The Equalizing Injustice of Chess

Blitz. You can play a refuted opening against an opponent who has out-prepared you. You can make tactical mistakes and fall even further behind in material. You can be a move or two away from being summarily executed. And then you can win.

It's not fair.
 

perrypawnpusher  - dkahnd
blitz, FICS, 2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

I was pretty sure that I had played my opponent before, but after the game I consulted The Database and found that this was our fourth matchup.

Last year dkahnd had chosen 6...Kf8 against me in perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 20).

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Nf6

dkahnd was taking his time on his moves. He was not going to do anything silly.

10.0-0 Rf8 11.f4 Ng4

Or 11...Rf7 12.f5 Ne5 13.d4 Neg4 as in perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 30).

12.Qg3 h5

Varying from 12...Qf6 as in perrypawnpusher - dkahnd, blitz, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 37)


I had expected 12...Qh4 like perrypawnpusher - MRBarupal, blitz, FICS, 2010 (0-1, 47).

It appears that in the current game, ...Rh8-f8 was not a preparation for castling-by-hand but a move in support of a Kingside attack!

13.h3

Fritz10 sees this as a tiny improvement over 13.d4, but it would have been nice to be able to answer 13...h4 with 14.Qd3 as I did in perrypawnpusher - lorecai, FICS, 2010 (1-0, 47).

My opponent continued to play slowly, seriously and strongly. 

13...h4 14.Qb3

I had no idea how terrible this move was at the time. Of course, I had no idea how terrible my position had become, too.

After the game Rybka 3 recommended 14.Qe1, when White is barely able to survive Black's attack: 14...Nxf4 15.d4 (instead, 15.hxg4 can be answered by 15...Qf6 and 16...Nxg2) Qf6 16.e5 Nxh3+ (As someone once said: I'm up a piece? Great! Then I have two that I can sacrifice!) 17.gxh3 Qxf1+ 18.Qxf1 Rxf1+ 19.Kxf1 Nh6 20.Kg2 dxe5 21.dxe5 Bd7 22.Nc3 Bc6+ 23.Kf2 Ke7 24.Bxh6 Rf8+ 25.Ke2 gxh6 26.Rg1 Rf3 27.Rg7+ Kf8 28.Rxc7 Rxh3 29.Rh7 Rg3 30.Rxh6 h3.

analysis diagram





With luck, White might be able to grovel himself to a draw... Or not.

14...Nxf4 15.hxg4

Overlooking Black's response. Actually, for a move, Black overlooked his response, too.

15...Bxg4

This is good. As Black discovers a move later, ...Ne2+ is even better.

16.d4

I was still pretty clueless, but Rybka 3 later showed a tortuous route to completing my development: 16.Kh2 Be6 17.Qf3 h3 18.g3 Ng6 19.Qe2 Ne5 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.d4 Bg4 22.Qf2+ Nf3+ 23.Kh1 Kg8 24.Be3 Qe7 25.Nc3 Rf8

analysis diagram







Gruesome, Black is still better. As if I could think as strong or as quick as a computer, anyhow...

16...Ne2+ 17.Kh2 Rxf1

I was now down a Rook. Could my Queenside look any more ridiculous?

My only "hope", such as it was, as my opponent prepared to wrap up the game, was that he had used up a lot of time and was now playing on the increments.

18.Qg8+ Rf8 19.Qxg7 Be6 20.Bg5 Qd7 21.Qg6+ Bf7 22.Qf6

Certainly not the objectively best move, but when your only chance left is an opponent's time error, you go for concrete threats. 

22...Ng3 23.Nc3 Qg4

Zeitnot.

24.Qe7 checkmate

Whew! This game is going to get a lot of in-depth study from me before I try the Jerome Gambit again!