Bolt from the Blue

"Have you ever seen a chess article without a brilliant example of the author's own play? 'Silly question' you will say. Quite."

- Yuri Razuveyev, introducing Razuveyez-Bagirov, 1982

Reflecting back on my first year at university I realise how extremely fortunate I was to arrive in a year when the chess club was well attended and had a good mix of strong players and enthusiastic new-comers. Had the club been dwindling or had there been no club at all then chess might not have become such a big part of my life.

It didn't take long for Wednesday afternoons and evenings to become synonymous with beer drinking and chess playing. I had the opportunity to play lots of blitz games against players with a range of strengths and styles and this really did ignite my interest in the game. I learned a lot about the game very quickly in this environment. Later in the year league chess came along for me too giving me the opportunity to test out my burgeoning skills.

This game was played in my first term at university. At this stage in my development I had not been playing all that long and had played virtually no competitive games aside from a couple of weekend congresses. This game was very important for me because suddenly, from pretty much nowhere, I played a fairly high quality and very pretty game against a good opponent. This was the game that opened my eyes to what was possible on a chess board and what I was capable of. I realised of course that games like this would not come along ever so often but the anticipation of playing the next one drove (and still does drive) my enthusiasm and passion for the game.

D.Shapland  vs. D.Wahl

(A82) Dutch Defence: Staunton Gambit

University of Manchester Championship,

Manchester,

23^rd of November, 1994

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H

Shapland, D. - Wahl, D.

1-0, 23/11/1994.

[#] 1.d4 At this early point in my career I was exclusively a 1.d4 player. I don't remember why I had made this decision. Usually, novice players are encouraged to play 1.e4 which, in general, lead to open positions offering more opportunities to become familiar with tactics and less to do with strategic manouevring. Regardless of this, it was a couple of years before I began playing 1.e4 and many more years after that that I began to vary my opening choice according to my opponent (assuming I knew their repertoire). 1...f5 This was already a little disconcerting for me. The Dutch Defence was a response to 1.d4 that I considered to be rather exotic at the time this game was played and to have to face it against a player who I knew was far better than me made me feel even less comfortable. I hadn't much of an idea about the right strategic way to play against it but I had seen an old fashioned gambit line that I felt would serve me well enough and I decided this would have to do. 2.e4 This is the Staunton Gambit. The fact that it is named after Howard Staunton, that legendary 19th century exponent of the game, tells you all you need to know about its heritage. It is of the romantic era and therefore you can expect tactical pyrotechnics. White gives up a pawn simply to speed up his development. 2...fxe4 3.f3?! The most accurate way to play is 3.Nc3 when Black responds 3...Nf6 and only now 4.f3. 3...e6?! Both 3...Nf6 and 3...e5!? are known to offer black a perfectly good game. This move seems provocative but does at least aim to hang on to the pawn as now 4.fxe4? Qh4+ 5.g3?? Qxe4+ is a school boy continuation. 4.Bf4 Being alre ady out of the opening book I was having to spot the tactics and work things through without any frame of reference. This move seemed like a good way of threatening to recapture on e4 as the bishop can now go to g3 or block the queen's access to e4 after 5.fxe4 Qh4+ g3. 4...exf3 After the game I remember Daniel being critical of this move. I believe he thought it acquised with White's plans rather to easily. Instead he suggested that 4...e3!? might be more irritating for White. It's easy to see why as White's king's side development will be much more awkward to complete with one of his own pawns on f3. What is more the only piece that can capture on e3, the queen's bishop, has already moved once! I suspect that Daniel was guilty of playing the natural move without thinking too much about the alternatives. In all fairness he cannot have anticipated the extent to which I would be inspired on that Wednesday afternoon. 5.Nxf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 b6 7.O-O Nc6

[There isn't a great deal to say about the last few moves. Both sides have played sensible developing moves. Here, the computer preferred the line 7...Be7 8.Ng5 O-O 9.Qf3 Nc6 10.Nc3 Bb7 for Black but the assessment is similar to the line played in the game.]

