Battle Fatigue (2)

Slam-bang chess battles can be exhausting, especially when they involve off-beat openings like the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+). Picking a good move, time after time, builds pressure, and sometimes the result is picking a not-so-good move, simply out of battle fatigue. See "Battle Fatigue (1)". Here is another example.


Black Puma - Luke Warm
JGTourney4 ChessWorld, 2009

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.c3 Nf6 6.d3 Rf8 7.a4 a5 8.0-0 Kg8 9.Bg5 d6 10.Nbd2 Bg4 11.Qc2 Qd7 12.Nb3 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qh3 14.Nxc5 Qxf3 15.Bxf6 dxc5 16.Bh4 Qg4+ 17.Bg3 h5 18.Qd1 Qg6 19.Kh1 Rad8 20.f4 exf4 21.Bxf4 h4 22.Rg1 Qe6 23.Be3 b6 24.Qh5 Rxd3

Black spent a dozen or so moves building an attack, but a few less-than-accurate moves then evened out the game. After a dozen more moves of exchanging blows, Black's last move is a slip-up.

25.Bh6
At first glance, this looks deadly, and it is – for White. Instead, 25.Rxg7+ was a pretty good sacrifice.

25...Qxh6

Luke Warm is weary, too, or he would have closed out the game with 25...Qxe4+ 26.Rg2 h3 27.Qg5 Qxg2+ 28.Qxg2 hxg2+ 29.Kxg2 gxh6.

26.Qg4

Ouch. Battle fatigue, indeed!

26...Ne5 27.Qe6+ One last slip.

27...Qxe6 White resigned