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This relatively short, 14-move game in the daily format is a good example of the strategic logic of many opening gambits.

My Singaporean friend had the Black pieces and played the Caro-Kann Defense against my King’s Pawn Opening. The Caro-Kann is one of the best defences against (1. e4) and effectively, it prevents me from playing my favourite opening, the Vienna!

Against the Caro-Kann, I now play the von Hennig Gambit (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Bc4). In essence, after the pawn exchange, I choose to develop my bishop rather than capture back the pawn.

The strategic logic is to trade material for accelerated development. Although the material of course matters, the perspective is that it doesn’t matter “right now” and the compensation from developing a step or two faster than Black and launching an earlier attack will make it worthwhile. This is especially the case when playing against humans as nobody plays perfectly accurately!

Consider on move 6, I now have developed three pieces versus Black’s one, and am on the verge of castling with a semi-open f-file for my rook. Black, on the other hand, is still many moves away from castling.

Against my impending attack, Black makes the first serious mistake on move 8 with a forward knight move (8… Ng5). Stockfish gives the rating at around [+3.5]. Tactically, the attack is simply premature. All of Black’s queenside pieces are still on their opening squares.

With Black committing to castling short, I rotate my other knight onto the kingside to add pieces to the attack. Black interpreted the move as a threat to their dark square bishop and makes a backwards move (9… Bc7). This was another mistake [+7]. I’m two steps away from a devastating attack.

And the attack is against the f7 square (10. Neg5). Black is needed to put a second defender for f7 other than the king. However, they might not have seen the tactic, thinking that I wouldn’t trade a knight for a pawn, and so wasted a move attempting to kick my knight (10… h6). This blunder was game ending [+11].

Firstly, I capture the pawn with a brilliant knight sacrifice that the king must capture given the fork of their rook and queen (11. Nxf7 Kxf7). But now, with the f-file full open, a knight move gives double-check (12. Ng5+). Stockfish thought that the other double-check square (12. Ne5+) would have been better, but either is completely winning, and I saw a tricky trap with my lines.

Simply, the knight can now capture the e6 pawn (13. Nxe6) and the position LOOKS dead lost for Black. The e- and f-files are fully open, controlled by my queen and rook respectively. My knight is attacking Black’s queen, while the next knight move would be a discovered check. It looks like Black’s light-square bishop could capture my knight, but if they did so, they would hang mate-in-one (13… Bxe6 14. Qxe6#). Indeed, in this position, Black had assumed that their queen was lost so played a desperado using the queen to capture a pawn. I obliged to take their queen the next turn (13… Qxd4+ 14. Nxd4+) and Black resigned. Emotional damage! GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/480346673

[Event "Let's Play!"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.02.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Okaychessplayer48"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B15"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-von-Hennig-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2023.02.18"]
[UTCTime "22:45:06"]
[WhiteElo "1186"]
[BlackElo "865"]
[TimeControl "1/86400"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "22:45:06"]
[EndDate "2023.02.19"]
[EndTime "07:03:29"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/480346673"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/91260226.dfe5c52a.50x50o.db6559d0def7.png"]
[BlackCountry "125"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 23:59:54]} 1... c6 {[%clk 23:59:15]} 2. d4 {[%clk 23:59:34]} 2...
d5 {[%clk 23:48:59]} 3. Nc3 {[%clk 24:00:00]} 3... dxe4 {[%clk 23:55:00]} 4. Bc4
{[%clk 23:59:59] Caro-Kann: von Hennig Gambit [-0.6]. The logic is to trade a
relatively inconsequential pawn, at least in the opening, for rapid
development.} 4... Nf6 {[%clk 23:42:30]} 5. f3 {[%clk 24:00:00]} 5... exf3
{[%clk 23:59:52]} 6. Nxf3 {[%clk 24:00:00] There is a potential devastating trap
line that Black commonly falls for...} 6... e6 $6 {[%clk 23:59:54][%c_effect
e6;square;e6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c8f5;keyPressed;none;from;c8;opacity;0.8;to;f5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false] An inaccuracy as
Black blocks in their dark square bishop and White equalises [0.00]} ({The trap
line (Black avoided it in this game)} 6... Bg4 7. Ne5 {White seemingly hangs
their queen...} 7... Bxd1 8. Bxf7# {[%c_arrow
e5f7;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,e5d7;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false,f7e8;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false,f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false]
But the queen is a trap as there is tricky mate on the next turn $1}) 7. O-O
{[%clk 23:58:57]} 7... Bd6 {[%clk 23:59:04]} 8. Qe2 {[%clk 23:53:03]} 8... Ng4 $2
{[%clk 23:54:26][%c_effect g4;square;g4;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b8d7;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false] A mistake at worse
than [+3.5] at higher depth. Fundamentally, the attack is premature. Black needs
to develop their pieces first $1} 9. Ne4 {[%clk 23:56:57] Here, I'm rotating
another knight into an attack on the kingside} 9... Bc7 $2 {[%clk
23:59:18][%c_effect c7;square;c7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
h7h6;keyPressed;none;from;h7;opacity;0.8;to;h6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h6;persistent;false] Black mistakenly only
saw the apparent threat to their bishop and doesn't see the impending massive
attack looming [+7]. With this backwards retreating move, White is losing.} 10.
Neg5 $2 $9 {[%clk 23:48:40][%c_arrow
c1g5;keyPressed;none;from;c1;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Stockfish doesn't like this move
[+3.5] as Black can protect their f7 pawn with their rook or queen, and prefers
the bishop to attack.} 10... h6 $4 {[%clk 23:59:08][%c_effect
h6;square;h6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
h8f8;keyPressed;none;from;h8;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false,d8e7;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false,d8d7;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false,d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false]
However, I suspected that my opponent might try to kick the knight rather than
defend f7, which is a blunder [+11]} 11. Nxf7 $3 {[%clk 23:59:26][%c_effect
f7;square;f7;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] Brilliant move $1 Knight sacrifice
smashes open Black's kingside defence.} 11... Kxf7 {[%clk 23:50:47]} 12. Ng5+ $6
{[%clk 23:59:55][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f3e5;keyPressed;none;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] I knew that Ne5+
(double-check) and then capture the knight on g4 was sensible and solid.
However, I was pretty sure this was still completely winning, and Stockfish
agrees [+7.3], and seemed to have more trappy potential $1} 12... Ke7 $6 {[%clk
23:59:42][%c_effect e7;square;e7;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 13. Nxe6
{[%clk 23:58:27] And now, both the e- and f-files are fully opened, with a
discovered check next turn. If White captures the knight with their bishop
(Bxe6), then (Qxe6) is checkmate $1} 13... Qxd4+ $6 {[%clk 17:22:42][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] I suspect Black convinced
themselves that their queen was lost} 14. Nxd4+ {[%clk 23:37:46][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,e7;square;e7;type;ResignBlack] Emotional damage, Black
resigns $1} 1-0