Greetings to all chess fans! I'm trying new openings in my games. I'm already familiar with my current opening and it gives me an advantage when playing blitz games. But it's more fun to add variety to openings and not play the same position again and again. One of the openings I'm trying out is the Larsen Attack characterized by moving the b-pawn one square, intending to fianchetto the dark squared bishop. It's a rarely played line that I wanted to try in my own games.
The game started with 1. b3 g6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. d4 d6 6. Nbd2 c6 7. g3 Bg4
After seven moves, we are already out of book moves or the usual played lines. I'm new to this opening so I'm not familiar with the best moves. I'm not unhappy with the position though. The plan is to continue my development with Bg2, castling, then push my c pawn. 8. Bg2 Nbd7 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Nxf3 c5 11. O-O Qc7 12. Rc1 Rac8 13. c4 a6 14. a4 a5 15. Qc2 b6 16. Rfd1 e6 17. Qd3 Rfd8 18. Qc2 d5
It's not easy to evaluate how to break the tension in the center. With enough time, maybe we can calculate the optimal moves but in blitz we play with instinct and less calculations. 19. Ne5 cxd4 20. exd4 Nxe5 21. dxe5 Nd7 22. f4 g5 23. Qe2 gxf4 24. gxf4 Qc5+ 25. Kh1 Qb4 26. cxd5 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 Nc5 28. dxe6 Rd2
After a few exchanges, my opponent's rook invaded my second rank. It looks like I'm going to lose the bishop on b2 but I saw a saving resource 29. Qf3 Rxb2 30. Qa8+ Bf8
I lost a piece but I'm suddenly winning with mating threats. My own king was safe enough even without pawn cover. 31. e7 Nd7 32. e8=Q Qd2 33. Rg1 Rxb3
In this position I found a mate in four by giving up one of the queens. 34. Be4+ Kh8 35. Qxf8+ { Black resigns. } 1-0
Link to game: https://lichess.org/1aXklkXZ
That's the Larsen Attack with White. With the Black pieces, I'm experimenting with 1. ...d6 whatever White plays. It's a flexible opening with Black that can transpose to other openings.
Playing chess is fun but let's not forget about physical activities. I recently committed to exercise and to keep me motivated, I joined actifit.io