[Event "B&DCL "] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lines, Tim"] [Black "White, Graham"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C56"] [Annotator "Tim Lines"] [PlyCount "26"] [EventDate "2018.??.??"] {These excellent notes were made by the loser and reported in the local Newsknight magazine in 1997.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 {A good old fashioned Max Lange! I cut my teeth on things like this back in the ... whenever, and I feel I know it pretty well. Don't suppose a youngster like Graham has played many of these, so maybe he'll go wrong. The only move now is 6...d5, we swap pieces and White gets a reasonably good game.} Ng4 {Hey! What a crazy move! He doesn't threaten to take on e5 because of the pin on the e-file so I can push him back to h6 with 7.h3 and smash his pawns with 8.Bxh6 gxh6 9. Qd2 Bf8 10.Nxd4. If he tries 7...Nxf2 then 6.Kxf2 is fine.} 7. h3 {(We have reached this position before in the Ken Smith Christmas Countdown game but Graham seems to know that it is safe to take the e-pawn - Martin).} Ngxe5 {He's giving me a piece!! Hallelujah! (Christmas has arrived early! - Martin) Well, it will be nice to beat Graham. Revenge for our last game, and the one before that. A nice way to end the season too.} 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. Re1 d6 10. f4 d3+ {Yes, he can have a spite check, but that doesn't unpin the knight. Hang on though, what exactly do I do?} 11. Kh2 ({If} 11. Be3 Nxc4 { is good enough.}) ({If} 11. Kf1 Qh4 {threatening mate and pinning the f-pawn, is nasty because} 12. Qf3 {fails to} ({However} 12. Qd2 O-O {is good for Black too.}) 12... Qxe1+ (12... Bg4 {is even better!}) 13. Kxe1 Nxf3+) ({If} 11. Kh1 Qh4 {and no one would give me life insurance on the h-pawn.}) 11... Qh4 12. cxd3 {Played to protect the bishop on c4 and retaining the knight pin.} ({If} 12. fxe5 dxc2 13. exd6+ (13. Bxf7+ $15 {modern engines point out this resource but it's hard for a human to see the follow-up} Kxf7 14. Qf3+ Ke8 15. Re4 $1 { and Black is better but White can fight on - Peter}) 13... Be6 14. Qe2 cxb1=Q 15. Rxb1 Bxd6+ $19) 12... Bf2 13. Re4 ({If} 13. Re2 Bxh3 {wins}) (13. Rf1 Qg3+ 14. Kh1 Ng4 {wins}) 13... Bxh3 {And all over before the tea break! When I congratulated Graham on his brilliant 6...Ng4 move he said the whole line had been worked out by some bloke called Steinitz a century ago. Of course it made me feel a lot better to know I had fallen for a sucker punch that had been lying around in the public domain since the 1890s. The moral of the story - always look a gift horse in the mouth, it's probably a 100 years old! A great game. Well played Graham and fantastic commentary by Tim!} 0-1