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This was a very nice game that demonstrates a particular middlegame tactical approach. My opponent, a new friend from the UK, was experimenting with the Caro-Kann Defense (1. e3 c6) and played a relatively unusual move in the opening (2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nd7). I had a sense that Nd7 was probably a mistake, but as I wasn’t sure whether it was some sort of tricky line, I opted to not take in the centre and developed more conservatively (4. Nf3).

On move 6, I short-castled and given Black’s development thus far, I took the perspective that Black was probably going to eventually castle kingside. So, the general strategical approach – attack Black’s king on the predicted kingside. Tactics: close the centre with a line of pawns pointing to the side of attack, and immediately mobilise my pieces to attack on the kingside.

I’ve recently discovered the many witty quips and aphorisms of early 20th century chess master Savielly Tartakower, and this one seems appropriate:

“The first essential for an attack is the will to attack.”

You can often outplay your opponent simply by thinking about and planning the attack early!

So, with (7. e5) I “close the fence” to the centre before Black had even castled. I’m starting the planning of the attack of whether the Black king will be, not necessarily where they are now! The next couple of moves, I rotate my queen’s knight to the kingside, and then really slam the fence shut with a connect four. The next couple after that, I rotate my knights, so they are ready to attack the h7 and f7 squares. Black does indeed castle on move 12 and this was a mistake [+4] as they have castled into my impending attack with both knights, the bishop pair, and my queen!

Immediately on move 13, I strike! Stockfish doesn’t like my plan, but there is a psychological method here. I sacrifice one knight to punch a hole in Black’s defences, and then immediately trade a bishop to knock out Black’s only immediate defender, a knight. Then, I infiltrate with my queen with check. And then, infiltrate with an aggressive second bishop. The mental narrative this creates is one that I have an unstoppable momentum and that my moves are creating the initiative.

The second bishop (16. Bg5) was completely a bluff. I knew that Black could defend against it and I didn’t have an attack. However, what Black would likely have calculated first was to trade bishops, drawn in by my momentum. They would likely have calculated that if they initiated the bishop trade, that I would have a winning position. At the same time, I was banking on the fact that they wouldn’t want to move their pawns in front of their king as it would seem to be weakening the king’s defence. And then when they looked further, but potentially without much depth, that if I initiated the bishop trade, their position was defended.

And I was right! Black spent over two minutes calculating the position, and eventually decided it was safe to push down the queenside. This was a blunder! Because after (17. Bxe7), Black only had one defender left of the g5 square – their queen! With (18. Ng5), checkmate was unavoidable unless Black traded their queen for my knight. Black couldn’t bring themselves to do that and two moves later was looking at checkmate by knight and queen. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is the quotation from Tartakower’s – “the first essential for an attack is the will to attack”! You are more likely to predict the future flow of the game and winning, by planning and creating that very position!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/89005267385

