August 17 Rapid Session: Attacking Chess
| Time Control: 10 min (Rapid) | Games: 6 | Record: 5W / 0D / 1L |
Overview
Six rapid games, five wins, and my rating went from 811 to 835. The theme running through the session was attacking chess, especially with the white pieces: quick development, taking space in the centre, and being willing to give up a piece to tear open the king.
The wins came from the initiative. Most of these games were around 70% accuracy, and Stockfish confirms it: the evaluation swung wildly in almost every game. Three of the wins came from positions where I was clearly worse or outright lost, and in the maguin710 game my opponent had a forced mate in 10 on the board and missed it twice. Keeping pieces pointed at the enemy king turned out to be worth more than avoiding mistakes.
All Games
| # | Color | Opponent | Result | Moves | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ⚔️ | White | Fabioar79 (811) | 1-0 | 25 | Gave up a bishop on f6 to strip the king, won a rook on g8, mated with Qxg7#. |
| 2 | ⚔️ | Black | maguin710 (773) | 0-1 | 47 | Comeback. My Bxh2+ backfired and handed White mate in 10; White missed it twice and I mated on h2 instead. |
| 3 | 🏳️ | Black | islapunk (835) | 0-1 | 22 | Comeback. 10...f6 left my queen there for the taking on the a2-g8 diagonal, White missed it twice, then Qxe5+ collected the a1 rook. |
| 4 | ⚔️ | White | ElijahWinter (847) | 0-1 | 26 | Loss. Up around six pawns for twenty moves, then 23.f3 and 24.g4 opened my own king and I was mated on g2. |
| 5 | 🏳️ | White | 2Tou (790) | 1-0 | 27 | Space with e5, wrecked the kingside with Bxh6, then a rook lift to h4 harvested h6, h7 and a8. |
| 6 | ⚔️ | Black | Silkysmooth31 (827) | 0-1 | 54 | Comeback. Dropped a bishop and was losing until 28.Qc4, then a king hunt to g5 and a winning rook endgame. |
Game 1: Win vs Fabioar79 (811) as White
10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Qxf6 Rg8 12.Nd5 Bg7 13.Qe6 a4 14.O-O-O Ra5 15.Bxc6+ bxc6 16.Nxe7 Qxe7 17.Qxg8+
Black handed me the bishop pair on move 4 with 4…Bxf3, and after 5.Qxf3 I had a queen on f3 pointing at f7 while he spent moves on 5…a5 and 6…c6. When 9…f6 hit my bishop I took it and followed with 11.Qxf6, giving up the bishop to open the f-file and the diagonals around a king still sitting on e8. Stockfish rates the capture as a blunder that hands Black the advantage, and it says 12…Nxd5 was the refutation. Instead Black played 12…Bg7, and the decisive moment was 13…a4: a rook pawn push on the far side of the board while my queen sat on e6 and every one of my pieces was aimed at his king. Two moves later 15.Bxc6+ and 16.Nxe7 stripped the defenders and 17.Qxg8+ won the rook. The finish was 23.Rhg1 hitting the queen on g2, 24.Rxg2 and 25.Qxg7#.
Game 2: Win vs maguin710 (773) as Black
19.Bb2+ Kg8 20.Rg7+ Kf8 21.Qxb7 Nd7 22.Rf1+ Nf6 23.Rxf6+ Kxg7
White gave me a pawn with 3.d5 Nxe4 and another with 5.f4 Nxd5, so I was two pawns up out of the opening with a normal fianchetto setup. He kept throwing material at my king anyway, 13.Bxg6 fxg6 and then 16.Rf7, and I decided to answer in kind with 16…Bxh2+. That one was a mistake. After 17.Kxh2 Qh4+ 18.Kg1 Be6 the engine has White mating in 10, starting with 19.Bb2+. He found the first two moves of it, then played 21.Qxb7 when 21.Rf1+ was mate in seven. He got a second chance after 26…Qxe2 and played 27.Bc1+ instead of 27.Qf4+. Once 29.Rf2 let my queen in with 29…Qd1+ I was back on top, took the c4 pawn with 31…Bxc4, and traded queens with 33…Qxf4+. The rooks came off two moves later and left me a rook and bishop against his bishop: the c-pawn, the a-pawn and finally the g-pawn all fell, and 47…Rh2# finished it.
