Blackburne Shilling Gambit | MASTERPIECE 7-move smothered checkmate ⚡ Quick Wins #69
#italian #blackburneshillinggambit #quickwins
chess noob Quick Wins! is a series of short videos, to demonstrate very quick wins! As a beginner, you become aware of the Scholar's Mate and the Fool's Mate, but neither of these show up in real games. However, there are tricky quick checkmates and wins that occur, even at the intermediate level of chess.
Today's game is a classic quick win line played by fellow Team Australia club member @stoker68. The Blackburne-Shilling Gambit is a shining example of the Romantic style of chess, and I am pleased to have it showcased!
It starts with an unexpected knight advance by Black on move 3, in response to White's Italian Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4). Black appears to have gone mad, giving up the defence of their e-pawn on e5. For White, there is a pressing issue as the knights now look at each other. Consider what the options look like for White:
- Nxe5 - win the hanging pawn, and have a double attack on Black's f-pawn
- Nxd4 - capture Black's knight with the knight, but expect it to be recaptured by exd4
- Ignore the gambit and Black's aggressive knight by developing normally (Nc3) or castling (O-O)
For most, it looks like option 1 is the best! And this intuition is what makes the Blackburne Shilling Gambit so devious! Stockfish identifies this as a mistake, with the evaluation reversing from [+1.2 today -0.5]!
Black has the unexpected and excellent counterattack with queen (4. Nxe5 Qg5), which forks White's offside knight and their g-pawn on g2. With White's knight pressed again, (5. Nxe7) which comes with a fork of Black's queen and rook seems irresistible. However, this is a blunder at [-6.4]!
The black queen now captures the g-pawn (5... Qxg2) and suddenly White realises that things have gone completely pear-shaped as the queen now also attacks White's rook, which would come with check, and frighteningly, it looks almost like mate! White responds in a very natural way by snuggling their rook to the king (6. Rf1), taking it out of danger. However, the engine thinks that the best move was to let the rook die!
Black's queen was not only attacking White's rook on h1, but there was a fork with also an attack on the e-pawn on e4 - (6. Qxe4+)! With Black's knight also covering the critical square e2, blocking the check with the queen would result in its loss so the natural move is to block with bishop (7. Be2). But once again, the intuitive move is deceiving! The bishop is pinned to the king, that final snuggle of White's pieces has the king smothered.
Black's queen's knight, which ignored convention on move 3 to leap forward and paved the way for their mistress' attack, now delivers the coup de grâce; (7... Nf3#) smothered checkmate. GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/600430845
