[Event "English Senior Championship - Over 65"] [Site "Holiday Inn Kenilworth-Warwic"] [Date "2025.04.25"] [Round "2.14"] [White "Johnson, Richard J"] [Black "Morrish, John"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "1868"] [BlackElo "1786"] [Annotator "MJDonnelly"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2025.04.24"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 $5 {Generally known as the Cochrane Gambit this idea was regarded as just an experiment by Tartakower and Du Mont in the classic book 500 Master Games published in 1952. Nevertheless it was played by Cochrane many times against Bonnerjee in Calcutta in the mid 1800s and resulted in an overwhelming White win rate. It has also been played in more recent years by several of the strongest players in World such as Short, Toplov, Ivanchuk and even Carlsen against equally strong players like Kramnik, Shirov and Li all harkening back to what may be termed the Romantic Era of Chess.} (4. Nf3 Nxe4 {is the usual main line of the Petrov Defence.}) 4... Kxf7 5. d4 $5 {White has two pawns and a d4/e4 pawn centre as compensation for the sacrificed piece.} ({Cochrane played the line in a more direct manner, for example, in Cochrane-Mohishunder, Calcutta 1948 in which Black was swept off the board as follows} 5. Bc4+ $5 {favoured by Cochrane rather than 5. d4} Ke8 6. O-O c5 (6... c6 {was played in a later game and seems better but Black was neverthless crushed after} 7. Bb3 d5 8. e5 Ne4 9. d4 Qh4 10. f3 Ng5 11. f4 Bg4 12. Qd3 Ne4 13. f5 Nd7 14. c4 Qh5 15. cxd5 Be2 16. Qxe4 Bxf1 17. Kxf1 Qxh2 18. dxc6 Qh1+ 19. Ke2 Qxc1 20. cxd7+ {1:0 Cochrane-Bonnerjee, Calcutta 1850.}) 7. h3 Qc7 8. f4 Nc6 9. Nc3 a6 10. a4 Qe7 11. Nd5 Qd8 12. d4 cxd4 13. e5 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 dxe5 15. Bxc6+ bxc6 16. Qh5+ Kd7 17. fxe5 Kc7 18. Rf7+ Kb8 19. e6 Bd6 20. Bg5 Qb6 21. a5 Qc5 22. b4 Qe5 23. Bf4 Qxe6 24. Qc5 Qxf7 25. Bxd6+ {1:0.}) 5... Be7 (5... Nxe4 {doesn't help Black as White can recover the piece and win a pawn as well as leave the Black king uncastled via} 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qd5+ Kg7 8. Qxe4 {Reinderman-Van der Sterren, Lost Boys Amsderdam 1999.}) 6. Bc4+ (6. Nc3 {is the most popular move waiting to see what set up Black will chose. For instance} Re8 7. Bc4+ Kf8 {McClintock-Small, American op Los Angeles 1991.} ({and} 7... Be6 8. Bxe6+ (8. d5 {blocking the centre was not so strong in Ekstroem-Tjarnemo, Eksjo 08 Grupp B 1980.}) 8... Kxe6 {Andreikin-Renjith, Titled Tuesday intern op 29th Dec Chess.com INT blitz 2022.})) 6... Be6 7. Bxe6+ Kxe6 8. O-O {the most natural emphasising the White king has castled into safety whilst Black has not. The richness of this position, is however, illustrated by the fact that White has other valid options.These are generally replied to by Black attempting to castle "by-hand" whilst White develops rapidly. For example} (8. Qf3 Rf8) ({or} 8. Nc3 Kf7) 8... Kd7 $6 {Black heads for apparent safety on the queen's-side but the problem then is that the king prevents the conection of the black rooks.} (8... Kf7 $5 {is more accurate when again White has a range of decent options available such as} 9. Qf3 ({but not the main game idea of} 9. e5 {which is futile due to} dxe5) ({or} 9. Nc3) ({and} 9. Bg5)) ({Similar is} 8... Rf8 9. Nc3 Kf7 {Ntatsis-Zotos, Ambelokipi Op Athens 2000.}) 9. e5 Kc8 ({Alternatively} 9... dxe5 10. dxe5+ Kc8 11. exf6 Bxf6 {and White is simply a safe pawn up.}) ({or if} 9... Nd5 10. Qg4+ Ke8 11. Qxg7 Rf8 12. c4 {with 3 pawns for the knight and the intiative White is winning easily.}) 10. exf6 Bxf6 {So the opening has gone well for White whose king is safely castled and who has an extra pawn to boot although Black has some small potential chances of play with the active bishop on f6 and play on the f-file versus f2.} 11. Be3 Nd7 (11... Nc6 {supporting the bishop seems more suitable.}) 12. Nc3 h6 {An all out approach as Black throws his pawns forward against the White king.} 13. Qd3 Rf8 14. Ne4 ({Completion of development with} 14. Rae1 {is even more effective althought the knight move to exchange off Black's best piece is also good.}) 14... g5 15. c4 {Taking control of d5 with the possibility of generating a counter attack on the Black king with moves such as b4, Rac1, d5 and c5 for instance.} Be7 16. Rac1 c6 {Hoping to give the Black queen and king some air.} 17. b4 Qc7 (17... Kb8 {moving the king off, rather than putting the queen on, the c-file with the idea of perhaps a5 at some point might give a bit more hope,}) 18. Rfd1 Nf6 19. Nxf6 Rxf6 20. d5 Kd7 {Black finds he has to advance the king back into the centre in order to try and bring the Ra8 into play say on f8 or g8. However, on d7 it becomes exposed to attack once again.} (20... c5 {Trying to block the position is a slightly better option.}) 21. Bd4 {Correctly playing in the centre to push Black back and disorganise his pieces.} Rff8 22. Qh3+ Kd8 23. Re1 (23. c5 {is another very strong move when play may have gone} cxd5 24. cxd6 Qxd6 25. Bc5 Qd7 26. Bxe7+ Qxe7 (26... Kxe7 27. Re1+) 27. Rxd5+ $18) 23... Bf6 24. Qxh6 {Attacking f6 and f8 leaves Black little choice.} Qf7 25. Bxf6+ {Exchanging off the heavy pieces reduces the game to an easilly won ending.} Qxf6 26. Qxf6+ Rxf6 27. dxc6 bxc6 28. Re4 Kd7 {Once again Black tries to bring the Ra8 into play.} 29. Rce1 Rf7 30. a4 Raf8 31. f3 {Preventing Rxf2 leaves Black with no hope whatsoever. A game that underscores the concept that a castled king is generally a much safer situation than a king in the centre of the board.} 1-0