Patterns In Practice

I don't often play Queen's Pawn games, I know even less about them than I do about the other openings I know very little about. Here's one I tried recently in a 5' 12" blitz game.



11. Ne4 probably isn't the best idea but I recognised a pattern from one of Fred's positions, and in blitz it has the advantage that Black probably thinks he can win a piece with 11. ... Bxf3 12. Bxe7 Bxe2. Here's the problem that gave me the idea:

Reinfeld position #110
White to move

The obvious answer is to win a piece by 1. Bxe7 Qxe7 2. Nd6+, but on closer inspection it's an example of 'like pieces pinning'; White can play 1. Nd6+ directly because the Black Bishop is pinned to the Queen by the White Bishop.

As to the game, the idea isn't winning much (Black still holds the gambit pawn), but the King is kept more in the centre and the Rook will be out of play for a while. Crafty just wants to play 12. ... Qxd6 getting 3 pieces for the Queen and better pawns, but the little iron monster would do that, wouldn't it! I'm sure there are plenty of other faults with the play on both sides too, however I did at least manage to notice and exploit a weak back rank at the end.