What went wrong there? Posted on April 14, 2012 by DrDave After this quick loss, Black was not sure what he did that was so bad. Come and look for clues with me… [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Rutland, William"] [Black "Sturt, Ben"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C55"] [PlyCount "29"] {After this quick loss, Black was not sure what he did that was so bad. Come and look for clues with me...} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 3... Nf6 { Nothing wrong with any of that - this is the fine Two Knights' Defence.} 4. Nc3 Bc5 (4... Nxe4 $1 {is the easiest way for Black to get at least an equal game.} 5. Nxe4 (5. Bxf7+ Kxf7 6. Nxe4 d5 7. Neg5+ Kg8) 5... d5 { The fork regains the piece.} 6. Bxd5 (6. Bb5 dxe4 7. Nxe5 Qg5) 6... Qxd5 { Black has a fine free game, with easy development for the Bishop pair.}) 5. Ng5 $6 5... O-O 6. O-O (6. Nxf7 Rxf7 7. Bxf7+ 7... Kxf7 {gives up two active pieces for a pawn and a Rook that probably wouldn't have been active for a long while.}) 6... d6 7. Nd5 $2 { Almost forces Black to play a discovered attack tactic.} 7... Nxd5 $1 8. Qh5 $6 {Logical but not best.} (8. exd5 $1 8... Qxg5 (8... Na5 9. d3) 9. dxc6 Qh4 10. Bd5) (8. Bxd5 $2 8... Qxg5) 8... h6 (8... Nf6 $1 9. Nxf7 Nxh5 10. Nxd8+ Kh8 11. Nf7+ Rxf7 12. Bxf7 {with the same swap of two pieces for Rook and Pawn that is likely to be better for Black.}) 9. Bxd5 $2 {This loses a piece.} (9. Nxf7 $1 9... Rxf7 10. Bxd5 10... Qf6 {with, guess what, two pieces for a Rook and pawn. }) 9... hxg5 (9... Qxg5 $1 {is more forcing and safer} 10. Qxg5 (10. Qe2 Bg4 11. Qd3 11... Nd4 {and Black has a huge attack as well as a piece}) 10... hxg5 {and it's hard to see how Black can lose.}) 10. d3 10... g6 $4 {I think this is the culprit - it weakens the King's-side for no good reason. The move creates two big holes on h6 and f6 - see move 13!} (10... Qd7 11. Bxg5 11... Qg4 {forces a Queen swap.}) 11. Qh6? (11. Qxg6+ $1 { White wins a pawn, but more important gets a winning attack.} 11... Kh8 12. Qh5+ Kg7 13. Bxg5) 11... Be6 $2 (11... Qf6 $1 { covers the weak dark squares, and so Black can defend.}) 12. Bxg5 12... Qe8 $2 (12... Bxd5 {Black must give up the Queen.}) 13. Bf6 $1 { Black cannot put off being checkmated for long.} 13... Bxf2+ 14. Rxf2 Qe7 15. Qg7# 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts