Stoinov,I - Dorobanov,S [C58]
Youth National Championshiop, Bulgaria (3), 1988
(Dorobanov, 1999)

There are games we play and quickly forget, and there are those which we remember forever - whether they were played yesterday or 11 years ago. The following is a very memorable game of mine, played at age 12 in round 3 of the 1988 Youth National, Varna Beach. A valuable lesson was learned, which I'm sure has helped me save a number of games since that time. 1.e4 e5 But of course. I wasn't allowed to play anything but "open" openings, whenever there was a chance. There is a very logical reason for it too: open openings allow you to develop your pieces most naturally, as both sides control an equal amount of space in the center. But more importantly, these openings offer the most tactical opportunities, and tactics is the first and most important part of the game to master. 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 Almost forced in view of the threat at f7. There is, however, a very sharp alternative (which I didn't dare try at the time). It is the Traxler Counterattack, shown below. [4...Bc5!? 5.Nxf7 (¹5.Bxf7+!) 5...Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 (¹6.Kf1!) 6...Nxe4+ 7.Kg1 Qh4„ this being not the best line, but Black's original intention anyway.] 5.exd5 Na5 [5...Nxd5?! 6.Nxf7! This move has become popular under the name of "Fried Liver attack". It may not sound like much, but is in fact the refutation of Black's 5th. White's 6.Nxf7! is based on tactical theme Decoying, which here aims to attract Black's king onto a very unpleasant pin. 6...Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3‚ here White receives a dangerous attack for the sacrificed material. Although some opening sources may pretend that this line is playable for Black, the torture he has to go through is definitely not worth it. Just for the record, 5...Nxd5 is the most common opening mistake for beginners. It must be because of the popularity of this line among club players.] 6.Bb5+

[6.d3 aiming to defend the bishop and thus hold the d5-pawn, is a major alternative at this point, although not as popular as the text move.] 6...Bd7!? This move has almost disappeared from today's practice, and I believe that was what had attracted my trainer's attention. Analyzed and first suggested by Alekhine some 65 years ago, this perfectly logical continuation has been somewhat forgotten. Little information could be found in modern encyclopedias, but we did manage to find most of Alekhine's analysis in ancient Russian magazines before adopting it as our reply against the 4.Ng5 line of the Two Knights Defense. When I look back at those days I can only regret we were unable to use computers in our research and chess education in general. Yet every part of studying the game was a lot of fun. [6...c6 7.dxc6 bxc6© is what Black plays in almost every game of this line. Black is a pawn down but has a good center and spacious development to compensate it with. Fisher's original suggestion of 8.Qf3?! has been proven dubious (despite its good looks) in view of 8...Bb7 where Black obtains a big lead in development and possible attacks against the early developed queen. White commonly continues with 8.Ba4 in hopes to gradually catch up with development and hold off his spare pawn.] 7.Qe2! I was surprised that my opponent didn't hesitate to play this move. It is better than the alternative trade on d7 which allows Black to easily regain his pawn while preserving his spacial advantage. [‹7.Bxd7+ Qxd7³ is at least equal for Black who usually finds fit to castle on the queenside, before or after regaining the d-pawn.] 7...Bd6 8.0-0 [8.d4 This move had received a lot of attention in Alekhine's article, the temptation of playing 8.d4 here is understandable. Proving this natural move wrong was how Alekhine was originally attracted to investigate this entire line, however he also proved that 8.Nc3! is the better move here. 8...0-0! 9.dxe5 Bxe5!µ Black is fully developed, White is to expect problems on the e-file, the extra pawn is not holdable; and finally, the only possible problem which Black could expect (the uncomfortable position of the QN) is secured as b2-b4 is discouraged by Black's centralized bishop.; 8.Nc3!² was White's best. White keeps up with the development and makes his opponent work to regain the gambited pawn. In the event of, say, 8...h6 there follows 9.Nge4 which is far better than f3, where the knight usually gets kicked back by ...e5-e4 in the future.] 8...0-0 [¹8...Nxd5 was better as White did nothing to prevent it. By sticking to his original plan, Black allows White a second chance to play the best line, i.e. Nb1-c3 which would have transposed.] 9.Bxd7 Qxd7 10.c4? A positional error caused by White's desire to keep his extra pawn. Very shortly he will discover that the weakness of d4 is terrible and not worth the extra pawn. [10.Nc3 wasn't late.] 10...c6! This way Black takes full advantage of White's weak dark squares in the center; by bringing the decentralized knight where it belongs. 11.dxc6 Nxc6µ And here Black's advantage is undisputable. There is more than adequate compensation for the sacrificed pawn, the lead in development is supreme and White is to fall under a piece attack through the center. 12.Nf3 Bringing back the lost one.. and defending against black's 12...Nd4 which was threatened. 12...e4 13.Ne1 Nd4 14.Qd1

