Making moves

When confronted by a new opening move, the first casualty is sound judgment.

White, a master, was surprised by 5…h5 in this week’s game and quickly lost his ability to evaluate the situation properly.

Instead of 7 Nxc6, he lost control of the center and then tried to recover with a tactic.

After 7…Nxd5 8 Qxd5 Qxd5? 9 Nc7+ and 10 Nxd5 he would have won a pawn.

But Black showed that he had more than enough compensation after 12…Nd4.

After 14 Qa3 Black could have won an endgame with 14…Qxa3 15 bxa3 Nxc2.

But much better was 14…Qc7 followed by …Nxc2 or …Qc6.

White resigned before 21 Re1 Re8 and 22…Rexe2.