Offensive Battle

I recently played a game of speed chess at chess.com which was an offensive battle from start to finish. My opponent was Bullsandrage of Colombia who played black. Here are the moves and commentary of this exciting game:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 e6
3. Bc4 d5
4. exd exd

Black has a strong pawn centre but is behind in piece development.

5. Bb5+ Nc6
6. 0-0 Bd6
7. Re1+ Ne7

Both black knights are pinned.

8. Ne5 Qc7
9. Nxf7 Kxf7

I sacrifice my knight to expose the black king.

10. Qh5+ g6
11. Qf3+ Kg7
12. d4 Bxh2+

I push my queen pawn to open a diagonal for my dark-squared bishop. The check takes me by surprise.

13. Kh1 Bd6
14. Bxc6 Nxc6
15. dxc Bxc5

The black bishop is no longer on the same diagonal as the queen.

16. Nc3 Bf5

I finally develop my queen knight.

17. Nxd5 Qd6

Black must move the queen.

18. Bf4 Qd7

The black queen must move again. Though black has one more piece, his two rooks are not active. They remain on their original squares.

19. Rad1 Bxc2
20. Qc3+ Bd4
21. Rxd5

Here black resigns. The resignation may seem premature but if black plays Nxc4 I play Re7+ and black loses his queen. If black plays Rac8 or Rhc8, I play Rc4+ and black is in trouble. The three possible moves for the black king are Kf7, Kf8 and Kg8.

If black plays Kf7, I play Qf6+. Black must play Kg8. I then play Bh6 and mate soon follows.

If black plays Kf8, I play Bh6+. Black must play Kg8 and then I play Nxf6 which wins the black queen.

If black plays Kg8, I play Nf6+ and win the black queen.

In this game, black establishes a strong pawn centre but does so at the expense of piece development. My knight sacrifice exposes his king and turns the game in my favour.