Lev Zilbermintz Crushes Master With Philidor Counter Gambit!


The game notes were provided by Zilbermintz, West Orange Chess Club Co Vice President and 2010 WOCC Champion.
Due to a Chess.com bug the following notes did not make it into the game text in the original post:
After 8. Qe2 - The database gives three games with this line. They are James Mason - Otis Field, Jr., New York 1868, 0-1/27; Pessi-Popescu, Bucharest 1995, 1-0/47; and Kocsis - Aladics, 33rd Harkany Tenkes Cup, Hungary 2009, draw/10.
After 14. Kc2 - Here I thought long over my next move. The problem is that so many candidate moves are playable. What attracted my attention was 14...Ne1+ 15.Kb1, but then how to continue the attack? After spending 12 minutes on the analyses, I came up with the solution.
After 15...e3! - This prevents the bishop on c1 from coming out. Now White's forces are divided in two.

Some more on this game and the tournament it was played in from Zilbermintz:
Yesterday I played in the Don Carrelli Memorial tournament in Westfield. I began by defeating Errol Singh (USCF 1904) and drawing NM Sameer Mujumdar. Then I defeated NM Mark Kernighan (USCF 2206) after he repeatedly refused draw offers. The last game was against Merric Hu, who is a master these days.
The game vs. Hu was reminiscent of Graif - Zilbermintz, Westfield 2014, which was another Philidor Counter Gambit, del Rio Attack. That combat lasted 42 moves.
After winning the game vs. Hu, I thought that I might have qualified for the Under 2200 prize. Next thing I knew, NM Roman Malyshev was congratulating me on winning the tournament altogether!! This was a total surprise for me, as there were at least 10 masters in the tournament. These included Boris Privman, Yefim Treger, Sameer Mujumdar, Sam Barsky, Mauricio Camejo, just to name a few.
Winning this tournament with clear first place, 3.5/4 points, had to be my biggest success in years. I won the first place prize of $225.

link for tournament Event Summary: http://www.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201909159652.0

A wonderful "romantic" - style game. Reminds me of my youth, how much fun it is to sac material for initiative and a king hunt. That's why chess is also an art and attracted me to the game as a kid!
Any chance you'll start utilizing the PCG as your main weapon against 1. e4?

The game notes gracefully neglect to mention that after 7.Nxe4 Black is painfully close to being totally lost.
And 4.dxe5 is nowhere close to being white's best line against this gambit. The theoretical refutation is 4.Bc4, which needs quite a bit of memorization, so either 4.exf5 or 4.Nc3! should cut the cake.
Thanks for the feedback.
I think most know, probably even Zilbermintz himself (although he'll probably deny it), that this gambit is unsound and that with best play white will prevail. However if white is not prepared and doesn't make the right moves this game is indicative of how it could go all wrong.

The coolest moment that stands out for me in this game is how on only move 14 black can actually safely get in 14...Ne1+!
IM Pfren, how about we play a match here? See how well you play against my prepared lines with your 4 Bc4 ? I have played against this line and won. With regard to 4 Nc3, I have played against that and won as well. Ditto for 4 exf5. James West wrote a book on this opening. He shows there how to play these lines.
Just as I thought! You chicken out of a challenge, perhaps being too overconfident in GM Negi's four-move analyses. Where did Negi cover the line? Please give the line, so I can reply. As for why you should care about West's book, the answer is simple: he covers all lines in-depth, for 20 moves. The 4 Nc3 line is covered in there.
What I am trying to prove is that this gambit is perfectly playable. Some titled players such as yourself might shy away from something that is not 100% p[ositional. Fischer, Spassky and Tal all played gambit. Kasparov won with the Evans Gambit against Short in 1995. Point is, gambits are playable.
The guys on Chesspub rely too much on computer analyses rather on practice games. When you sit at a chess board against another player, you cannot use a computer to help you. So, while off the board a computer might help you, on the board it is different. How many times have unscrupulous chess-players been exposed for trying to get computer assistance while in play? Many times! Now, I am not saying you are doing it. Rather, the point is that practice takes priority over armchair analyses with a computer.
Here is a game played on the Internet Chess Club, where a Grandmaster gets crushed with the Philidor Counter-Gambit:
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 f5 4 dxe5 fxe4 5 Ng5 d5 6 Nc3 Bb4 7 Bd2 Nxc3 8 bxc3 Ne7 9 c4 h6 10 Nh3 d4 11 Nf4 00 12 Be2 Nbc6 13 e6 g5 14 Nh5 Bxe6 15 h4 Ng6 16 hg5 hg5 17 Bg4 Qd7 18 Be6+ Qxe6 19 Bg5 Qf5 20 Bh4 Nxh4! 21 Qe2 d3 22 cd3 exd3 23 Qb2 Rae8+ 24 Kf1 Qxh5 25 Rh3 Qe2+, White resigns,
GM Davor Rogic (Croatia) - Zilbermintz, Internet Chess Club 5 0 blitz, 22 September 2019.
The move 6...h6 is a mistake. I can see where Black would lose after making such an inaccurate move.
That said, have you checked the game Stepanov -Maliutin, Moscow 1992? Black won in 47 moves.
As a kid long ago, the PCG helped me cross 2200 and win nearly $1000 in a tournament. ... As white, of course.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.chess/73FudRR6lfI

"Rather, the point is that practice takes priority over armchair analyses with a computer."
With G60 games being considered classical OTB, I can see this being quite true.
You would be wise to check out the game IM Florian Grafl (2258) - Frank Roeberg (2250), Hessen championship, Baunatal 3/29/1999. Black won in 29 moves.