Too Fast, Too Furious

At the Free Internet Chess Server site, "lightning" chess is defined as a game whose expected length is less than 3 minutes. The "slower" games in this range could prove to be slightly "longer" than the "bullet" time frame used at the Internet Chess Club, as referenced in the book Bullet Chess, but it still is a fast game!

The following Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit game makes me wonder: was it played at "faster than the speed of thought"?

suzana - Yaman
lightning, FICS, 2011


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4

The Blackburne Shilling Gambit.

4.Bxf7+

The Blackburne Shilling Jerome Gambit.

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

6.c3 Qg5

White's 6th move is slower (not necessarily weakerer) than the more popular 6.Qh5+; and this allows Black to get in a thematic move, catching his opponent by surprise.

7.cxd4 Qxg2

Should White defend, or should he counter-attack?

8.Qb3

The text threatens mate, and Black immediately sues for peace by repeating the position, gaining a draw.

8... Qxh1+ 9.Ke2 Qxe4+ 10.Kf1 Qh1+ 11.Ke2 Qe4+ 12.Kf1 Qh1+ 13.Ke2 Qe4+ 14.Kf1 Qh1+ 15.Ke2 Qe4+ 16.Kf1 Qh1+ 17.Ke2 Qe4+ 18.Kf1 Draw

Wow! That was some game!

Wait a minute...!?

With 8.Qf3 White could have saved his Rook and had roughly equal chances after 8...Qxf3 9.Nxf3. Still, that outcome might have led to a "long" draw instead of a "short" draw, so the result of the game did not shortchange White.

It is Black who was probably scratching his head in wonder afterward. Instead of going for the repetition with 10...Qh1+ (and 12...Qh1+, 14...Qh1+, 16...Qh1+ and the implied 18...Qh1+) he could have played 10...d5 (or 10...Nf6), squashing the mate threatm leaving him with an extra Rook and arguably a winning game.