Reversed Sicilian:My Best Classical Game

Mr. Gatton started the game with 1.c4, functionally ruining the 2 days of prep I had done, 1 day on e4, and one on d4. I Knew vaguely that I could play the position like I could the white side of a Sicilian, And I had a bit of prep on that, so I decided to see what would happen if I played it a tempo down, and responded with 1.e5, the Reversed Sicilian. In this position, He Played the Second most common move, 2.g3. I played 2.Nc6, also the second most common move in the position, sticking to basic opening principals and defending my e5 pawn.

Here, he played 3.Nc3, strangely delaying the fianchettoing of his light squared Bishop in favor of Knight development. I continued to just stick to the basics, and developed my other Knight with 3. Nf6. Now he developed the light squared Bishop, fianchettoing it with 4.Bg2. Here, I had to make a decision for the first time in the game: where to develop my dark squared Bishop. I considered Be7, defending the Knight, but ultimately decided on developing it all the way to c5 with 4.Bc5, knowing that it could get hit with pawns later, but not really caring.

Because of the way the game was developing, I knew there was likely going to be a serious battle for control of the center, and I wanted to be possessing it during that period. My plan for the next several moves revolved around this concept. Mr. Gatton played 5.e3, preparing potential d4 and/or f4 pawn breaks, going for the center, as predicted. Here I just castled, 5.O-O, because he couldn't break with d4 yet without losing a pawn, and I wasn't concerned about f4. He didn't play either, nor did he play an obvious move like Ne2. Instead he played the strange 6.h3. Normally this would prevent a Bishop or Knight from coming to the g4 square, but my light squared Bishop can't even move, and if i put my Knight there, it just hangs. This could be some sort of prophylaxis, but I don't quite buy it. Whatever the reason, I just played 6. Re8 with the long term idea of pinning his e3 pawn in case of a d4 break.

Now he moved his other flank pawn with 7.a3, but this came with a more concrete idea of hitting my bishop with b4 in the future. To prevent this, I played a5, which not only stops b4, but also creates a square for my bishop on a7. The engine calls this inaccurate, but I don't care because the engine is wrong. Mr. Gatton now hit the Bishop with the Knight instead, playing 8.Na4. Alarm bells went off here, as I knew a Knight on the rim is dim. I knew the best move was probably Be7, but I didn't want to play that as I had visions of my Bishop being useless after he played c5. I know, I dumb, you can say it....But judge not lest you be judged.

Instead I played 8.d6!?, defending my Bishop with the pawn. The Horror! I knew he could double my pawns with Knight takes, but for some reason I just chose to ignore this. I Can't remember why, but it just seems dumb now. I should have played Ba7 or Be7, but I didn't. Oh well. He didn't take. He instead Missed with 9. Ne2, a move that seems logical, supporting a d4 push yet again. Spoiler alert, the push never happens. Now, seeing the error of my ways, I bring the Bishop back to a7 with 9. Ba7. Important that its still on that diagonal to support the d4 square, because, well, you know.

Next, He played, 10.O-O. I now played a move that finally ends the looming threat of d4. I played 10.e4!. Now if the push happens, I can just en passent. If you don't know what that is, call Chess.com support. Here, I gain an advantage after he plays two inaccuracies in a row. The first is 11. Nc3!?. I respond with 11.Bd7, simply defending. The second is 12. Nb5!?, going for my Bishop! he had now maneuvered his Knight from it's starting square all the way to b5, and potentially a7, after taking my Bishop. I knew this maneuver had to be a waste of time, so I used that time to Move my Knight to a more active square with 12. Ne5, placing my Knight where my pawn had previously been to hit his c-pawn. I realized what his blunder was after the game when he told me: He thought he could Play 13.Nxa7, 13.Rxa7, and then defend the pawn with 14.b3?. What he missed was that after 14.b3?, I could take his knight, giving up my other bishop for his Knight with 14.Bxa4, and double his a-pawns, whilst also removing the defender of his c-pawn! He has to take back the bishop with 15.bxa4, and then I Win his c-pawn with 15.Nxc4. After moving once on the first move, now the white c-pawn has fallen! His only compensation is having the Bishop pair, but i'm functionally just up a pawn, as the position isn't perfect for the Bishop pair, and his a-pawns are both targets.

