[Event "Southend Easter Chess Congress U1600"]
[Site "Southend Adult Community College"]
[Date "2024.04.01"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Jon Hunt"]
[Black "Jayden Xia"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1490"]
[BlackElo "1372"]
[EventDate "2024.04.01"]
[ECO "A09"]
[PlyCount "25"]
{This final game in my trilogy from Southend is the joker in the pack, as well as being my second and final win of the weekend. It took place in Round 7 on Board 77 of the congress, and in the tradition of the best April Fools' jokes was played in the first hour of that round, i.e. before 12 midday on April Fools' Day. It's as much a loose series of anecdotes as it is an annotated game, not least as the game itself lasts only thirteen moves!} 1.Nf3 {Jayden asks me before we begin which opening I play, 1.e4 or 1.d4. I decline to answer but promise him that I will play the same move as I played with the white pieces in my previous games. When I do, my opening move is met with a wry smile from my 10-year-old opponent.} 1...d5 2.c4 $5 {Half-an-hour before this round, I walked up to the Chess & Bridge Book Stall and told the bookseller that I wasn't doing very well in the congress and needed a new opening. I asked him if he heard that a lot. He did not demur, which is an excellent way to make a sale. Having read about two paragraphs from the introduction, I bought a book on the Réti Opening and put it in my luggage to take home. Jayden's response invites the Réti Gambit, and after my disastrous outings in the KIA in previous days I decide it's not too early to try "my new opening".} ( {My Round 4 game against Keven Lamb is already published here. In Round 2, seven-year-old Mary Cawdrey met my usual King's Indian Attack beginning} 2.g3 {with} 2...Nf6 3.Bg2 Bf5 4.O-O e6 {which proved to be an excellent set-up. Mary reminded me of nothing so much as a mini-Beth Harmon and plays chess just as well. A crowd gathered round the board to witness my death throes in that one.} ) 2...Nf6 $6 {From the two paragraphs I have read about the Réti, I know that Black can respond in four ways to the Réti Gambit. Unhelpfully, this isn't one of them. (Black can capture on c4, in which case White has numerous options including recaptures via Na3 or Qa4+. Black can push the pawn to d4, perhaps the best practical try, which leads to an exciting Advance Variation with 3.b4. Or Black can support the d-pawn with a pawn at c6 or e6.)} 3.cxd5 $1 {I posit that, if 2...Nf6 isn't one of the four approved ways of meeting the Réti Gambit, then there must be something wrong with this move. What can it be? Well, presumably it's important that Black recaptures with a pawn in the centre and not a piece, because if the piece can be challenged then a loss of tempo occurs.} 3...Qxd5 $6 ( 3...Nxd5 4.e4 {is what I'm expecting, when Black has most commonly continued} 4...Nb6 $1 5.d4 g6 6.h3 Bg7 7.Nc3 O-O $14 {with a hard task ahead.} ) 4.Nc3 Qd6 $146 $1 {It's Jayden's turn to play a prank on me. Before the game we briefly discuss the Scandinavian Defence, which I play with the black pieces, and I explain that I don't play the classical version with Qa5 but rather the funky modern one with Qd6. With this move, Jayden adopts the identical set-up against me (the only difference on the board at all is that White is missing his c-pawn instead of his e-pawn) and also finds the engine's preferred choice here, in spite of the fact that HIARCS' H-Reference database reports that this move has never actually been seen on the board, while ...Qa5, ...Qh5 and even ...Qd8 have all been played before in the same position.} 5.e4 $14 ( {After due consideration, HIARCS' choice is in fact} 5.d4 {continuing the Scandinavian theme:} 5...Bf5 ( 5...Nc6 $6 6.e4 $1 {If Black forgets this isn't a Scandi, the e-pawn's advance will come as quite a shock!} ) 6.Ne5 $1 c5 $1 {Providing vital counterplay against d4} 7.Nb5 $18 {Black is faced with an uncomfortable choice between ...Qb6 and ...Qd8.