Now White's position looks terrible! 14...Qf5!-+ Regrouping the black queen for the attack. Currently a sacrifice on h2 is threatened, which the queen on f5 will be ready to backup (...Ng4+ and ...Qh5 with attack on h2). 15.b3? This not only does nothing against Black's attack, but it also helps it (by weakening the a1-h8 diagonal). But what was White to do? There was no simple way of untangling the pieces trapped to stay on the first rank. 15...Bxh2+! The beginning of an attractive execution. This combination is based on "Demolition of Pawn Structure", which is basically the sacrificing of pieces against one's castle pawns (with the idea to expose the king). [15...Qe5 was also very convincing, of course. It was a double attack (mate on h2 and indirect attack on a1, to be discovered by the knight). 16.g3 and for example: 16...Nf3+ 17.Nxf3 Qxa1 18.Nc3 exf3 19.Qxf3 Rae8 20.Qd3 Bb4 21.Ba3 Qxf1+ 22.Qxf1 Bxa3-+ with a big material advantage to Black.] 16.Kxh2 Ng4+ 17.Kg3 [17.Kg1 offered no resistance; here comes the idea of the previously played 14...Qd7-f5. 17...Qh5 and in view of the mating threat on h2, White is forced to give up his queen. 18.Qxg4 Qxg4-+] 17...Qe5+! Offering a second piece which cannot be refused. 18.Kxg4 After investing so much material in the attack, one would expect from Black to have planned something forced, but... [18.Kh3 only helped Black with 18...Qh2+ which was Black's original plan anyway.] 18...Qh2!!

A very effective "quiet" move which destroys all of White's hopes for survival. The idea is to cut off the king from returning and later deal with it. [18...f5+? was a mistake, e.g. 19.Kh3 Rf6 20.g3 Rh6+ 21.Kg2 and White is safe.] 19.g3 f5+ 20.Kf4 Qh6+ 21.Ke5 Rad8! Once again, no need to hurry with checks. Now there is no defense of mate: 22...Qd6#, 22...Nc6#, and 22...Rfe8# are all mating threats. [21...Nc6+ 22.Kd5 Rad8+ 23.Kc5 Qd6+ 24.Kb5 Qb4# was a forced mate, but not as short as it could've been in the game.] 22.Qh5 A desperate move. Since Black's most obvious and most natural mate is with ...Rfe8, White hopes that this is what Black will play... and he was right! 22...Rfe8+?? Oh, no, this is not fair, why not mate with Nc6 or Qd6? Simply because Rfe8 was what I had originally planned. I was prepared to (proudly) mate with 22...Rfe8 "no matter what he played". Never be absolute! 23.Qxe8+ At this point it didn't take me long to realize what I had done, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't stop the tears. 23...Rxe8+ 24.Kxd4 It is very difficult to stay calm after making such a blunder. But know that getting upset will only worsen the rest of your game, as in general your mood gets reflected on the board. My next move confirms this. 24...Rd8+??

Now this could have cost the game for real. Rather than playing for material (24...Qf6+ won a rook), I was still trying to mate. [24...Qf6+ 25.Ke3 Qxa1 26.Nc3 Qxc1-+] 25.Kc5?? What a relief! To play this move White must have certainly overlooked the mate on b6. Otherwise, his intentions behind 25.Kc5 were to get off the a1-h8 diagonal as to save the a1-rook. [25.Kc3! would have won for White almost surely! For example: 25...Qf6+ 26.Kc2 Qxa1 (otherwise White's material lead is too big) 27.Nc3 g5 (for lack of anything more useful) 28.Bb2 Rxd2+ 29.Kxd2 Qxb2+ 30.Nc2+- and next move White traps the queen with Rb1. Indeed, this would have been (and it could have been) a sad end of an otherwise good game.] 25...Qb6# After this game I learned to take nothing for granted. Double and triple check your next move. If necessary, sit on your hands; don't let "them" make the moves. And try not to allow feeling of disappointment to influence your judgment for the rest of the game. 0-1

This tournament was my last opportunity to win the National for the 12 age group, as next year I was turning old! I lot of tears were cried as I started with 5-0 and followed it with 2 losses and 2 draws in the last 4 rounds. Thus with only 6 of 9 I tied for 6th in that huge tournament. The loss which made all the difference happened in round 6, when I faced Peter Delchev, the future champ (7.5 of 9). I'm not going to tell you that I lost a winning position, in fact he beat me pretty good. It became my first published game, as they decided it was Delchev's best played game in the tournament. In that first publication I played the role of the loser but I still felt good about it. In the next 2 years I had more shots at both the Federation and Pioneer championships. In 1989 I won the Pioneer Nationals held in Albena, Varna, in the 14 age group.