Black to move, with a killer blow

I always enjoy it when White opens with 1.d4.

Replying e6 and seeing 2.e5 appear on the board, allows me to steer straight to the French Defence, and find out if White really intended this or not.

Here's what I saw today....

3. Qg4 ?!

Never seen that so early in a French ( and my database agrees : only two games found, both played in Junior competitions ).

I know why it is played at later times ( often after Bb4+ ) to force the weakening g6 or the return of the Bishop to f8, with the loss of a tempo, but on move 3, it just doesn't work. 

It probably means that White does not know the French Defence, and this was proved true in a short space of time.


Here is the critical position after Black has developed and won material, by chasing the Queen. 

Black to finish White with a killer blow, and not difficult to find.

Black to play and win

T66 Openings

Below, the top 10 T66 Openings so far ( Playoffs are ongoing) ...

4 e4 openings, 4 with d4, and 2 others ( Réti/English).

Hardly much of a change in major openings played, nor on the split between King- and Queen-pawn, with 1.e4 grabbing 53% of the games.

Oddest opening was 1.a3, which lost, although the opening can hardly be blamed for the tactical oversights in the game.

One Falkbeer Counter-Gambit, and also nice to see 1.Nc3 appearing twice, once transposing to a Philidor and the other remaining independent. Dirk van Geet would be pleased to see it still in action !

Seven games less than 10 moves, but no traps, just over-looked tactics at fault.

                           T66 Top 10 Played Openings

B20-B99	Sicilian	116 (15.6%)
C00-C19	French Defence	64 (8.6%)
D00-D05	Queen's Pawn ( General )	54 (7.3%)
A10-A39	English	48  (6.5%)
D30-D69	Queen's Gambit Declined	44 ( 6.0 % )
B10-B19	Caro-Kann	39 (5.3 % )
C60-C99	Spanish Game ( Ruy Lopez)	36 (4.9 %)
A45-A50	Indian & Torre Attack	32 (4.3 %)
A04-A09	Reti	30 ( 4.0 % )
E60-E99	King's Indian	28 ( 3.77 % )

All games were re-indexed by ECO code using Chess Assistant 11,. 

The Opening classification ranges ( ie grouping ECO codes), I based on those from Chessville (many thanks, although it seems to have disappeared :(

See also T56 Summary,  T55 Summary, T51 Summary,  T50 Summary and T47 Summary, T57-59 Summary , T61 Summary, T62 Summary and T63 Summary

Black to Play...again

A recurring theme...blitz, what is is good for...

The answer not being 'absolutely nothing, say it again ! ''


It's fine for a bit of relaxation, maybe for trialling and gaining some experience in a new opening, but the most frustrating part is going over the games afterwards and finding that you missed a great combination or sacrifice, which you may well not have missed in a 'proper game' with more time.

Here's an example.

Black to Play

I know why I missed it ( I'm Black, by the way ) as I had been focusing on defence around the king. threats down the h-file, threats of knight and Queen versus h7, etc, plus the fact that it was 'second time around', since it had been on show a couple of moves before.

But I did, I missed a lovely riposte that would have switched Black to attack.

Nevertheless, I managed a draw,which was a satisfying result for me.

Any ideas ?

Solution [ Nxd4 ! ]



...."What is it good for ? Absolutely nothing "