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This is a short game where I had the most extraordinary win in the Smith-Morra Gambit. What do I mean? On move 10, my opponent resigned thinking that they had a lost position – either forced mate or losing their queen. I thought that this was the case as well!

However, on the chess.com analytic game review after the match, my opponent was winning with a [-3] position and had a game accuracy of 95.1% compared to my 83.0!

What?!

I had the white pieces, and my opponent played the Sicilian Defense, and then against the Smith-Morra Gambit, declined the gambit with the “Push Variation” (1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 d3). We develop and then on move 6, I decided to move my light square bishop a second time (6. Bc4) to line up an attack on Black’s f7 pawn. Playing some of these moves on my phone on the move (a bad habit of mine with games in the daily format on chess.com!) I use the “Spanish Inquisition” (https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/2023/03/18/tactic-spanish-inquisition-bxf2-bxf7-bishop-capture-f-pawn-with-check/) tactic on move 8, sacrificing my bishop to capture Black’s f-pawn and lure the King onto f7. My plan was then to give a check with a forward knight move, with a discovered attack on Black’s knight on g4 with my queen. Brilliant, except that I didn’t see that the knight was defended by Black’s bishop!

So, this was a straight up blunder [-3] where I traded my bishop for a pawn and Black’s right to castle. However, unexpectedly, Black responded to the knight check by moving the king to g8 (9. Ng5+ Kg8) rather than the more intuitive looking e8… So, next move, (10. Qd5+), and I thought I had either a forced mate, or Black would be forced to lose massive material! Black thought so too and resigned in this position. GG!

It was only afterwards on analysis that I discovered that Black had an extraordinary sequence where they come out ahead!

First, they block with the pawn (10. Qd5+ e6). It doesn’t look like it’ll work as I can capture the pawn with my knight (11. Nxe6). If the bishop captures, then it’s mate (11… Bxe6 12. Qxe6#). I saw this in my calculation. What neither of us saw was an extraordinary backwards knight move (11… Ne7!), counterattacking my queen! The engine line then results in a trade of queens, Black being perfectly safe and up a point of material (having captured my bishop for the cost of two pawns), with a winning evaluation of [-3]!

This game perhaps reveals the constructivist epistemic nature in whether we are winning or losing at chess. Although there is an “objective” evaluation (insofar as the algorithmic evaluation by an engine), our BELIEFS about the position during a game can sometimes be just as important!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/492160953

[Event "TA Beginners luck - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.03.20"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "iclaimjailer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Tournament "https://www.chess.com/tournament/ta-beginners-luck-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B21"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Sicilian-Defense-Smith-Morra-Gambit-Declined-Push-Variation-4.Bxd3-Nc6-5.Nf3-d6"]
[UTCDate "2023.03.20"]
[UTCTime "20:23:03"]
[WhiteElo "1198"]
[BlackElo "868"]
[TimeControl "1/172800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "20:23:03"]
[EndDate "2023.03.21"]
[EndTime "13:03:44"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/492160953"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/images/noavatar_l.84a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 47:49:53]} 1... c5 {[%clk 32:32:17]} 2. d4 {[%clk 47:52:41]
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit} 2... cxd4 {[%clk 47:49:05]} 3. c3 {[%clk
47:58:14]} 3... d3 {[%clk 47:59:11] Gambit Declined, Push Variation [+0.7]} 4.
Bxd3 {[%clk 47:58:50]} 4... Nc6 {[%clk 47:59:07]} 5. Nf3 {[%clk 47:58:27]} 5...
d6 {[%clk 47:58:45]} 6. Bc4 {[%clk 47:57:47][%c_arrow
c1e3;keyPressed;none;from;c1;opacity;0.8;to;e3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false] In my mind, I knew
that developing the other bishop was the rational thing to do. However, I saw
some trickiness with putting the bishop on c4 and attacking the f7 pawn even if
this move is suboptimal [+0.3]} 6... Nf6 {[%clk 47:59:08]} 7. e5 {[%clk
47:56:47]} 7... Ng4 {[%clk 47:58:15]} 8. Bxf7+ $4 {[%clk 47:59:15][%c_arrow
e5d6;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;d6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false][%c_effect
f7;square;f7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Stockfish calls this a blunder
[-3.6], and it is. I played this move on my mobile phone and to be honest,
simply missed that the Black knight on g4 was defended by the light square
bishop  $1} 8... Kxf7 {[%clk 47:58:08]} 9. Ng5+ {[%clk 47:57:37]} 9... Kg8 {[%clk
47:40:15][%c_arrow
f7e8;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false] Here, I thought that
Black had made a blunder, but they are actually completely fine  $1 [-3]} 10. Qd5+
{[%clk 47:56:56][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,g8;square;g8;type;ResignBlack] I thought that I had a
forced checkmate, or a forced capture of Black's queen. Black must have believed
the same as they resigned  $1 However, Black actually had an incredible move that
put's them ahead  $1} (10. Qd5+ Be6 11. Qxe6#) (10. Qd5+ e6 11. Nxe6 Bxe6 12.
Qxe6#) (10. Qd5+ e6 11. Nxe6 Ne7 $1 {[%c_effect
e7;square;e7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 12. Qb3 Qb6 13. Nc7+ {[%c_arrow
b3g8;keyPressed;none;from;b3;opacity;0.8;to;g8;persistent;false,b3b6;keyPressed;none;from;b3;opacity;0.8;to;b6;persistent;false,b6b3;keyPressed;none;from;b6;opacity;0.8;to;b3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b6;persistent;false,b3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b3;persistent;false]
... And chess continues, with Black up a point of material after the queen
trade $1}) 1-0