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Yesterday, I met up with my mentee, who not long ago had finished his specialist family medicine training, and has also started some medical education work. After dinner in Marrickville, we played some chess and had some coffee at the fantastic pastry store Kürtösh. Check it out if you’re ever in Sydney!

I brought along my Chessnut Go portable electronic chess board to both record the game and to use with the app as an automatic clock! We played an extremely fun game of 5 | 5 blitz. I played the Vienna Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4), and my mate responded correctly with the Main Line (3… d5). However, the Main Line alone is not the refutation, and things unravelled a bit after that. One of the tricks/traps to know in the Vienna Game Main Line for White is that they must be prepared for Qh4+; and similarly for Black, to know when it is available and when it is not!

By the middlegame, I was comfortably winning, but this is a danger! It’s very easy to become careless and this struck on turn 23 when I played (23. Nf3??) straight up hanging the knight. In my mind’s eye, the square was defended by a rook on f1… except, it wasn’t a rook, but a bishop!

This was an exciting turn in the game though as my mate was now ahead with Black. We both had a rook and one minor piece remaining, but they had a pawn majority on both sides of the board. However, I had more activity. After being a little flustered, I pulled myself together and decided that the only way I was potentially winning was to use my activity to attempt relentless attacks on Black’s king. Potentially, I could equalise the material and head towards a draw or even win by flagging! Bishops and rooks synergise well together!

Black held their advantage well, and started to push their pawns forward, but unfortunately for them (38… f5??) was a blunder that equalised the position! Their plan was to sacrifice their pawn majority on the queenside to push their kingside pawns forward. However, in their haste, Black perhaps forgot that their knight on g6 was pinned after the g-pawn stepped forward (i.e., a loss of continuity), and this ultimately led to the loss of their passed f-pawn.

Suddenly, it was balanced and a drawing position, but I had a small time advantage. More than that, bishop and rook are probably easier to coordinate than knight and rook, and Black’s king was on the wrong side of the board. With (46. Rxg6+), I’d cleanly won their knight moving it to a completely winning endgame!

However, with only seconds left on the clock, I blundered the next move with (47. Bb5??). I realised this immediately as you’ll see in the video! 🤣 Luckily for me, my mate didn’t see the blunder, and perhaps distracted by my antics, blundered back by deciding to trade rooks (47… Kxg6?? 48. Bxd7)! The move to find was (47… Rd2+!), moving the rook out of the bishop’s attack and winning tempo with check, which would then allow the clean capture of my rook!

With this mistake, I had a bishop in the endgame, and it was simply a matter of converting to the win. With the 5 seconds of increment per turn, this was relatively simple. It was still important to not stalemate, but I had the win on turn 73. Good game, GG!

