[Event "Small Nations ECh 2014"] [Site "Larnaka"] [Date "2014.04.25"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Berg, Olaf"] [Black "Said, Oliver"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C44"] [WhiteElo "2306"] [BlackElo "1969"] [Annotator "Llewellyn, Alan"] [PlyCount "37"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [WhiteClock "0:52:20"] [BlackClock "0:22:32"] {The small nations European Championships, in 2014, saw an important line in the Scotch Opening between an up and coming player, a Fide Master (in-between International Master and National Master in the rankings) called Olaf Berg from the Faroe Islands and an amatuer from Malta called Oliver Said.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 $6 {This line shouldn't be repeated at home, it brings out the Queen early and thus allows White to develop and Black falls behind in development. The storm that folows is an example to amatuers of how to punish such moves.} 5. Nc3 $1 Bb4 6. Be2 $3 {giving away the pawn to get the Queen as a target.} Qxe4 7. Ndb5 $5 Bxc3+ $5 (7... Qxg2 8. Bf3 Qg6 9. Nxc7+ $18) 8. bxc3 Kd8 {Olaf remains a pawn down but Olivers King position is rather difficult. So it must be said Olaf has a small but significant edge here.} ( 8... Rb8 9. O-O Nf6 10. Nxc7+ Kd8 11. Nb5 Re8 12. Bf3 $18 {and the attack is strong by Olaf here in this line.}) 9. O-O a6 $6 (9... Nf6 $142) 10. Nd4 Nge7 $6 (10... Nxd4 $142 11. cxd4) 11. Re1 Qg6 12. Bh5 $5 Qf6 13. Bxf7 $3 Nxd4 $1 ({ Taking the Bishop is bad.} 13... Qxf7 14. Ne6+ Ke8 15. Nxc7+ Kf8 16. Nxa8 $18) 14. Qxd4 Qxf7 $4 (14... Qxd4 15. cxd4 h6 $1 {in order to stop Bg5}) 15. Bg5 $5 Re8 16. Rxe7 $3 {a nice exchange sacrifice taking advantage of the pin and poor placement of Olivers Queenside.} Rxe7 17. Re1 $1 Qg6 18. Bxe7+ Ke8 19. Bd6+ {The only way to avoid checkmate here is to intercede the Queen by playing 19...Qe6. All moves lead to disaster for Said, here some lines as examples go:- 19...Kf7 20.Re7+ Kg8 21.Qd5+ Kh8 22.Rf7 h5 23.Rf8+ Kh7 24.Qg8+ Kh6 25.Bf4 Qg5 26.Bxg5+Kxg5 27.Qxg7+ Kh4 28.Rf4# and another lines goes 19... Kd8 20.Qh4+ Qf6 21.Be7+ and everythings going including the King. It was hard to play such positions as an amateur, my hat goes off to Oliver for trying it against such a strong player.} 1-0