Five chess players gathered at Kembys Brew Pub in Hiroshima for a casual chess session over a beer or two, including two new members to the group, John and Sena.
Kembys: https://www.kembysbrewpub.com/
Towards the end of last year I started coaching both John and Sena in chess and blogged about a couple of those sessions here
@hirohurl/my-first-chess-coaching-session-in-nishi-hiroshima
and here
@hirohurl/drunken-blitz-chess-with-a-soviet-era-analogue-chess-clock
Apparently, Sena had been practising a lot since then and was keen to play again. We played three games. In the first game I was white and Sena responded my Queen's Opening with the Chigorin Defence:
- d4 d5
- c4 Nc6 (Chigorin)
- Nf3 Nf6
- Bg5
I forget what happened after that, but the first game ended as in the photo, above, with a two knight checkmate.
The second game provided an opportunity for a "one point tip" about opening as white because, with Sena as white, the first moves were as follows:
- e4 g6
- d3 ...
Far too passive! 2. d4 is much better.
In the third game, I was white again and opened with 1.d4 and it seemed as if we were heading into the Austrian opening:
- d4 d5
- c4 c5 (Austrian)
- cxd5 ...
Then Sena took the d4 pawn, which transposed the opening into a sort of accelerated Hennig-Schara Gambit (without 2... e6). I took the pawn with my Queen, as per the standard Hennig-Schara, and then Sena moved his Knight to c6 but thought he'd blundered as it could be taken by my d5 pawn (see diagram, above). I pointed out that I would lose my Queen if I took his Knight with my pawn, and that is a standard pattern in the full Hennig-Schara Gambit, which goes:
- d4 d5
- c4 e6 <==
- Nc3 c5
- cx d5 cxd4
- Qxd4 Nc6
- Qd1 ...
In our game, the sequence went:
- d4 d5
- c4 c5 (Austrian)
- cxd5 cxd4
- Qxd4 Nc6
- Qd1
After which, I seem to remember a series of Queen moves by Sena, ultimately leading to another lost game. He then tried his luck against Don, who only plays chess when he joins our sessions. They played a clock game with 12 minutes each (no increment) and after something of a mid-game tussle, Don managed to win.
Meanwhile, John, as white, gained a winning advantage over Alena but couldn't see how to convert it, although mate in three was available... they agreed to allow a coaching intervention on my part to get the order of play right - Queen check, Rook check, Queen checkmate, Bob's your uncle.
Cheers!
David Hurley
#InspiredFocus