Hands up everyone who knows about Egerton Smith (1774-1842 ).
1. 32-33 47-45
2. 22 -24 58-14
Is Fool’s Mate.
No more clues....look at this.
Egerton, or ‘Eggie’ to his friends is credited with editing the very first
chess column which he started in 1813 in the Liverpool Echo. above is
a problem reportedly from the 2nd column with ‘The Smith Notation.’
It is White to play and checkmate Black in 3 moves.
Of note is Egerton’s attempt to introduce this form of Numeric Notation to
the British public. It is very similar to the notation used by checkers players
I’ll give the solution at the bottom of the page.
Recently I tried to convince the world to change to a new form chess of notation.
1.e4 would now be 1.d4 and 1.d4 would be 1.n4. As yet no interest but give it time.
Today we visit Hastings. It is round 5 on the 30th December 1922.
Sitting at adjoining boards we now watch the games between Akiba
Rubinstein v Adrian Conde and Frederick Yates v Philip Sergeant.
Both games from different openings had arrived at the exact same position.
White won both games. I’ll put them in the thread at the bottom of the page
Philipowski - Send, Norway 1997 also reach this position from a different opening.
1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 e6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 Be7 6.0-0 d5 7.Qe2 0-0 8.Bg5 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nbd7 10.Nxf6+ Nxf6 11.Rad1
Of course A few RHP players have also been here. Today we look at:
klopdisselboom - Dommersnes RHP 2009
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qe2 b6 10. Bg5 Bb7 11. Rad1 {Here we are at the coincidence position.} 11... Nd5 {A mistake. White could now have obtained a strong position with 12. Qe4 g6 13. Bh6} 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Qe4 {A move too late. Note that the obvious quick move 13...Nf6 14.Qxb7 1-0.} 13... f5 14. Qe5 g5 {Black lashes out tempting White into an ill thought out sacrifice.} 15. Nxg5 Qxg5 16. Qxe6+ Kh8 {White has two pawns and an exposed King for the Knight. But now White notices Black has 17...Nf4 hitting the Queen and g2.} 17. Qe1 {White had to try 17.Qe5+ gaining a tempo to get the Queen off e6.} 17... Ne3 {White resigned. Actually 17...Nf4 is stronger 17....Nf4 threatening 18.g3 Nh3 mate.}
The World Cup is on. I was hoping Switzerland would get to the final because I had a
load of Swiss System jokes ready (it was the only chess related thing I could think of.)
But despair not, the RHP Hall of Doom has a few football related entries.
bks2000 - Cealoch RHP 2011 (White to play has the ball)
White just needs to take out the defender on f6 13.Nxf6+ and score with
14.Qxh7 mate. But White crossed the ball too early and played 13,Qxh7+ .
Extra time was not needed after 13...Nxh7 0-1
stephensmith - rigidwithfear RHP 2010
[FEN "r3rnk1/pp1bqpp1/2p1p2p/2PnP3/3P4/2NB1N2/PP4PP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 15"]
15. Bc2 {White is setting up a shooting position with a Queen and Bishop battery.} 15... Rad8 16. Qd3 {The main striker has come off the bench and is ready to launch.} 16... Nb4 17. Qh7+ {OOPS! White has missed the defender on the line.} 17... Nxh7 {White resigned.}
Black misses an open goal only to be allowed a tap in a few moves later.
Grahm - honus RHP 2011
[FEN "r2qr1k1/ppp2ppp/4bn2/4Q3/8/1PNB4/P1P2PPP/R3K2R w KQ - 0 13"]
13. Ne4 {Castle first before taking any action in the centre. A good rule of thumb that one.} 13... Nxe4 14. Qxe4 {Black can now win the Queen with Bd5/Bf5 infact Bishop anywhere wins the Queen.} 14... Qd6 {Risky, this should have led to difficulties. Black is tempting White to get carried away.} 15. Qxh7+ Kf8 16. O-O {White is safe now, he has moved the goal posts..} 16... g6 17. Rae1 {Too automatic. 17.Rfe1 then the White King has f1 as a flight square.} 17... Ke7 {The idea is clear to see, Black wants to play Rh8 and Qxh2 mate.} 18. Bc4 {That is a good move....} 18... Rh8 {White now has Rxe6+ and it pans out in White's favour. Both sides have missed the f7 pawn is pinned.} 19. Qg7 {OOPS! Own Goal.} 19... Qxh2
We blow full time with this joyful little game. A lovely trap by Black that was seen
and then stepped on. Looks like Black ran out of ideas when choosing his nickname.
borntodestroy - 1992 RHP 2011
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. e3 e5 {Black does a hopeful lob up the field.} 3. Nxe5 {I suppose it does pull a defender out of position.} 3... d5 4. d4 c5 5. c3 a6 6. b3 Bd6 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Bd3 b5 10. Nbd2 c4 11. Bb1 {11.Bc2 so the a1 Rook can see the ball was better.} 11... Re8 12. Qc2 {This Q and B Battery is the mini theme of this Hall of Doom. The Bishop went to the b1 square to allow this move.} 12... Ne4 13. O-O Qf6 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Nd2 Qh4 {Threatening a sneaky goal but White has it covered.} 16. g3 Qh3 17. Nxe4 Bb7 {That is a nice diagonal for that Black winger. Black uses it to set up a lovely wee trap.} 18. Nxd6 Nxd4 {Looks Good. Hits the Queen and mate on g2.} 19. Qxh7+ Kf8 {And we see the main point of Black's idea. 20.Qxh3 Ne2 is Checkmate.} 20. Nxb7 {White spots it and think this stops it. 20.f3 was the move here.} 20... Nf3+ {It's OK. The White Queen on h7 protects h2,} 21. Kh1 Qxf1 {If only that Bishop was not on b1. Good Game.}
Solution to the problem in the 1813 Liverpool Echo. Mate in 3.
1. Bb7+ Rxb7 2. Rc8+ Rb8 3. Nc7 Checkmate.
Back then in Smith Notation it would be 1. 8-7 7-7 2. 2. 6-8 7-8 3. 3.5-7 mate.
I found an RHP game with a similar set-up. It too belongs in the ‘Hall of Doom’.
emptyliquid - GPrincip RHP 2013
[FEN "1r4k1/pr3p1p/p1qpp3/2p1b1NP/2P1P3/RP1P1P2/5P2/5R1K w - - 0 1"]
1. Rg1 {White, a whole Queen down has a threat. Actually it's not a threat but a mere flesh wound and could be ignored. 1....h6 2. Nex6+ Kh8 and the Knight is lost.} 1... Kh8 {Suddenly White has a mate in one the board, if only the b7 Rook can be tempted away from protecting the f7 pawn.} 2. h6 {A waiting move.....} 2... Rxb3 {OOPS!} 3. Nxf7 {Checkmate.}