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chess noob Quick Wins! is a series of short videos, to demonstrate very quick wins! As a beginner, you become aware of the Scholar’s Mate and the Fool’s Mate, but neither of these show up in real games. However, there are tricky quick checkmates and wins that occur, even at the intermediate level of chess.

This week’s Quick Win is from one of my American subscribers, @jschwar2000, who played a crackling demonstration of the power of the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit with the black pieces!

White started with the Petrov’s Defense, but then transposed into the Two Knights Defense, and attempted a knight attack, the beginning of the Fried Liver Attack. My subscriber responded with the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. Ng5 Nxe4).

White pursued the Fried Liver, not knowing the danger that awaited! Two moves later, the evaluation is worse than [-10] (5. Nxf7 Qh4 6. Qf3 Nd4) with White having a checkmate threat, and their queen under attack. White makes a last-ditch gasp at attacking down the f-file, but it simply doesn’t work. On move 12, my subscriber delivers the final blow, skewering White’s queen to her king – psychological damage and White resigns. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/72842036693

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.03.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Ivextos"]
[Black "jschwar2000"]
[Result "*"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C57"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Italian-Game-Knight-Attack-Ponziani-Steinitz-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2023.03.18"]
[UTCTime "01:28:12"]
[WhiteElo "1314"]
[BlackElo "1393"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "jschwar2000 won by resignation"]
[StartTime "01:28:12"]
[EndDate "2023.03.18"]
[EndTime "01:41:58"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/72842036693"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/220103161.9dc8dc7b.50x50o.222bb74805ac.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "14"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/4098529.cdbc4ece.50x50o.4dc9a37cdb18.jpeg"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:29:54.9]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:29:58.3]} 2. Nf3 {[%clk 0:29:48.3]}
2... Nf6 {[%clk 0:29:54.8] Petrov's Defense} 3. Bc4 {[%clk 0:29:20.9]} 3... Nc6
{[%clk 0:29:51.5] Transposes into the Two Knights Defense} 4. Ng5 {[%clk
0:29:06.4]} 4... Nxe4 {[%clk 0:29:46.2] Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit} 5. Nxf7 $2
{[%clk 0:28:55][%c_effect f7;square;f7;type;Mistake;persistent;true] White
persists with the Fried Liver Attack, which is a mistake} 5... Qh4 $1 {[%clk
0:28:42.5][%c_effect h4;square;h4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e4f2;keyPressed;none;from;e4;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false,h4f2;keyPressed;none;from;h4;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false]} 6. Qf3 $4 {[%clk
0:28:28.1][%c_effect f3;square;f3;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A common move,
but a blunder at worse than [-10]} 6... Nd4 $1 {[%clk 0:27:15.2][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 7. Nd6+ {[%clk 0:25:14.9]} 7...
Bxd6 {[%clk 0:25:09.7]} 8. Qf7+ {[%clk 0:24:55.2]} 8... Kd8 {[%clk 0:25:05.6]}
9. g3 {[%clk 0:23:32.4]} 9... Nxg3 {[%clk 0:25:01.6]} 10. fxg3 {[%clk
0:23:23.6]} 10... Qe4+ {[%clk 0:24:55.5]} 11. Kf1 {[%clk 0:23:13.5]} 11... Qxh1+
{[%clk 0:24:51.9]} 12. Kf2 {[%clk 0:21:41.3]} 12... Rf8 {[%clk
0:24:49.5][%c_effect
d8;square;d8;type;Winner,f2;square;f2;type;ResignWhite][%c_arrow
f8f7;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,f7f2;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] Epic winning with
emotional damage [-M7]} ({The path to checkmate} 12... Rf8 13. Qxf8+ Bxf8 14.
Na3 Qxh2+ 15. Kf1 d6 16. g4 Bxg4 17. b3 Bh3+ 18. Ke1 Qg1+ 19. Bf1 Qxf1#) 0-1