part 1 | part 2

It's all gone wrong for Black. White has carried out his main ideas: 1) Initial dark-squared attack; 2) Long castling and rapid centralization of the Rooks; 3) The smashing up of black's center and penetration of the Knights BEFORE black gets his Rooks into play.

18...Re8 19.Nd6, 1–0.

S Simoli (2225) - V Ciampi [C11]
Rome op Rome (3), 1990
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Qh5 c5 6.Nf3 a6

Black thinks he's playing some sort of normal French Defense. Quite wrong.

7.Bg5!?

Again White has to be very, very quick or Black will get those pawns moving.

7...Qb6 8.0–0–0 g6 9.Qg4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc6

10...Nxe5 leads to the following ridiculous line. 11.Nxd5!! Nxg4 12.Nxb6 Nxf2 13.Nxa8 Nxh1 14.Nc6! f6 15.Rd8+ Kf7 16.Nxb8

What a position!

11.Nxe6

Psycho-chess. Who could resist?

11...fxe6 12.Qxe6+ Ne7

12...Be7 13.Nxd5 is crushing.

13.Nxd5

It's time for the Black King to go for a walk. 

13...Qxe6 14.Nc7+ Kf7 15.Nxe6 Kxe6 16.Bc4+ Kf5 17.f4 Nxe5

I had fun examining the position after 17...Nb6. The Black King is spectacularly doomed! 17...Nb6 18.g4+ Kxg4 19.Bd3! Kf3 (19...Ned5 20.Rdg1+ Kf3 21.Rg3+ Kf2 22.Rf1 mate) 20.f5 Nxf5 21.Rhf1+ Kg4 22.Rg1+ Ng3 23.Rxg3+ Kh5 24.Be2+ Bg4 25.Rxg4 Bh6 26.Rg3 mate.

18.g4+ Nxg4

18...Kxg4 was a better try, though White retains a strong (and favorable!) initiative after 19.Rhg1+ Kf5 20.fxe5 b5 21.Bf7.

19.Rde1

Very effective, taking all the flight squares away. The end is nigh.

19...Nf2 20.Re5+ Kg4 21.Be2+ Kh3 22.Re3+ Kg2 23.Bf3+ Kh3 24.Be4+, 1-0. He does not want to be mated in four more moves. A fantastic game of very doubtful quality.

Let us not underestimate how much FUN chess can be. Stern-faced masters may well exclaim “RUBBISH” when faced with a move like 5.Qh5, but as we have seen, it is not at all easy to meet.

To close, another wild and risky adventure, this time from the actual British Championship.

A Smith (2275) - C Harris (2065) [C11]
Scarborough, 1999
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Qh5 c5 6.Nf3 cxd4

Here are two more Smith masterpieces:

6...Be7 7.Bg5 a6 8.0–0–0 Nc6 9.dxc5 h6 10.h4 g6 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.Qg4 Qxc5 13.Qf4 b5 14.Bd3 Qb4 15.Qg3 Rg8 16.Rhe1 Nc5 17.Bf1 Na4 18.Nxa4 Qxa4 19.a3 b4 20.Re3 Bd7 21.Qf4 Rc8 22.Rd2 Rb8 23.Rb3 a5 24.Qxh6 bxa3 25.Rxa3 Qb4 26.Rb3 Qa4 27.Rxb8+ Nxb8 28.Kb1 Nc6 29.Qe3 Qg4 30.Nd4 Nb4 31.Nb3 Ba4 32.Nxa5 Nxc2 33.Qc5 Qe4 34.Bb5+ Bxb5 35.Qxb5+ Kd8 36.Rxc2 d4 37.Qb8+ Ke7 38.Qd6+, 1–0, A Smith - I Webster, Oxford 2003. Tight control by White.

6...g6 7.Qg4 a6 8.Bg5 Qb6 9.0–0–0 Nc6 10.dxc5 Qxc5 11.Qg3 b5 12.Bd3 Bg7 13.Rhe1 Bb7 14.h4 h5 15.Kb1 Rc8 16.Qf4 Nb4 17.Rc1 Nc6 18.Re2 b4 19.Na4 Qa5 20.b3 Na7 21.Nd4 0–0 22.Bh6 Nc6 23.Nf3 Ne7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.g4 He could not be denied. 25...hxg4 26.Qxg4 Rh8 27.Ng5 Bc6 28.Rg1 Nf5 29.Nxe6+ fxe6 30.Qxg6+ Kf8 31.Bxf5 exf5 32.e6 Ke7 33.exd7+, 1–0, A Smith - J Henneteau, Cannes 2000.

7.Nxd4 g6 8.Qg4 Nxe5 9.Qg3 Nbc6 10.Nxc6 Nxc6 11.Bf4 Bg7 12.Bc7 Qf6 13.Bd6 Nd4 14.Bd3 Bd7 15.0–0–0

We've seen all this before. Harris tries to improve by keeping White out of b5 but he cannot feel totally comfortable with that Rook on h8 looking on.

15...a6 16.Rhe1 Nc6 17.Nxd5!?

Initiating crazy complications but if you play 5 Qh5 on a regular basis that it the least of your problems. 

17...Qxb2+ 18.Kd2 Rc8 19.Bc5 Na5

19...Ne5 20.Qh4 Nc6 21.Qg3, = is an odd repetition. Harris panics, can't work it all out and goes under.

20.Rb1 Qxa2 21.Qd6! Nc6

21...Nc4+ 22.Bxc4 Qa5+ 23.Bb4 Qd8 24.Bd3 Rc6

This stops the mate, but the cost has been too high. Black cannot make anything of the pile-up on the d-file: 25.Qg3 Bc8 26.Ne7 Rc4 27.Nf5!! and it's all over.

22.Rxb7 Qa5+ 23.Ke2 Qd8 24.Kf1 Rg8 25.Bb6 Bf8 26.Nf6+, 1-0.

I think the variation with 5.Qh5 is replete with interesting possibilities. Even if unsound, you will learn a lot about attacking chess if you try it out. The positions reached are fascinating, laced with excitement and unusual danger. As a one-off or at club level, this will catch the opponent right on the nose.

part 1 | part 2