Chessnut PRO | Noob UNPLUGGED #10 | OTB Chess & Beer at the End of the Year! 🍺☺️👍
#chessnutpro #unplugged #otb #englundgambit #casual #fun
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CHESS UNPLUGGED | Sometimes, I just like to unwind by not thinking too hard, play a couple of quick casual unrated games, while listen to some slow jazz! 😌♟️🎵
I recently discovered that my neighbour a couple of doors down is also an enthusiastic chess player! 🤩👍
So, we caught up in the late afternoon yesterday to have a few casual games of 10+5 rapid, while having a cold beer, to celebrate the end of a year of chess! We played over-the-board on my Chessnut PRO, to record the games to PGN and for the Chessnut App to automatically keep time as the clock.
My neighbour is a somewhat stronger player than me, and thrashed me in the first two games 😅. In our third and final game, I was determined to have a win, so when he led with the Queen's Pawn Opening (1. d4), I unleashed my dear friend, the Englund Gambit (1... e5)! 🤪
My neighbour Accepted the gambit, which is the only accurate move, and the game was afoot! One of the advantages of the Englund Gambit is that although White holds an objective advantage, this is only if they play into the Englund Gambit. From there, they must accurately navigate against the Englund Complex and find the Refutation line. At the beginner-intermediate level, the escalating pressure from the Englund Complex, especially if White plays inaccurately, will often result in a catastrophic collapse of their queenside in the form of massive material loss, or mate!
In this game, there was a critical move for White on turn 9. After the very tricky (8... Nd4!?), I was threatening (9... Nxc2+). With White's king smothered, they'd be forced to trade their queen for the knight to escape check (10. Qxc2 Qxc2)! My neighbour saw this, and recognised the imperative of giving their c2-pawn a second defender. The only correct move was (9. Rc1), but they played (9. Ra2??) . By the end of turn 14, White's queenside forces had been destroyed. Of the four pieces and four pawns on the queenside, White had only their queen's (dark square) bishop and d-pawn remaining. These two pieces had managed to avoid the carnage by having the good fortune of being on the king's side of the board during the opening attack! Englund Gambit, FTW!
My neighbour adhered to the mantra, "never give up, never surrender!" and fought on valiantly in the middlegame. My goal was to bunker down, consolidate and simplify. White played accurately, but eventually when running low on time, made an aggressive attack on turn 28 in an attempt to win back material. However, this gave me the simplification to an endgame that I wanted. At the end of turn 37 after (37... Kg6), I'd blocked any possible forward advance by White's remaining (doubled) g-pawns by sacrificing my knight.
The decimation of White's queenside from the opening attack had automatically rendered my own queenside pawns the status of connected passed pawns. In the final few seconds of the game, I matched those pawns forward and before delivering checkmate, won by time. Good game, GG!
I hope everybody will have another great year of chess in 2025.
Happy New Year! 🤩👍
Game: https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/4c4BJMaYjG
Note: the fantastic Englund Gambit is featured in a chapter in my new book, “Become a Chess Assassin! Learn to play the best chess opening attacks“.
