Esserman- Dispatch from Spain

IM Marc Esserman sends us this entertaining game from his recent tournament in Spain.

[Site "Montcada, Spain"]
[White "Esserman"]
[Black "Capellades"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C64"]
[WhiteElo "2439"]
[BlackElo "2222"]
[EventDate "2011.06.27"]
[SourceDate "2011.06.27"]

Annotations by IM Esserman
1. e4 e5

Hello everyone from Barcelona, Spain. I have been hoping to send a
Morra Gambit game back home but unfortunately, my opponents have played 1...
e5 seven games in a row! However, the opportunity finally presented itself to
play a Morra Gambit like gambit in this last game. After seven straight e5's,
you have to take your chances.

2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Qf6



5. d4 exd4 6. e5 Qg6 (6... Nxe5 7. Qe2 wins a piece, as defending the knight via d6 loses the king.) 7. O-O


Perhaps if more sicilians had cropped up in Europe, I would have
played the more standard 7. cxd4!

7... dxc3

Not quite dxc3 in the Morra gambit, but it will do!

8. Nxc3 White's attack may be even more serious than in the morra gambit... Nge7 9. Re1 O-O (9... a6 10. Bd3 Qh5 11. Re4 Ng6 12. g4 Qh3 13. Bf1 wins the queen in amusing fashion)

10. Bd3 Qh5 (10... f5 11. exf6 Qxf6 12. Ne4 Qf5 will not save black after 13. Bg5 Kh8 14. Nf6 and the queen is again trapped, this time in the center of the board!)

The movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" teaches us not to bring our queen out too early, although the boy playing Josh in the park does not listen, much to the chagrin of his serious coach (and neither, for that matter, does Billy Collins, with his famous e4 e5 Qh5!?!?! on move two, or what he likes to call "Queen to Rook Five, how long can you stay alive, catdog!"

11. Ne4 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5 13. Ng5 (The queen is getting tired.) Qf6 14. Bxh7+ Kh8 15. Bd3

Giving the f2 pawn, but with mate on h7.

15...g6 (15... Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 g6 17. Rf1 Qb6 18. Qf3 Bh4 19. Qh3) (15... Qxf2+ 16. Kh1 Qh4 17. g3 Qh6 18. Nxf7+) 16. Ne4 Qb6 17. Qf3 Kg7 18. Nxc5 Qxc5 19. Be3 Qd5 20. Qf4

Black's dark squares will prove critical, in addition to his lack of development brought about by not watching "Searching For Bobby Fischer".

20...Ng8 21. Rad1


21...f6 22. Bxg6 Qg5 23. Qxg5 fxg5

Finally the queen retires, but her career has been a failure.

24. Bc2 g4 25. Rd5 d6 26. Rg5+ Kf6 27. Rg6+ Kf7 28. Bd4 Bf5 29. Rg7#


Hopefully I will have more entertaining dxc3 games to post! 1-0