As you all know I am an avid collector of Postcards.
Recently I paid £100 for a mixed bundle of 1914-18
postcards from E-Bay. Look what was amongst them.
and written neatly on the back was...
This throws new light on the Marshall Gambit and
I am now thinking that sometime pre-1916 Alekhine
showed Frank Marshall the pawn sac that later bore
Marshall’s name, possibly at St. Petersburg in 1914.
Now in true chess hacks tradition I suppose I should
reprint for the 100th millionth time the famous game.
Jose Capablanca v Frank Marshall, New York 1918.
Nah...instead let us instead have a look at:
Marshall - Capablanca New York 1909
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Ne4 {A freeing manoeuvre designed to chop wood.} 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Bd3 {Marshall did not fear doubled pawns. He looked on the bright side. I have a ½ open file to attack with.} 7... Nxc3 8. bxc3 Nd7 9. Nf3 O-O 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Qb3 {The Queen settles on the ½ open file. Marshall is going to attack full pelt on the Queenside.} 11... Nf6 12. a4 {A foot soldier advances to weaken the enemy camp.} 12... c5 13. Qa3 {Marshall give this move pinning the c-pawn a ! Not going to argue.} 13... b6 {The weakness the White Queenside attack needed. Send that foot soldier further into no man's land.} 14. a5 Bb7 15. O-O {One of the greats ones once said castle soon and castle often. That is stupid. How often can you castle in a game. Once!} 15... Qc7 {Breaks the pin on the c5 pawn.} 16. Rfb1 {The forces slide across to the Queenside. It is where the game will be decided.} 16... Nd7 {This is the mistake from which Black never really recovers. Capa said his missed White's next move.} 17. Bf5 {The c5 pawn is in trouble. if 17....c4 18.Qe7 pinning the d7 Knight to an undefended Queen on c7. Nf3-e5 is coming with hits on d7 and f7.} 17... Rfc8 18. Bxd7 Qxd7 19. a6 Bc6 20. dxc5 bxc5 21. Qxc5 {White is a pawn up. Black has no good discovered attack on the White Queen.} 21... Rab8 {Black bases his defence on an RHP trap. (if he played it on RHP it would have worked.)} 22. Rxb8 Rxb8 23. Ne5 {Looking grim Capa. Time to resign?} 23... Qf5 {No! 24.Qxc6 or 24.Nxc6 meets 24...Qb8+ and mate.} 24. f4 {Holding the Knight and creating luft for the White King.} 24... Rb6 {This is the Capa trap (not the RHP trap a move earlier.) can White play Nxc6? (see next game)} 25. Qxb6 {Black resigned. We play on just for a move or two.} 25... axb6 26. Nxc6 {The threats of a6-a7-a8=Q+ and Ne7+ winning the Queen are too much even for Capablanca.}
What happens if Marshall had taken the Bishop on move 25.
FEN
1r4k1/p2q1ppp/P1b5/2Qp4/8/2P1PN2/5PPP/R5K1 w - - 0 23
[FEN "1r4k1/p2q1ppp/P1b5/2Qp4/8/2P1PN2/5PPP/R5K1 w - - 0 23"] 23. Ne5 Qf5 24. f4 Rb6 {If Marshall had been tempted to play....} 25. Nxc6 {It was good trappers bait. It wins a piece and has Ne7+ winning the Queen on the board.} 25... Rb1+ 26. Rxb1 {If White does not take Rook the end is the same.} 26... Qxb1+ 27. Kf2 Qc2+ {Black has a perpetual. The key diagonal is b1-h7. } 28. Kf3 Qe4+ 29. Kg3 Qg6+ 30. Kf2 Qc2+ 31. Kg3 Qg6+ 32. Kh4 Qh6+ 33. Kg3 Qg6+ 34. Kf3 Qe4+ 35. Kf2 Qc2+ {on and on and on....}
Ok try this one. You will see the idea right away, but getting
the move order correct is the tricky part, good luck with that.
White to play and checkmate Black in 7 moves.
Composed by V. L. Pypa (date unknown)
I was going to put the solution at the bottom of the page
but I am suddenly bored doing that. (everyone does that)
If I thought I could get away with it I’d start this column with
the solution to a puzzle you are about to see just to be different.
And if I was clever enough to do it I would have the PGN thingy
showing your games going backwards starting off with the mate.
