The second weekend of the 4ncl has just passed and after my abysmal 0/2 showing at the first weekend (including a very quick loss against Gawain with the White pieces…) I was determined to put in a better performance.

I felt like my play of recent has been pretty good and I thought it was about time to give the Kings Gambit another showing.

My intended victim was Jonathan Parker, a strong GM who decided that his time was better spent making money in the city.

We had a very interesting opening and in my opinion the Kings Gambit with 3 Bc4 is a rather under rated opening.

I have song my praises about ‘The Fascinating Kings Gambit’ by Thomas Johansson before and it is really a very good book on 3 Bc4. If you want to learn the opening then this is the book to buy.

My only slight negative comment about the book is that it can be a bit tricky to follow, but that is far outweighed by the interesting and original ideas found inside.

Let’s move onto the game…

 

Simon Williams vs. Jonathan Parker, 4ncl, 14/01/2012.

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4

This seems to be the fashionable new way to play the Kings Gambit. Black has a number of ways to reply and yet it is unclear what path should be taken.

A number of players have made the comment that White is trying to equalize after 2 f4, that maybe the case but you are certainly guaranteed an interesting game!

3…Nf6

The main line.

4 Nc3 Bb4

A rather off beat but sensible variation. Black develops a piece, gets ready to castle and places pressure on e4.

5 Nge2!?

I was attracted to this idea, which aims for quick development.

The main move is 5 e5 when Black reply’s with 5…d5, I expect the position is equal then. The knight is well placed on e2 from where it supports my other knight and gets ready to capture the pawn on f4.

5…Nxe4!

This must be correct. Black takes the challenge up!

6 0-0!

Quick development is the key! Event though I am temporarily two pawns down, Black will have to return some material in order to stop my attack becoming too dangerous.

6…0-0 7 Nxf4 c6

Whilst my opponent was pondering the position here, I started to analyse the following fascinating variation.  7…Nxc3 8 dxc3 (in hindsight 8 bxc3 might be better but I had an idea in mind…) 8…Bc5+ 9 Kh1 c6 10 Nd5!?!?

A drastic way to stop Black from playing 10…d5. The position looked quite promising for White, for example,

a) 10…cxd5 11 Qxd5 with nasty pressure against f7! 11…Qe7 12 Bg5 Qd6 13 Rxf7 Qxd5 14 Bxd5 Rxf7 15 Rf1 with a mess!

b) 10…d6 11 Nf6+!

You will see that I got carried away with this idea later on in the game!

11…gxf6 12 Qh5 with a big attack. It would be interesting to see what the computer has to say about these variations!

8 Nxe4 d5 9 Nf6+

After the game my opponent pointed out the following plan.

9 Bxd5 cxd5 10 Nc3 which looks ok for White.

9…Qxf6 10 Nxd5 Bc5+

This is where I had my longest think. I now wanted to play:

11 Kh1 but I was concerned about the following variation:

11…Qh4! 12 Rf4 (12 Nf4 Bg4 is equal) 12…Qh6

When I could not find a good continuation. I spent a lot of time on;

13 d4 (13 Nf6+ gxf6 14 d4 Bd6 15 Rg4+ Bxg4!) 13…cxd5 (13…Bd6 14 Ne7+!?) but I could not find anything, back to plan ‘b’!

11 Ne3 Qe5

I was slightly concerned around here that I might be slightly worse with any kind of passive play, but I think my position is ok.

12 Kh1 Bxe3 13 dxe3 Be6 14 Bd3 c5?

This is far too slow and a bad error which hands me the initiative. Black should have played 14…Nd7. I can keep the balance after 15 e4.

15 Bd2!

The bishop becomes a very strong piece on c3. My e-pawn is not weak and I have good chances to pull off a successful attack on the kingside.

15…Nc6 16 Bc3 Qg5 17 Rf3 f6 18 Rg3 Qd5

My first instinct was to play 19 Rh3 here but I then decided that it was wise to move my queen into the attack.

19 e4 Qd7 20 Qh5! Qe7

What is the only White piece not taking part in the attack?

21 Rf1!

Here it comes!

In actual fact 21 Bxf6!? followed up with 22 e5 was also interesting.

21…Rad8 22 Rf4 Qf7?

Giving up without a fight. Black should have tried 22…c4 first, at least this saves the pawn on c5. The problem was that we had both spent so much time on the opening and time pressure was now playing a major part in deciding the outcome of the game.

23 Qxc5 Kh8

Those of you who know me should be able to guess my next move?

24 h4!

One of my favourite moves! Reinforcements are coming in!

24…Rc8 25 Qf2 Ne7 26 Be2!

Aiming to met 26…Ng6 with 27 Bh5.

26…b6 27 h5 h6 28 Qe3

Threatening 29 Rxf6!

28…Ng8 29 Rg6 Qe7 30 a3 Rfe8

Black would like to play …Bf7 next kicking my rook on g6 away.

31 Qg3!

Stopping …Bf7. This is what I would term a ‘prophylactic attacking’ move.

31…Bc4 32 Bg4 Rcd8 33 e5

Threatening Rxc4 and exf6 so my opponent resigned.

1-0

An interesting game and nice for me to stop the rot of losing in the 4ncl. The only disappointing thing was that the team lost 3.5/4.5, but we managed to win on the Sunday so our Europe hopes are still alive.

I am very tempted to film a DVD on the Kings Gambit with 3 Bc4, what does everyone think?

All that was left after the Saturday game was to win on Sunday, not normally my best of days. This time though I went to bed at the sensible time of just after midnight and felt quite refreshed for the next day. I will aim to report on that game in the next couple of days.