Chess blog

Hello. I had a really interesting game just now in the Two Knights Defense. I used to be afraid of playing the two knights defense because of the quick pressure on f7. But then I saw GreenCastle's great video on the Ulvestad variation which can be found here. Play began 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 The Two Knights Defense. 4. Ng5 d5 (black must sacrifice a pawn to stop the double attack on f7 5. exd5 b5! (The Ulvestad Variation). This caught my opponent off guard which is probably worth as much in generating an advantage as the variation itself. The Ulvestad Variation. According to the video, the correct move for white is Bf1 for tactical reasons (i.e. the unprotected g2 pawn. But, white sees a free pawn and so he feels compelled to take it. 6. Bxb5 Qxd5 7. Bxc6 Qxc6 Black trades immediately to save the g2 pawn as he doesn't want to lose time with 7. Bf1. 8. O-O Bb7 Threatening checkmate. 9. f3 Protects against the mate but allows me to develop with check. 9 ... Bc5+ 10. Kh1 h6 Notice how white has only one developed piece whereas black has three and can castle queenside to develop the rook to the central file. Now 9. f3 is shown to be a bad idea as the knight must move to h3 instead of the more natural Nf3. Now I can accelerate my kingside pawn attack by harassing this knight, taking advantage of the pin on the f3 pawn, and the fact that white needs two moves to start developing his queen or bishop. 11. Nh3 g5 12. d3 g4 Gaining time on the knight. I will continue this later!