***The Solution***
FEN
8/8/p1P5/kpK5/1p6/1p6/1P6/8 w - - 0 1
[FEN "8/8/p1P5/kpK5/1p6/1p6/1P6/8 w - - 0 1"] 1. c7 Ka4 {Only move. Be careful here, taking a Queen thinking you can waste a tempo with the White King and pay 2.Qxa6 mate is answered by 2...a5 and stalemate cannot be avoided.} 2. c8=N {The only way is this under promotion. Now 3...a5 4.Nb6 mate.} 2... Ka5 3. Kd6 {You have to free the c5 square to give a Knight mate. The White King will take over guarding the b6 square on c6 but you have to time playing Kc6 just right.} 3... Ka4 4. Kc6 Ka5 5. Nd6 Ka4 6. Nb7 {The square a5 is now covered so the next move is forced.} 6... a5 7. Nc5 {Checkmate.}
We would think it would be Chess. Checkers only uses 32 of the 64 squares.
But Blindfold Chess is ‘apparently’ easier to play than Blindfold Checkers
I was reading recently about Timur Gareyev who played 48
games at Blindfold Chess. Winning 35, losing 6 and drawing 7,
Timur pictured by ChessBase during the Blidfoild Simul.
The record for Blindfold Checkers is 25 games set in 2007
by the Dutch Checkers Grand Master Ton Teunsis Sijbrands.
BCM in January 1985 said Pillsbury tried multiple games at Blindfold Checkers
and failed. Their explanation is that the uniformity of the ’draughtsmen’ makes it
hard to reach distinctive positions. That got me thinking. (I’m always thinking.)
Why not get in touch with Timur Gareyev and tell him to have a go at the
Checkers Blindfold record. (assuming of course Timur can play Checkers)
and he thinks of Chess pieces instead of Checker pieces or Draughtsmen.
If he thinks of 12 Knights for each side it should not be too difficult for him.
We look at one of the games. Note that Gareyev took Black in some of them.
T Brownscombe - T. Gareyev, Blindfold World Record Las Vegas 2016
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. Re1 Ng4 7. Re2 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 e4 10. dxc6 exf3 11. gxf3 Nxh2 {If Kxh2 then it is mate in 8 moves. (see next game sample.)} 12. Re5 Qf6 13. Rxc5 Nxf3+ 14. Kg2 Bh3+ {Remember Black is playing 40+ games simultaneously blindfold.} 15. Kxh3 Qh4+ 16. Kg2 Qg4+ 17. Kf1 Nh2+ 18. Ke1 Rfe8+ {White resigned. It continues...} 19. Re5 Rxe5+ 20. Qe2 Qg1
The mate in eight moves I mentioned if White takes the Knight.
EVENT
?
SITE
?
DATE
????.??.??
ROUND
?
WHITE
?
BLACK
?
RESULT
*
FEN
r1bq1rk1/1pp2ppp/p1P5/2b5/B5n1/2P2p2/PP1PRPPP/RNBQ2K1 w - - 0 1
For this weeks theme we go back to 1972 and the Fischer - Spassky Match.
Game 16. Spassky (Black) has just played 57...Re5-e1.
This joke threat of Rh1 mate was of course spotted by Fischer who played
58.Kh3 and the game was agreed a draw a few moves later.....Now read on.
whuppingboy - MWoods RHP 2011
White to play and get mated in one move.
White chose the right square but moved the wrong piece.
40. Rg4+ looks OK and safe White played 40.g4
40....Rh3 checkmate.
rabnes - johnny50 RHP 2016
Black to play and get mated in one move.
Black chose the right square but moved the wrong piece.
64....Kg5 looks OK and safe. Black played 64...g5
65. Rh8 Checkmate.
This one is good, and by that I mean, this is funny. If we cannot
laugh at each others chess lemons what else is there to laugh at?.
alisog - virgiltavi RHP 2016
FEN
5k2/5p2/1r3P2/p5K1/4R3/7P/8/8 w - - 0 47
[FEN "5k2/5p2/1r3P2/p5K1/4R3/7P/8/8 w - - 0 47"] 47. Ra4 Ra6 {White now has an idea....If I push the h-pawn right down Black's throat will they take it.} 48. h4 Kg8 49. h5 Kh7 50. h6 Ra7 51. Kf5 {That is a genuine Poisoned Pawn. Ignore it. DO NOT TAKE THE H-PAWN.} 51... Kxh6 {He took it.} 52. Rh4 {Checkmate.}