} ) 5...Bg4 {The bishop's long journey from c8 to g4 reminds me of a story I must include about Jayden. Every time he walked around the playing room during a round, he *rattled*. It was very noticeable, and by the end of the third day of the tournament I just had to find out why. First, when his game finished that evening I caught his eye just as he reached the door and whispered to him, "Why do you rattle?" He gave a half-smile and shrug worthy of Stan Laurel and left, leaving me and my opponent in fits of laughter. Later I asked his friend Jason (whom I had played in Round 1) about it, and he told me that it was because Jayden's shoes rattle. Not satisfied with this explanation, I asked Jayden about it again before our game, and he gave me a demonstration of his rattling shoes. I would like to meet the parents who thought it was a good idea to buy their tournament chess-playing son a pair of rattling shoes...} 6.d3 $6 {For once, I'm not just being my usual cowardly self. Rather, I have an idea that my own queen might stand quite well on b3 in this position, with twin threats of Qxb7 and Ng5 eyeing the f7-square. For this sort of set-up, I need to ensure my e-pawn remains protected.} ( {Really, though, White should play} 6.d4 $1 {at once, on account of} 6...Bxf3 7.gxf3 ( 7.Qxf3 Qxd4 8.Be3 Qe5 9.Bf4 Qe6 10.Nb5 Na6 11.e5 Nd5 12.Nd4 Qd7 13.e6 fxe6 14.Be5 h5 15.Rc1 Rc8 16.Bd3 $18 {which is a fairly vivid way of saying "with compensation".} ) 7...e5 8.dxe5 Qxe5 9.f4 $1 {Already the doubled pawn has become an offensive weapon.} 9...Qe6 10.Bg2 Nc6 11.O-O $14 ) 6...e5 {This pawn move reminds me of the maxim that pawns can't move backwards, and by association of a story about Jayden's friend Jason (whom, as you may recall, I played in Round 1). While I was analysing my game against Jason (I was Black in that game), I discovered to my horror that I had failed to play the obvious move ...gxh3 to run and queen a passed pawn. I finally concluded that I didn't play it because the pawn wasn't on h3 at all. Jason had accidentally knocked over his king earlier in the game, and it appears he replaced the pawn on h2 by mistake. In the game, he then played h2-h4 and ran his own passed pawn halfway up the board before I could catch and win it. And so, in my game against Jason, the maxim was disproved - a pawn *did* move backwards!} 7.Qb3 $5 {Since Black no longer has the useful move ...e7-e6 (as pawns cannot move backwards - at least in this game!), I decide to go ahead with my plan, which offers Jayden the opportunity to remove any risk of Ng5 and double my pawns at the same time.} 7...Bxf3 $5 {Jayden accepts, and the fun starts!} ( {This continuation is instructive:} 7...Nc6 $1 8.Qxb7 $6 Rb8 9.Qa6 Bxf3 10.gxf3 Nd4 {and now White goes wrong to insist upon the extra pawn with} 11.Qxa7 $2 ( 11.Qa4+ $1 c6 12.Bg2 {retains the extra pawn, but Black has full compensation and maybe a little more.} ) 11...c6 $1 {when} 12.Kd1 {(Against Nc2+)} 12...Be7 13.Ne2 Nxf3 14.Qe3 Nxh2 $1 15.f3 Nxf1 16.Rxf1 O-O $15 {leaves White level on material and in a fix, with his king trapped in the centre.} ) 8.Qxb7 $5 {The look on Jayden's face suggests to me that either (a) he hadn't seen the threat against b7 at all, or (b) he had seen it but never believed for a minute that a cowardly old duffer like me would play such a move. In that case he's right - normally I do not play like this. However, I am on just 2 points in this tournament after 6 rounds, and one of those was against a player who never turned up... I need to win this game.} 8...Bxe4 $4 {I wonder what the look on *my* face is like! I have spent all this time analysing 8...Qc6, fearing that White may be able to just exchange his way out of my attack, and 8...Bxg2, which is the move I thought I had to fear. I never considered 8...Bxe4, which opens the key diagonal and fights for its control.