Yesterday saw me winning a standard Correspondence Chess game via the clock, my opponent had simply stopped moving and had run out of playing time, giving me the victory by default.
This game began in early September and for the first six weeks or so White moved at a pretty good pace. By late October the frequency of his moves slowed considerably, and most of November found me waiting patiently on my side of the board for his moves that never came. The game did progress through 24 full moves, however, and had become rather interesting.
Our move record and final board position are below:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Qe2 Be7 6. Ng5 O-O 7. Qf3 Bg4 8. Qg3 a6 9. Bc4 b5 10. f3 bxc4 11. fxg4 h6 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. exd5 Bxg5 14. h4 Bf4 15. Qc3 Re8 16. Qxc4 Bg3+ 17. Kd1 Bxh4 18. Qa4 Nd7 19. c4 Nc5 20. Qc2 Bg5 21. d3 f6 22. Bxg5 fxg5 23. Kd2 e4 24. d4 Nd3
Black Win
Our first few moves put us into a Three Knights Game variation of the Petrov’s Defense which, according to classical theory, may develop the following features: “Often a trade occurs, and black after gaining a tempo gains a well placed knight.”
Sure enough, we did a lot of Bishop and Knight trading. At game’s end, when White stopped playing, I not only had a material advantage with my Black pieces, but also the advantage of tempo and a well placed Knight.
It’s also worth noting that White had allowed his King to become awfully exposed. He was going to have a tough time defending it after I cleared away some of the pawn clutter and moved more of my major pieces into attacking positions.
