Defeating the knight/bishop sacrifice on f7

I played this game recently. I declined his queen gambit. Then my opponent did a sacrifice.

I was a bit worried. I won, so I played alright I guess. But my opponent made me sweat. Did I handle it correctly, or was there a better way of handling the sacrifice?

Did you notice that your queen controls the g5 square, so your opponent just hung a knight on move 11? 

Sure, you might have to look at 11...Qxg5 12.Qxb7, but there's no way that can be worse than letting your opponent destroy your king's position *and* be two pawns up, having regained the piece (with at least 12.Nxe6, if 12.Qxe6+ doesn't win somehow). 

Basically, your opponent just played the attack terribly, and blundered. 

Wow I didn't see that! Thank you for pointing that out!

That would have been better, because I still threaten to take his queen with my bishop.

Yeah, at this level, typically the "attacks" by the opponents are very flawed, so be on the lookout for simple ways to defend, usually by grabbing and winning material. 

On another note, had he played 15. Nd1, I have a hard time seeing how you would prevent 16. Nf2 mate, except by giving your queen away for that knight (15...Qxd1).

The sacrifice was wrong - then you "justified" it by "believing" his check on g5 (this is well known, and is called "trusting the opponent" - if he gives a check on g5, the check must be correct, right?), and then he returned the favor by not spotting the route to your king. 

Typical twists and turns - these happen on any level, of course, but as players become stronger, it happens more and more subtly and takes more and more skill to spot and exploit.

What are you talking about. What is nd1? What do you mean with the leter N? Do you mean rook to d1? 

Could you place the PNG of the variation that you are talking about? I played with the black pieces.

And by the way - in answering your other question - had he played 16. e4, he would also open lines for you. You get a fair share of the action with 16...Bc5+ - with a consequent 17...Be3. Exchange that pesky bishop - you're up a piece, you play ...Qe3 or even ...Qd2 after you exchange on c1 and suddenly (similarly to the game itself)it's you giving mate, not him.

I especially like it how from g4, your knight shields your very advanced king from the rear - so that his queen can't trouble you that easily.

In summary, ...Qg5 was a great practical move. Notice how apart from inviting your queen in, his last move, 15. f5, also unpins your knight (!!) so that Nd1 is no longer the crushing resource that it was one move earlier.

Dear <Amonchess>

When I say Nd1, the letter N means Knight. 

Normally one would use the letter K for knight - the first letter of the word - but K is already taken, by no other than his majesty himself - the King. 

So Nd1 - is Knight from c3, to d1, and going to f2 to checkmate your king. 

I hope this helps.

Thank you! I didn't see that one. That would have been very tough to defend.

And sorry for the confusion. The knights are 'P' in the PNG I'm seeing, P for paard, which means knight/horse in Dutch.

Thank you for your advice on how to tackle the e4 problem! I will analyse what you said. 

My pleasure :-)

btw you should play e6 before nf6 in the opening, nf6 leads to cxd5 nxd5 nf3! followed by e4 and black is worse

i don't think the Marshall defence is the best against the queens gambit lucky your opponent didn't know what to do. Depending on what black plays white can win at least a minor piece. this trap takes place by black playing normally.