} ( {The solution (look away now if you don't want to know the answer) is:} 8...Qc6 {Yes, White can simply exchange his way out.} 9.Qxc6+ Nxc6 10.gxf3 Nd4 {when White's extra pawn can't be defended on account of Black's other threat of Nc2+.} ) ( {Not that I had this line right at all at the time, but} 8...Bxg2 $4 {in fact fails to} 9.Bxg2 Qc6 10.Qc8+ $1 Ke7 11.Nd5+ Nxd5 12.exd5 Nd7 13.Qxa8 $1 Qxa8 14.d6+ Kxd6 15.Bxa8 $18 ) 9.dxe4 $1 {I play this for all the right reasons. It opens the diagonal for the bishop to develop and thus enables kingside castling as soon as possible, while closing the diagonal my opponent wants to open, and the pawn could be useful to support a piece (such as the knight) on d5.} 9...Qb4 $5 {Jayden might be in a bind, but he is working hard to unravel it. I only see the outline of what he has in mind. I can see ...Bc5 coming, but I'm only looking at f2, when I should be looking the other way. Otherwise, I might have preferred to reverse the order of my next two moves.} 10.Qxa8 {This is fine as far as it goes, but putting the queen in the corner (when it turns out there were two better options) just invites Jayden to see if he can trap her.} ( 10.Qxb4 $4 Bxb4 11.f3 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 $14 {leaves White with a pawn structure equally as shattered as Black's but at least the bishop pair as a long-term plus.} ) ( {I still couldn't see any profit in} 10.Qc8+ $1 Ke7 {but in fact} 11.Bg5 $1 {leaves Black paralysed. Both knights are pinned, and White threatens to win on the spot with Nd5+ forking king and queen.} ) ( {Nor did I realise I could play} 10.Bb5+ $1 {immediately:} 10...c6 11.Bxc6+ Nxc6 12.Qxc6+ Nd7 13.Qxa8+ $18 ) 10...Bc5 $1 {Only now do I look the other way and realise that from c5 the bishop defends the a7-pawn and denies me my planned escape hatch. Crumps! Has Jayden trapped my queen after all?} 11.Bb5+ $1 {An interference move. As well as giving check, the bishop interrupts the black queen's defence of the poor knight on b8, who was sleeping peacefully, half woke up at feeling a draught, wondered if someone had left the stable door open, and now wakes to find that the rook in the next-door stall has bolted and a white queen has bowled in instead!} 11...Ke7 $1 {Jayden finds a "discovered defence" for the beleaguered knight, but it comes at a cost. I almost reach for the knight at c3 before I realise it's pinned and cannot move.} 12.O-O $1 ( 12.Bd2 $1 {works just as well, since the point is the same, to free up the knight to join in the attack:} 12...a6 13.Nd5+ $1 Nxd5 14.Bxb4 Bxb4+ 15.Kf1 $1 Nb6 16.Qb7 axb5 17.Qxc7+ $18 ) 12...Nxe4 $4 {Finally, the defensive difficulties of the position overwhelm my young opponent. The knight itself stands well on e4, with twin threats of winning at least a pawn on c3 and opening up the white king with exchanges on f2. However, it looks like Jayden hasn't registered that my last move unpinned the knight at c3, nor indeed that it has a better option than the simple recapture on e4.} 13.Nd5+ $1 {The black queen is lost. Black resigns on the thirteenth move of what has become an unlucky April Fools' joke. It may just be my imagination but, after we sign the scoresheets and he turns to go, Jayden doesn't seem to rattle quite so loudly as he did before. Nevertheless, he's a fine player, and our friends at Medway Chess Club and LearnChess Academy (whom it was a pleasure to see again at Southend) have every reason to be proud.} ( {In fact White doesn't need the fork, and simply capturing on e4 is good enough to finish matters quickly, e.g.} 13.Nxe4 Qxb5 14.Nxc5 Qxc5 15.Bg5+ $1 f6 16.Rac1 $1 Qa5 17.b4 $1 Qxb4 18.Rxc7+ $18 {And finally, the punchline. After my speedy victory and a celebratory cup of tea and a bun, I return to the Book Stall, which is moderately busy, to look for another book. "I bought that book on the Réti Opening at 10:30 this morning," I announce, "played it at 11:00 and won in thirteen moves. Do you have any more books like that?"} ) 1-0
