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Geschev Gambit | BRILLIANT and BEAUTIFUL!! | Quick Wins #61

Geschev Gambit | BRILLIANT and BEAUTIFUL!! | Quick Wins #61

vitualis
| 5

#quickwins #scandinavian #alekhine #geschevgambit 

Today we have another amazing game from @eNoDev, playing a gambit with the black pieces that is likely not well known, but with beautiful execution! This game was practically a perfect 11-move game with only book, excellent, and best moves according to the chess.com analytic engine, and one brilliancy!

The Geschev Gambit is named after Georgy Geschev, the first official Bulgarian Chess Champion. It can come out of the Alehkine's Defense, the Modern Variation of the Scandinavian, as it did in this game (1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6). White played the sensible looking (3. Nc3) and the Geschev Gambit is (3. c6), trading a pawn for a step of tempo (4. dxc6 Nxc6). At the beginning of move 5 after (5. Nf3), the position looks like a weird Four Knights game where only the knights are developed, and there are a few pawns missing.

However, those few missing pawns (and the open lines that result) make all the difference tactically! On move 8, White makes a tactical error with (8. d4) an aggressive thrust into the centre. Although Stockfish only rates this a minor inaccuracy [+0.8 → -0.1], White made this move with a tactical miscalculation. White assumed that after (8... exd4), they still attacked the d4 square twice with the knight on f3 and the queen on d1. And thus, after the trade sequence, they would retain their point of material lead, have simplified the game, and developed their queen to a central square.

However, this was a blunder. Black had a Greek Gift Sacrifice available with their knight on f6, bishop on d6, and queen on d8. White's (9. Nxd4) blundered their knight as after (9... Nxd4), White could not recapture the knight with their queen. By doing so (10. Qxd4) White blundered their queen as Black had the first step of the Greek Gift - their bishop captures the pawn on h2 with check, a brilliant sacrifice (10... Bxh2+)! This reveals an attack on White's queen. Emotional damage, GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/93291660871