Philidor Defense (17), exposing the king

Today’s blog entry is from round 3 of my chess club’s weekly tournament. The game is G75 with a 30 second increment. White opened with e4 and I defended with my favorite Philidor Hanham. On White’s 6th move he captures my e5-pawn, which immediately equalizes for Black.

White breaks a pin of his Queen by moving pawns to h3 and g4. Black cannot resist the opportunity to open the castled position by trading a Knight for 2 pawns. Later, Black opens the f-file and establishes a winning battery.

White is now down 2 pawns and significantly behind on the clock (Black has 35 minutes and White has 2). Instead of playing murky tactics, Black elects to not trade pieces, planning on exchanging the time advantage into a material advantage. White resigned to end the game.