WINNING despite the mouse-slip! Powerful Jaenisch Gambit!
#RuyLopez #JaenischGambit
In this game, I mouse-slip and didn't capture a free piece in the opening, but I managed to win anyway in a rather satisfying game! I just love the Jaensich Gambit!
I had the black pieces. My opponent played the Ruy Lopez Opening, I responded with the Jaenisch Gambit, and they go for the Exchange Variation (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Bxc6 dxc6).
The Jaenisch Gambit is strong as it takes the Ruy Lopez player out of their comfort zone (especially at the beginner-intermediate level), and it is easy for gain an advantage with Black. On move 5, White "accepts" the gambit after the exchange (5. exf5) which is a mistake [-1.08] as White's knight is in trouble with the e-pawn advance and attack (5... e4). White now moves the knight to d4, straight up hanging their knight (6. Nd4) and giving me a completely winning position [-6.25]. After spending about 20 seconds to convince myself that the knight is indeed just hanging and there isn't a trap, I go to capture it with my queen, but let go of the left mouse button just a tad too soon and drop my queen on the d5 square (6... Qd5)!
Argh! Luckily, it isn't too bad, and I still have the advantage [-0.86]. I trade off my opponent's knight, their only developed piece for a bishop, we opposite side castle, and we enter the middle game at the end of move 9 with potentially an excellent advantage. Although we had material equality, my opponent had no developed pieces, and the development was blocked in by their own pawns (https://www.chess.com/blog/vitualis/caution-dont-block-in-your-piece-development-and-be-stuck-in-the-middle-game).
I focussed on developing my pieces, and my opponent invited a trade of queens. I was happy to oblige, but on my terms, and in doing so, gained tempo by trading with developing my knight. By move 13, I had the beginnings of a credible attack on my White's king along the semi-open f-file, while all their queen-side pieces (bishop, knight, and rook) were basically stuck on their starting squares. This attack proved overwhelming for White. Every though I didn't play the most accurately, the time White spent developing their pieces gave me enough time to create a mating attack on the King, which was isolated on his side of the board. On move 26, White resigned given the impending checkmate. GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/60569431153
