H is for hope, and hero

Round 7 of the 2015 Australian Juniors saw an interesting game between Harry Press and Fred Litchfield. Both are local junior players, and both play at the ANU Chess Club, normally battling it out for first place in many of the club events. So it is expected that they are familiar with both the others opening choices, and style, but even then there are little surprises to be had.
While Litchfield chose his usual French Defence, he avoided the offbeat 3. ... Nc6 line he tried earlier in the event. Press tried the Alekhine-Chatard Gambit, but Litchfield played it safe and declined the offer. However Press wasn't going to waste his h pawn, and after a speculative sacrifice on h7, used it as a battering ram against the Black king. In the post-mortem it was clear that black did have a better defence (Ra7 etc), but a combination of a shortage of time, and a difficult position, all worked in White's favour.


Press,Harry (1906) - Litchfield,Frederick (2004) [C13]
AUS jr U18 Open Canberra (7.3), 23.01.2015