Game 3: Win vs islapunk (835) as Black
13…fxg5 14.Bxe5 Qxe5+ 15.Qe2 Qxa1+ 16.Qd1 Qxd1+ 17.Kxd1
A Pirc setup where I castled early and let White push 6.e5. My 10…f6 was the worst move of my session: it opened the a2-g8 diagonal and 11.Bc4 would have won my queen on d5 on the spot. White played 11.Bf4 instead, then missed 12.Bc4 as well, and after 12…Nxe5 he went for 13.Ng5. That was the decisive moment. His knight left f3 while his rook on a1 was undefended on the a1-h8 diagonal with my bishop on g7 and my queen able to reach e5 with check. 14…Qxe5+ picked up the rook two moves later, queens came off, and a rook and a bishop up I traded down until he resigned after 22…Rxe8.
Game 4: Loss vs ElijahWinter (847) as White
23.f3 Qe2 24.g4 Qxf3 25.Rd2 Rxg4+ 26.Rg2 Qxg2#
The one loss, and it was the game I was winning most comfortably. Black brought the queen out on move 3 and then to b4, and by move 10 the engine had me up nearly ten pawns after 10.dxc6 Rb8. I collected the d-pawn and f-pawn with 15.Nxf6+ gxf6 16.Qxf6 and 17.Qxd6, and I was still up six pawns at move 22 with his king stranded on e8. Then I pushed the pawns in front of my own king. 23.f3 let his queen into e2, and 24.g4 opened the g-file straight onto my king with his rook already on g8. 24…Qxf3 and 25…Rxg4+ were both forced wins from there, and 26…Qxg2# ended it. Everything I did to his king in the other five games, I did to my own here in two moves.
Game 5: Win vs 2Tou (790) as White
17.Re4 Qd8 18.Rh4 d6 19.Rxh6 dxe5 20.Rxh7 Qf6 21.Qd2 Bf5 22.Qh6+ Qxh6 23.Rxh6 Bxd3 24.Rh8+ Ke7 25.Rxa8
This was the cleanest attacking game of the six. I took the centre with 8.e5, which chased the knight to g4 and then h6, and 11.Bxh6 gxh6 shattered the pawns in front of his king. 13.Nf6+ forced the king to f8 and 14.Nxe8 won the exchange. The decisive idea was the rook lift: 16.Re1, 17.Re4 and 18.Rh4, swinging the rook across to the file where his pawns were broken. 19.Rxh6 and 20.Rxh7 ate both of them, the queen trade on h6 changed nothing, and 24.Rh8+ followed by 25.Rxa8 picked up the rook in the corner. He resigned after 27.Re1.
Game 6: Win vs Silkysmooth31 (827) as Black
28…Qxf2+ 29.Kh3 Qh2+ 30.Kg4 f5+ 31.Kg5 Qxg3+ 32.Rg4 Qxg4+ 33.Qxg4 fxg4
White opened 1.h4 and 2.Rh3, so I developed normally and took the centre with 6…e5. My queen went pawn hunting with 13…Qxh4 and 14…Qxe4+, then 17…Qf4 dropped my bishop to 18.Bxg4, which left White a piece up for two pawns and better for the next ten moves. 28.Qc4 was the decisive moment, taking the queen away from his own king with my rook already on d2. 28…Qxf2+ started a king hunt that dragged him from g2 to g5 in four moves, and the engine had mate in four at the end of it with 32…Qe3+. I took the rook with 32…Qxg4+ instead, which traded queens and left me the exchange and three pawns up. That was still winning: my rooks ate the queenside, the g-pawn ran, and 54…Rg1# was mate.
Reflections
What went well:
- Sacrificing to open the king. 10.Bxf6 against Fabioar79 gave up a bishop to strip the pawns off his king, and 11.Bxh6 against 2Tou broke the kingside pawns for the same reason. Both games were over quickly afterwards.
- The rook lift. 17.Re4 and 18.Rh4 in the 2Tou game is the pattern I want to repeat: break the pawns, then bring the rook to the file where the holes are.
- Playing on in bad positions. Three of the five wins came after the engine had me losing: a forced mate for maguin710, a queen for islapunk, and a piece up for Silkysmooth31.
- Development and space in the centre. In every white game I had my pieces out and a pawn on e5 or d5 while my opponent was still shuffling.
What to work on:
- Finishing when mate is on the board. 32…Qe3+ was mate in four against Silkysmooth31 and I took a rook instead. It still won, and it cost me twenty extra moves.
- Pawn moves in front of my own king. 23.f3 and 24.g4 against ElijahWinter threw away a six pawn advantage in two moves. When I am that far ahead there is no reason to touch the pawns around my king.
- Choosing which sacrifice to play. 16…Bxh2+ against maguin710 was the one that handed the opponent a forced mate. The attacking instinct is working; the calculation behind it needs to catch up.