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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 we’ve hit the 50th Quick Win in the series! I never thought this series would grow so strongly when I first started almost a year ago. Initially, I had planned to demonstrate only a few of my own interesting short games. However, many of my best and most interesting games on the series are from submissions from subscribers and friends!

I thought that for today, I’ll go a bit retro! This game was from before I even launched the “Adventures of a Chess Noob” blog and YouTube channel. However, I did make a short video screen capture on my Android tablet and shared it to friends on Facebook. In a way, the “Quick Wins” video idea took root in my mind and eventually germinated as the channel!

I played the White pieces in this game and was still in the early 1100s, and before I really encountered the Vienna. Back in those days, I played the Italian and my opponent responded with the Anti-Fried Liver Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 h6). There are other better ways to deal with the Fried Liver; h6 does work but it is slow [+0.6]. White can immediately take the full centre with (4. d4) and after trades, Black was left on move 6 with no developed pieces. Black’s (6… b6) was a devastating blunder [+5.8] as (7. Qd5!) immediately threatens mate, and the opened light squares means that it’s a fork of the rook on a8. Black misses the threat on f7 (7… c6) and so (8. Qxf7#) checkmate! GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/21967780345

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.08.06"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "gruzuss"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C55"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Italian-Game-Anti-Fried-Liver-Defense"]
[UTCDate "2021.08.06"]
[UTCTime "05:47:31"]
[WhiteElo "1162"]
[BlackElo "1140"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "05:47:31"]
[EndDate "2021.08.06"]
[EndTime "05:49:12"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/21967780345"]
[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 "141"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:30:00]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:29:57.5]} 2. Nf3 {[%clk 0:29:56.8]} 2...
Nc6 {[%clk 0:29:48.9]} 3. Bc4 {[%clk 0:29:53.8]} 3... h6 {[%clk
0:29:29.6][%c_arrow
g8f6;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false] Italian Game:
Anti-Fried Liver Defense [+0.6]. At the beginner and early-intermediate level,
the Fried Liver Attack feared and sometimes, Black will play the early h6 to
avoid it. However, this is a slow move that can cause problems.} 4. d4 {[%clk
0:29:51.4] Opening principle: take the full centre with pawns if you can $1} 4...
exd4 {[%clk 0:29:24.8]} 5. Nxd4 {[%clk 0:29:50.4]} 5... Nxd4 $6 {[%clk
0:29:21.9][%c_effect d4;square;d4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g8f6;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false] This is an inaccuracy
as although there is material equivalence, Black has lost all development
[+1.3]} 6. Qxd4 {[%clk 0:29:49.4]} 6... b6 $4 {[%clk 0:29:08.6][%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g8e7;keyPressed;none;from;g8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false] This is an
unfortunate blunder [+5.8]. Black was probably thinking of following up with c5
to attack my queen in the centre, but it's too slow and the move opens up the
light square diagonal.} 7. Qd5 $1 {[%clk 0:29:33.1][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d5f7;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,d5a8;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;a8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false,a8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a8;persistent;false]
A fork of the pawn on f7 (mate) and the rook on a8} 7... c6 $4 {[%clk
0:28:53.1][%c_effect c6;square;c6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d8e7;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false] Black misses the
checkmate threat [+M1]} 8. Qxf7# {[%clk 0:29:30.4][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,e8;square;e8;type;CheckmateBlack]} 1-0