8.Nbd2 This move is a bit casual. My idea was to try and manouevre this knight to c4 and then to e5 but Black's simple rejoinder equalises immediately.

[Again Fritz preferred 8.Ng5 creating threats against h7. Indeed the rest of the line after 8...Qe7 9.Nc3 d6 10.Bb5 Bd7 11.Qf3 d5 12.Bxc6 Bxc6 13.Rae1 Bd7 14.Bxc7 seems to be very much in White's favour.]

8...Nb4 Now there is no decent square for the bishop on d3 except e2 and that would mean placing it fairly passively and moving it for the second time. I didn't really want to exchange my bishop for the Black knight but ultimately I decided that instead of moving it away from the attack and wasting a move I would try and proceed with my plan to get my knight to e5 and accept that the bishop would have to come off. 9.Nc4 Nxd3 10.Qxd3 Ba6! Black quickly exploits the current alignment of the knight, queen and rook on the a6-f1 diagonal. The tactical threat that comes with this move is 11...d5. It already looks like White is in a precarious position. I suspect that Daniel must have started to relax just a little bit at this point in the game. He would have hoped for an early mistake from me and in this position that appears to have happened. 11.Rae1 This move would have poured a little cold water on any unrealistic expectations that my opponent might have started getting. Winning the pinned knight on c4 won't be as easy as it first appears. In the first instance if Black plays 11...d5 then White can respond with 12.Rxe6+ Be7 12.Nxd6+ cxd6 13.Qxa6 and it is Black who is in trouble. 11...Be7 Black is trying to prepare for d5 by castling short. The transparency of this plan did at least now enable me to focus on a concrete problem. How could I exploit Black castling king's side? After a bit of a think a solution presented itself. 12.Ng5! Objectively White's position is still slightly inferior but at least he is setting Black some difficulties in realising his advantage. Again White finds a way to prevent d5. This time 12...d5 is met by 13.Nxe6 Qd7 14.Nxc7+ and all hell breaks loose. This tactical threat actually helps persuade Black that his plan of castling next move is the correct one as he wants to get his king away from the centre. 12...O-O?! As we'll see, this turns out to be the decisive moment in the game. Black should first have played 12...Qc8 before 0-0. Why? 13.Bxc7!! Here is the eponymous lightening bolt from the clear blue sky! The shock value of this move alone justifies two "exciting" marks. I can still vividly remember Daniel's expression changing instantly. He clearly hadn't seen this one coming. The main point of course is that 13...Qxc7 runs into 14.Rxf6! g6 15.Rxg6+! Kh8 16.Rg8+ and it's all over. Give Daniel credit for recovering from his shock well enough to find the best continuation in this position. 13...Bxc4 14.Qxc4 Qc8 At first glance it appears that this move refutes White's play as now a new piece is pinned to White's queen. However, once again White has a nasty surprise up his sleeve. 15.Qd3! Only one "exciting" mark this time because I missed an even stronger move. However, I think this move is very aesthetic. White simply steps away from protecting the bishop and reinstates the terminal threat of 16.Rxf6.

[Of course the computer finds an irrefutable means of finishing the game on the spot after 15.Nxe6!! Re8 ( Taking the knight is even worse after 15...dxe6 16.Rxe6 Kh8 17.Rxe7 and this is also completely winning for White) 16.Rxf6 b5 17.Qb3 Bxf6 18.Nd8 Re6 19.Nxe6 ]

15...g6 16.Qh3 Of course! 16...Nh5 At this stage in proceedings I had to take a pause for thought. I had forseen that this position would be reached before I played my thirteenth move (which is probably why I missed 15.Nxe6) but hadn't been able to conclude anything further about the position other than I felt that it looked good for White. The main focus of my thinking was the challenge to my knight on g5. I was loathe to retreate it but couldn't find a forcing line that would allow me the time to surface the mate threat on h7 by playing g4. One idea that occured to me was 17.Nxh7 when Kxh7 18.g4 would regain the piece. The only problem with that line was that my bishop was also en prise!.This position brings to mind a famous Mikhail Tal quote. When commentating on a position in which he had three pieces en prise he simply stated "but Black can only take them one at a time!" After quite a long think I eventually found a nice deflection. 17.Rxf8 This is the only move for White. 17...Qxf8 18.Rf1 Qc8

