Criss Cross Double Pin in a Scotch Game! (Steinitz Variation)
#ScotchGame #SteinitzVariation
Since I discovered the Steinitz Variation, this has become my default line when facing against the Scotch Game as Black. Although it’s unsound at master level play, it gives one of the best win advantages for Black against the Scotch at the lower-rated level. It’s also in the aggressive bombastic style that I like!
In this game, I was doing well with Stockfish giving a -2 evaluation by move 6. But then, I overthought a move resulting in me straight up losing a piece with basically no compensation. Stockfish now thought the game was at around +4!
I was determined to make the most of my position, and sought to develop rapidly, as this was the one minor advantage that I had – I won a step of tempo. And then in the early middle game, I was very lucky as my opponent blundered. They made a symmetric rook move to defend their bishop, but, they just ended up pinning their piece. Being that one step ahead made all the difference and the criss cross double pin with their dark squared bishop in the centre resulted in an overwhelmingly winning position for me – the evaluation swung in my favour from +4.5 to -7.5! Good game, GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/51065981155
