Halloween Gambit?
Halloween Gambit
At the time of this writing, it is Halloween Evening, and the children are just beginning their quest for free candy. I, of course, am not so bold as to knock on strangers' doors with a costume to get candy. Rather, I played a game of chess against a pumpkin.
Chess.com released some holiday computers that you can challenge. In this article, I am playing against the SPOOKY Jack-o-Lantern that has become evil after a mouse slip. I, personally, can relate to poor Jack, but I had to defeat the evil pumpkin.
The Game
I was playing white, and I opened it with old, reliable e4. Jack played e5, and we would develop all of our knights to get a four knight game. Then, I decided to play the Halloween Gambit to get into the festivities.
This HALLOWEEN Gambit is Nxe5, which sacrifices a knight for a pawn. Honestly, this gambit is a little dubious, since you are sacrificing a whole knight for a little bit of tempo, which comes with d4.
One advantage of the Halloween Gambit is that the knight pretty much has to fall back after I play d4, and then I can push e5, taking dominant control of the center and having quick development for my bishops.
Jack would play a blunder, with d6, allowing me to capture his knight, which balanced material after Qxf6. I would sacrifice my center pawn as well, to develop my knight and castle as soon as I could. Although, this would also result in a queen trade, which the computer didn't like, but I thought it was good because the queen was Jack's only real active piece.
After Jack develops his light square bishop, I would defend my pawn by playing Bd3, resulting in a bishop trade. He would also send in his knight, although, I would play Rd2, defending my pawn and a3 kicks the knight out. However, I have a problem developing my bishop and rook, which are locked on the back rank.
I tried to free my bishop, but Jack would pull out his knight, attacking my rook and pawn, forcing my back to the original square. Then, sneaky Jack played Re8, bating me to take the knight, but if I did that, I would hang a mate in 1. Always be on the look for a checkmate when your king is without an escape route.
Pretty soon, we would trade off one of our rooks and a knight, although I lost a pawn in the process, putting me two pawns down in material, with black having a passed pawn. This is pretty disadvantageous for me, so I placed me rook in front of the passed pawn, which was aligned with the king.
Since the pawn was pinned to the king, this allowed Bxc5, and poor Jack would probably mouse-slip his a pawn to my merciless bishop. Jack would create counterplay, attacking my loose pawns, but I would push them forward out of the bishop's reach. Although, Jack would weaken my bishop, by trapping it on a narrow diagonal.
This is when Jack makes another blunder by offering a trade of bishops. Jack's bishop has far more maneuverability, while my bishop is literally doing nothing but imitating a pawn on the side of the board. This allows me to get rid of liability, or as they say, a bad piece for a good piece.
This is where I began slowly, pushing my pawns on the king side and trying to protect my pawns with the rook. On move 43, I missed a chance to cut off the king from the kingside and infiltrate with Re3+ and following with Re7, getting a rook on the seventh and clearing Jack's pawns. Although, on move 46, I got a similar chance.
I captured Jack's pawn to create a passed pawn, although, Jack would also be able to capture a few of my pawns and create his own passed pawn. On move 55, I came upon a crucial point. I could promote, but Jack had his rook guarding the square, and his king controlled d5, allowing his pawn to promote before my rook could get there in time. There is only one good move, can you find it?
Did you find it?
By playing patiently and not promoting immediately, we are able, at the worst, able to trade off the pawns and rooks, while I still have two passed pawns, which is still easily winning.
Jack would capture a pawn, and trade his rook for a promoted pawn, although, I would promote another pawn and rook. I pre-moved a ladder mate and left to get some water. Little did I know, I was too hasty and Jack captured my queen. After a forehead smack for hanging a queen to a pumpkin, I preceded to quickly deliver checkmate with king and rook.
On move 82, I delivered checkmate with Rc1#, defeating the evil Jack til next Halloween. But what are your thoughts on this game? Ever tried the Halloween Gambit?
And Happy Halloween!
