The Game of the Week typically involve some of Canada's strongest players. However, this week's game features a young promising player, Léo Richard, who showed great attacking skills and good opening theory knowledge. We have very little doubt that his name will come up again soon! Léo also won the Jeff de Bruges prize at the McGill Open (see picture).
[Event "McGIll Open 2015 Section C"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.05.03"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Richard, Leo"]
[Black "Pilon, Denis"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[WhiteElo "1172"]
[BlackElo "1420"]
[PlyCount "51"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 {The Giuoco Piano, one of the oldest, yet still
popular, openings.} 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 {So far,
both players are still in the theory, White sacrificed a central pawn but has
very active pieces and hope to quickly launch an attack on Black's king.} 8.
O-O Nxc3 $6 {This move has been played quite a few times in the past (you have
to remember that this opening was already known more than 400 years ago), but
it has been shown to be inferior the Bxc3,} ({A line that comes up very often
is :} 8... Bxc3 9. d5 Bf6 10. Re1 Ne7 11. Rxe4 d6 12. Bg5 Bxg5 13. Nxg5 h6) 9.
bxc3 Bxc3 10. Qb3 $1 {A common move in this opening, but White still needs to
know what he is doing, as else he may just be giving material for no reason.} (
{Tempting is :} 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Bg5 Qg8 12. Qb3+ Kf8 13. Qxc3 {But White is
not much better here, as Black will quickly develop its pieces and keep the
extra pawn.}) 10... Bxa1 (10... d5 $1 {Was Black's best option, although the
game gets insanely complicated afterwards. Here's an example of line that
could have occured :} 11. Bxd5 O-O 12. Bxf7+ Rxf7 13. Ng5 Be6 14. Qxc3 (14.
Nxe6 Nxd4) 14... Rf6) 11. Bxf7+ {And by all means the game should already be
over by now. Still, White needs to play somewhat accurately if he wants to
bring back home the full point.} Kf8 12. Bg5 Ne7 13. Re1 (13. Rxa1 {Is also
sufficient}) 13... d5 14. Bxd5 c6 15. Bf7 (15. Qa3 $1) 15... Qc7 16. Rxe7 Qxe7
17. Bxe7+ Kxe7 {Black has two rooks for the queen. However, Black's king is so
exposed that White should have no trouble winning here. The important is to
prevent Black from connecting his rook and putting his king in safety.} 18. Bh5
g6 19. Qe3+ Kd8 20. Qg5+ Kd7 21. Bg4+ Kc7 22. Qe5+ Kb6 23. Qxh8 {Winning a
rook is also a good way to end the game.} h5 24. Bxc8 Kc7 25. Qg7+ Kb6 26.
Qxb7+ 1-0
