Animorphs

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Samuel L. Shankland

Champions Showdown Chess960 2018; blitz match game 2 (5+5); Saint Louis, September 11, 2018

nqbbrkrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NQBBRKRN w KQkq - 0 1

Position 309

1. e4 c5 2. Ng3 Ng6 3. 0-0 0-0 4. c3 b5 5. d4 b4. 5. ... cxd4 6. cxd4 Bb6 was probably more advisable, but, after all, a Fischerandom blitz game has really little to do with opening philosophy. 6. dxc5 bxc3 7. Nb3 cxb2 8. Bxb2 a5 9. Nd4 Ba6 10. Ndf5!? Bxf1

11. Rxf1!? Vachier-Lagrave goes for the trickier and more speculative move order, though objectively much more unclear than 11. Nh5! f6! (Black cannot save the Bishop because of Bb2xg7 followed by Nf5-h6 mate) 12. Nfxg7 (12. Rxf1 Bc7) 12. ... Bc4 which yet could mean anything special to White. 11. ... f6? The trap worked very well! After 11. ... Bc7! it would have been quite harder for White to justify his material deficit. 12. Nxg7! And now, instead, this is simply devastating. 12. ... Bc7. Of course, 12. ... Kxg7?? loses the Queen to 13. Bxf6+. The rest is a glorious run to mate: 13. Nxe8 Qxe8 14. Bh5 Qb8 15. Rd1 Be5 16. Ba3 Nc7 17. Nf5 Nb5 18. Qb3+ e6 19. Rxd7 Nxa3 20. Qxe6+ Kh8 21. Rxh7+! 1 : 0. For after 21. ... Kxh7 22. Qd7+ mate in three moves follows.