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This was a nice short game of the Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted against my opponent’s Sicillian Defense (1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3) where I got a beautiful win with a brilliant Greek Gift sacrifice!

One of the nice things with the Smith-Morra Gambit is that it isn’t necessarily easy for Black to play in the middlegame, even if they play very accurately in the opening. My opponent pretty much played perfectly in the opening against the Smith-Morra. However, I had committed to a strategic idea by move 8 with (8. Be3).

This aggressive is considered an inaccuracy by the engine, but it serves a purpose. Firstly, Black must consider whether they want to save their bishop, and in doing so, move it a second time. Their dark square bishop is strong so trading it away is okay for me. Their best move is to trade immediately, and this results in me having doubled e-pawns. As compensation, I have a semi-opened f-file. My strategic idea with Black seemingly preparing to castle kingside is to rapidly launch an attack on their kingside. A semi-open f-file becomes a tactical resource, that as we shall see, pays dividends in an impactful way later!

Indeed, on move 9, Black castles short and my plan is now well underway – (10. Qe1). Although Black can defend against the attack, I’m not sure it was immediately obvious to them that that was what I was doing as they responded with (10… Na5). There is a certain logic to this move. Black is a bit cramped, and development is hampered. Na5 attacks my bishop on the queenside (on c4). However, this move was a mistake as their knight is now on the wrong side of the board, and I was intending to rotate my bishop to attack on the kingside anyway. Effectively, this feeds into my overall strategy. Psychologically, the strategic plan might be obscured by the fact that the bishop move was seemingly a reactionary response!

Move 11, Black strikes again, this time with d5 down the centre. Although this makes sense, it is again an inaccuracy as they needed to defend the g5 square against an impending kingside attack. I now make the somewhat inaccurate move, to set up the attack with (12. e5). This locks the centre, but also, opens the light square diagonal for my bishop on d3 to Greek Gift on h7!

Black misses this tactical pattern and develops their queen instead (12… Qb6), a blunder! At this point, I’m completely winning as although Black can avoid checkmate, they need to do so by trading their queen for my knight, thus the evaluation is about [+5]. I Greek Gift sacrifice the bishop, punching a hole in Black’s h-file. This is followed up with the queen onto the h-file with check. And then the knight advances to g5 with impending checkmate!

Black chooses not to give up their queen and hangs a forced mating line. I make an inaccuracy with (17. Qh8+) – I thought this was checkmate, so was confused when I didn’t hear the checkmate audio cue and then Black blocked the check with (17… Ng8)! For a moment, I thought I had blundered – but remember the semi-open f-file? I played (18. Rxf7#) – mate! GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/81666275647

