---

This was a very fun game against a new friend on chess.com. As they also use a cat avatar, I know that they are a man of good taste and style!

They had White and they initially led with the Vienna (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3). Against this, I usually play the Falkbeer (2… Nf6), baiting White to play the Vienna Gambit, and then hoping to enter the Main Line. Black has an advantage in the Main Line and at the beginner-intermediate level, I suspect that I have more experience than many in the Main Line – for instance, this game against another subscriber, “You Dare Use My Own Spells Against Me!“.

However, White avoids this by developing their other knight and we enter the Four Knights (3. Nf3 Nc6) and then White opts to play the Scotch Variation (4. d4) and I accept (4… exd4)!

After trading in the centre ala, the Scotch, I develop my bishop (5… Bc5) with the longer-term view of placing pressure on White’s f-pawn and the f2 square. White opts to trade another set of knights (6. Nxc6 bxc6) and we are finally out of book moves.

White plays an aggressive approach with (7. Bg5), but I knew that this was fine so I short castle. This gives me just enough time for the impending (8. e5), with White “placing pressure on the pinned piece”, my knight in this case, which is ostensibly pinned to my queen. However, this is an illusion as with the semi-opened e-file from the exchange earlier in the Scotch, either my rook or queen on the e-file counter-pins the e-pawn to White’s king.

White now makes their first mistake of the game with (9. Be2), breaking the pin, but hanging their e-pawn in the process – captures (9… Qxe5)! Interestingly, this capture psychologically broke White’s resolve to attack, and they withdrew their bishop (10. Bd2) which was a mistake, though I miss the immediate powerful attack I had available with Ng4, placing winning pressure on f2. I play more slowly, White castles kingside, and we trade a couple more pieces.

On move 12, I decided to launch an aggressive and unbalanced attack of my own, again, Ng4! With White having castled, there is now an immediate checkmate threat on h2. White can defend against this without much difficulty, but my plan was to keep up the pressure. White blocks the mating attack with (13. Ng3), and the concept to keep in mind is that the knight is “pinned” to the h2 square.

Pinned? Place pressure on the pinned piece! I played (13… h5) with a plan for h4 to remove the knight. White attempts to attack my queen with bishop and then on move 15, White makes a blunder! One of the challenges of playing daily games is to maintain continuity between moves! It’s easy to forget plans and tactics between moves. I suspect that this is what happened for my opponent with (15. Nxh5). They decided to launch an attack with that knight, but lost sight of the continuity that that knight was pinned to the h2 square. So, (15… Qxh2#)! GG!

The big takeaway from this game is two-fold. Maintaining threats against the opponent’s king can be an effective tactic, even when the moves are not necessarily the most accurate. And secondly, spend extra care with the continuity between moves in daily games!

Game: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/595390029

[Event "Let's Play!"]

[Site "Chess.com"]

[Date "2023.12.13"]

[Round "-"]

[White "ThatDevilCat"]

[Black "vitualis"]

[Result "0-1"]

[Timezone "UTC"]

[ECO "C47"]

[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Four-Knights-Game-Scotch-Variation-Accepted-5.Nxd4-Bc5-6.Nxc6-bxc6"]

[UTCDate "2023.12.13"]

[UTCTime "03:07:15"]

[WhiteElo "1166"]

[BlackElo "1204"]

[TimeControl "1/259200"]

[Termination "vitualis won by checkmate"]

[StartTime "03:07:15"]

[EndDate "2023.12.13"]

[EndTime "04:37:19"]

[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/595390029"]

[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/291642121.f896ef6b.50x50o.783bd99cabfb.png"]

[WhiteCountry "52"]

[WhiteTitle ""]

[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]

[BlackCountry "17"]

[BlackTitle ""]



1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 {Vienna Game: Falkbeer - I wanted to bait my opponent down

the Main Line} 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 {But they didn't bite, and we enter a Four

Knights Game: Scotch Variation - very interesting $1 [+0.1]} 4... exd4 {I accept

the gambit $1} 5. Nxd4 Bc5 {Potentially lining up for an attack on f2} 6. Nxc6

bxc6 {Note: this is the last book move in the opening} 7. Bg5 O-O 8. e5 Qe8

{[%c_arrow

f8e8;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight

e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false] I pin the pawn to the

king. However, this approach was somewhat inaccurate [-0.7 $37 0.00]. Stockfish

identifies that placing the rook on the e-file is best.} 9. Be2 $2 {[%c_effect

e2;square;e2;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow

f2f4;keyPressed;none;from;f2;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false][%c_highlight

f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false] White makes their

first mistake [-1.7]. There is a logic in developing the bishop and breaking the

pin. However, this hangs the e-pawn.} 9... Qxe5 10. Bd2 $2 {[%c_arrow

d1d2;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;d2;persistent;false][%c_highlight

d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false][%c_effect

d2;square;d2;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Psychologically, the loss of the pawn

broke White's resolve to attack, and they pulled back their bishop, which was a

mistake [-1.7 $37 -5.7]} 10... Ba6 $2 {[%c_effect

a6;square;a6;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow

f6g4;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight

g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false] I didn't see the

powerful tactic of immediately attacking with my knight with Ng4, which places

pressure on the f2 square. This was a \"miss\", but I'm still in an advantageous

position [-5.7 $37 -2]} 11. O-O Bxe2 12. Nxe2 $6 {[%c_arrow

d1e2;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;e2;persistent;false][%c_highlight

e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false][%c_effect

e2;square;e2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] A little inaccurate [-2 $37 -2.9].

Capturing with the queen, and developing the queen is considered better by the

engine. However, presumably White didn't want to potentially trade away queens

when they were down a point of material.} 12... Ng4 $5 {[%c_effect

g4;square;g4;type;Interesting;persistent;true][%c_arrow

f8e8;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight

e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false] This was a somewhat

speculative move $1 I knew that it was probably inaccurate (and this was confirmed

by the engine on analysis after the game [-2.9 $37 -1.7]), however, it is tricky

as it creates an checkmate threat against Black that they will need to now play

against. It also forces White's rook to stay in position.} 13. Ng3 h5 {A simple

idea - attack White's knight to dislodge it. It is presently \"pinned\" to the

critical h2 square with the checkmate threat.} 14. Bc3 Qf4 15. Nxh5 $4

{[%c_effect h5;square;h5;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A risk from playing daily

matches is that one can lose the sense of continuity between moves. White,

taking an aggressive stance probably saw that this knight move captures

material, attacks the black queen, and they now have a double attack on the

g-pawn on g7. However, they lost sight of the continuity that the knight was

actually pinned to h2, and thus, this was a game-ending blunder.} 15... Qxh2#

{[%c_effect g8;square;g8;type;Winner,g1;square;g1;type;CheckmateWhite] GG $1} 0-1