Wednesday, February 4, 2015

25 Years of Philidor Counter Gambits

25 years ago today, I played my first Philidor Counter Gambit as a national master.

More than 900 PCG games later, with a plus score of over 250, my two favorite Philidor Counter Gambits were played at the USATE 1999 and the USATE 2000.

Philidor Counter Gambit

NM Gerard McDonnell - NM Jim West, Somerset NJ 2/4/1990

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Ng5 d5 6.dxe5 c6 7.Ncxe4 Qc7 8.Nd6+ Bxd6 9.exd6 Qxd6 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Qe2+ Qe7 12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 13.O-O h6 14.Re1+ Kf8 15.Ne6+ Bxe6 16.Rxe6 Kf7 17.Re1 Nbd7 18.Bf4 Rhe8


19.Kf1 Nc5 20.Be2 g5 21.Be3 Nce4 22.Rad1 c5 23.Bc1 Kg7 24.Bb5 Rf8 25.f3 Nd6 26.Bd3 Rae8 27.Rxe8 Rxe8 28.Re1 b5 29.Rxe8 Nfxe8 30.Kf2 c4 31.Bf1 Kf6 32.Be3 a6 33.h4 Nf5 34.hxg5+ hxg5 35.Bd2 d4


36.g3 Nc7 37.Bg2 Ne6 38.Bh3 Nc5 39.Bf1 g4 40.Bb4 Ne6 41.Bd2 gxf3 42.Kxf3 Ng5+ 43.Kf4 Nxg3 44.Bg2 c3 45.bxc3 Ne2+ 46.Kg4 Ne6 47.cxd4 N2xd4 48.c3 Nf5 49.Bb7 Nc5 50.Bg5+ Ke5 51.Bf4+ Kf6 52.Bg5+, draw.