This week we meet two Chess Players, a Highway Robber, an old pub
and an opening line in the French Defence (the Winawer Variation.).
But before I go any further I have to remind you of this book.
A few blogs ago I mentioned I was working my way through this
and enjoying it and recommending it. Then I found puzzle No.133.
Don’t bother trying to solve it, we do that later, The bit that concerns us this bit.
Joe Gallagher arrived here a piece down with a winning attack and it was all
done in the comfort of his own home (or in that case, as we shall - an old pub.)
It all begins, ‘One dark and stormy night....’ in a place called Passau
J. Gallagher - W. Hahn, Passau Open, 1993
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 {The Winawer Variation of the French Defence.} 4. e5 c5 5. dxc5 {Now 5...d4 can probably be answered with 6.Qg4 that is why no one plays 5...d4.} 5... Nc6 6. Nf3 Nge7 7. Bd3 {7...d4 is the mainline but in this case Black played....} 7... Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 {White went onto win. The rest of the game is off topic but I'll show it all, it's not long. It has an instructive point.} 8... Ng6 9. O-O Ncxe5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Bf4 Nxd3 12. cxd3 O-O 13. Rb1 Qa5 14. Bd6 Rd8 15. Qd2 b6 16. d4 Ba6 17. Rfe1 bxc5 18. dxc5 Bc4 19. a3 Bb5 {I'm thinking this clumsy looking move is to stop White from playing Rb7. 19..Rd7 did that.} 20. Re3 a6 21. Rg3 {White has been making legal moves waiting for a positional mistake, Nothing encouraging has appeared so White tries a tactic....} 21... Rd7 {....which Black overlooks. This position could have made it's way into chapter one of the book in question.} 22. Rxg7+ {Black resigned. The end is....} 22... Kxg7 23. Qg5+ Kh8 24. Be5+ f6 25. Bxf6+ Rg7 26. Qxg7
Time passed and four years later in 1997 we see this...
J. Gallagher - T. Shaked, Cannes Open 1997
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. dxc5 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nge7 7. Bd3 d4 {This is the position we now discuss.} 8. a3 Ba5 9. b4 Nxb4 {A pseudo piece sac.} 10. axb4 Bxb4 11. O-O Bxc3 12. Rb1 Bd7 {White is a pawn down but has a big lead in development. This game was agreed drawn on move 17.}
Pretty exciting so far...Don’t worry it soon picks up, Stay with me.
One year later and into the story I now introduce Julian Hodgson.
J. Hodgson - V. Kupreichik, German League, 1998.
[FEN "r1bqk2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/2P1P3/1b1p4/2NB1N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 0 8"]
8. a3 Ba5 9. b4 Nxb4 10. axb4 Bxb4 11. O-O Bxc3 12. Rb1 {In the last game we saw 12....Bd7. Here we see....} 12... Qc7 13. Ng5 Qxe5 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qh6 Ng8 16. Qh4 Kf8 17. Bf4 Qd5 18. Bd6+ {This is all looking grim for Black.} 18... Kg7 19. Nxf7 Kxf7 20. Qd8 {Threatening mate on f8.} 20... e5 {To give the King a flight square.} 21. Qf8+ Ke6 22. f4 e4 23. f5+ {Black resigned because...} 23... gxf5 24. Bc4 {Forcing the Black Queen away from holding f5.} 24... Qxc4 25. Qxf5 {Checkmate - good game.}
Now apart from being good chess players Joe Gallagher and Julian Hodgson
are good friends who share an enthusiastic interest in pre WWII farm tractors.
One day in 1990 whilst.....
(the pictures greenpawn....you forgot the pictures..........Russ)
(pictures copied from their current respective Wiki pages.)
One day whilst out cycling around the countryside spotting tractors they happened
to stop at a quaint old English pub ‘The Old Hatchet’ for a rest and refreshment.
Keen historians will recall that this was the pub Dick Turpin rode
past on his way to robbing the 8:15 London to Bristol Stagecoach.
(Dick Turpin. Picture taken from his current Wiki page.)
Talk got onto chess and Julian showed his friend Joe the above game v Kupreichik.
Joe was impressed and asked his friend Julian what would happen in this position.
If Black instead of playing 15....Ng8 played 15....Nf5.
So the two good friends forgot all about their WWII tractors and went to work.
More time passed till the year 2000 when Joe put this pub preparation in action.