[Black would like to be able to play 18...Qg7?! but this resurrects the very beautiful 19.Nxe6!! trapping her majesty in a gilded cage. 19...Qf6 or else (19...dxe6 20.Qxe6 Kh8 21.Be5 Bf6? 22.Rxf6!! ; Nor can black play 19...Qh6 20.Be5 Nf4 (20...dxe6? 21.Qxe6# ) 21.Qxh6 ; And finally 19...Qh8 20.Qf3! Qf6 21.Qxa8 Kf7 22.Ng5! Kg7 23.Be5 ) 20.Rxf6 Bxf6 21.Nd8!! and now Blacks rook is also trapped after 21...Bxd8 22.Qf3! Rc8 23.Qd5 Kf8 24.Qxd7 and this game is all over.;

Fritz considers the best defence for Black to be 18...Bf6! This appears to be the best way to attempt to staunch the flow of tactics although White is still much better after 19.c3 Qg7 20.Ne4 Rf8 21.Nxf6 Nxf6 22.Bd6 Rf7 23.Be5 Qf8 24.Qh4 Ne8 and somehow Black has managed to cling to material parity although Rybka still assesses the position as clearly better for White.]

19.Qf3 Bxg5? Finally, Daniel couldn't resist the temptation to grab the swag any longer. I believe that he may have become a little demoralised by this stage of the game. The pressure of calculating all the threats finally wore him down. The best defence was

[19...Qf8 and now 20.Nf7 Nf6 (20...Rc8 21.Nh6 (21.Qb7 Nf6 22.Ne5 ) 21...Kg7 22.Qe3 ) 21.Nh6 The point is that the knight is invulnerable here due to Black's rook on a8 needing the protection of its queen. 21...Kg7 22.Ng4 Nxg4 23.Qxg4 Qe8 24.Be5 Kg8 and finally White's attack has run out of energy although his positional advantage remains and is significant. After the game move White is allowed to finish the game with another fusillade of aesthetically pleasing tactical fireworks.]

20.Qf7 Kh8 21.Be5 Nf6 21...Bf6 would have also been met by... 22.Rxf6! This is the only move that will deliver check mate. 22...d6 23.Rxg6! Again there are two pieces enprise but "Black can only take them one at a time" and White only needs one of them to deliver check mate next move! [1-0]

Generated by Aquarium

Points to remember from this game:

1. It's easy to feel intimidated when you are up against somone who is much stronger than you on paper. Just remember that it is also possible for the better player to become overconfident or casual when they are playing weaker opposition. Sometimes a big rating difference can be overturned if the better player is off their game and the weaker player has an excellent day at the office. This game is a case in point of what is possible.
2. When you have lost the initiative in a game you have to adjust your thinking and your objectives. This is one of the most challenging skills to acquire in chess. Instead of looking for ways to win you might have to try and find ways to equalise or divine what your opponent's plans are in order to manufacture and defence or a counter-attack. In this game after I'd lost the initiative at move 10 I had to figure out how my opponent would try and press home his advantage. In the end I managed to find a way to exploit his plan to castle short.
3. Sometimes just one surprising move can completely alter a player's phsycology. In this case 13.Bxc7!! was so shocking to my opponent that it visibly effected him and this shock almost certainly contributed to the relatively weak standard of his defensive play later in the game.
4. Sustained pressure can often force an error. Don't become despondent if your iniative doesn't pay off immediately. Be patient and keep at it and give your opponent every opportunity to go wrong. In this game 19...Bxg5? arrived after a period in which Black had been forced to defend accurately and had also had to deal with a couple of surprising blows. Even good players can become mentally and morally fatigued under pressure.