DDG video

While ecogoogling the other day, I found a funny YouTube video that presents a DDG trick for bullet (1 + 1 minute) games. The DDG game starts at 7:35.

ecogoogling googling chess openings, which are organized by ECO (Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings) codes; the term is derived from egogoogling

The trick that wins a piece goes as follows:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c4

"I am playing my Duhm gambit again and again against this French Defence", says the guy on the video.

3...dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d5?!

"Only players about 2200 fall for this, and beneath, of course; it happens very often", he continues.

I briefly mentioned this trick move in the DDG News in 2003.

5...exd5 6.cxd5 Bb4??

6...c6! -/+ busts the trick, but is hard to find in a bullet game.

7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.bxc6 +-

My shortest checkmate in BDG

Jyrki Heikkinen — Vesa Jouhki, Helsinki, Finland, September 1998

1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 Bf5 5.fxe4 Nxe4 6.Qf3 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Bc8?!

White's obvious target is the f7 square. Without knowing the theory recommendation 8.Bc4 e6 9.Nh3, I wanted to prevent Black from playing e6, and played a prophylactic move.

8.Bg5 h6?

8...Nd7 is necessary.

9.Bc4 hxg5? 10.Bxf7+ Kd7 11.Qd5# 1-0

Bishop cramp

Jyrki Heikkinen — David Bye, e-mail, 2005

1.d4 d5 2.e4 e6 3.c4 dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.f3 exf3 6.Nxf3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Bg5 Ne8

A pretty standard DDG, but Black plays too passively.

10.Be3

The first "creative" bishop move. I didn't want to ease Black's cramped position by exchanging pieces.

10...g6 11.Qe1 Ng7 12.Rd1 f5? 13.Bh6

This bishop again. I expected Black to play f4, which would block the bishop away from the kingside.

13...Nf6 14.Bg5

The bishop maneuver g5-e3-h6-g5 looks like a novice moving a piece back and forth without a plan. I did feel myself a bit stupid after returning to g5, but now that Black has weakened dark squares with g6, I'm willing to exchange the dark bishops.

14...Re8 15.Bc2 c6 16.Ne5 Nfh5 17.Bxe7 Qxe7

18.Qe3 Bd7 19.Qh6 Rad8 20.c5

Funny that Black did not have time to play c5. I was expecting it several times. Black would have gained more space for his pieces by breaking White's center.

I wanted to play 20.Be4 fxe4 21.Rf7 Qxf7 22.Nxf7 Kxf7 23.Nxe4, which is good for White. But I didn't play 20.Be4 because it threatens nothing, and Black could play, say, 20...Qb4. Post-mortem analysis showed that 22...Nf5! ruins my variation above.

20...g5?

This move must be dubious, was my first impression. I tried to look at the position like an outsider, and asked myself: What is White's compensation for the pawn?

The answer is mobility. I evaluated the mobility of the troops by counting the number of sensible moves of each piece. I came up with the numbers 22/11, that is, White's pieces have altogether twice as many sensible moves as Black's pieces.

Rybka suggests 20...Nf6 =.

21.Ne4!

This changes "mobility numbers" to 24/9. Finding this decisive move was easy, thanks to my analysis of the move 20.Be4.

21...fxe4 22.Rf7 Qxf7 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.Rf1+ 1-0

Game over: 24...Nf4 25.Qxg5 or 24...Kg8 25.Bxe4 or 24...Ke7 25.Qxg5+.

Pleasure and pain

It's a great pleasure to find an interesting sacrifice during a game, but even a greater pain to miss its finishing touch. Here is one example from the Finnish Team Championship, 2nd division.

Jyrki Heikkinen (1898) — Tapani Tähkävuori (2102), Helsinki, Finland, January 1998

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 Nf6 6.Bg5 d6 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Bc4 Be7

Invitation to attack.

9.Qh5 O-O 10.a4 a6 11.Ra3! axb5

I had pictured a couple of moves before that White should be winning here.

12.Rg3+?

But not like this.

12...Kh8 13.Bxf7 Rxf7 14.Qxf7 Qf8 (0-1 in 36)

The killer move I failed to see was 12.g4!, which gives White a clear advantage: Rybka suggests 12...d5 13.Rh3 Bb4+ 14.c3 Re8 15.Bxd5 Be6 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.axb5 Nd4 18.Qxh7+ Kf8 19.Qh8+ Ke7 20.Qxd8+ Rxd8 21.cxb4 (+1.6).

Two misses

Here is a crazy 5 + 5 minutes game. White missed two nice sacrifices that would have immediately ended the game.

Jyrki Heikkinen (2082) — Petteri Laihonen (2218), Jyväskylä, Finland, 2004

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 Nxe4 4.Nxe4 dxe4 5.Bc4 e6 6.Nh3

A typical move in the Hübsch Gambit.

6...c5 7.d5 e5 8.Ng5 Bf5 9.d6 Bg6 10.Qd5 Nd7??

11.Nxf7?

Ouch! How come I missed 11.Qxf7+! Bxf7 12.Bxf7#.

11...Qf6 12.Nxh8 O-O-O 13.Nxg6 Qxg6

14.O-O

Ouch again! 14.Ba6! bxa6 15.Qc6+ Kb8 16.Qc7+ Ka8 17.Qxd8+ (I missed this one in my quick analysis) Nb8 18.Qxf8 +-.

14...Bxd6

White is a rook up, but as sometimes happens in blitz, Black was able to win the game anyway.