J. Gallagher - A. Lahiri, The Commonwealth Championship 2000
[FEN "r1bqk2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/2PpP3/1b6/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 7"]
7. Bd3 d4 8. a3 Ba5 9. b4 Nxb4 10. axb4 Bxb4 11. O-O Bxc3 12. Rb1 Qc7 13. Ng5 Qxe5 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qh6 {Atanu now walked right into the Joe and Julian variation. 'The Old Hatchet Pub Attack.'} 15... Nf5 16. Bxf5 gxf5 {Now how is the White Queen going to get onto the a1-h8 diagonal.} 17. Bf4 {With a piece sacrifice worked out in The Old Hatchet the previous year. Joe and Julian still argue about who saw it first } 17... Qxf4 18. Qg7 {This is the position in the diagram. 18...Rf8 meets 19.Nxh7. Black tried...} 18... d3 {If White takes on c3 then Black has Rg8 and sacs of g2 with at the very least a perpetual. But Joe and Julian had it all worked out.} 19. Qxf7+ Kd8 20. Rxb7 {20...Bxb7 21.Nxe6+ forks the King and Queen. The only other try is to take the Knight.} 20... Qxg5 21. c6 {The threat is c7 mate and if that is stopped. then Rd7+ mates.} 21... Ba5 22. Rd7+ {Mate next move.}
Thus ends of the story of an opening variation. It took 7 long years to complete.
But it’s not quite the end , because this story is still going on with a new twist.
V. Lillo Castan - M. Tscharotschkin, Benidorm 2007
[FEN "r1bqk2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/b1P1P3/3p4/P1NB1N2/1PP2PPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 0 9"]
9. b4 {This is a position we have seen before. We skip to the critical bit without further comment.} 9... Nxb4 10. axb4 Bxb4 11. O-O Bxc3 12. Rb1 Qc7 13. Ng5 Qxe5 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qh6 Nf5 16. Bxf5 gxf5 17. Bf4 Qxf4 18. Qg7 d3 19. Qxf7+ Kd8 20. Rxb7 {I never mentioned this next defence in the original story because it would have spoiled the surprise. Joe does not mention this possibility either in his '365 Ways to Checkmate' book.} 20... Re8 { This stops Qf7 mate and 21.c6 as in the original game would still work but we have better.} 21. Qf6+ Bxf6 {Forced.} 22. Nf7 {Beautiful.}
The End?
That final mating position from the previous game played in 2007.
Has any RHP game finished with the same pattern? Not quite but this comes close.
Confuciano - PeoNegre RHP 2012
Instead of jumping to the key position first we see a neat trap tried by Black.
1. Nc3 e5 2. a3 Nc6 3. e3 a6 4. Bc4 Na5 {This move kicks off the mischievous trap.} 5. Bxf7+ Kxf7 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qxe5 {The Rook and Knight are both under attack. Black tries.....} 7... h5 {Looks crazy but if....} 8. Qxh8 Bg7 9. Qh7 Nf6 {Traps the Queen. In the actual game White took the Knight.}
We now go towards the end of the game to see how the mating pattern came about.
[FEN "2r1r3/1p2k3/p2p2p1/6Np/b1P1P3/P2P4/1P3PPP/R3K2R w KQ - 0 1"]
1. b3 {A pseudo sac to open lines for the Rook.} 1... Bxb3 2. Rb1 Bc2 3. Rxb7+ {Perhaps seeing 3....Kf8 4.Nh7+ Kf8 5 Nf6+ would lose the exchange or in the event of 5...Kh8 6.Rh7 mate Black played...} 3... Kd8 4. Nf7 {That's cute.}
And finally....I’m posting this the day after Halloween so we have a game featuring
a known piece sacrifice from the Four Knights opening called the Halloween Gambit.
SERGEANTPMAIN - rigidwithfear RHP 2014
Twice Black’s Queen is overloaded defending pieces and squares. Moves. 10 & 15.
But it could have ended differently because White misplayed the final move order.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 {This is the key move of the gambit. For the piece White gets a pawn center and a lead in development.} 4... Nxe5 5. d4 Ng6 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bc4 Bb4 8. Qf3 {No messing about here. White goes for the jugular.} 8... Qe7 9. O-O {Black should now take on c3. The Knight going to d5 is a strong threat.} 9... Rb8 {This is far too slow a developing idea. Black is thinking about b6 and Bb7 but never gets the chance to play it.} 10. Nd5 Qf8 11. Nxb4 {The Black Queen is pulled away from defending f7.} 11... Qxb4 12. Bxf7+ Kd8 {White should now play 12.Bxg6 hxg8 and then 13.c3 Qe7 14.Bg5 as in the game but because White played the same idea in the wrong order Black could have defended this position.} 13. c3 {Played this way Black has 13....Qf8 as a move. An option not open to him if White had played 12.Bxg6 first.} 13... Qe7 {This is wrong. the square e7 should have been reserved for the g8 Knight. 13...Qf8 was the move. The combination now works.} 14. Bxg6 hxg6 15. Bg5 {The Queen is forced away form holding the f8 square.} 15... Qxg5 16. Qf8 {That's Checkmate.}
