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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 a very lovely checkmate in 12-moves from fellow Aussie, @UsuallyQueenSide in a fantastic game of 2+1 bullet chess!

The opening is very interesting indeed. My subscriber with the White pieces started with Bird’s Opening (1. f4), to which Black responded with (1… e5), From’s Gambit. However, rather than accepting the gambit, White plays (2. e4), which transposes into a King’s Gambit. And to follow the theme, Black also declines the gambit, and plays the Classical Variation (2… Bc5). And after White plays (3. Nc3), the game transposes further into the Vienna Game: Anderssen Defense, where White has played an f4-gambit, and the evaluation is equal [0.00].

One of the very curious things about fast time controls is that you see this jostling in the opening stages – which each side trying to surprise the other into playing a mistake with an unusual move. On the next move, White advances their f-pawn (4. f5); this signals the game moving into a positional flavour rather than a more open game, which would have occurred with (4. fxe5). We now see White create a delicious setup which results in a sudden crushing blow!

Both sides continue to develop and the thing with closed positions, is that it is not always obvious how best to proceed. Black strikes in the centre (7… dxe4), but this a mistake as after (8. Nxe4), White wins tempo, and has advanced one of their pieces into attacking position. The e4-knight now supports the f-pawn advancing further again (9. f6), a fork of Black’s knight and pawn.

Here, Black makes an understandable move with (9… Ng6??), but it’s a blunder! If both sides play accurately, Black will lose at least their rook – (10. fxg7 Rg8 11. Bg5 f6 12. Nxf6+ Kf7 13. Nxg8). Black had the correct idea that they should move their knight rather than capture the pawn with gxf6, but they had the wrong implementation. They needed to have played (9… Nd5), which immediately counterattacks White’s advanced f6-pawn.

White’s f-pawn continues to advance forward (10. fxg7 Rg8) and the king’s rook is forced to block the promotion square. White’s attack continues – adding another piece with (11. Bg5!) – with an attack on the queen. Black now spent 30 seconds (a third of their remaining time) thinking of the next move. Everything looks bad. The correct move was once again f6, and Black would have to give up their rook.

However, I suspected Black wanted to hold onto the notional defensive structure on that side and eventually opted to play a backward knight move (11… Nce7) to block the check. Unfortunately, by not defending the f6 square, this resulted in Black hanging checkmate! White strikes with (12. Nf6#) and the combination of White’s pawn and knight in Black’s cramped position gives mate! GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/102771650933

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.02.27"]
[Round "-"]
[White "UsuallyQueenSide"]
[Black "OkIResign"]
[Result "1-0"]
[CurrentPosition "r1bqk1r1/ppp1npPp/1b3Nn1/4p1B1/8/3P1N2/PPP3PP/R2QKB1R b KQq -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C25"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Vienna-Game-Anderssen-Defense-3.f4-d6"]
[UTCDate "2024.02.27"]
[UTCTime "11:17:54"]
[WhiteElo "1389"]
[BlackElo "1364"]
[TimeControl "120+1"]
[Termination "UsuallyQueenSide won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "11:17:54"]
[EndDate "2024.02.27"]
[EndTime "11:20:15"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/102771650933"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/187027775.91aa5daf.50x50o.6e0ec722f52e@2x.jpeg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/47390320.60c88059.50x50o.3fc19e8bdf4b@2x.jpeg"]
[BlackCountry "225"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. f4 {[%clk 0:01:57.1] Bird's Opening} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:01:58.3] From's Gambit}
2. e4 {[%clk 0:01:53.3] Transposes into the King's Gambit} 2... Bc5 {[%clk
0:01:56] King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation [+0.1]} 3. Nc3 {[%clk
0:01:49.8] This, interestingly enough, transposes into the Vienna Game:
Anderssen Defense, where White plays a f4-gambit, which isn't usually what I
would normally do. [0.00]} 3... d6 {[%clk 0:01:56.2]} 4. f5 {[%clk
0:01:46.6][%c_arrow
f4e5;keyPressed;none;from;f4;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] Interesting move -
White takes space, rather than choosing to play fxe5 and open the position. The
game now takes on a positional flavour. [-0.5]} 4... Nc6 {[%clk 0:01:53.6]} 5.
d3 {[%clk 0:01:42.2]} 5... Nge7 $6 {[%clk 0:01:41.8][%c_arrow
g7g6;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false][%c_effect
e7;square;e7;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Tricky position - it would have
been better for Black to challenge the f5 square immediately. [-0.7 $37 -0.2]} 6.
Bd2 {[%clk 0:01:37.8]} 6... d5 {[%clk 0:01:40.9]} 7. Nf3 {[%clk 0:01:34]} 7...
dxe4 $2 {[%clk 0:01:40.8][%c_arrow
c6d4;keyPressed;none;from;c6;opacity;0.8;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_effect
e4;square;e4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [+1.3]} 8. Nxe4 {[%clk
0:01:31.5]} 8... Bb6 {[%clk 0:01:40.9]} 9. f6 {[%clk 0:01:28.4][%c_arrow
f6e7;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;e7;persistent;false,f6g7;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;g7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false,g7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false]}
9... Ng6 $4 {[%clk 0:01:27][%c_effect
g6;square;g6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false,d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false][%c_arrow
e7d5;keyPressed;none;from;e7;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false] This is a
blunder, but it isn't immediately obvious why. Effectively, Black needed to
control the f6 square to prevent White from putting a knight on that square
[+5]. Even in the most favourable line for Black, White will win one of Black's
rooks.} 10. fxg7 {[%clk 0:01:25.2]} 10... Rg8 {[%clk 0:01:27.5]} 11. Bg5 $1 {[%clk
0:01:22.6][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g5d8;keyPressed;none;from;g5;opacity;0.8;to;d8;persistent;false]} 11... Nce7 $4
{[%clk 0:00:49.9][%c_arrow
f7f6;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false][%c_effect
e7;square;e7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] This hangs checkmate...} 12. Nf6#
{[%clk 0:01:18.6][%c_effect
e1;square;e1;type;Winner,e8;square;e8;type;CheckmateBlack][%c_arrow
f6e8;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false,f6d7;keyPressed;none;from;f6;opacity;0.8;to;d7;persistent;false,g7f8;keyPressed;none;from;g7;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false,f8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false]
GG $1} 1-0