Fun with a chess variant

As I prepare for another revamp of my main chess site, here's a bit of light entertainment.

At Exeter Chess Club I was recently playing in a chess variants tournament.  One of my favourites is the variant where if the king reaches one of the central squares (e4, d4, e5, d5) it is an automatic win for the player whose king reaches that square.  Otherwise normal rules of chess apply.  I was playing Black and reached the following position with White to move:

I had given up a queen for a rook in order to get my king out to d6.  In normal chess this position would be a straightforward win for White, but in this chess variant White has to be extremely careful as Black is only one move away from bringing the black king to the central squares and winning.

In the game White played 1.Qxe4 and resigned immediately after 1...Re8!.  In a normal game 2.Qxe8 would win, but in this chess variant, 2.Qxe8 would be met by 2...Kd5 0-1.  And if 2.Qxf5, Black wins normally with 2...Re1#, exploiting the weakness of the back rank.

A question is whether White can save this position despite being a queen for a rook ahead - this is the sort of chess variant that wouldn't work with computer analysis.  An obvious try is 1.Qb5, covering the central squares for the time being, but after 1...Nd4 2,Qg5 f5 or 2.Qa5 b5, White is struggling to keep the central squares covered and stop the black king from advancing.  1.Qa5 is probably best, but White has to watch out for ...Rc8-c5 and ...Re8-e5 ideas.

The opening saw me on the black side of a Four Knights Game (via an unusual move order, 1.Nc3 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.e4 Nf6 I think).  My opponent then played 4.Bc4, allowing 4...Nxe4.  He remarked afterwards that in this chess variant the Halloween Gambit (4.Nxe5, the subject of my Halloween update to my website) would have been strong as in various variations it is difficult for Black to stop White from safely moving the king forward towards the centre.

I imagine that the Mason Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nc3!?) and the allied Steinitz Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.d4!?), inviting ...Qh4+, forcing Ke2, would also be good in this particular variant.

A "very nearly brilliancy" in the Morra

I had a "very nearly brilliancy" in the Morra a couple of days ago, where I played what was probably my best ever attack up to move 21, sacrificing a piece and then an exchange in order to get a winning attack, but then threw it all away at move 22.  I had actually planned 22.Bh6 in advance, but talked myself out of playing it, thinking that 22.Be7 was "safer" because the bishop was defended by the queen...

The game began

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. c3 dxc3 5. Nxc3 g6 6. Bc4 d6 7. Qb3

Hitting f7, and encouraging ...e6, whereupon Black's Dragon formation "loses its shape", as Marc Esserman puts it in his book.

7...e6 8. O-O Nf6 9. Rd1 Qe7 $6 10. Bg5 

10. Bf4 is even stronger, with the idea of encouraging Black to weaken d5 further with 10...e5 11. Bg5.

10... a6?

10... Bg7 was best, and then if 11. Nd5?! (11. Bf4) (11. Nb5) 11... exd5 12. exd5 O-O
13. dxc6 bxc6.

11. Nd5

11. Bd5! was even stronger, but sacrificing the knight is the second best move in the position.

11... exd5 12. exd5 Ne5

12... Bg7 13. dxc6 O-O is objectively best, but then White has attacking
chances and the better pawn structure in a position with level material, and
the black pawn on d6 will probably drop off.

13. Nxe5 Qxe5

13... dxe5 14. d6 gives White a winning attack.

14. Re1

14. f4! would have been even stronger, preventing Black's ...Ne4 idea, but a couple of lines have to be calculated accurately.  The move played in the game is also winning for White, though.

14... Ne4

15. Rxe4! Qxe4 16. Qc3! Qe5

I saw 16... Bg7 17. Qxg7 Rf8 18. Bh6 Qe7 19. Qc3 renewing the threat of Re1.

16...f6 17. Re1 Qxe1+ 18. Qxe1+ Kf7 is Black's best chance, whereupon White has to
find 19.Bxf6! to get a winning position.

17. Re1 Bg7
17... Qxe1+ 18.Qxe1+ Kd7 gives White a choice of winning continuations. For example, 19. Bf6 Rg8 20. Qe3 b5 (20... Kc7 21. Qe8) 21. Qb6! forces mate.)

18. f4!

18. Rxe5+? Bxe5 followed by ...0-0 is probably alright for Black.

18...Qxe1+ 19. Qxe1+ Kf8 20. Qe7+ Kg8 21. Qe8+ Bf8 

Unfortunately this is the point where I bottled it.  22.Bh6, which was my original intention, forces mate in four moves, but I somehow convinced myself that Black could wriggle out, and consequently played a "safer" move that allowed Black to wriggle out...

22. Be7?? Kg7! 23. Bxf8+?! 

As is often the case after the psychological blow of missing a quick win, I rather went to
pieces. 23. Bh4 would still have left White with a strong, possibly winning,
attack.

23... Rxf8 24. Qe4?! Bf5 25. Qd4+ Kg8 26. Qb6 Rac8 27. Bb3?! Rfe8 and Black went on to win.

Unfortunately I have been forced to link to the game rather than embed a replayable game into the blog post, because at least at my end I seem to have triggered some sort of block that is stopping me from viewing replayable chess games in my own blog (but not other people's blogs).

 http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2019/3/7/Game19546281.html

An agonising loss, but I do seem to have improved my attacking play a bit recently - a common past failing of mine has been to be too eager to "cash in" and missing the quiet moves (like 16.Qc3 and 18.f4 in the above game).  I think had I reached the position at move 15 this time last year I would probably have been preoccupied with trying to regain the piece with f2-f3 and it is unlikely that I would have had the guts to play 15.Rxe4.

Having seen a number of AlphaZero-Stockfish matches recently, I think I may well have been inspired by AlphaZero's willingness to sacrifice pawns and even pieces and then quietly improve its position.