Modern Defense | QUEEN WINNING Opening Pattern
#modern #openingtactics #quickwins
This was a game against the Modern Defense that I managed to win in 9 moves! However, I'm not making this one a "Quick Wins" as it's a good example of an opening pattern where you can win the opponent's queen. The emotional damaged inflicted in doing so will often result in a win by resignation, or subsequent blunder!
This game was a completely normal Modern Game following opening theory up to move 5 (1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Nf6). One of the opening tactical patterns that I was looking for was the knight-bishop checkmate that is available when the e-pawn has yet to move in the opening (https://www.chess.com/blog/vitualis/knight-bishop-checkmate-quick-wins-46). However, on move 5, Black surprised me by undeveloping their knight (5... Ng8). I suspect that Black wasn't familiar with the Modern Defense and must have spooked themselves with my control of the centre, worried that their knight would get trapped. This isn't actually the case and their best move was to continue with their rapid development plan and immediately short castle (5... O-O).
Black's move did surprise me, and I thought for a full minute after their move to search for a tactic that I didn't see. In the end, my evaluation was that Black had spooked themselves, which was of course, now a mistake due to my major gain in development and tempo! I continued with my development.
Black's next move (6... e5) trying to contend the centre was a mistake due to their delayed development. They simply didn't have the development to strike out. Fundamentally, I was happy to potentially trade queens by opening the d-file as I could retake the file with my queen's rook, while Black would have to retake their queen with their king, losing the right to castle. Surprisingly, Black obliged with the central pawn trade (7. dxe5 dxe5) and now, there is a pattern worth knowing in the opening. This can occur with several openings where early opening of the d-file happens.
As Black's queen is only defended by their king, the potential bishop sacrifice and capture of the f-pawn with check is very forcing (8. Bxf7+). In this game, Black was wary of capturing the bishop and tried to escape with (8... Kf8). Ultimately, it didn't really matter as the evaluation was previously [+10] and this error changed to a quicker losing [+M2]. I captured Black's queen (9. Qxd8+) and Black resigned, recognising mate next turn (10. Ng5#). GG!
The big takeaway from this game is to keep an eye out for the bishop capture of the f-pawn with check, as a forcing deflection of the king's defence of the queen. Occasionally, this will result in a completely winning queen capture, which basically ends the game in the opening!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/86402378611
