# Modern Defense Bxf7+ sacrifice: what I missed in game 1440 > A Modern Defense Bxf7+ sacrifice gave me a winning game as Black in game 1440. I missed the queen check on f2 twice and drew with 1.6 seconds left. - URL: https://thechesscoach.netlify.app/journey/opening-lesson-game-1440/ - Updated: 2026-11-02 - Author: Ignacio Soler In game 1440 a Modern Defense Bxf7+ sacrifice by my opponent handed me a winning position on move 9: Stockfish marks the bishop sacrifice as a blunder, with the evaluation going to **-8.41** for me as Black. I still only drew against **tommyr5000 (1294)**. The saved analysis shows me missing the same queen check on f2 twice, and the game turning into a 143-half-move blunder exchange that ended with two bare kings and **1.6 seconds** on my clock. ## The recorded game I played this game on **April 11, 2025** as **Black**, on my Chess.com account **nacsol3**. The rating recorded for this game was **1281**. It was a ten-minute rapid game without increment, part of the sequence behind the [From 631 to 1385 journey](/journey/). | Detail | Saved record | |---|---| | Game | 1440 | | Opening | Modern Defense with 1.e4 (B06) | | Result | Draw (1/2-1/2), by insufficient material | | My accuracy | 65.9% (White 66.2%) | | My blunders / mistakes / inaccuracies | 15 / 1 / 1 | | White's blunders / mistakes / inaccuracies | 16 / 0 / 2 | | Accuracy by phase | Opening 71.9%, middlegame 50.1%, endgame 68.2% | | My best winning chance in the game | 96.3% | | Original score | [Chess.com game](https://www.chess.com/game/live/137257089914) | The evening before, I had won two games in a row (1437 and 1438, the second one with 98.8% accuracy) and then lost game 1439. This draw came the next morning, and the next two games, 1441 and 1442, were wins. The [weekly diary for that week](/journey/week-2025-w15/) has the full list, and it already mentions this game as the one that produced most of my blunders that week. ## How the opening went The moves were 1.e4 g6 2.Nc3 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 dxe5 6.Nxe5 O-O 7.O-O Qd4 8.Re1 Ng4. Nothing in that sequence is marked as an error for either side. My queen came out early to d4, hitting White's bishop on c4 and the knight on e5, and my knight jumped to g4 to add a second attacker to that knight. Stockfish rated 8...Ng4 as its own first choice. Then White played 9.Bxf7+. The bishop took the pawn next to my king with check. It looks like the kind of attacking move you see in openings with a bishop on c4, but the analysis is clear: from **-0.34 to -8.41**. Remember the signs: the numbers are from White's side, so a big minus means a big advantage for me. Stockfish wanted 9.Nxg4 instead. My reply, 9...Rxf7, was the engine's first choice and is the move the review marks as a good moment for me. White's knight took my rook on f7 (10.Nxf7), and now I had to decide how to recapture. ## Position 1: move 10, the king or the queen > **Game 1440, Black to move on move 10** > Position (FEN): `rnb3k1/ppp1pNbp/6p1/8/3q2n1/2N5/PPPP1PPP/R1BQR1K1 b - - 0 10` > Played: Kxf7 — King takes the knight on f7 > Better: Qxf2+ — Queen takes the pawn on f2 with check: a double attack on the rook on e1 and the knight on f7 I took the knight with my king, the natural recapture. The checker describes Stockfish's choice differently: the queen takes the pawn on f2, one of the pawns protecting White's king, with **check**. At the same time it attacks the rook on e1 and the knight on f7, which has no defender. A double attack is a move that creates two threats at once, so the opponent can only answer one of them. It also opens a line for my bishop on g7 towards White's knight on c3. Stockfish's line is 10...Qxf2+ 11.Kh1 Qh4 12.h3 Nf2+, and today's check rates it as "completely winning" for Black. After my king capture the evaluation was **-1.00**: still better for me, but most of the advantage was gone. The next move made it worse. After 11.Qf3+ I played 11...Kg8, another blunder in the record (to **+0.78**); the engine wanted the knight back to f6. ## Position 2: move 15, the same check again The game kept swinging. White blundered back with 12.Nb5 and 13.Nc3, I blundered with 14...Nce5, and after 15.Qe4 (another White blunder) the evaluation was **-8.88**. This is the moment the saved analysis calls the turning point of the game. > **Game 1440, Black to move on move 15 (the turning point)** > Position (FEN): `r1b3k1/ppp1p1bp/6p1/2q1n3/4Q1n1/2NP4/PPP2PPP/R1B1R1K1 b - - 2 15` > Played: Nxf2 — Knight takes the pawn on f2 and attacks the queen on e4 > Better: Qxf2+ — Queen takes the pawn on f2 with check: a double attack on the rook on e1 and the pawn on c2 The target was the same pawn on f2. This time I took it with the knight, which attacked White's queen on e4. The engine's choice was again the queen capture with check: it attacks the rook on e1 and the pawn on c2, which has no defender. The line Stockfish gives is the same pattern as on move 10: 15...Qxf2+ 16.Kh1 Qh4 17.h3 Nf2+. After my knight capture the evaluation went from **-8.88 to 0.00**. White didn't find the right answer either: 16.d4 was a blunder that let my knight take the queen on e4, and after 16...Nxe4 17.dxc5 Nxc3 18.bxc3 I was clearly winning again (-6.22). Then 18...Nf3+, a knight check that gave away the knight, threw that away too (to -0.46). On move 20 White's rook took my e7 pawn and my bishop collected the rook on a1. Back to -6.29. This is what the middlegame accuracy of 50.1% looks like from the inside: almost every time one of us had a big advantage, the next move gave it back. ## Position 3: move 30, the check that lost the game By move 29 I had a rook and two bishops against a rook and a bishop, and White had a passed pawn on a5. My 29...Rb8 took my rook away from my bishop on c7, and White's rook simply took it (from -4.64 to +0.83). The next move was the real problem. > **Game 1440, Black to move on move 30** > Position (FEN): `1r4k1/2R4p/6pB/P4b2/8/5P2/6KP/8 b - - 0 30` > Played: Rb2+ — Rook from b8 to b2, check > Better: Ra8 — Rook from b8 to a8 attacks the pawn on a5, which has no defender I gave a check with my rook. The checker's description of the engine's move is short: the rook goes to a8 and attacks the pawn on a5, which has no defender. That pawn was a passed pawn, a pawn with no enemy pawn in front of it or on the next files, and it was only three squares from promoting. The saved analysis has my check going from **+0.70 to +4.33**, winning for White. Today's check agrees on the direction: my check is "white is winning", while the rook move to a8 is only "slightly better for white". A check felt active. It did nothing about the pawn that mattered. ## The endgame: rook against rook, and a clock running out From there the game went on for another forty moves, and the swings didn't stop. On move 49 I put my rook on c1, where White's bishop on a3 could simply take it (+7.00 in the record). White didn't take it: 50.Rf8 is marked as a blunder too. My clock had 115 seconds at that point and White's 67. At the end White had a rook and a pawn on f6 against my rook, with both clocks under five seconds. On move 69 I played my king to e5, another blunder (+4.01). White answered 70.Kg6, also a blunder, and that left me one last shot. ## Position 4: move 70, the last pawn > **Game 1440, Black to move on move 70, both clocks under five seconds** > Position (FEN): `8/5r2/5PKR/4k3/8/8/8/8 b - - 8 70` > Played: Rxf6+ — Rook takes the last White pawn on f6, with check > Better: Rxf6+ — Same move: Stockfish's first choice My rook took the f6 pawn with check. After 71.Kg7 Rxh6 72.Kxh6 only the two kings were left, and the game was drawn by insufficient material. The clock record says I had 1.6 seconds after my last move and White had 0.2 seconds. This one I got right, and I got it right because it was the only capture on the board. ## The lesson of game 1440 The opening itself was fine. The lesson is about what to do after the opponent sacrifices. When White's bishop took on f7, I answered move by move: take the bishop, take the knight back, get my king safe. I never asked what the sacrifice had left behind. White's f2 pawn was guarded only by the king, my queen on d4 was already looking at it, and taking it came with check. The same capture was the engine's first choice on move 10 and again on move 15. My review question from this game is simple: before recapturing, look for a check, a capture or a threat that is bigger than the recapture. A natural move can still be the second-best move by a lot. For the bigger problem of letting a won position go, I have an [answer on why winning positions get lost](/answers/why-do-i-keep-losing-winning-positions-in-chess/). For the same opening in a calmer game, see my [Modern Defense game 1185](/journey/opening-lesson-game-1185/). ## Where this sits in the journey The recorded ratings go 1281 for game 1439, 1281 for this game and 1288 for game 1441, a clean win as White. Those numbers describe what came next; they don't show that this review changed anything. If you want to check your own games the same way, the guide on [how to read Stockfish analysis](/guides/how-to-read-stockfish-analysis/) explains the numbers, and [Chess Coach in Claude or ChatGPT](/connect/) reviews a finished game with these same boards and arrows. The rest of the series is on the [journey hub](/journey/). ## FAQ ### Was White's Bxf7+ sacrifice good in game 1440? No. Stockfish marks 9.Bxf7+ as a blunder: the evaluation went from -0.34 to -8.41, winning for me as Black. The engine preferred taking my knight on g4 instead. ### What did I miss after the sacrifice? Twice, on moves 10 and 15, Stockfish's first choice was my queen taking the pawn on f2 with check. I played a king capture the first time and a knight capture the second time. ### How did game 1440 end? In a draw by insufficient material, with only the two kings left. My clock showed 1.6 seconds after my last move and my opponent's showed 0.2 seconds. ### How many blunders were in game 1440? The saved analysis counts 15 blunders for me and 16 for White, in 143 half-moves. My accuracy was 65.9% and White's 66.2%. ## Related - [From 631 to 1385: my chess journey in 2,117 games](https://thechesscoach.netlify.app/journey.md) - [Week 65 (Apr 2025): 68 blunders in 24 games](https://thechesscoach.netlify.app/journey/week-2025-w15.md) - [Modern Defense with 1.e4: what my game 1185 taught me](https://thechesscoach.netlify.app/journey/opening-lesson-game-1185.md) - [Why do I keep losing winning positions in chess?](https://thechesscoach.netlify.app/answers/why-do-i-keep-losing-winning-positions-in-chess.md)