Blog #6: (Part 5) NEW OPENING LINE - Acciaccatura Attack
My fellow friends, I warmly welcome you all back to my newest blog! Are you ready? 
@KDK_FanRepairs1009 is here to recap the final game as black with @sanypol. 
Once again, I would like to thank @Gardens_By_The_Bay for helping me run the game on Stockfish depth=30. Without further ado, let's delve into the depths of this intriguing match! 
Final match!
By the way, please check out my previous blogs if you haven't already! 
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6
It seems like my opponent really enjoyed playing the Bishop's Opening! Even until now, I still enjoy playing this opening as white because it often leads to a simple yet solid position in most cases (this excludes the Acciaccatura Attack, of course). 
3. d3 Bc5 4. h3 h6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O g5!?
In fact, we played the exact same moves from the previous game! Perhaps it was the third game with the same opening so it was quite intuitive to blitz the same moves in the same order. 
7. Nh2 d6 8. Kh1 Qe7 ♪
This is the key setup of the Acciaccatura Attack (only on my side as black). Somehow, I accidentally played the eight key moves of this opening line although in a slightly different order. Awesome! 
9. c3 Bd7 10. Qe2 O-O-O 11. Be3? Rdg8?
Rdg8, I might never play this cursed move during an Acciaccatura Attack game anymore! Three games in a row as black, it was always a bad idea to play this move. However, I realise the engine will sometimes suggest Rhg8 over Rdg8. 
12. Bxc5 dxc5 13. Na3 h5 14. Nc2 g4 15. h4 g3 16. fxg3!
A great idea by my opponent! Trying to close up the kingside is always the best way to keep the king safe. A couple of moves before, I was trying to create a pawn storm to clear files for my rooks to attack the white king. However, my opponent cleverly prevented my pawn attack. 
16. ...Rxg3 17. Qf2 Rg6 18. g3?? Bh3?
My opponent blundered! Apparently, the move g3 weakened white's king. This gave me the opportunity to double my rooks on the g-file to take advantage of the backwards pawn. Instead, white should play Ne3, which centralised the knight so it had more control over the board. 
In my case, Bh3 was a mistake since I played the moves in the wrong order (I should play Na5 first). More often than not, the move sequence is really crucial because an incorrect move order might cause the advantage to plummet by a huge margin! 
19. Rg1 Na5 20. Ne3 Nxc4 21. Nxc4 Ng4?
The evaluation bar dropped back to 0.00! I tried to trade off more pieces around the white king as I thought the lesser the pieces, the more vulnerable the white king will be. 
22. Nxg4! hxg4?
At this moment, I thought I had a chance to open up files to the white king. Unfortunately, not only the files were blockaded, I accidentally trapped my own bishop too! Can you believe it? My attack failed miserably and I threw away my winning chances. 
23. Qf5+ Kb8 24. Qxe5 Qd8 25. Rad1 b6 26. Ne3 Rxh4?
I knew I was in a losing position. Without taking action immediately, I might as well resign on the spot. Without thinking twice, I decided the best I could do was to simply sacrifice my rook. Opening up direct files to the white king gave me some chances of fighting back. Desperate times called for desperate measures, I would say.
Needless to say, white had a +7.32 advantage and my situation still seemed pretty hopeless for the time being.
27. gxh4 Qxh4 28. Qg3 Qh7 29. Nf5 Rg5 30. d4?? Bf1+!
My opponent missed my sneaky plan! A few moves ago, I was slowly building up a discovered check plan. Finally, my opportunity had arisen and I immediately grasped the opportunity. Chess is full of opportunities, so never give up until you have tried every trick in the book! 
31. Qh2?? Rh5!
My opponent blundered again! The advantage I lost on move 21 was back in my favour. Fortunately, I managed to find another great move - two great moves in a row! My rook pinned white's queen to the king and would claim four well-earned points of material as soon as possible. 
Instead, white should move the only move which would hold the position together, Nh4! In case you are interested on how the line would continue, here it is: 31. Nh4 Be2, 32. Rde1 Bf3+, 33. Rg2 Rh5, 34. Kg1 Rxh4, 35. Rh2 Rxh2, 36. Qxh2 Qg6, 37. d5 Kb7... 
32. Rg2?
My opponent completely threw the game away! It was Mate in 9. Of course, I missed the forced checkmate but at least, I ended up with an absolutely winning position.
32. ...Bxg2+ 33. Kxg2 Rxh2+ 34. Kg3 Qh3+ 35. Kf4 Rf2+
Both players were low on time with less then 20 seconds on the clock. I hurriedly followed up with the checkmate plan precisely but it was on this move I missed the Mate in 3. During the last critical moments of the game, I was just desperately throwing checks at the white king. 
