nf4


Yet ANOTHER piece joins the fray, adding even more pressure on e6. I envision his pieces seriously getting tied up to this e6 defence.

29…. Kf8


Another befuddling King move to me. This does nothing to defend the pawn. I guess in retrospect, maybe he was ready to give up the e6 pawn and just decided to unpin his rook? I don’t know. In any case, it certainly didn’t hurt me though.

30. Rad1
I knew I could get my pawn back, but I wanted more. I saw that I could win a knight! Besides, doubling up my rooks is long overdue, so it was about time I do this.
30…. Bc6


Not really sure what his idea behind this move was… Perhaps he should have just went Nc6 and save his knight. Regardless, I was ready to win the knight, but I saw something even more. With his position so cramped, I saw almost a forced mate with my knight going to g6.

31. Ng6+


Beginning of the end for my opponent. My knight is beautifully placed there, and it ain’t going away.

31…. Kg8
Only move
32. Rxd8


I was down a pawn the whole game, and now I win a knight. But the party’s just starting. There are just so many ways for things to get ugly for him. And he chose the fastest way of them all I think.

32…. Rxd8
33. Rxd8+


I could smell the victory…

33…. Kh7
You can run but you can’t hide…
34. h5


Protecting my knight and threatening nothing less than a… mate in 1!

34…. hxg5
Last ditch effort perhaps? But futile.
35. Rh8#


Holy crap!
What a turn of event! I got in a bad position after trying too hard to play dynamically, but man...COMEBACK!
It’s amazing how incredibly fast things turned sour for him. Even though I was prepared to lose, when I was a pawn down, I was sure my opponent would methodically convert that into a win. Never did I think I would checkmate the guy (it is somewhat surprising he didn’t resign but took the mate)

I wasn’t just down in material, but I was down on time as well. After I spent like 3 minute on move 11 (in a 10min per player blitz game), he had a nice 3 minute advantage on me… until the end where he and I basically had a minute left. This game definitely exceeded my expectation of a fun game that I set out to play for. Winning with a checkmate sure makes it that much sweater. I’m so pumped right now.

What a way to end the year! Definitely planning on going to a local chess club often in year 2014, and this game made me want to study some SICILIAN!

Btw, Happy New Year everybody!
Thanks for reading.