Hillsborough Chess Club: French Opening
Extracts from the monograph 'The Jackal Attack' by Adrian Skelton
and from his Presentation to Hillborough Chess Club on the 15th. November 2005.
We are grateful to Adrian for preparing this material for publication on the HCC web-site.
To obtain a copy of Adrian's novel publication e-mail him at Adrian Skelton
Skelton A—Jestadt J (Internet game 2002)
1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5
6.Bg5 Qb6 7.dc Bc5 8.Qd2 (A key position in the Jackal Attack—See Diagram.)
8...Bf2 9.Qf2 Qb2 10.Kd2 Qa1 11.Bb5! Qh1 12.Qc5 Qg2
13.Kc1 Qg5 14.Ng5 Na6 15.Qd6 h6 16.Ne6
(Stronger was 16.Nd5! ed 17.e6 Nac5 17.Bd7 Bd7 18.ef Kd8 19.f8=Q wins.)
16...fe17.Qe6 Kd8 18.Qd6 Re8 19.e6 Nac5 - See Diagram.
20.ed Nd7 21.Nd5 Re1 22.Kd2 Re5 23.Qc7 Ke8 24.Bd7 Black resigned.
Skelton A—O'Donnell (Internet 2001)
The first thirteen moves are as above. 14.Ng5 Nc6 15.Bc6 bc 16.Qc6 Rb8 17.Nd5! ed 18.e6 f6! 19.Qd6 Rb6 20.ed (20.Qc7 is an alternative.) 20...Bd7 21.Qd5 Ke7 22.Qc5 Rd6? 23.Nf7? (Of course 23.Ne4 was best!) 23...Kf7 24.Qd6 Be6 Black resigned.
A position from Skelton A — Kelly B
On this occasion Black has chased the Bishop from g5 and is about to advance his king side pawns in order to win White's e pawn as well. This can be a risky strategy as will be seen below. Incidentally, White's earlier pawn move, a3, is also not recommended.
10...g5 11.Bg3 g4 12.Nh4 Nce5 13.Bb5 Nc6 14.Re1 Ne7 15.Qg4 Rg8 Note that Black is nowhere near castling.
16.Qg8! It is not possible to calculate such sacrifices exactly, nor necessary: It is enough to see that White will have a very active attack that will pick up additional material along the way.
16...Ng8 17.Nd5 Bf2 18.Bf2 Qa5 19.b4 Qd8 20.Bg3 Kf8 21.Nc7 Rb8 22.Rad1 Ngf6 23.Re6
23...a6 24.Bd7 Bd7 25.Red6 Qc7 26.Rf6 Qc2 and Black soon resigned.
To obtain a copy of Adrian's novel publication e-mail him at Adrian Skelton