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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 game is from one of my subscribers @the_nut_job, which was a low accuracy game, but had a very nice checkmate on move 12. It is also a good demonstration of some quick win tactics and principles!

My subscriber had the Black pieces and they have recently been playing the Sicilian. The game goes down the Alapin Sicilian line (1. e4 c5 2. c3) and on move three, White plays an inaccuracy with (3. Qc2).

Idea 1: don’t bring out your queen early in the opening unless it is part of an established line of theory.

The game then goes for a few turns with both White and Black piling pressure in the centre, but White makes a serious mistake with (6. cxd4), but Black misses the tactic. Black had a killer move (6… Qa5+), an absolute fork of White’s king and undefended light square bishop.

Idea 2: look for checks and watch those diagonals to your king! An exception to idea 1 is when there is an opportunity to attack with the queen in response to the opponent’s error.

After (7. exd5), the e-file was fully opened, and things become very dangerous for both sides. With risk comes opportunity and there are often quick win opportunities in the early game with attacks down open centre files!

Who will take the advantage – White or Black? Unfortunately, White continued to indulge in adventurism by capturing unimportant material deep in Black’s territory (10. Qxb7). This was a mistake. The queen was practically White’s only developed piece and on b7, it was almost trapped, and certainly unable to provide defence of her king, which was exposed in the centre with open centre files. Black, on the other hand, had multiple pieces developed.

Idea 3: a queen can rarely deliver a fatal quick win attack on her own without support.

On move 11, White blunders checkmate with (11. dxe7) as (11. Nc2#) is a beautiful geometric checkmate. Black, however, misses it! However, they do find it on move 12 – a fantastic combination of the bishop, a knight advance, with a discovered fully open d-file controlled by the queen. A fantastic example of a quick win through a tactical use of early open centre files! GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/599179141

[Event "Let's Play!"]

[Site "Chess.com"]

[Date "2023.12.23"]

[Round "-"]

[White "NamelessNoobThe1st"]

[Black "the_nut_job"]

[Result "0-1"]

[Timezone "UTC"]

[ECO "B22"]

[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Alapin-Sicilian-Defense-2...d5"]

[UTCDate "2023.12.23"]

[UTCTime "09:06:02"]

[WhiteElo "712"]

[BlackElo "1068"]

[TimeControl "1/604800"]

[Termination "the_nut_job won by checkmate"]

[StartTime "09:06:02"]

[EndDate "2023.12.30"]

[EndTime "08:33:04"]

[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/599179141"]

[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/310317511.00a02630.50x50o.c1d5b55cdf67.jpg"]

[WhiteCountry "225"]

[WhiteTitle ""]

[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/199491106.4e8a6629.50x50o.be85a649dc29.jpg"]

[BlackCountry "102"]

[BlackTitle ""]



1. e4 c5 2. c3 {Alapin Sicilian Defense} 2... d5 3. Qc2 $6 {[%c_effect

c2;square;c2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%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] Bringing out the

queen early is rarely wise...} 3... Nc6 4. Bb5 e5 5. d4 {So much tension in the

centre $1} 5... exd4 6. cxd4 $2 {[%c_arrow

g1f3;keyPressed;none;from;g1;opacity;0.8;to;f3;persistent;false][%c_highlight

f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false][%c_effect

d4;square;d4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake - look at the dark squares

to the White king...} 6... Bd7 $2 {[%c_effect

d7;square;d7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow

d8a5;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;a5;persistent;false,a5e1;keyPressed;none;from;a5;opacity;0.8;to;e1;persistent;false,a5b5;keyPressed;none;from;a5;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight

e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false,b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false]

However, Black misses the fork. Always look for checks $1} 7. exd5 $2 {[%c_effect

d5;square;d5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] However, this is also a mistake in a

complicated position... Note: the fully opened e-file - there will be critical

and potential lethal immediate attacks and a possible quick win $1} 7... Nxd4

{[%c_arrow

d4c2;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;c2;persistent;false,d4b5;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight

b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false,c2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c2;persistent;false]

Lovely fork $1} 8. Qe4+ Be7 9. d6 $2 {[%c_effect

d6;square;d6;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow

b5d7;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false][%c_highlight

d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false] White hangs their

bishop...} 9... Bxb5 10. Qxb7 $2 {[%c_effect

b7;square;b7;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A fairly serious mistake for White.

Simply, White's attack on Black's king with only the queen is easily defended by

Black. However, White has no other development and a very exposed king against

multiple developed Black pieces... The White queen on her expedition deep into

Black's territory is no longer able to provide defence of her own king.} 10...

Rb8 {Nice x-ray defence of the bishop with an attack on the queen $1} 11. dxe7 $4

{[%c_effect e7;square;e7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Note: the full open

d-file. This blunders a checkmate} 11... Nxe7 $2 {[%c_effect

e7;square;e7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow

d4c2;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;c2;persistent;false][%c_highlight

c2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c2;persistent;false] Though my subscriber

doesn't see it $1} 12. Qxa7 $4 {[%c_arrow

b7b5;keyPressed;none;from;b7;opacity;0.8;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight

b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false][%c_effect

a7;square;a7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A natural move, but the checkmate

still exists...} 12... Nc2# {[%c_effect

e8;square;e8;type;Winner,e1;square;e1;type;CheckmateWhite][%c_arrow

d8d1;keyPressed;none;from;d8;opacity;0.8;to;d1;persistent;false,c2e1;keyPressed;none;from;c2;opacity;0.8;to;e1;persistent;false,b5f1;keyPressed;none;from;b5;opacity;0.8;to;f1;persistent;false][%c_highlight

d1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d1;persistent;false,d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false,e1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e1;persistent;false,e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false,f1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f1;persistent;false]

... and Black finally sees it. GG $1} 0-1