36. Ke5 Rxf5+
Another rook sacrifice! I believe it's called a simplification sacrifice. I didn't hesitate to trade off more pieces since I was up 7 points of material. Besides, I was hoping to fork the king and rook. 
37. exf5 Qf3 38. Rd2 Qe3+
My last-minute prediction came true! I followed my instinct and instantly forked those valuable pieces. Furthermore, I was up by a good number of seconds on the clock so basically I was absolutely winning. 
39. Kf6 Qxd2 40. Kxf7 g3
Finally, my opponent ran out of time and the game concluded beautifully. I emerged victorious after such a vigorous and exciting battle. At the end, I decided to rematch my opponent and play one final game, this time as white. 
During our final game, I informed my opponent in the chat beforehand. Afterwards, we wished each other good game and went our separate ways. I was a little reluctant on parting because after all, I rarely played so many games against the same opponent. Sadly, it was getting late and my bedtime was approaching, preventing me to continue playing chess with my new found friend. 
Or else, I would definitely continue to rematch my opponent so I could further improve on my Acciaccatura Attack technique. In addition, I certainly remembered to add my opponent into my precious Friends list on chess.com! 
If you have read Part 1, you would know what happened afterwards; I analysed the opening line, discovered its secrets and named it as the Acciaccatura Attack. ♪
Tips on becoming a better chess player
Remember I said to never give up no matter what it takes? Sometimes, it is easier said than done! Since Dec 12, my rating was steadily declining. I couldn't help it, but I kept on trying to push my rating back up to no avail. On Dec 16, my rating plummeted so much until it was at rock bottom.
The moment my rating dropped to 1919, I immediately called it a day and stopped forcing myself to play chess. Perhaps I had a really bad day or was in a really foul mood. Nevertheless, I doubted my chess skills wasn't compatible on the 2000 Elo level.
During those hard times, I never harboured the intention of giving up. Instead of admitting defeat, I calmed myself down and returned to the drawing board. If you haven't guessed it already, by mentioning 'the drawing board' I mean chess openings!
From then onwards, I worked harder by putting in extra effort into studying chess openings. I hoped these lessons would enhance my opening strategy and widen my opening knowledge. All chess games begin with openings, and as always, a good beginning makes a good ending!
Chess.com recently made learning chess openings so much easier, effective and efficient by releasing a set of introductory, interesting and instructive lessons. The '50 chess opening lessons' explain the main ideas of every mainstream opening in great detail and provide exercises to practice what you have learned.
I strongly encourage you to explore those chess openings as it would certainly benefit you during your chess games!
Not long ago, my opening theory on the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian Defense and Alekhine's Defense was incredibly weak. Those insightful lessons definitely helped me take my games to the next level! Besides, the lessons assisted me in my rating climb from 1919 to 2010 in less than a week!
If your rating is somewhere between 1200 to 2200, learning basic chess openings is extremely essential. Or else, it will be much more difficult for you to earn those rating points. Strong opening fundamentals can secure solid positions and smooth games! 
The '50 chess opening lessons' is always there to help strengthen your opening theory and expand your opening repertoire. Please give it a try and you won't ever regret it!
The link to '50 chess opening lessons': https://www.chess.com/lessons/learn-the-openings
In case you are interested or yearning for more tips, please go ahead and check out Part 4!
Before signing off, here's the update of my blitz rating progress! You can also check out my blitz stats though this link: www.chess.com/stats/live/blitz/kdk_fanrepairs1009. 
The End
Finally, we have reached the end of Part 5: Third Game in Acciaccatura Attack Style. It is really effective in the intermediate level as I have played so many beautiful games with this opening idea as black. 
I hope this opening can become more popular in the coming future. In addition, I really wish the chess community can accept this opening idea and come together to find out the best moves to improve this fascinating opening variation.
Thank you so much for reading this blog till the very end. I really appreciate your patience and your tremendous amount of support for my blogs. Most importantly, my greatest wish is just for you all to learn something helpful and beneficial from this blog.
Stay tuned to my next blogs where I will share, unravel and explain the surprising secrets behind the Acciaccatura Attack. Let us appreciate the beauty of this beautiful game of chess! See you all in my upcoming blog!!
P.S. If you haven't already, go ahead and check out Part 1 until Part 4 too!
Peace out! @KDK_FanRepairs1009
Goodbye! 再见! さようなら! Adiós! Au revoir!
