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Today (the first Monday of October) was the Labour Day public holiday in New South Wales, Australia! As a bit of an outing, Mrs Chess Noob and Little Chess Noob and I drove to the lovely town of Bilpin, on the Bells Line of Road in the Blue Mountains. Bilpin is known for growing apples, and one of my favourite places to visit is the Bilpin Cider Company, which has fantastic grounds to try out some of their ciders on tap, and have a bite to eat!

I brought along my Chessnut Go, a wonderfully portable electronic chess board, and played a quick game with Little Chess Noob in the spring sunshine while waiting for food and drink! This was hardly an accurate game, and while distracted, I made a couple of spectacular blunders when Mrs Chess Noob brought out the food, allowing Little Chess Noob to equalise! Enjoy!

For inspiration on great opening attacks to play in blitz chess, check out my new book, “Become a Chess Assassin! Learn to play the best chess opening attacks“.

[Event "Chess over Lunch"]
[Site "Bilpin, NSW Australia"]
[Date "2025.10.06"]
[Round "?"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Little Chess Noob"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteUrl ""]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl ""]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]
[TimeControl "Untimed"]
[Termination "vitualis Won by checkmate"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/2sAr3wrQu4"]

1. e4 Nf6 {Alekhine's Defense - Little Chess Noob often plays the knights
first $1} 2. Nc3 {[%c_arrow
e4e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e4;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] I opted to not
immediately push e5} 2... Nc6 3. f4 $6 {[%c_effect
f4;square;f4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d2d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d2;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false] d5 would be the most
principled approach, but I wanted to see whether we could transpose into a
Vienna Gambit-ish position $1} 3... h6 $2 {[%c_effect
h6;square;h6;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d7d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d7;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] This waiting move is
a mistake} 4. e5 {[%c_arrow
e5f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e5;to;f6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f6;persistent;false]} 4... d6 $4
{[%c_effect d6;square;d6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false][%c_arrow
f6g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f6;to;g8;persistent;false] I think that
Little Chess Noob might have just been distracted $6} 5. exf6 gxf6 6. Bc4
{Potentially, f7 is a target with the bishop on c4, and then queen on h5 $1} 6...
e6 7. f5 $5 {[%c_arrow
d2d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d2;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_effect
f5;square;f5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] I was inviting Little Chess Noob
to triple their f-pawns and expose f7...} 7... d5 {... but they didn't bite $1} 8.
Bb5 a6 {[%c_arrow
d5d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d5;to;d4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false]} 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10.
fxe6 fxe6 11. Qh5+ Ke7 12. Nf3 d4 {[%c_arrow
d8e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d8;to;e8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false]} 13. Nxd4 $4
{[%c_arrow
c3e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c3;to;e4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e4;persistent;false,d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_effect
d4;square;d4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Whoops, a blunder $1 Mrs Chess Noob was
bring out drinks and food and I was distracted $1} 13... Rg8 $4 {[%c_effect
g8;square;g8;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g8;persistent;false,d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d4;persistent;false][%c_arrow
d8d4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d8;to;d4;persistent;false] Little Chess
Noob was also distracted $1} 14. O-O $4  {[%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g1;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false,d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d8;persistent;false][%c_arrow
d4c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d4;to;c6;persistent;false,c6d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c6;to;d8;persistent;false,c6e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c6;to;e7;persistent;false]
Still distracted, though I saw this right after I castled $1 Argh $1} 14... Qxd4+
{[%c_arrow
d4g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d4;to;g1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g1;persistent;false]} 15. Kh1 $2 {[%c_effect
h1;square;h1;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f1f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f1;to;f2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false]} 15... Qg4 $6
{[%c_effect g4;square;g4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c8b7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c8;to;b7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b7;persistent;false] Little Chess Noob
forces a queen trade with a threat of mate. Well done $1} 16. Qxg4 Rxg4 17. d3
e5 $6 {[%c_effect e5;square;e5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 18. Ne4 Rf4 $4
{[%c_effect f4;square;f4;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
f6f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f6;to;f5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false,f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false]
This is an understandable move but Little Chess Noob missed the diagonal $1} 19.
Bxf4 exf4 20. Rxf4 Bb7 21. Nxf6 Bg7 22. Re1+ Kf7 23. Ne8+ Kg8 24. Nxg7 Kxg7 25.
Re7+ Kg6 26. Rxc7 Re8 27. Re4 Rf8 {Well done, Little Chess Noob $1 Finding the
back rank checkmate threats $1} 28. Kg1 Bc8 29. Rxc6+ Kg5 30. h4+ Kh5 31. Rc5+ Kg6
32. h5+ Kf7 33. Rc7+ Kf6 34. Rf4+ Kg5 $6 {[%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 35. Rxf8 Kxh5 36. Rcxc8 a5 37.
Rg8 a4 38. g3 {[%c_arrow
g3h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g3;to;h4;persistent;false,g8g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false,g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false,g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false,g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false]
A cage has been built around the black king} 38... a3 {[%c_arrow
g3h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g3;to;h4;persistent;false,g8g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g8;to;g4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false,g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false,g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false,g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false]}
39. Rc5# {[%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner;animated;true,h5;square;h5;type;CheckmateBlack;animated;true][%c_arrow
g3h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g3;to;h4;persistent;false,g8g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g8;to;g4;persistent;false,c5h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c5;to;h5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false,g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false,g5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false,g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false,h5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h5;persistent;false]
And checkmate, good game, GG $1} 1-0