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The Worst Knight In Chess History

ChessAnalysisOpeningEndgame
Literally the worst knight you will ever see...

So in this blog post I'll analyze a 15+10 rapid game I recently played online where my opponent had the worst knight I've ever seen.

I started the game with 1. e4, and we entered the Classical Variation of the Caro-Kann Defense, where my opponent played the offbeat 5... Nf6!?

https://lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI/eRHW43Ix#0

This move avoids the dangerous main line, where White gains initiative on the light-squared bishop, castles long and aims to launch a kingside attack - a lethal weapon against an unprepared opponent.

The bishop isn't actually hanging, as black is defending it with Qa5+, but this allows White to quickly develop using black's queen to gain a lead in development.

https://lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI/eFFNbMrX#0

Here I missed the critical way to punish Black's undeveloped position with 10. Bf5! Nf6 11. Bc8! I can win Black's b7 pawn and miraculously my bishop isn't getting trapped.

https://lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI/lje8Owj9#0

But the plan I chose with 10. Nf3 to castle short and setup with Rad1 Rfe1 c4 and Bf4 still keeps some advantage. After we improved all of our pieces I decided to progress with 17. Ne5 and after 17... Nxe5 18. dxe5 my opponent blunders with 18... Nh5??

Feel free to try and spot the punishing move for white.

https://lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI/s2zw3fqG#0

19. Be3! - the start of black's downfall

Now black should hasten to somehow bring his knight back into the game, but it's not clear how to do so. If Black does nothing... well that's exactly what happened in the game.

https://lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI/qgQ5mzAr#0

Here I find a very nice zugzwang idea. Of course there are many ways and move orders leading to victory, but If you want you can try to guess my next move.

https://lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI/83uALLkb#0

Original game: lichess.org/g6l3qzPC
Game study: lichess.org/study/SQMUWAvI

Thank you so much for reading the post. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or DM me on lichess.
If you like this post you might enjoy my analysis of the WCC Round 14 Endgame: https://lichess.org/@/CkickyCheck/blog/wcc-round-14-endgame/HWyUj1kD
Peace