The above is another game where I played as Black and used the Englund-Soller Gambit. Game probably seemed crushing to opponent, but he really only made 1 mistake. Some setups in Chess, especially those targeting or involving a queen, simply aren't forgiving.
Select illustrated scans of the game logged in my previous post.
I, again, am playing as Black, opening with the Englund-Soller Gambit.
Which more or less means, in layman's terms, that in response to White moving the pawn in front of his queen up 2 spaces to begin the game, I move the pawn in front of my KING up 2 spaces for MY first move, and he takes it, then I move the pawn in front of my king's bishop up 1 space, and he takes that, too.
Finally, I stop that murderous pawn of his with my knight.
You can see the moment BEFORE I take that pawn out here:
... and you can see what happens after, when, instead of simply maintaining a pin on my avenging knight (if knight moves from where he took that pawn, the bishop will then take out the Black Queen), my opponent proceeds to take out my knight as well, who then must be avenged by my Queen:
My opponent at this point seeks to avoid the disruption that would occur if I targeted the f2 square on the board, but responds in such a way that his defense unravels completely on the Queen's side of the board, causing what he deems unsalvageable damage.
I should perhaps make certain first-timers understand why the opponent gave up. Anyone thinking with a checker players mindset, for instance might think:
"Why doesn't White just take the Black Queen? Can't his own Queen move just like Black's?"
But Chess has safety of the KING, not the Queen, as first priority.
In a checkers-like game, you'd take the Black Queen with the White Queen.
In Chess, the attack on the King must be responded to first, and after White takes out the bishop attacking the White King, it is then Black's turn, and the White Queen won't be around once White is able to move again ...
With his most powerful piece gone, the Queenside of White's board devastated, his pieces on the Kingside undeveloped, and the King himself exposed and on the run, White decided he didn't like his chances of drawing or winning, and resigned.
Game played against a much-higher ranked (500+ points).
This was a rematch, first game resulted in a lone king versus lone King draw, and resulted in a time over loss for me. Might be interesting to plug these moves into an engine someday and see what could have resulted if we'd had a standard match instead of a 10 minute engagement.
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Jan 19th, 2020 11:29 PM
