Ah, the joy of gambit play.

I won a nice game in our clubmatch last friday, but the result could have been quite differently. I got into a comfortable Euwe, but then things started to get difficult.

Guido De Bouver - Patrick Morote
1.d4 Nf6 2.f3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Nc3 exf3 5.Nxf3 e6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.00 00 9.Qe1 c6 10.Qh4 Qa5 (diagram)

This cant be right I said to myself - I knew that c6 was too slow and that white was simply winning here.

11.Ne5
By far the strongest move - there is steam coming out if my analysis engine ! ( for the fainthearted under us, 11.Bxh7+ Nxh7 12.Bxe7 Re8 13.Rae1 is far simpler but less joy... )

11...h6 what else ?

12.Bxh6 Nxe5 13.Bxg7?? (diagram) completely missing the refutation 13...Ng6!

13...Kxg7 Luckily my opponent also missed it !

14.Qg5+ and I quickly won in 17 moves.

In the analysis, it is obvious that 12.Bxh6 was not optimal. I should have played 12.Ne4 (diagram), adding yet another piece into the attack, but that is not so easy to see over the board, with the clock ticking away.

a/ 12...Nxe4 13.Bxe7 (++)

b/ 12...Nxe5 13.dxe5
...b1/ 13...Qxe5 14.Nxf6+ Bxf6 15.Bxf6 (++)
...b2/ 13...Nd5 14.Bxe7 Nxe7 15.Qxe7 (++)

c/ 12...Qd5 14.Nxd7 (++)

d/ 12...hxg5 14.Nxg5 (++)

e/ 12...Qd8 14.Nxd7 (++)

So I missed a fantastic combination and was happy to win the point as I missed black's refutation 13...Ng6. But the lines after 11.Ne5 h6 12.Ne4 are so great. Black is overwhelmed with white's pieces - but the combination sure is not that easy to see over the board. Guess that does not happen in the dull Queen's gambit lines ?