My Best Game Ever

Hello there. I've never written a blog before, so this is my first ever. I'm not sure if this is the correct purpose, but I wanted to share a game I played recently, and will do so in blog form.

This game I played might be the best game I've ever played on the site, after being here for 8 years (happy birthday to me, today), and playing over 1000 daily games.

The game is found here: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/442947803

I had the black pieces in this game. I played it against Spiff21, and it is a tournament game. Without further ado, here's out the game went:

1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.O-O Be7 8.Re1 Bg4 9.c3 f5 10.Qb3.

So far nothing notable. Just your typical Petrov's Defense, all top line moves. With white's last move, he's threatening to take on b7, while putting pressure on d5. That's the only real threat in the position.

Up to this point, I had been following an opening explorer, and there are still plenty of games from this position. However, the 4 moves available from this explorer in this position (in order of most common) are 10...O-O, 10...Qd6, 10...Qd7 and 10...a6.

What do all those moves have in common? They're hanging the b7 pawn! I don't understand this, and still don't. Doesn't look poisoned to me or anything. I chose to play 10...Qd6.

Now I did step away from this game for a while (as I usual do, it's a daily chess thing) and I'm not sure why I chose this move (sometimes I'm too smart for myself). I did explore the other lines, including 10...O-O, where somehow the most popular response is 11.Nbd2 (and not 11.Qxb7). I think 10...Rb8 is the best move in this position, and to be honest, if I get this position again, I'm playing that.

White plays 11.Qxb7, the move I was fearing (most common here is either knight to d2), and suddenly this position has only been seen in 1 top game, Huebner vs. Borik, 1981. This game follows Huebner vs. Borik up to move 15.

11...Rb8 12.Qa6 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qg6+ 14.Kf1 O-O

Huebner plays 15.Bc2, but in my game, white plays 15.fxe4, which is pretty logical to be honest - it is a hanging knight. I'm not really sure why Borik played 14...O-O - although this is a sharp position, for black has two hanging knights.

In Huebner-Borik, white does have to give up the queen but gets plenty of compensation for it. The f-file opens up against the white king but white survives and black's king runs into a mating net and loses the game.

I play the logical 15...fxe4, opening up the f-file. f2 is weak, but it is a key defender for the king. White, sensing trouble, gives back the material with 16.Bxe4 dxe4. White follows up with 17.Nd2 (although I would've played something like 17.Qe2 or 17.Be3, defending the aforementioned weak f2). This allows me to play the stunning rook sacrifice, 17...Rxf2+.

What a shot, isn't it? A rook sacrifice, ripping the heart out of the white kingside. This is not an easy move to play, being down a pawn already, but I don't think anything else works. If I try something like 17...Qf5, 18.Nxe4 prevents mate, and I think white holds with moves like Be3 and Qe2, and yes, I am on the attack, but white is still up a pawn.

I spent a lot of time thinking about 17...Rxf2+ and the ensuing lines. In fact, at one point in the middle of the night, I was visualizing a line in my head whilst lying in bed, and it got so complex I had to get out of bed to play the moves out on the site. (yes, sounds a lot like Queen's Gambit, without the drugs or hallucinations)

18.Kxf2 is forced, and I follow up with the logical 18...Rf8+, and white has 3 options from this position:

19.Ke3 is one option, and it loses quickly to a mate in 2 (19...Bg5+ 20.Ke2 Qh5# 0-1). 19.Nf3 seems counter-intuitive, and it is, as it also loses fairly quickly with 19...Rxf3+ 20.Ke2 Qg2+ 21.Kd1 Rd3+. White has to give up the queen, and mate to follow soon, and the pawn on d3 becomes a weapon, with the bishop contributing.

White plays 19.Ke2, the move I was hoping not to be played because I know it is the trickiest path. I play 19...Nxd4+, a discovered check, picking up the hanging queen on a6 (maybe b7 is poisoned after all). I tried to see if other moves worked like 19...Qg4+, but couldn't find anything solid.

20.cxd4 Qa6+ 21.Kd1 Qd3. Worth a look here:

Doing a material count, I have a queen and pawn for rook and knight, which is roughly balanced. That means that even if I can't find any more attacks, the game is still equal. But nobody sacrifices a rook in the middlegame just to get a draw. So I press on. The threat here is obvious: play e3 to attack the pinned knight. Not much white can do, especially with the immobile king.

What is tried is 22.Rxe4 (probably the best move) then Bg5.

Once again, an obvious threat: take on d2 then the rook falls. Not much white can do here. Can't move the rook too far, since there's a mate threat on f1. White tries to protect d2 with 23.Re2 but it doesn't work with 23...Rf1+ 24.Re1 Rf2. After 25.a4 Rxd2+, white resigns for mate on the next move.

What a game, if I do say so for myself. Wasn't easy to be confident to play the rook sacrifice, and then find the mating net afterward. I didn't consider every possibility along the way, but sometimes your attack is so strong that it just works out. For example, I did not consider white playing 22.a4 then Ra3, but the bishop on e7 takes care of that. I did know that 24...Rf2 works cause there is no mate threat on the back rank.

I guess the lesson here is not to fall behind on development, though I don't think white was that bad at it. I think the hunting of material was the downfall, although it's not easy to know it works out. I was worried it wouldn't work out.

I looked at the game with an engine afterward, and it looks like the entire attack was sound. Apparently I made 1 blunder, which was playing 16...dxe4 instead of sacrificing on f2 right away. White playing 17.Be3 basically refutes the attack, and black is better in this position although the plan is less clear.

I mentioned earlier this is a tournament game, so it has some ramifications. This is the Birthday Beach Garden Chess Tournament Round 2. At the time of completion of this game, it is the only game of my group completed, minus one player who timed out all of his games. So it's basically 4 players (1929, 1580, 1577, 1361 - I'm 1580) competing for 2 spots in the next round. This is a huge victory in ensuring that, and regardless if I advance or not, I will remember this game for a long time.

Thank you to those who took the time to read all of this, and hope to see you for my next blog, whenever that is.

- Penguin