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[Event "Clock Match"]
[Site "KÜRTŐSH Marrickville Metro"]
[Date "2025.11.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Dr Khan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "0"]
[TimeControl "300+5"]
[WhiteElo ""]
[BlackElo ""]
[WhiteTime "48200"]
[BlackTime "55400"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/3RjVWzKsst/analysis"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 {Vienna Game: Main Line  $1} 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Qf3
{Paulsen Attack  $1} 5... Qe7 $4 {[%c_effect
e7;square;e7;type;Blunder;size;100%25;animated;false;persistent;true][%c_arrow
b8c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;b8;to;c6;persistent;false,f7f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f7;to;f5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false,f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false,e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false]}
6. d4 $6 {[%c_effect d4;square;d4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
c3d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;c3;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] I doubted myself,
should have just played Nxd5 immediately $1} 6... Qh4+ $2 {[%c_effect
h4;square;h4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] Looks like it could work, but the
main responses to the Main Line all need to be able to deal with the Qh4+ with
the black knight on e4.} 7. g3 $1 {[%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g3;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false]} 7... Nxg3 $4
{[%c_arrow
h4d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;h4;to;d8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d8;persistent;false,g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false][%c_effect
g3;square;g3;type;Blunder;persistent;true] This is a mistake...} 8. hxg3
{[%c_arrow
f3h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f3;to;h1;persistent;false,h1h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;h1;to;h4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h1;persistent;false,h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false]
Normally the pattern is winning, but in this position, the queen defends the
h1-rook $1} 8... Qxd4 9. Qxd5 Nc6 10. Nf3 Qxd5 11. Nxd5 {And I'm now comfortably
ahead out of the opening $1} 11... Bb4+ 12. Bd2 Bxd2+ 13. Nxd2 O-O 14. O-O-O
{Opposite side castling, let's go $1} 14... Be6 15. Nf4 Bxa2 16. b3 {Closing the
gate on the bishop, which is now trapped $1} 16... g5 17. Nd5 Nxe5 18. Kb2 c6 19.
Nf6+ Kg7 20. Nxh7 Rh8 21. Kxa2 Rxh7 22. Rxh7+ Kxh7 23. Nf3 $4 {[%c_effect
f3;square;f3;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
f3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f3;persistent;false] ... and this was a
straight up blunder $1 There is a risk when one is winning that you start playing
without due care $1 For a moment, I mistook the f1-bishop for a rook $1} 23... Nxf3
24. Bd3+ $2  {[%c_arrow
d1d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d1;to;d7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d7;persistent;false][%c_effect
d3;square;d3;type;Mistake;persistent;true] I was a bit flustered at this point.
The only way to push forward was to attack Dr Khan's king $1} 24... Kg7 25. Rh1
Nd4 $6 {[%c_effect d4;square;d4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
a8h8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;a8;to;h8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h8;persistent;false] Black had pawn
majorities on both sides of the board. Their best approach is to trade pieces $1}
26. Rh7+ Kf6 27. Bc4 Rf8 28. c3 Nf3 29. Rh6+ Kg7 30. Rd6 Ne5 31. Be2 f6 32. Re6
a5 33. Re7+ Rf7 34. Re8 b5 35. Bh5 Ng6 {Black voluntarily pins their knight. The
advantage of bishop and rook is that they can sometime synergise with pins in
the endgame $1} 36. Re6 c5 $2 {[%c_effect
c5;square;c5;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 37. Rd6 $2 {[%c_effect
d6;square;d6;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e6a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e6;to;a6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
a6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;a6;persistent;false]} 37... Kh6 $2 
{[%c_arrow
f7e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;f7;to;e7;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false][%c_effect
h6;square;h6;type;Mistake;persistent;true]} 38. Be2 {[%c_arrow
e2b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;e2;to;b5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false]} 38... f5 $4
{[%c_effect f5;square;f5;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
f5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f5;persistent;false,g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false][%c_arrow
d6g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d6;to;g6;persistent;false,g6h6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g6;to;h6;persistent;false]
Dr Khan decided to push his pawns forward. This makes a lot of sense normally,
but in this position, it was a blunder $1 We've mostly moved back towards
equality $1} 39. Bxb5 f4 40. gxf4 gxf4 41. Bd3 {[%c_arrow
d6g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d6;to;g6;persistent;false,g6h6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g6;to;h6;persistent;false,d3g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d3;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false] Putting pressure on
the pinned piece $1} 41... Rg7 $1 {[%c_effect
g7;square;g7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g7;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g7;persistent;false]} 42. Rc6 f3 43. Rf6
{And Black's problem is that they cannot defend their passed pawn $1} 43... Kg5 $1
{[%c_effect g5;square;g5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false]} 44. Rxf3 Rd7 $2
{[%c_effect d7;square;d7;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g6f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g6;to;f4;persistent;false,g6h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g6;to;h4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false,h4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h4;persistent;false]}
45. Rg3+ $2  {[%c_effect g3;square;g3;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d3g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d3;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false] Surprisingly,
immediately trading the bishop is best} 45... Kh6 $4 {[%c_effect
h6;square;h6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g5f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g5;to;f4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false,h6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h6;persistent;false]
Black had to move their king forward} 46. Rxg6+ Kh5 47. Bb5 $4 {[%c_effect
b5;square;b5;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_arrow
g6g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;g6;to;g3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false,b5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;b5;persistent;false]
I realised that this was a blunder in game $1} 47... Kxg6 $4  {[%c_effect
g6;square;g6;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false,d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d2;persistent;false][%c_arrow
d7d2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d7;to;d2;persistent;false] But under time
pressure, and perhaps distracted by my blunder expression, Dr Khan missed it $1
This move is game ending as I'm up a full piece in the endgame $1} 48. Bxd7 Kf6
49. Bb5 Ke5 50. Ka3 Kd5 51. c4+ Kd4 52. Ba6 Kc3 53. Bb5 Kd4 54. Ka4 Kc3 55. Ba6
{There was some shuffling to keep the clocks alive while I thought how to
convert...} 55... Kb2 56. Bb7 {Worked it out $1 Rotate the bishop and sacrifice it
for tempo $1} 56... Kc3 57. Bf3 Kb2 58. Bd1 Kc1 59. Kxa5 Kxd1 60. Kb5 Kc2 61. Kxc5
Kxb3 62. Kd5 Kb4 63. c5 Kb5 64. Kd6 Ka6 65. Kd7 {[%c_arrow
d7c8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d7;to;c8;persistent;false,d7c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d7;to;c7;persistent;false,d7c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;from;d7;to;c6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c8;persistent;false,c7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c7;persistent;false,c6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c6;persistent;false]
Red carpet to promotion $1} 65... Kb7 66. c6+ Kb8 67. c7+ Kb7 68. c8=Q+ Ka7 69.
Kd6 {High risk of stalemate $1 I knew that this was the case so calculated
carefully before moving $1} 69... Kb6 70. Qc6+ Ka7 71. Qb5 Ka8 72. Kc7 Ka7 73.
Qb7# {[%c_effect
c7;square;c7;type;Winner;animated;true,a7;square;a7;type;CheckmateBlack;animated;true]
Good game, GG $1} 1-0