The game continued with 16.d3, 16.exd3, 17.Qxd3, and 17.Ne5, hitting the queen. These are all simple moves that make logical sense and don't need much explanation. Mr Gatton Now moved his threatened Queen with 18.Qe7, which looked kinda passive, so I used the time I had to play 18.Qd7 in order to hit his weak a-pawn on a4. Here, he didn't even bother to defend the pawn, and instead played 19.Bb2. Me see pawn, me take pawn. I played 19.Qxa4.

Mr Gatton now played 20.Rfc1. I feels like the other rook would have been better, but the move makes sense; it hits my undefended c-pawn, forcing me to defend it. I choose the logical response 20.c6, defending the pawn twice with one move. He now played 21.f4!?, hitting my Knight, but this is at least inaccurate, if not just a plain mistake. My Knight has many safe squares, and this weakens his king long term, which is a theme that appears in a few moves. I choose the most solid approach with 21.Ne7, defending my other Knight and placing it out of any future danger as well, while also supporting the e5 square.

Now, we get to the most exciting part of the game. First , Mr. Gatton hits my d-pawn with 22.Rcd1, which the engine calls a mistake, but it seems logical to me. Here, I blunder. I wanted to consolidate my advantage by trading Queen's, but I did it in the wrong way at the wrong time with 22. Qb5?. What I missed is that after he traded Queen's, I have doubled b-pawns, and he also wins the pawn on d3, and the position is probably equal, because my extra pawn is useless. Fortunately, he didn't have interest in trading Queen's, and instantly replied with 23.Qf2, missing my mistake. His idea is clearly to put his Queen on the same diagonal as my undefended Rook on a7, and then try to reveal an attack on it by moving his e-pawn. I wasn't concerned about this, as I had an idea. I just played 23.d5, a sort of silent warning saying "Don't do it!"

He did it. He played 24.e4, allowing me to play my brilliancy: 24.Nxe4!! My idea is basically that if he takes my rook, whether immediately or after trading my Knight, I take his Bishop, and basically I'm arguing his king is to weak due to the untimely f4 earlier, and his Queen is to far to help. The engine agrees with me, But even if it hadn't, My logic was basically "If I'm Wrong, material is still even, So why not?" Mr Gatton helped me out by playing the best continuation for me. It starts with him taking the Rook before trading my Knight with 15.Qxa7, Then I take the Bishop, 25.Qxb2. Then, He plays a final blunder by still not trading Knight, and instead gobbling my Juicer on a5, 26.Qxa5. This allows a devastating attack where he either loses massive materiel, or Gets checkmated. Here's how the rest of the game went.

26.Qf2+, 27.Kh2, 27.Qxg3+. He can't lose the rook with Kh1, So he goes back to g1 with 28.Kg1. 28.Qe3+, 29.Kg1, for the same reason. 29.Qxf4+, and again 30.Kd1. Now i position my queen on f2 with 30.Qf2+, 31.Kh2. Then I finish him off by bringing my other Knight, with 31.Ne5. He either has to lose a ton, or reckon with Nf3+ and forced checkmate to follow. He, unfortunately, does not see it and blunders with the desperation move 32.Rf1. After I play 32.Nf3+, he resigned. If he hadn't resigned he would have had to play Kh1, and then I can either checkmate immediately with Ng3#, Or could have sacked my queen for style with Qg1, Rxg1, and Nf2#. I didn't get to play this beauty, sadly, but still, what a win! The game was about 89% accuracy, which is my highest ever tournament accuracy, and this was an epic game.

I finished the classic with 2/4, winning my next game, but losing my last 2. My take away from this game is that If you want to sack, Do it! Don't worry about anything, and have fun with the game. If you read this whole thing, you're a legend! Thank you, and see you next time!