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.09.24"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "TheRiseHR"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B15"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-2.d4-d5-3.Nc3"]
[UTCDate "2023.09.24"]
[UTCTime "02:41:52"]
[WhiteElo "1336"]
[BlackElo "1292"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "02:41:52"]
[EndDate "2023.09.24"]
[EndTime "03:03:15"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/89262036463"]
[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 "164"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:15:09.9]} 1... c6 {[%clk 0:15:07.7] Caro-Kann Defense} 2. d4
{[%clk 0:15:13.8]} 2... d5 {[%clk 0:15:08]} 3. Nc3 {[%clk 0:15:21]} 3... Nd7 $2
{[%clk 0:14:24.9][%c_effect d7;square;d7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d5e4;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;e4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false] My opponent was
experimenting with the Caro-Kann and played this uncommon move. Stockfish didn't
like it [+1.5]} 4. Nf3 $2 {[%clk 0:14:47.4][%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
f3;square;f3;type;Mistake;persistent;true] In the game, I wondered whether this
was some sort of rare theoretical line, so opted to not open the centre
immediately. This immediately gives up my advantage [+0.3]} 4... e6 {[%clk
0:14:05.9]} 5. Bd3 {[%clk 0:14:16.8]} 5... Be7 {[%clk 0:13:55.2]} 6. O-O {[%clk
0:14:18] I opted to castle kingside and Stockfish was happy with my opening
[+1]} 6... Nb6 $6 {[%clk 0:13:10.9][%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d5e4;keyPressed;none;from;d5;opacity;0.8;to;e4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false] And we can see that
the knight is misplaced. Fundamentally, it's not going anywhere useful there
[+1.8]} 7. e5 {[%clk 0:14:13.3]} 7... Nd7 {[%clk 0:13:12.7] This was the correct
move for Black even though they lose two points of tempo $1} 8. Ne2 {[%clk
0:13:48.3] My logic is that I'm going to rotate my pieces to the kingside. My
prediction was that Black was going to castle kingside...} 8... c5 {[%clk
0:13:20.3]} 9. c3 {[%clk 0:13:52.1]} 9... b6 $6 {[%clk 0:12:33.3][%c_arrow
b7b6;keyPressed;none;from;b7;opacity;0.8;to;b6;persistent;false,c5c4;keyPressed;none;from;c5;opacity;0.8;to;c4;persistent;false][%c_effect
b6;square;b6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_highlight
c4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c4;persistent;false] Stockfish recommends
closing the centre to prevent White from opening the centre and thus calls this
move an inaccuracy [+3.3].} 10. Nf4 $6 {[%clk 0:13:44][%c_effect
f4;square;f4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] However, I already had a plan to
attack on the kingside. Stockfish calls this an inaccuracy because it believes
that attack down the centre is better, but I'm still in a winning position
[+2.3]} 10... Nh6 $6 {[%clk 0:11:42.3][%c_arrow
c5c4;keyPressed;none;from;c5;opacity;0.8;to;c4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c4;persistent;false][%c_effect
h6;square;h6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An inaccuracy [+4]} 11. Nh3 $6
{[%clk 0:13:37.7][%c_arrow
f4h5;keyPressed;none;from;f4;opacity;0.8;to;h5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false][%c_effect
h3;square;h3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] My tactic was to attack via the g5
square. Stockfish sees a better line [+4 $37 +2.3].} 11... Nf5 {[%clk 0:11:22.8]}
12. Nfg5 $6 {[%clk 0:12:51.2][%c_arrow
g2g4;keyPressed;none;from;g2;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Black's knight is misplaced, and I
saw g4. However, I didn't want to create a permanent weakness. This was
apparently inaccurate [+1.4].} 12... O-O $2 {[%clk 0:11:01.2][%c_arrow
d7f8;keyPressed;none;from;d7;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false][%c_effect
g8;square;g8;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Apparently, this was a mistake.
However, the engine move, the backwards Nf8 is very difficult to see [+4].} 13.
Nxh7 $5 {[%clk 0:12:13][%c_effect
h7;square;h7;type;Interesting;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g2g4;keyPressed;none;from;g2;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false] Having had enough of
the relatively crowded position, I decide to sacrifice a knight and punch a hole
in Black's defences $1 Stockfish doesn't like this [+1], but I do $1} 13... Kxh7
{[%clk 0:10:55.2]} 14. Bxf5+ $5 {[%clk 0:11:49.9][%c_effect
f5;square;f5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] I force trade another piece to
clear Black's defenders $1 Again, Stockfish hates this [-0.4]} 14... exf5 {[%clk
0:10:43.4]} 15. Qh5+ $1 {[%clk 0:11:50.8][%c_effect
h5;square;h5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] But now I have a very winning
attack $1} 15... Kg8 {[%clk 0:10:37.5]} 16. Bg5 $5 {[%clk 0:11:43.6][%c_arrow
f1e1;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;e1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] This is a bluff $1 [-2.9] However,
Black must play correctly $1} 16... b5 $4 {[%clk 0:08:38.3][%c_arrow
f7f6;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false,f8e8;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false][%c_effect
b5;square;b5;type;Blunder;persistent;true] However, against the tension, they
chose to delay. Black probably calculated correctly that they couldn't not
capture my bishop with their bishop. However, they did not correctly assume that
I couldn't not capture theirs $1 This is a blunder [+5.4]} 17. Bxe7 $1 {[%clk
0:11:45.7][%c_effect e7;square;e7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 17... Qxe7
{[%clk 0:08:28.2]} 18. Ng5 $1 {[%clk 0:11:54.6][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] And at the end of the attack, Black
has only one move to avoid checkmate, which is to trade their queen for the
knight} 18... Nf6 $4 {[%clk 0:05:01.9][%c_effect
f6;square;f6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e7g5;keyPressed;none;from;e7;opacity;0.8;to;g5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false] They couldn't bring
themselves to do that, and thus hang checkmate.} 19. exf6 {[%clk 0:12:03.5]}
19... Re8 {[%clk 0:03:25.5]} 20. Qh7+ {[%clk 0:12:06.3][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,g8;square;g8;type;ResignBlack] GG. Checkmate next
turn.} 1-0