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I played this game a few days ago against a rather lower-rated opponent. Something funny has been going on with chess.com recently. Sometimes when I choose a new game, it takes quite a while to match a 15+10 game of rapid, and recently, I’ve matched players much lower rated than myself. With new Indian friend is around 600 ELO points lower!

However, I thought that they played really well for a 700s-ELO rated player. One of the interesting observations I’ve had against Indian opponents, though it might just be a statistical fluke, is that they seem to play interesting openings and are often stronger than what you might expect at their rating level!

My opponent led with the Alekhine’s Defense, Scandinavian Variation (1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5). This is a completely okay opening for Black, and I know no theory. This always makes things immediately interesting, and it allows me an opportunity to really play according to principles, tactics, and strategy!

I push my e-pawn to attack Black’s knight. In a fascinating symmetric move, Black pushes their d-pawn to counterattack my knight on c3. We mutually capture symmetrically. Stockfish’s recommendation is to keep capturing with the pawns, but here, I chickened out and decided to capture (5. bxc3) instead, seeing an opportunity to build a strong centre with pawns. This was suboptimal [0.00] but that required Black to play accurately. They couldn’t continue to play symmetrically as I could now play (6. d4) taking the centre with the privilege that White gets to move first!

Black continued to play aggressively and provocatively with (6… e5), immediately contesting the centre. My intuition was that this wasn’t a good move for them, and this was the case [+0.8], but I couldn’t help but admire the move.

On move 8, I saw a couple of different tactics, but decided to go for a sneaky one where I could potentially win Black’s queen. This involves a deflection of Black’s king, and this is covered in the video presentation. However, Black didn’t “bite” and opted to move their queen, and then their bishop to the queenside. I was sure that this was a mistake on their part as the attack was going to be down the centre or on the kingside. Moving their active pieces to the opposite side was a tactical mistake. Stockfish agreed, giving progressive worse evaluations for Black as the game progressed.

However, I was impressed that Black clearly was trying to set up tactical threats, even if they didn’t work. It’s impressive as many players at this level will play reactive chess, or tactics that don’t go beyond a projection of a single move.

On move 14, I manage to infiltrate down the centre with my queen with the newly fully open d-file (14. Qxd5). With Black’s king still in the centre, my queen now smashes Black’s queenside by capturing material after material. On move 17, Black attempted to trade queens, but in doing so, hung mate-in-one down the centre. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is that you can’t just launch attack after attack in the opening with no regard for king safety. Eventually in the middlegame when the attack fizzles out, your king is stuck in the centre and in trouble!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/88066746817

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.09.10"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "pranavgoparaju"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B02"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Alekhines-Defense-Scandinavian-Variation-3.e5-d4-4.exf6-dxc3"]
[UTCDate "2023.09.10"]
[UTCTime "06:33:45"]
[WhiteElo "1365"]
[BlackElo "709"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "06:33:45"]
[EndDate "2023.09.10"]
[EndTime "06:48:37"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/88066746817"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/46878194.2f1b96a3.50x50o.a28da0903eca.jpg"]
[BlackCountry "69"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:15:09.9]} 1... Nf6 {[%clk 0:15:05.3]} 2. Nc3 {[%clk 0:15:03]}
2... d5 {[%clk 0:15:05.3] Alekhine's Defense: Scandinavian Variation [+0.3].
Recently, there's been something weird with chess.com where it will sometimes
take a long time to match at 15+10, and then often it will be a much lower rated
player. However, I enjoy playing against Indian players as they often play
different openings.} 3. e5 {[%clk 0:14:09.6]} 3... d4 {[%clk 0:15:11]} 4. exf6
{[%clk 0:13:47.5]} 4... dxc3 {[%clk 0:15:12.2]} 5. bxc3 {[%clk
0:13:35.2][%c_arrow
f6g7;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false] Apparently, it was
better to keep trading down [+0.00] but I \"blinked\" first in this game of
chicken $1} 5... gxf6 {[%clk 0:15:15][%c_arrow
e7f6;keyPressed;none;from;e7;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false] But it worked out, as
apparently capturing back with the e-pawn is better. Logically, this opens the
diagonal for the bishop [+0.3]} 6. d4 {[%clk 0:13:42.3]} 6... e5 {[%clk
0:15:13.2][%c_arrow
b8c6;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false] So aggressive $1 I like
it... though Stockfish thought that Nc6 was more accurate. I'm now in a
comfortably better position in the opening [+0.8]} 7. Bc4 {[%clk 0:12:48.1]}
7... c6 $2 {[%clk 0:15:07.1][%c_arrow
b8c6;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false][%c_effect
c6;square;c6;type;Mistake;persistent;true] This was a mistake. Developing was
better [+1.8]} 8. Be3 $6 {[%clk 0:12:48.1][%c_effect
e3;square;e3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d1h5;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;h5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false] I saw Qh5 and knew it
was strong. But I was hoping to set up a king deflection trap, so I opted to
play this relatively suboptimal move and was hoping for exd4 [+1]} 8... b5 $2
{[%clk 0:14:31][%c_arrow
h8g8;keyPressed;none;from;h8;opacity;0.8;to;g8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g8;persistent;false][%c_effect
b5;square;b5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Striking down the queenside doens't
work with the weakness down on the light squares around the king [+2]} 9. Bb3
{[%clk 0:12:53.2]} 9... Qa5 $6 {[%clk 0:14:09.9][%c_effect
a5;square;a5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f8g7;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false] Fundamentally, the
queenside attack doesn't work [+2.7]} 10. Ne2 {[%clk 0:12:28.4]} 10... Bb7 $6
{[%clk 0:13:54.4][%c_effect
b7;square;b7;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b8d7;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false] Again, fundamentally
the queenside development was the wrong approach from my opponent as I have a
very powerful attack on the kingside [+4.6]} 11. O-O $6 {[%clk
0:12:33.9][%c_arrow
d4e5;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Stockfish recommended immediately
attacking down the centre and called this an inaccuracy [+2.8]. I still think my
move was a safer move considering the likelihood of human errors.} 11... Rg8 $2
{[%clk 0:13:46.6][%c_effect g8;square;g8;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b8d7;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false] I can see what Black
is trying to do, but it just isn't fast enough [+4.3]. However, this is some
amazing tactical play by a player with a 700 ELO rating $1} 12. dxe5 {[%clk
0:11:51.9]} 12... c5 {[%clk 0:13:27.2]} 13. Bd5 $1 {[%clk 0:11:16.8][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] This is why I didn't think their
rook and bishop attack worked. I force a bishop trade and it nerfs Black's
attack} 13... Bxd5 $2 {[%clk 0:12:54.2][%c_arrow
b8c6;keyPressed;none;from;b8;opacity;0.8;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Black assumed that they were forced
to trade. They were not. This trade is not in their advantage as I develop my
queen and infiltrate into their position [+7.7] and my queen will gobble
material.} 14. Qxd5 {[%clk 0:11:25.2]} 14... Qd8 {[%clk 0:11:52]} 15. Qxa8
{[%clk 0:11:27.4]} 15... Nd7 {[%clk 0:11:57]} 16. Qxa7 {[%clk 0:10:18.8]} 16...
fxe5 {[%clk 0:11:56.7]} 17. Rad1 {[%clk 0:10:22.8]} 17... Qb8 $4 {[%clk
0:10:39.3][%c_effect b8;square;b8;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Black hoping to
trade, queens, but hangs mate-in-1. GG $1} 18. Qxd7# {[%clk 0:10:28.3][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,e8;square;e8;type;CheckmateBlack]} 1-0