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.06.28"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "yeasypeasy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B21"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Sicilian-Defense-Smith-Morra-Accepted-Morphy-Defense"]
[UTCDate "2023.06.28"]
[UTCTime "04:43:33"]
[WhiteElo "1436"]
[BlackElo "1439"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "04:43:33"]
[EndDate "2023.06.28"]
[EndTime "04:55:55"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/81666275647"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/images/noavatar_l.84a92436.gif"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:15:09.3]} 1... c5 {[%clk 0:15:05.4]} 2. d4 {[%clk 0:15:16.8]}
2... cxd4 {[%clk 0:15:12.7]} 3. c3 {[%clk 0:15:26.1]} 3... dxc3 {[%clk
0:14:48.4] Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted} 4. Nxc3 {[%clk
0:15:33.1]} 4... Nc6 {[%clk 0:14:51.9]} 5. Bc4 {[%clk 0:15:41.4]} 5... e6 {[%clk
0:14:50.6]} 6. Nf3 {[%clk 0:15:48.9]} 6... Bc5 {[%clk 0:13:39.2] Black has
played very accurately so far in the opening. This position is the Morphy
Defense line of the Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted.} 7. O-O {[%clk 0:15:35.4]} 7...
Nge7 {[%clk 0:13:15.9]} 8. Be3 {[%clk 0:15:16.5][%c_arrow
c3a4;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;a4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a4;persistent;false] Stockfish calls this
an inaccuracy [-1.1]. However, this move had a tactical idea. Firstly, I can
potentially remove their strong dark square bishop, and potentially open my
f-file, which can be advantageous with Black seemingly set up to castle short.}
8... Bxe3 {[%clk 0:12:52.1]} 9. fxe3 {[%clk 0:15:25.1]} 9... O-O {[%clk
0:12:56.1]} 10. Qe1 {[%clk 0:15:07.9][%c_arrow
c3b5;keyPressed;none;from;c3;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false] Stockfish calls this
an inaccuracy [-1.5] preferring a very Smith-Morra thematic move of Nb5 with the
view of the knight occupying an outpost on d6. However, I had already committed
to a strategy of attacking Black's kingside.} 10... Na5 $2 {[%clk
0:11:56.8][%c_arrow
a7a6;keyPressed;none;from;a7;opacity;0.8;to;a6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a6;persistent;false][%c_effect
a5;square;a5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] This is a mistake [-0.5]. Firstly,
Black has moved their knight to the opposite side of the action, effectively
losing tempo.} 11. Bd3 {[%clk 0:15:08.5]} 11... d5 $6 {[%clk 0:10:39.5][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f7f6;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false] A somewhat
complicated position that isn't easy to play for Black [0.00] $1 Although d5,
attacking down the centre seems to make sense, Black needed to defend the g5
square from an impending kingside attack, and prepare to open the light square
diagonal for their bishop.} 12. e5 $5 {[%clk 0:15:09.7][%c_arrow
e4d5;keyPressed;none;from;e4;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false][%c_effect
e5;square;e5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] An inaccuracy according to
Stockfish [-1]. However, I thought that locking the centre was advantageous for
my kingside attack and it also reveals the diagonal for an impending devastating
Greek Gift sacrifice attack $1} 12... Qb6 $4 {[%clk 0:10:22.9][%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Blunder;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 doesn't expect
the attack and so doesn't see it $1 This is a blunder where Black is at risk of
checkmate if they don't sacrifice their queen [+5] $1} 13. Bxh7+ $3 {[%clk
0:15:13.6][%c_effect h7;square;h7;type;Brilliant;persistent;true] Brilliant
move $1 Greek Gift bishop sacrifice $1} 13... Kxh7 {[%clk 0:07:50.6]} 14. Qh4+
{[%clk 0:15:20.7]} 14... Kg8 {[%clk 0:07:55.7]} 15. Ng5 $1 {[%clk
0:15:28.1][%c_effect g5;square;g5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 15... Re8 $4
{[%clk 0:07:45.3][%c_effect e8;square;e8;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b6e3;keyPressed;none;from;b6;opacity;0.8;to;e3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e3;persistent;false] Black hangs [+M2]}
(15... Qxe3+ {[%c_arrow
g1h1;keyPressed;none;from;g1;opacity;0.8;to;h1;persistent;false,e3g5;keyPressed;none;from;e3;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false,h4g5;keyPressed;none;from;h4;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] Although Black has
some options, ultimately, they must sacrifice their queen for the knight to
prevent a mating attack}) 16. Qh7+ $1 {[%clk 0:15:34.2][%c_effect
h7;square;h7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 16... Kf8 {[%clk 0:07:53.1]} 17.
Qh8+ {[%clk 0:15:43.3][%c_arrow
f1f7;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false] I thought this was
checkmate $1} 17... Ng8 {[%clk 0:08:01.5] ... so was confused when I didn't hear
the checkmate audio cue. When Black played this move, for a moment, I thought I
had made a huge blunder, but then saw the win $1  Remember when I ought to open
the f-file on move 8 $2 Accruing long term tactical resources can come in handy $1}
18. Rxf7# {[%clk 0:15:35.4][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,f8;square;f8;type;CheckmateBlack]} 1-0