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One of the fun things about chess is that every now and then, an opponent plays an opening that I have no familiarity with. In this game, my opponent with the White pieces started with (1. Nf3), the Reti Opening. Feeling whimsical, I developed the opposite knight (1… Nc6), which is apparently the Black Mustang Defense – great name! We soon then transposed into the Queen’s Pawn Opening: Zukertort, Chigorin Variation which by the end of move 3, looked like a funny “four knights” game, except with the queen’s pawns rather than the king’s pawns…

The opening progresses “normally”, but I make some aggressive choices. Simply, I didn’t want to enter into positional Queen’s Pawn Opening type lines, so forced some piece trades in the opening, and then on move 9, opposite side castled.

My goal was to launch an attack on White’s king, and I saw that I had a potential opportunity with most of White’s pieces ostensibly on the “wrong” side to defend their king. My middle game strategy then is what I dub the “ride of the Black Knight”! From move 13, I make four consecutive knight moves, rotating the knight to the king side to join the queen in the attack.

I suspected that White believed that their defence was sound (and it was). However, on move 16, I played a move that I suspected Black was not expecting, (16… Nf3+)! This was a bold gambit of the knight that Stockfish did not approve of [-2 → +2.4]. In this position, White only had three legal moves. Their winning move was Kh1 – moving their king out of check and maintaining the integrity of their defences. The two other moves were Qxf3, which is obviously bad and inhuman, and gxf3 – an intuitive move to capture what seems to be a free knight, but it’s a trap!

White under calculated, spending about 13 seconds, and fell for the trap, a serious blunder [-9.5]! White has opened the door to their king’s defences, and now must sacrifice their queen to prevent mate. They realise this too late, and after my next move (17… exf3), suffers emotional damage and resigns from the lost position. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is that the middlegame strategy of rotating the knight to join the attack is often more powerful than it should be. We have a lesser intuition of where the knight will end up and so it is easier for the opponent to under-recognise the threat.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/83042499709

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.07.14"]
[Round "-"]
[White "agoymac"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "D02"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Queens-Pawn-Opening-Zukertort-Chigorin-Variation"]
[UTCDate "2023.07.14"]
[UTCTime "03:01:44"]
[WhiteElo "1323"]
[BlackElo "1423"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "03:01:44"]
[EndDate "2023.07.14"]
[EndTime "03:19:13"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/83042499709"]
[WhiteUrl "https://www.chess.com/bundles/web/images/noavatar_l.84a92436.gif"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. Nf3 {[%clk 0:14:56.1]} 1... Nc6 {[%clk 0:14:59.8]} 2. d4 {[%clk 0:15:03.4]}
2... d5 {[%clk 0:14:56.1] Reti Opening, with transposition into the Queen's Pawn
Opening: Zukertort, Chigorin Variation} 3. Nc3 {[%clk 0:14:49.5]} 3... Nf6
{[%clk 0:14:45.3] And we enter a funny \"four knights\" with the queen's pawns
rather than the kings' [+0.2]} 4. e3 {[%clk 0:14:57.7]} 4... Bg4 {[%clk
0:14:35.7]} 5. Be2 {[%clk 0:14:59.7]} 5... Ne4 {[%clk 0:13:54.8][%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] I suspected that this
was not going to be the optimal move (and it wasn't [0.00 $37 +0.4] but I thought
this aggressive manoeuvre would potentially take the game out of a positional
line} 6. Nxe4 {[%clk 0:14:52.3]} 6... dxe4 {[%clk 0:14:02]} 7. Nd2 {[%clk
0:15:01.7]} 7... Bxe2 {[%clk 0:13:27.5]} 8. Qxe2 {[%clk 0:15:03.7]} 8... Qd5 $6
{[%clk 0:13:28.2][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e7e5;keyPressed;none;from;e7;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] I attempted to defend
my e-pawn, which Stockfish rated an inaccuracy [+1] as the pawn might be
impossible to defend with perfect play} 9. O-O {[%clk 0:14:48.3]} 9... O-O-O
{[%clk 0:13:12.4]} 10. c4 {[%clk 0:14:01.7]} 10... Qf5 {[%clk 0:13:06.6] The
goal was now to launch an attack on White's king with opposite side castling.
Most of White's pieces were potentially on the wrong side of the board...} 11.
a3 {[%clk 0:14:00.3]} 11... h5 $6 {[%clk 0:13:07][%c_effect
h5;square;h5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g7g5;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] Apparently, this was
the right idea (pushing the kingside pawns) but the wrong execution [+1.1 $37
+1.6]. Stockfish recommends pushing the g-pawn.} 12. b4 {[%clk 0:13:08.7]} 12...
e5 $6 {[%clk 0:13:12.3][%c_effect
e5;square;e5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
h5h4;keyPressed;none;from;h5;opacity;0.8;to;h4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false] Stockfish calls this
an inaccuracy [+2.5] and recommends pushing the h-pawn further. I was concerned
about b5, but Stockfish was unafraid. However, my plan was to rotate the knight
to the kingside so needed to create a space on e7 for my knight first.} 13. d5
{[%clk 0:12:31.4]} 13... Ne7 {[%clk 0:12:58.8]} 14. Bb2 $6 {[%clk
0:12:07.9][%c_effect b2;square;b2;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
there isn't an attack [+1.9]. White could have played f3, opening and clarifying
the f-file, but that is a committal move that is hard to see.} 14... Ng6 $6
{[%clk 0:12:59.1][%c_effect
g6;square;g6;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] Stockfish calls this
an inaccuracy [+3.1] as White still has f3. However, neither of us saw that
tactic, and in its absence, rotating my knight into the attack becomes the
killer blow $1} 15. Nb3 $2 {[%clk 0:11:20.8][%c_effect
b3;square;b3;type;Mistake;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] White doesn't see the
upcoming attack, and moving their own knight out of the defence is a mistake as
I win tempo [+1]} 15... Nh4 {[%clk 0:13:04.5]} 16. Na5 $2 {[%clk
0:09:38.7][%c_effect a5;square;a5;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g1h1;keyPressed;none;from;g1;opacity;0.8;to;h1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h1;persistent;false] The knight is no
immediate threat and White is still underestimating the attack on their own king
[-2]} 16... Nf3+ $5 {[%clk 0:13:07.5][%c_arrow
f5g6;keyPressed;none;from;f5;opacity;0.8;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false][%c_effect
f3;square;f3;type;Interesting;persistent;true] This was a bold gambit of the
knight $1 Stockfish disapproves [+2.4] but White has only one winning move. There
are only three legal moves - Kh1 (winning), Qxf3 (obviously bad and inhuman),
and gxf3 (intuitive, but a blunder). I'm gambling that White won't find the
move $1} 17. gxf3 $4 {[%clk 0:09:35.8][%c_effect
f3;square;f3;type;Blunder;persistent;true] And they don't [-9.5] $1 White has
critically opened the door to their king's defences, and now must sacrifice
their queen to prevent mate.} 17... exf3 {[%clk 0:13:14.5][%c_effect
c8;square;c8;type;Winner,g1;square;g1;type;ResignWhite][%c_arrow
f5g4;keyPressed;ctrl;from;f5;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false,g4g2;keyPressed;ctrl;from;g4;opacity;0.8;to;g2;persistent;false,f3g2;keyPressed;ctrl;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;g2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g4;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false,g2;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g2;persistent;false]
White realises their mistake too late, suffers emotional damage, and resigns.
GG $1} 0-1