Warts have plagued humans for thousands of years and have even been discovered on 3,000-year-old mummies. The medical books will tell you that although warts generally aren’t dangerous, they are ugly, potentially embarrassing and contagious. They can also be painful. The same could be said of a lot chess moves.
I remember when I got my first real engine and created a database called “My Games.” The first games I had the engine analyze were all those great postal games that I had put so much effort into and some of my best OTB games. It didn’t take long for the ugly truth to come out...they were all covered with warts, big, ugly, embarrassing and painful warts. And, that was just the “best” games.
Eventually I got used to the fact that my games were going to be filled with more warts than a toad, but sometimes they were still interesting. Such was the following recent online game.
I decided not to play silly openings and gambits which I have been doing a lot lately just for amusement. Instead, I played the Vienna Game. The original idea behind the Vienna was to play a delayed King's Gambit, but in modern play white often plays more quietly (for example, fianchettoing his B with g3 and Bg2.
My intention was to play the Vienna the old fashioned way, but black wouldn’t cooperate and played 3...Qh4?? Why do so many online players insist on the early excursion of the Q to h5 or h4? Do they really think their opponent is going to fall for getting mated or blundering away a R?
The Danvers Opening, also known as the Kentucky Opening, Queen's Attack, Wayward Queen Attack, Patzer Opening or Parham Attack is characterized by the moves1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 and I have heard a lot of players swear by it because Hikaru Nakamura has played it with great success in Blitz. But, Nakamura is also an FIDE 2800+ rated Blitz player with a 2700+ classical rating which means he can beat most players no matter what he plays.
The opening is just awful and in this game my opponent played a variation of it, got a bad game and was mated in an amusing fashion.
[Event "Online"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.1.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tartajubow"]
[Black "Guest"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{C25: Vienna Game: Alternatives to 2...Nf6} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Bc5 3. Bc4 Qh4 {
Kuijf,M (2415)-Neidhardt,C (2370)/Germany 1994 saw black trying 3...Qg5 and
after 5.Nd5 his position was horrid. What's wrong with either 3...Nf6 or 3...
Nc6?!} 4. g3 {Not 4.Nf3?? Qxf2 mate, or didn't he think I'd see that?} 4...
Qf6 { Renewing the threat of mate on f2.} 5. Nf3 {Saw it!} 5... d6 {5...Ne7
would at least prevent my next move.} 6. Nd5 Qd8 {Half of his moves have been
with the Q and it's right back where it started from so it's safe to say black
has accomplished nothing in the opening.} 7. b4 {Also good was d4.} 7... Bb6
8. a4 { Somewhat better was the immediate 8.d4.} 8... a6 {Of course better was
8...c6 9. Nxb6. Black allows this Q-side Ps to get shattered for no reason.}
9. Nxb6 cxb6 10. d4 {Black doesn't sense the lurking danger to f7 or he would
have defended it with 10...Qc7} 10... Nc6 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Qxd8+ Nxd8 {Black
spent some time here and obviously realized he was losing a P, so he opts to
give up the e-Pawn and defend f7.} 13. Nxe5 Nf6 14. f3 O-O 15. Bg5 Nd7 16.
Ng4 {The idea was to journey to d5 or maybe f5.} 16... Ne6 17. Be3 {Apparently
the idea mentioned in the last note was forgotten!} 17... h5 18. Nf2 {Not
where I wanted it.} 18... Nd8 19. Ke2 {Connecting the Rs and some day I'll
want the K in the center for the ending.} 19... Nc6 20. c3 Nde5 21. Bb3 Nd7
{Ugly as his P-formation will be after 21. ..Be6 22.Bxe6 fxe6 that's what he
had to play because now he gets into trouble on the d-file.} 22. Rad1 Nce5
23. f4 {Get off of e5!} 23... Nc6 24. Rd6 Rd8 25. Rhd1 b5 {A bid for some kind
of play on the a-file.} 26. a5 {Which is denied.} 26... Ncb8 27. e5 Kf8 28.
e6 {So as to use the pin on the N.} 28... fxe6 29. Bxe6 {Even stronger was
29.Bc5 threatening a discovered check that would be devastating.} 29... Ke7
30. f5 Nc6 {The engine says 31.Ne4 was a lot better, but I was content to
trade down to a won ending. Besides I never saw 31.Ne4.} 31. Bxd7 Rxd7 32.
Bc5 {Here taking the R or even 32.Bg5+ were better according to Stockfish, but
black was starting to use up his time and the threat of a discovered check
caused him to use a few more seconds.} 32... Rxd6 33. Rxd6 Kf7 34. f6
{Technically not as good as defending the P with 34.Rd5, but I finally saw the
N on e4 idea. } 34... gxf6 35. Ne4 Bg4+ 36. Ke3 {I really wasn't expecting him
to block in his B with his next move, but at this point I had a rather
disturbing thought: there are Bs of opposite color and black can get his R
into play...perhaps I have let him off the hook. Stockfish puts me up by a
score of 1.50, but I'm not Stockfish!} 36... f5 {With this move black loses
the game. He should have let me have the P and played 36...Re8! 37.Rxf6+ Kg7
Note that here white must be careful he doesn't lose to the threat of
...Rxe4 and ...Kxf6} 37. Ng5+ { With his B stuck on g4 black is in effect a
piece down.} 37... Kg7 38. Rd7+ Kg6 { Obviously I should defend the N with
39.Kf4 after which figuring out a win shouldn't be too hard.} 39. Rd6+ {Now if
he retreats 39...Kg7 40.Kf4 and white will win, but I wanted to try this
little joke first. Black, with about a minute and a half left, wasted no time
snatching the N.} 39... Kxg5 {And now it's black who wins except for one
little fly in the ointment.} 40. h4# 1-0
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