In the first December 2024 quad, after exactly half a year, Andrew and I played our second game in an ICA quad. It is interesting that we both have chosen the same opening, Italian gambit, characterized by the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d4 leading to the very upper position in the picture. Only in a summer quad did Andrew choose capturing d4-pawn by his bishop. In this winter quad, he chose capturing d4-pawn by his e5-pawn (that is shown by the left and right positions in the color, yellow and blue, background of the picture respectively).
I suspect that Andrew (or someone who helped him) had prepared such a capture hoping to surprise me by this new choice. However, such preparation (if it really had occurred) had an essential defect shown by the variant A in the middle part of the picture. In notation it is the following variant (from the initial black position of the Italian gambit): 4…exd4 5. Ng5 Nh6 6. Nxf7 Nxf7 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qh5+ (position A2) g6 9. Qxc5 (position A4) d5 10. Qxd5 (position A6) Qxd5 11. exd5 (position A8). In the last position A8 of variant A Black may play 11… Nb4, with a full equality.
An idea of this variant A is to play d7-d5 after 8… g6; but in a game Andrew, after 8. Qh5 had played 8…Kf8 allowing a check
9. Qf5+ what after 9…Qf6 led to losing control for d5-square (not to mention that his king was still unsecure). So, it looked like Andrew did not know how to play a main variant (here, variant A) properly. Some other strange decisions were made by Andrew in the game. Thus, in my opinion he should have aimed to trade queens (because his king was much more vulnerable than mine); however he played hyperactively and traded queens only on the 20th move.
The other critical position of the game had begun with position B2, where White was threatening both to capture a black knight and to play e4-e5. Andrew in this position had responded by move 28…b4 what forcibly led to a very bad position for Black. However he had a possibility to play more stubborn, starting with Nb2-a4 what is a part of the following variant B: 26… Na4 27. Rfd1 (position B4) Nxc3 28. Rxd6 (position B6) Kc7 29. Bd8+ (position B8). In the last position of this variant Black may answer with 29… Rxd8 30. Rxd8 Nxd1 with even little better position for him (in positions with unbalanced pawn chains a side with a bishop is stronger than a side with a knight). Such a variant is difficult to find but Black had to save his knight from trading because his other remaining pieces were completely undeveloped.
Soon our game resulted in my beautiful tactical combination: 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34. Rd1. After that, White achieved a completely won position, which I had successfully embodied.
Thank you Andrew for the game, so rich in content!
Congratulations to Yefim Treger for winning our report contest, and a free entry to the tournament. If you want a chance to win a free entry into our Saturday Quads, email a report to icanewjersey@gmail.com, following these guidelines. We hope you guys have had a great week and we hope to see you at our next Quad which is December 14. Enjoy and we hope to see you soon!
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