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I recently played an interesting 10+5 game where I had the Black pieces, where we entered the “Reverse French Variation” of the Englund Gambit Declined (1. d4 e5 2. e3). One of the things that I really like with the Englund Gambit against Queen’s Pawn Opening players, is that if White declines the gambit, it is not only automatically “fine” for Black, but it also takes the game down some weird and unusual lines that will out of the preparation and theory for White. This is evidenced that we both immediately played inaccuracies or mistakes immediately.

In this game, White castled short on move 10, and I opted to delay castling. Like the French, the “Reverse French” can have a problem with space and certainly in the early middle game, I had much better control of the space in the middle of the board and with this, encroaching into White’s king side. I imagine that my marching my king-side pawns up the board, supported by a rook on g8, was what induced White to make a blunder (13. g3) which created a permanent weakness in the defence of the White king [-2.9].

White attempted to counterattack with their own pawns down the queenside, but this was simply too slow, and not a threat. I had delayed castling my king, and this proved to now be an advantage. With my 4-pawn length chain from b7 to e4, I had split the field in two with most of White’s pieces on the wrong (queen) side to provide defence for their king. Meanwhile, my king on e8 was untouchable.

My h-pawn now advanced further and smashed the first hole in White’s defensive pawns in front of their king (16… hxg3). Three moves later, I strip another defender around the king (19… gxf3), the light square bishop, and in doing so, now have connect 5 – a spectacular pawn chain from b7 to f3!

And now, the preparation was set. My first bishop leaps forward (22. Bh3) controlling the light squares around the king. Then the dark square bishop in a brilliant sacrifice now destroys the last two pawns protecting the White king (22… Bxg3 23. hxg3 Rxg3+). The White king is now fully exposed. White’s pieces standby helplessly on the wrong side of the board as the combination of the bishop, rook, and queen force a checkmate on move 29. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/26Tgnujrcv

[Event "Rated Rapid game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/0btB2Yn8"]
[Date "2022.12.09"]
[Round "?"]
[White "eagle2014"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[UTCDate "2022.12.09"]
[UTCTime "09:38:53"]
[WhiteElo "1681"]
[BlackElo "1660"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-8"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+13"]
[TimeControl "600+5"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Opening "Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed French"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]
[WhiteUrl "https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lichess.png"]
[WhiteCountry "225"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.c39cd81f.30x30o.b97a2c02718d@2x.jpeg"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. d4 e5 2. e3 {A40 Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed French} 2... e4 $6
{[%c_effect e4;square;e4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] A relative inaccuracy
(from [+0.10] to [+0.78]) as capturing the d-pawn was best} 3. Nc3 $2 {[%c_effect
c3;square;c3;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [-0.30]. One of the
advantages of the Englund Gambit is that if White chooses to not accept, it's
completely good for Black and it takes them out of their comfort zone of (1.
d4)} 3... d5 4. Nge2 Nf6 $6 {[%c_effect
f6;square;f6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c7c6;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false] A relative inaccuracy
[-0.18]. Building up the pawn chain with c6 is better.} 5. Nf4 $6 {[%c_effect
f4;square;f4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An inaccuracy [-0.71]} 5... g5 6.
Nh5 Nbd7 7. Nxf6+ Nxf6 8. Be2 $6 {[%c_effect
e2;square;e2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] [-0.88]} 8... Bb4 $6 {[%c_effect
b4;square;b4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c7c6;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false] [-0.12]} 9. Bd2 g4 $2
{[%c_effect g4;square;g4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [+1.23], but
only if White finds the capture sequence...} 10. O-O $2 {[%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Mistake;persistent;true] They didn't find the sequence
[-0.52]} ({White had an opportunity to take advantage of the mistake...} 10.
Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxb4 {... and they are a pawn up and chess continues...}) 10...
Rg8 $2 {[%c_effect g8;square;g8;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [+0.50] as
the capture sequence is still available} 11. a3 $6 {[%c_effect
a3;square;a3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An inaccuracy [0.00]} 11... Bd6
12. Qe1 $2 {[%c_effect e1;square;e1;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake
[-1.89]} 12... h5 $2 {[%c_effect
h5;square;h5;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c7c6;keyPressed;none;from;c7;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false] [-0.67]} 13. g3 $4
{[%c_effect g3;square;g3;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder [-2.93] as this
weakens the defence of the king} 13... c6 14. b4 $2 {[%c_effect
b4;square;b4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] [-4.91]} 14... Nh7 15. b5 h4 16. a4 $6
{[%c_effect a4;square;a4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Fundamentally, this
queen-side attack is too slow to be a threat [-7.40]} 16... hxg3 $2 {[%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;Mistake;persistent;true] This isn't the most optimal attack on
the king's position and Stockfish calls it a mistake (from [-7.40] to [-3.90]),
but it's still fine} 17. fxg3 Ng5 18. a5 $2 {[%c_effect
a5;square;a5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] This slow attack isn't a threat and
doesn't deal with the danger on the king-side [-6.55]} 18... Nf3+ 19. Bxf3 gxf3
{[%c_highlight
b7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b7;persistent;false,c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false,d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false,e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false,f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false]
Connect 5 $1} 20. a6 b6 {[%c_arrow
d8h4;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;h4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false] Although this is
fine, Stockfish ruthlessly doesn't think this needs addressing} 21. bxc6 Bh3 22.
Rf2 $2 {[%c_effect f2;square;f2;type;Mistake;persistent;true] The beginning of the
end [-M10]} 22... Bxg3 $3 {[%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] Stockfish calls this sacrifice a
brilliancy as it clears the pawns defending the king} 23. hxg3 Rxg3+ 24. Kh2 Qh4
25. Rg2 Bxg2+ {[-M3]. There was a slightly faster checkmate.} ({This was the
fastest checkmate line...} 25... Bg4+ 26. Kg1 Rxg2+ 27. Kf1 Qh1#) 26. Kg1 Qh1+
27. Kf2 Qh2 28. Qb1 Bh3+ 29. Ke1 Rg1# {[%c_effect
e8;square;e8;type;Winner,e1;square;e1;type;CheckmateWhite]} 0-1