Every Thursday and Sunday afternoon there is chess in Edinburgh’s
Princes St. Gardens. I go along most days to meet some old buddies
(and I mean old), catch up with the gossip and play a few blitz games.
Last Sunday a bunch of artists turned up to sketch Edinburgh Castle.
(I have since invented the collective term for artists is a ‘paint pot’.)
I asked if I could have a go....
I could not decide whether to make it a green pawn or a Red Hot Pawn.
In the end I did neither, I bought a picture from a charity shop, took out the
original picture, put in my work of art, signed it and then hung it on my wall.
This was the original picture by someone called T. S. Dodds, ’69.
I then googled ‘T. S. Dodds the artist’ and discovered that any artwork by
Thomas Sherman Dodds is trading hands for sums round of about £10,000.
I do not have copyright on any famous chess players pictures, that includes those
I took of Carlsen and Anand a few years back because I had borrowed the camera.
Imagine the guy on the left it is wearing a wig and the guy on the right has a beard
This is good and it belongs, if anywhere, in this blog. The blog of Blunders!
V. Anand - S. Mamedyarov, Norway Chess Stavanger 2022.
White to play.
Mamedyarov is away from the board, possibly signing autographs and telling jokes.
Anand played 1.Qb5 and right away he realised it was a blunder so before Mamedyarov
returned Anand shook his head, promptly resigned, signed the score sheet and left.
After 1.Qb5 Black can play 1...Qxf3+
2.Kxf3 Nh4 is Checkmate.
Mamedyarov returned and someone thinking Mamedyarov would find it funny
had reset the pieces and placed the Kings to show that White, not Black had won.
.
However Mamedyarov was not in the least bit amused and thinking the controller had
defaulted him for signing his autograph as ‘Washington Irvine’ or for telling naff jokes.
So without waiting for an explanation Mamedyarov stripped stark bollock naked and....
...er...no...I made it up....O.K. forget that last bit...it never happened...moving on...
I found an RHP game that matches the unplayed finish to Anand - Mamedyarov.
Jools06 - Kaoslos RHP Ladder 2012
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bd3 {Bad. Bishops rarely belongs blocking the d-pawns in e4-e5 openings.} 4... Bc5 {Black is playing legal moves waiting for another positional blunder.} 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. h3 {Fear of the Bg4 pin. With the Bishop on c5 the square g3 is now hanging.} 7... Ne7 {With the c1 Bishop blocked in this Knight heads for f4.} 8. a3 {How about 8.Na4, get rid of that c5 Bishop.} 8... c6 {Preparing a Bishop bolt hole. In some lines Bxf2+ and Qb6+ will be good.} 9. b4 Bb6 10. Bb2 Ng6 {Nf4 is on and thanks to 7.h3 11.g3 cannot be played. (Bxh3)} 11. Ne2 {Another bad one. 11.Bf1 would allow g3 to keep a beast off f4.} 11... Nh5 {Again aiming to plant a Knight on f4.} 12. g4 {This hastens the ends, 12. Nc3 so the d3 Bishop can get to f1 was much better,} 12... Qf6 {Black hits the f3 Knight which is pinned to the f2 pawn.} 13. Kg2 {Sets up a nice finish but there was no longer any valid defence.} 13... Qxf3+ {Bravo!} 14. Kxf3 Nh4 {Checkmate.}
This next game does not exactly fit with the Anand game. It has a Queen taking a Knight
on f3 with a check but mate is a number of moves away. This type of sac looks great but
honestly not too difficult to work out. You just keeping looking at the checks till they run
out and with it being mate then no need to look for a sting in the tail. Mate is game over.
Telboy 2 - vipiu RHP 2007
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 {I always preferred 3.c3 when I played this line as White.} 4... Nc6 5. Bb5 {You very rarely play this move in the advanced French. That Bishop is too valuable to swap.} 5... Qb6 6. Nc3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 {Now 8.Nxc6 Bxc6 9.Bd3. Keep that Bishop.} 8. Bxc6 { White hopes their weakened light squares does not prove too critical....(a hindsight note.)} 8... bxc6 9. O-O c5 10. Nf3 Ne7 11. Ne2 {Getting ready to poke the centre with c4.} 11... Nf5 12. c3 {White changed their mind about c4. Just as well 12. c4 d4 looks good for Black.} 12... Be7 13. b3 {Normally we would see 13....0-0 here but instead.} 13... a5 {To stop a pawn break with b4 and play a later a5-a4.} 14. c4 {Back to plan A.} 14... d4 {The d7 Bishop, usually a miserable piece in this opening, is the boss of the light squares.} 15. Bg5 {Going in for some wood chopping to give room for the Knights before Black plays a4.} 15... f6 16. exf6 gxf6 17. Bf4 Rg8 {Black is looking cool and Rxg2 would be examined on every move (check all checks.)} 18. h3 {To give the f4 Bishop a home on h2.} 18... e5 19. Bh2 {I told you this is where it would go...I'm psychic.} 19... Rxg2+ {Yes. The Bishop will pin the f3 Knight (Bc6) and then Black plays Nh4+} 20. Kxg2 Qb7 {I thought the Bishop was going to do the pinning. Maybe I’m not psychic } 21. Bg3 {To stop Nh4+} 21... Qxf3+ {Wow! Game on.} 22. Kxf3 Bc6+ {I told you that Bishop was the boss of the light squares.} 23. Kg4 Nh6+ 24. Kh5 Bf3+ {Everything with a check. You keep looking till all the checks have gone.} 25. Kxh6 Bf8+ 26. Kxh7 Be4+ {That Bishop is having a wonderful time.} 27. Kg8 Ke7 {The unmoved Rook will deliver mate...without moving. Bh6 mate cannot be stopped. 0-1.}
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