The featured game follows a King's Gambit played by Steinitz with success back in 1864. Unfortunately for the White player, this time, things didn't go as well as they did 150 years ago... Not only interesting for its opening, take a look at the game for an example of a Knight besting a Bishop in an ending with pawns on both sides of the board.
[Event "Aurora Spring op"]
[Site "Auroroa CAN"]
[Date "2014.03.08"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Zhao, Yuetong (Davy)"]
[Black "Nicholson, Matthew"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C39"]
[WhiteElo "1892"]
[BlackElo "2040"]
[Annotator "MacKinnon,Keith"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2014.03.08"]
[EventRounds "5"]
[EventCountry "CAN"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 {The King's Gambit is a rare sight in modern-day chess, but it
is not without its venom. Black needs to be prepared!} exf4 3. Nf3 g5 {The
aggressive approach. It makes sense to try and take advantage of White's
provocative play. More reserved is something like 3...d6} 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 (
5... d6 6. Nxg4 Nf6 7. Nxf6+ Qxf6 8. Nc3 $11 {another moderately popular
continuation}) 6. Bc4 (6. d4 d6 7. Nd3 Nxe4 8. Bxf4 $15 {and White apparently
has compensation, but it's not enough in my opinion}) 6... d5 7. exd5 Bd6 {
Black sacrifices his d-pawn to put a damper on White's attacking ideas} 8. d4 (
8. O-O {an old move which doesn't enjoy much popularity anymore since Black
seems to have found not just equality, but an advantage} Bxe5 9. Re1 Qe7 10. c3
(10. d4 $4 Bxd4+ 11. Kf1 Be3) 10... f3 11. d4 Ne4 12. Rxe4 Bh2+ 13. Kxh2 Qxe4
$17 {Houdini claims a significant advantage for Black, and the line has only
been played once in the last century! Interestingly enough, before that, White
was actually scoring around 60% here.}) 8... Nh5 9. Bb5+ Kf8 (9... c6 $5 10.
dxc6 bxc6 11. Nxc6 Nxc6 12. Bxc6+ Bd7 13. Bxa8 (13. Bxd7+ Qxd7 14. O-O $13)
13... Ng3 $1 $17) 10. Nc3 Qe7 $2 {The first mistake of the game (even though
it has been played previously).} (10... f6 11. Nxg4 Ng3 $15) 11. O-O (11. Bxf4
$1 $146 {Appears winning although it hasn't been played yet!} Nxf4 12. O-O Bxe5
13. dxe5 Qc5+ 14. Kh1 Nh5 15. Ne4 Qxb5 16. e6 $18) 11... Bxe5 12. dxe5 Qxh4 ({
I find it amusing that the players were following a game from 150 years ago.
Was the White player studying old games of the first world champion?} 12...
Qxe5 13. Ne2 c6 14. Nxf4 cxb5 15. Nxh5 Qxh5 16. Qd4 Kg8 17. Bg5 h6 18. Bf6 Rh7
19. Rae1 Bd7 20. Re5 Qg6 21. h5 Qxc2 22. Qxg4+ Kf8 23. Be7+ Ke8 24. Qg8# {1-0
Steinitz,W-Thorold,E/London 1864/EXT 2012}) 13. e6 (13. Bxf4 g3 14. Bxg3 Nxg3
15. e6 $40) (13. Rxf4 Nxf4 14. Bxf4 g3 15. Qf3 Bg4 16. Qxg3 Qxg3 17. Bxg3 $14)
13... g3 14. e7+ $2 {A mistake as it allows the c8 bishop to come to life
shortly} (14. Rf3) 14... Kxe7 15. Re1+ Kd8 16. Qd4 Qh2+ (16... Rg8) 17. Kf1
Qh1+ 18. Qg1 Qxg1+ (18... Qh2 19. Qd4 Qh1+ {could yield a 3-time repetition})
19. Kxg1 Bg4 20. Be2 (20. Rf1 f3 21. gxf3 Bh3 22. Re1 Nd7 23. Ne4 $11) 20... f5
(20... Bxe2 21. Nxe2 Re8 22. Bd2 Re4 23. Nxf4 Rxf4 24. Bxf4 Nxf4 25. Rf1 Ng6
26. Rxf7 Nd7 27. Rxh7 a5 $11) (20... Rg8 21. Rf1 Nd7 22. Bxf4 Bxe2 23. Nxe2 a5
$11) 21. Bf3 $2 (21. Rf1 $14 {f4 is a sitting duck}) 21... Nd7 22. Ne2 Bxf3 23.
gxf3 Ne5 24. Kg2 Ng6 $17 25. Nd4 Kd7 26. Nxf5 Nf6 27. c4 h5 (27... Rae8 28. Bd2
$8 h5 29. Bc3 Rxe1 30. Rxe1 Re8 31. Rxe8 Nxe8 32. c5 $15 {transposes to the
game}) 28. Bd2 (28. Re6 Raf8 29. b3 h4 {and a forcing continuation ensues} 30.
Kh3 Rh5 31. Ng7 Rg5 32. Bb2 g2 (32... Ne8 33. Rg1 Rg8 34. Rxe8 Rxe8 35. Nxe8
Kxe8 36. Re1+ Kd7 37. Bf6 Rf5 38. Bd4 {and my gut feeling is that White should
hold, but Black has serious chances}) 33. Bxf6 g1=Q 34. Rxg1 Rxg1 35. Nh5 $15)
28... Rae8 29. Bc3 Rxe1 30. Rxe1 Re8 31. Rxe8 Nxe8 32. c5 a5 33. b3 b6 34. c6+
Kc8 35. a4 Nd6 36. Nxd6+ cxd6 37. Bf6 $4 Kc7 {missing his first chance to put
the game away} (37... Ne5 $1 {the Black King can defend d6 and b6 from c7, but
White will not be able to defend his light-squared pawns (specifically d5). He
is also unable to exchange minor pieces since Black can force a breakthrough
due to zugzwang} 38. Bg5 (38. Bxe5 dxe5 39. d6 h4 40. Kh3 e4 41. fxe4 f3 42. e5
f2 43. Kg2 h3+) 38... Nd3 39. Kf1 Kc7 40. Kg1 h4 41. Bxh4 Nb4 $19) 38. Bg5 Kb8
39. Kh3 Kc8 40. Kg2 Kc7 41. Kh3 Ne5 42. Bxf4 Nxf3 43. Bxg3 Nd2 44. Kh4 Ne4 (
44... Nxb3 45. Kxh5 Nc5 46. Kg4 Ne4 47. Bh2 Nc3 $19 {since Black gets d5 and c6
}) 45. Be1 Nf6 {right idea, but now Black will need to resort to some trickery
with his Knight to put the game away. It was easier to just take on b3 on the
44th move.} 46. b4 axb4 47. Bxb4 Nxd5 48. Bd2 Kxc6 49. Kxh5 Nf6+ {I actually
didn't realize this would be such an easy win for Black. He plays the
remainder of the game with very accurately} 50. Kg6 Ne4 51. Be1 Nc5 52. a5 Nd3
53. Bd2 Ne5+ 54. Kf6 Nc4 55. axb6 Nxd2 56. Ke6 Ne4 ({It was not too late to
throw away the win!} 56... Nc4 $4 57. b7 Kxb7 58. Kd5 $11) 0-1
