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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 a very quick 10+5 game I played on Lichess where I not only won with 8 moves but ended the game with more time on the clock than I started!

I played a higher rated opponent who was blitzing out the moves. They led with the Ruy Lopez and I think that I caught them off guard with the Jaenisch Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5).

And here, I think, is the main idea from this game. Spend enough time to think through the moves! This was a 10-min game of rapid with 5 second increment, and my opponent spent 12 seconds to play a move that was arguably a mistake. They castled and left their e4 pawn hanging.

After I captured that pawn, their knight on f3 was now in trouble, rather like a reverse Vienna Gambit. The knight seemingly had nowhere it could go on the board and White was forced to make a rather ugly backwards move, putting the knight on e1. Ouch!

I developed my king’s knight, adding a defender to the somewhat overextended pawn, and White decided to strike out in the centre with d4. However, this was a blunder as that pawn could be taken with impunity – perhaps White was expecting that I would en passant (I must admit – I thought about it even though I knew it was obviously bad…!)

I capture the pawn and take the full centre now. White now traded their bishop for my knight and then surprised me by immediately taking my pawn on d4 with their queen – a Botez gambit! They made the move in around two seconds and after I captured the queen for free, they resigned. I think I realised what happened – they must have calculated and expected that I would capture their bishop with the b-pawn, rather than the d-pawn, opening the d-file. At the end of the game, I had 10:03 on my clock! GG!

Game on Lichess: https://lichess.org/nBB5hsoT

[Event "Rated Rapid game"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/nBB5hsoT"]
[Date "2023.03.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lactochka"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[UTCDate "2023.03.29"]
[UTCTime "12:33:49"]
[WhiteElo "1815"]
[BlackElo "1689"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "-7"]
[BlackRatingDiff "+35"]
[TimeControl "600+5"]
[ECO "C63"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]
[WhiteUrl "https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/lichess.png"]
[WhiteCountry "225"]
[WhiteTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:10:00]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:10:00]} 2. Nf3 {[%clk 0:10:02]} 2... Nc6
{[%clk 0:10:03]} 3. Bb5 {[%clk 0:10:05]} 3... f5 {[%clk 0:10:06] Ruy Lopez:
Jaenisch Gambit} 4. O-O $2 {[%clk 0:09:58][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d2d3;keyPressed;none;from;d2;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false] An interesting move
that is a mistake as the pawn on e4 is hanging [-0.75]} 4... fxe4 {[%clk
0:10:00][%c_highlight
h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false,g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false,e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false,d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_arrow
d8h4;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;h4;persistent;false,c6d4;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;d4;persistent;false,c6e5;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false]
White's knight ostensibly has nowhere good to go...} 5. Ne1 $2 {[%clk
0:09:47][%c_arrow
b5c6;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Mistake;persistent;true] But this was a mistake [-1]. Their
best move was to trade the bishop for the knight, and thus, removing the
defender of e5 and d4 squares, giving the knight a place to remain on the
board.} 5... Nf6 {[%clk 0:10:00]} 6. d4 $4 {[%clk 0:09:46][%c_arrow
d2d3;keyPressed;none;from;d2;opacity;0.8;to;d3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d3;persistent;false][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] This aggressive strike out in the
centre doesn't work [-5]} 6... exd4 $6 {[%clk 0:09:59][%c_arrow
c6d4;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;Inaccuracy;keyPressed;undefined;persistent;true] Capturing
with the knight is more accurate [-2.5]} 7. Bxc6 $6 {[%clk 0:09:46][%c_effect
c6;square;c6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f2f3;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;f3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false] An inaccuracy as
White loses their most active piece [-6]} 7... dxc6 {[%clk 0:10:00]} 8. Qxd4 $4
{[%clk 0:09:49][%c_effect d4;square;d4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] White
miscalculated, perhaps, anticipating I would capture the bishop with the b-pawn,
and hangs their queen [-14]} 8... Qxd4 {[%clk 0:10:03][%c_effect
e8;square;e8;type;Winner] White resigns.} 0-1