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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.

Today’s game is from my subscriber (@uriahshonor) who won with a crushing 9-move checkmate with the Black pieces using the Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4)! I’d like to think that they learnt it from me!

Stockfish in the chess.com analytic engine now calls the Ponziani-Steinitiz Gambit a “mistake” (previously, it was just listed as a book move). This is great as it hopefully means that even fewer people will learn the move! It is technically unsound, but at the beginner-intermediate level, it is absolutely lethal to the unprepared Fried Liver Attack player!

And this is what happened in this game. My sub’s opponent persisted with the Fried Liver Attack with (5. Nxf7) instantly erasing the “mistake” with the evaluation now favouring Black! The response to know is (5… Qh4), immediately giving a checkmate threat with queen and knight against f2. White played the only good response with (6. Qe2), something that is quite hard to see. However, it is apparent that this was an accident as after (6… Nd4) attacking the queen, White now plays (7. Qe3), a game-ending blunder.

My sub sees it – (7… Nxc2+) a royal fork, they win the queen with check again, and White blunders into a checkmate on move 9. Superb!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/78631312841

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.05.24"]
[Round "-"]
[White "mineraccio"]
[Black "uriahshonor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C57"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Italian-Game-Knight-Attack-Ponziani-Steinitz-Gambit"]
[UTCDate "2023.05.24"]
[UTCTime "01:40:44"]
[WhiteElo "821"]
[BlackElo "807"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "uriahshonor won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "01:40:44"]
[EndDate "2023.05.24"]
[EndTime "01:44:32"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/78631312841"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/264241433.d0ebff03.50x50o.689da311a286.jpg"]
[WhiteCountry "76"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/40790702.3e4ce763.50x50o.644a4a1b5e7f.jpeg"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:15:09.5]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:14:59.2]} 2. Nf3 {[%clk 0:15:14]} 2...
Nc6 {[%clk 0:14:51.2]} 3. Bc4 {[%clk 0:15:21.3]} 3... Nf6 {[%clk 0:14:41.6]} 4.
Ng5 {[%clk 0:15:18.9]} 4... Nxe4 $5 {[%clk 0:14:32.3][%c_effect
e4;square;e4;type;Interesting;persistent;true] Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit -
unsound according to Stockfish, but potentially lethal to the unprepared Fried
Liver Attack player $1} 5. Nxf7 $2 {[%clk 0:15:06.6][%c_effect
f7;square;f7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c4f7;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] This is a mistake by
White, and Black now has the initiative $1} 5... Qh4 $1 {[%clk 0:14:25.4][%c_effect
h4;square;h4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 6. Qe2 $1 {[%clk
0:15:04.2][%c_effect e2;square;e2;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] This is the
best response by White, but I think it was an accident...} 6... Nd4 {[%clk
0:14:30.6]} 7. Qe3 $4 {[%clk 0:14:24.3][%c_effect
e3;square;e3;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g2g3;keyPressed;none;from;g2;opacity;0.8;to;g3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false] And this is a
game-ending blunder [-10]} 7... Nxc2+ $1 {[%clk 0:14:36.1][%c_effect
c2;square;c2;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 8. Kd1 {[%clk 0:14:24.4]} 8...
Nxe3+ {[%clk 0:14:44.2]} 9. Ke1 $4 {[%clk 0:14:27.4][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f2e3;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;e3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false] Blunders [-M1]} 9...
Qxf2# {[%clk 0:14:49.8][%c_effect
e8;square;e8;type;Winner,e1;square;e1;type;CheckmateWhite]} 0-1