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Welcome to another episode of the “chessnoob Game Review” series where the focus will be on identifying in how a game, whether I win or lose, could have been improved. This gives me an opportunity to reflect more deeply about a game and hopefully, the lessons that I draw for myself will be helpful to my fellow beginner and beginner-intermediate chess players!

This game is a review of the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit where White manages to avoid a checkmate in the opening and chooses to play on and not resign. Although Black is winning, there are a few moves to know and, in this game, I got some of those wrong!

I had the black pieces. My opponent opened with the Italian Game, I responded with the Two Knights Defense, and they attempted a Fried Liver Attack. I then used the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit, practically a trap, and White continued the Fried Liver, something that is very good for Black (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4 5. Nxf7 Qh4). Against the immediate threat of mate in 1, White will commonly blunder, and my opponent did so with (6. g3), resulting in [-6.08], as the move results in the loss of the rook.

In previous games, the massive material loss from the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit and the smashed king-side will result in emotional damage and White resigning. In this game, White played on! I didn’t play very accurately after this as I wasn’t entirely sure of the best follow-up responses by Black. White also spent quite a lot of time and carefully played each move. On analysis, White outplayed me after in this second half of the opening and early middle game and managed to return to equality!

Firstly, after the queen captures the rook (8… Qxh1+) and White is forced to block the check with their queen, the best move is to immediate trade queens. I mistakenly thought that I could evacuate the queen, and this is a blunder. Luckily, White returns the position to what it was before (effectively blundering back) so we have a repetition of moves and we end up trading queens after the shuffle.

I remembered previously that after this queen trade, the immediate (12. d5) is the best move. In fact, Stockfish calls this pawn sacrifice, as the white bishop to basically forced to capture, a brilliancy! It opens the light squared diagonal for my bishop and trades the material for tempo and development of the bishop. However, I couldn’t remember the follow-on tactic and I’m not sure that I ever knew it! The next correct move was to keep the initiative by jumping forward with the knight (14… Nd4), to threaten the c2 pawn and an absolute fork of the back king and rook.

Instead, I attempted to prevent my rook from being captured by the knight on f7, but this was a blunder [-1.28]. The rook was lost regardless. At the end of the series of trades, White manages to win back material balance, though Stockfish still gave an evaluation strongly favouring Black [-4.31] due to better development. Unfortunately, I almost entirely lose this advantage due to suboptimal play and by move 22, my White not only had material balance, but we were back to equality according to Stockfish!

Luckily, I still had a position that was easier to play despite the evaluation. I had three connected pawns on the d-, e-, and f-files marching down the board, supporting each other towards promotion. White’s king was exposed in the centre of the board while my king was safe. White’s pieces, especially the knight on the edge of the board, were more difficult to coordinate, while I still had the bishop pair. Move 33 proved decisive. White allowed my e-pawn to become a passed pawn, and it was supported behind by my rook. The evaluation jumped to almost [-20] meaning that a forced checkmate probably exists. The game ended on move 40 with White timing out. My e-pawn had promoted to a queen and an easy checkmate in 3 was just on the horizon.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/62567339821

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.11.19"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Mahesh9883"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C57"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Italian-Game-Knight-Attack-Ponziani-Steinitz-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2022.11.19"]
[UTCTime "03:24:10"]
[WhiteElo "1243"]
[BlackElo "1354"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won on time"]
[StartTime "03:24:10"]
[EndDate "2022.11.19"]
[EndTime "04:08:02"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/62567339821"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4 {Italian Game: Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit} 5. Nxf7 $2 {[%c_effect f7;square;f7;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 5... Qh4 $1 {[%c_effect h4;square;h4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 6. g3 $4
{[%c_effect g3;square;g3;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A serious blunder that results in the loss of the rook [-6.08]} 6... Nxg3 7. fxg3 Qe4+ 8. Qe2 Qxh1+ 9. Qf1 Qe4+ $4 {[%c_effect e4;square;e4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] This is a blunder [-1.54] as forcing the queen trade is best} 10. Qe2 $4 {[%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Blunder;persistent;true] However, White blunders back and the position returns the the previous} 10... Qh1+ 11. Qf1 Qxf1+ $1 {[%c_effect
f1;square;f1;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 12. Kxf1 d5 $3 {[%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] A brilliant move, but only if I found the correct follow up sequence, which I didn't $1} 13. Bxd5 Bh3+ 14. Ke1 Rg8 $4 {[%c_effect g8;square;g8;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder [-1.28] - this attempt to save the rook fails as it is lost regardless} (14... Nd4
{[%c_arrow
d4c2;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;c2;persistent;false,c2a1;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;a1;persistent;false,c2e1;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;e1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a1;persistent;false,e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false]
The correct move was to counterattack the c2 pawn, which comes with a fork of the king and rook}) 15. Nd6+ $4 {[%c_effect
d6;square;d6;type;Blunder;persistent;true] White blunders back [-6.21] as this was not the most optimal way to capture my rook} 15... cxd6 16. Bxg8 {And at the completion of the mutual opening attacks and trades, we have material equality but the evaluation is favouring Black due to development [-4.31]} 16... Nd4 17. Bxh7 O-O-O 18. Na3 Nf3+ 19. Kf2 Nxh2 20. d3 Ng4+ $4 {[%c_effect
g4;square;g4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Stockfish rates this a blunder [-1.61] but the reason is a bit obscure relating to tactical manoeuvres several moves away} 21. Kf3 Nf6 22. Bg5 Rd7 $4 {[%c_effect
d7;square;d7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Stockfish rated this a blunder and I lose all my advantage, returning to near equality [-0.11]. Stockfish preferred aggressively trading the rook for White's bishop pair} (22... Nxh7 {Stockfish's preferred line results in Black having a bishop pair against White's rook} 23.
Bxd8 Kxd8) 23. Bxf6 gxf6 24. Be4 $2 {[%c_effect
e4;square;e4;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 24... d5 25. Bg6 Rg7 26. Be8 $4
{[%c_effect e8;square;e8;type;Blunder;persistent;true] White's bishop is almost trapped and thus limited in its ability to make its presence felt [-5.40]} 26... f5 {One of my advantages are the connected central pawns - the strategy is to advance them forward to promote one to queen} 27. Rh1 Bg4+ 28. Kf2 Bc5+ 29. Ke1 Re7 30. Rh8 Kc7 31. Ba4 $4 {[%c_effect a4;square;a4;type;Blunder;persistent;true]
This move to the edge of the board is a blunder} 31... a6 $1 {[%c_effect
a6;square;a6;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] This pawn now constrains the movement of the White knight to the edge of the board} 32. Bb3 e4 33. Kd2 $2
{[%c_effect d2;square;d2;type;Mistake;persistent;true] The march of the black pawns is now unstoppable [-19.6]} 33... e3+ 34. Ke1 $2 {[%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 34... d4 35. Nc4 $2 {[%c_effect
c4;square;c4;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 35... Bb4+ 36. c3 dxc3 37. Bc2 cxb2+ 38. Kf1 e2+ 39. Kg2 e1=Q 40. Bd1 Qxd1 {[%c_effect
c7;square;c7;type;Winner,g2;square;g2;type;TimeoutWhite] White times out checkmate was inevitable} ({If White was able to play on...} 40... Qxd1 41. Ne3 Qe2+ 42. Kg1 b1=Q+ 43. Nd1 Qbxd1#) 0-1