Don't drive like my brother

Tom and Ray Magliozzi host the "Car Talk" program at NPR radio. They dole out auto advice in a humorous style, and they close each time with the exchange

"Don't drive like my brother."
"Don't drive like my brother."

That about sums up my opinion of the following funny game, as platel and I can each say

"Don't play like my opponent."
"Don't play like my opponent."

perrypawnpusher - platel
blitz, FICS, 2011

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

4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Ke8

Declining the second piece is an acceptable strategy, but going back to e8 (where a follow-up Queen check by White is possible) has not been recommended.

6.Qh5+

At the time that I played this move, I knew that the "right" choice was 6.Nxc6, since either 6...dxc6 or 6...bxc6 would allow White to play 7.Qh5+ followed by capturing the Bishop; for example, as in perrypawnpusher - rodrigojalpa, blitz, FICS, 2008 (1-0, 25) and Wall,B - Qwerty, chess.com, 2010 (1-0, 9).

Looking at 6.Nxc6 now, I still think that it is best for White, but I wanted to point out two untested responses that might surprise the first player.

a) 6...Bxf2+ (as long as Black is going to lose this piece, he decides to get a pawn for it) 7.Kxf2 Qf6+ 8.Qf3 Qxc6 (avoiding doubled c-pawns) when White is a bit better. He has to be careful because of the loose pawn on c2 and the King and Queen being on the same file (vulnerable to ...Ne7 and ...Rf8).

analysis diagram








Black also has the untried counter-attacking

b) 6...Qh4, (which I mentioned about 3 years ago in this blog) may be better than the capture of the Knight at c6, as well. White's best response is 7.d4, and after 7...Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Bb6 material is even, i.e. 10.Nb4 Bxd4.

analysis diagram









I think that White may have a tiny edge after 11.Nd5, and he may have better chances with his Kingside pawn majority as opposed to Black's Queenside pawn majority; but, in reality, Black's two Bishops probably balance all that out.

6...Kf8

In light of my two 6th move recommendations for Black, I have to say that this was the move that got Black into hot water, not 5...Ke8.

After the recommended 6...g6, White has the thematic 7.Nxg6, but, again, things are far from rosy for him – unless he is faced with 7...hxg6, when White plays 8.Qxh8 with advantage, as in Petasluk - Trasimene, FICS, 2007 (1-0, 18).

Black takes a step forward by interjecting 7...Nf6, so that after 6...g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qxc5 he can then grab the Knight at g6 with 8...hxg6. White has three pawns for his sacrificed piece, but Fritz 8 is pretty stubborn about giving Black a slight edge.

The biggest challenge to White's 7th move Knight sac at g6, however, is 7...Bxf2+ – followed, in due course, by ...Nf6 and then the capture of the White Knight, e.g. 8.Kxf2 Nf6 (much better than the 8...Qf6+ of  Hultgren,R - Harrow, Campbell, CA 1960 and Blackstone - Dommeyer, skittles game, California, USA 1960 [1-0, 13] ) 9.Qh4 Rg8. White's Knight cannot retreat and will be lost (10.Nf4 Nxe4+).

It may be that White should refrain from sacrificing his Knight, and meet 6...g6 with 7.Nxc6 (anyhow), although after 7...gxh5 8.Nxd8 Kxd8 he has to hope that he can gather in one (or both) of the h-pawns in order to reach equality.

Which is a long way of saying that while 6.Nxc6 leads to "only" an even game, that's still  a better outcome than can be expected after 6.Qh5+.


By the way, the silly 6...Ke7 (in response to 6.Qh5+) got a workout in my games against a weak computer several years ago – see "One (or both) of us needs help" Part I and Part II.

7.Qf7 checkmate

I won the game, but I thought it would be fair to let my opponent "win" the analysis.