Portuguese Gambit 2

Icelandic Gambit

The Icelandic Gambit (or Palme Gambit) arises after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 e6!? It's invented by Icelandic masters who looked for an alternative to the more common 3...c6 were it often ends up in the Panov-Botvinnik variation of the Caro-Kann.

So, I plan to make a post of every game were I face Icelandic Gambit or Portugese Gambit otb. I recently started to look at this variation, and I lack even more theory knowledge of this opening than the Portuguese ;-)

As with the Portuguese it didn't take long after I had a look at it, before I faced it. I played a weaker player, so the theory of the game is pretty non-existent, but here you go:

Portuguese Gambit

The Portuguese Gambit (also named Jadoul Gambit) arises after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 and is said to be first introduced into master play by Carl Göring (the guy that also introduced Göring Gambit).

I found this gambit very interesting, and since I have tried a lot of openings against 1.e4, I wanted to give this gambit a real try otb. 
Well, it didn't take long before I faced it, and I had just started to look at the lines that arises after the Marshall Gambit (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6). 

So, here is my first game otb with the Portuguese Gambit:

Okay, so this site has been quite dead the last years - I will try to put some life to it again :)

I see that some of the old games are gone, but I will try and get them back - at least for historical value, as now I am a much better chessplayer.

My thought for the next activity is making some posts about an opening I'm experimenting with: The Marshall Gambit in the Scandinavian! I will then focuse on the gambits Portuguese Gambit and Icelandic Gambit. Should be fun stuff :-)

C'ya!

Last round of Club Tourney

Thursday 3rd I played the last round of my club's Club Tournament. I played white, and knew I would face The French, as I have played this guy several times before. I play King's Indian Attack against The French, but have lately wanted to find some more aggressive opening against French. Well, I decided on playing KIA one more time vs French, but with maybe some other ideas:




3.Nd2 is KIA standard way, but this is where I thought about playing something else. 3.Qe2 is a good alternative, and maybe it would put my opponent a bit off his prep.

4...dxe4 ? This is usually quite bad, as white normally get's some good outposts.

6...e5 I was a bit surprised over his aggressive style in the opening. Normally he take's it more easy. So from here I started a serie of bad opening development moves. 7.h3 is unnecessary, and too slow. Not sure what I feared :D

10.Bf1 If I hadn't moved 7.h3, I would have been castled now. And Bf1 is probably not good at all. I'm losing tempi, and should most likely have gone for Qb3.

12.Qc2 Probably I should have exchanged the Queens to get out of my opening problems, but the will to win won stronger :D

14.Nb3?? Ouch, a little blunder. I thought I could fork the Bishop and Knight with b5 later on, but it turns out that's working. And after 16...Nd3, which was a move I didn't calculate as I was sure it didn't work, I'm in huge problems. Dunno how I came to the conclusion he couldn't play that :D

20.Ra2 Well, I wanted to play Bb2, but seeing the fork on c2 I stopped calculating. It turns out I can just play Ke2 in reply to the fork, and getting out of most of my problems.

28.Rd2 Last desperate move. If he takes, he might ending up in huge problems after 29.Rxd2+ Kc6 30.b5+ Kc5 31.Rd7. In this line I guess 30...Kc8 might have saved his day.


Well, that was a really poor performance by me, and from now I'm gonna start playing differently, and more aggressively, against the French Defense (Tho, it wasn't the opening choice that ruined this game).

BNbank Blitz Norway 09

On Saturday I went down to Oslo S to watch the finals of BNbank Blitz Norway 09, were GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Hiraku Nakamura were among the participants. Magnus Carlsen was the favorite to win the tournament as he recently became the World Blitz Chess Champion, but it turned out that Hiraku Nakamura was the strongest part. I took a few pictures of the event:


GM Kejtil Lie, NOR (2547) - GM Hiraku Nakamura, USA (2715)

GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, NOR (2588) - GM Magnus Carlsen, NOR (2801)

GM Magnus Carlsen, NOR (2801) - GM Hiraku Nakamura, USA (2715)

Round 8/9, ClubTournament, Fall -09

11/26 I played round 8 out of 9 at my club's ClubTournament. I played a 1117 player, and if my goal is to improve, and progress in chess, this was a guy I had to win against. I have played him once before (victory), and then he played The Scandinavian. So that's what I prepared for. I have just started to play The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit against The Scandinavian, and since I've never tried it in an otb match before, this seemed like a good moment. If I couldn't win against a lower rated player, how am I then gonna win with The Blaskmar-Diemer Gambit ever, was my thought ;) For those wondering, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is a 1.d4 opening, but can be used against the Scandinavian as well, as it's transposes, i.e.: 1.d4 d5 2.e4 or 1.e4 d5 2.d4




1.e4 c6 What?? This isn't The Scandiavian!! There goes all my preparations :D Well, let's outplay him in The Caro-Kann instead ;)

2.d3 d6 hmmm, 2.d3 is what I play against Caro-Kann, but 2...d6 is not in my repertoire :D Needed to play plain chess then...

4.Be3 Seeing him preparing the Fianchetto, I thought I might as well go for some standard Bishop trading attack.

7.Be2 I thought he was very passive in the opening, and wanted to punish him. What I really wanted to do was play maybe 7.d4 (I started to regret my 2.d3 move and wanted to place my Bishop more aggressively on c4 making some treats. I ended up playing sound with development before attacking.

7...b5 ?? This can be any good? Not in my chess understanding anyway. Maybe 8.a3 is unnecessary, but at least I stop the possible complications.

8...Qa5 I had a plan of long castling, after this move I skipped that plan ;) So, 9.0-0 is logic and sound. He is pretty undeveloped and there should soon be some tactics punishing his play.

10.Bh6 I was more eager to play 10.d4, but couldn't really find the right plan. Some kingside pawn storm was also in my mind. A crazy continuation would be 10.d4 Bb7 11.Nxb5 Qxd2 12.Nxd6+ Kd7 13.Bxd2 Kxd6 14.Bb4+ c5 15.dxe5+ Nxe5 16.Rd1+ Ke6 17.Ng5+ and take on c5 with the Bishop. This should be winning, but with a piece down, I'm not sure if my strength would have won after this line :D

13.h4 Not sure if this is any good, but felt I had to attack. Black doesn't really have to much defense present. But after 15.h5 Nxh5 I'm finally getting my combination and have the advantage.

21.Qc7 I wanted to see if he dared taking on b2 - and end up losing -, but of course he didn't fall for that. 21.Qxh5 would have been better, but I felt I had a good game anyway. And he can still fall for the b2 trap.

26.Rfg7 OMG!!, had I overlooked something? I thought I was close to losing, and had a big time figuring out what to do. I thought g3 would lose to Rxg3 since my f-pawn is pinned. I totally overlooked saving the day with my Rook :D A good example on how to lose your mind tired and deep into a game ;) Well, I finally found Rd8 and was quite proud. This saves me totally, I think :) I hoped he would take on g2, and then I can take with the Queen, and he can't take back since his Rook is pinned. Then it would be curtains down.

27.Rd8 Qe5 28.R1d7 Qg5 His tempoloss with the Queen only helps me big time. 27...Qg5 would have been much better, but still losing.

35.Qf2 The final blow. Balck must take the Queen to avoid a quick loss. Of course, taking the Queen isn't really an option either ;)

42.Nf2 is a bit cautious. Nf4 intending Nxh5 threatening a backrank mate, would have been more mature :D I was'nt really afraid of messing things up tho.

So after a few more moves he gave up...