Speelman's Agony #68

by Jonathan Speelman
1/14/2018 – A reader from Sweden gets a second crack at Jon who looks at two wild gambit games. Fancy Jon taking a look at your games? Send them in! If you appear in the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Fritz 16 is looking forward to playing with you, and you're certain to have a great deal of fun with him too. Tense games and even well-fought victories await you with "Easy play" and "Assisted analysis" modes.

What the Cochrane?

Chess players tend to divide roughly between strategists and tacticians. The former, of course, prefer relatively quiet clean positions while the latter revel in mess. But the dichotomy is really something of a caricature. Tactical soundness underpins everything and if you scratch any really strong player however apparently dry their games, you will find a ferocious tactical intelligence underneath.

Some players — and I count myself among them — have two quite different modes (strategist and hacker) depending on mood and opportunity and this week's games come from one such.

A year and a half ago, I published in Agony #8 a couple of very positional games by Tomas Yttling a Swede who will be 40 this year. They were both highly positional involving the exploitation (one successful one only ending in a draw) of superior pawn structures but Tomas also mentioned that he sometimes likes to "go all in" and sent me two highly tactical ones, apparently from a quite different player.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,186,70654%2421---
1.d4960,56055%2434---
1.Nf3286,91356%2440---
1.c4185,11556%2442---
1.g319,90256%2427---
1.b314,60954%2428---
1.f45,95948%2376---
1.Nc33,91950%2383---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25254%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4       e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7!? This, the Cochrane Gambit, gives White two pawns for a piece, somehat displaces the black king and creates a central pawn majority which can easily transform into a serious attack if White arranges to play e5. It's perahps something you wouldn't play against a really good defender in a classical game, let alone a chess engine. But in practice it's really not too bad, except in the unlikely event that Black is very well preared. Kxf7 5.d4 Qe7 Playable, but the queen can easily get in the way here. 5...c5 is I believe supposed to be the best recipe, attacking White's centre before it can be stabilised. 6.dxc5 Nc6 This has been played a number of times, including between very strong players. Black eventually won in a rapidplay game Short vs Shirov Dubai 2002 though Nigel missed a bit on the way: engines also like 6...d5 7.Bc4+ Be6 8.Bxe6+ Kxe6 9.0-0 Kf7 10.Qe2 Qe8 11.Re1 d5 12.e5 Ne4 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Qe6 15.Rb1 Rb8 16.Be3 Be7 17.f4 Rhf8 18.Bd4 Kg8 19.Rf1 g5 20.fxg5 Bxg5 21.Rxf8+ Kxf8 22.Qh5 Qg6 23.Qf3+ Kg7 24.Qxd5 Qxc2 25.e6+ Kg6 26.Rf1 Qd3 27.Qd7 Be3+ 28.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 29.Kh1 Rf8
30.Rg1 30.Qf7+! wins 30...Ne5 31.Qd6 Rf6 32.h3 Nd3 33.Qd5 Nxc5 34.e7 Qxe7 35.Qg8+ Kh6 36.Rd1 Ne4 0-1 (36) Short,N (2663)-Shirov,A (2715) Dubai UAE 2002 6.Nc3 c6 7.Bd3 g6?! 8.0-0 h6? This leaves g6 periloiusly weak. Black's last two moves have not only lost time but also given White a target and he already has a much more than enough for the piece. 9.f4 Kg7 10.e5
10...dxe5? It was essential to keep the f-file closed though 10...Ne8 11.Ne4 would still be very unpleasant. 11.fxe5 Nd5 12.Ne4 Be6 13.Qe1 Bf7 14.Qg3 Qe8 15.Bd2 Nd7 16.Rae1 With simple but strong moves, Tomas has built up an overwhelming attack. Qe6 17.Nd6 Be8 18.Nxe8+ Qxe8 19.Rf6! Ne7 20.Ref1 Rg8
21.Rf7+ Qxf7 If 21...Kh8 22.Qh3 Rg7 23.Qxh6+ Kg8 24.Rxe7! followed by Bc4+ is murder. 22.Bxh6+ Kxh6 23.Rxf7 A splendid attacking game in which Tomas bravely embarked on a rather dubious gambit and then crashed through when his opponent was far too indecisive. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Yttling,T1651Boström,C16951–02010C4260'/20+60'
Stig Asplund1820Tomas Yttling16920–12010D0960'/20+60'2

Click or tap on the second game in the game list below the board to switch

On Meeting the Gambits Vol. 1; Gambits after 1.e4, FIDE Senior Trainer Andrew Martin provides you with an excellent selection of repertoire choices and teaches you the right approach to take against gambiteers.

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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