The Twopenny Trap
By 09 Sep 12 on
5646 views
I thoroughly enjoy my daily game of chance with the No.27 bus.
This is the bright red bus that takes me to work and as I hate hanging
around bus stops I always leave it until the last possible moment to catch it.
The driver of the No.27 bus is a sadistic swine who I imagine keeps
a private tally of the potential passengers he has left panting at bus stops.
He waits until you are nearly there giving the impression he is waiting and then,
with 10 breathless yards to go, he pulls away.
The old, the young, the able, the infirm, the sick the lame and the lazy.
He has no favourites, no compassion, no patience….no mercy.
We are now on nodding terms.
I give a ‘I made it again’ look. He returns with a ‘One day I’ll leave you.’ glare.
So the other day I’m looking for any excuse not to leave too early and I notice this…
…amongst the DVD’s in the rack where only DVD’s should be.
Chess books are all over my house. 90% of them not where they should be.
This often leads to frantic searches as I seek out a book I want to consult.
I find other long forgotten treasures but never the book I’m after.
I know I’ll find it when I’m looking for something else so I then pretend I’m
looking for something else and I soon discover I can’t find that either.
Anyway I’m taking the book to my chess library (a place full of chess books that
are not there) I open it and a note leaps out….
….I go to the board.
A ‘twopenny trap.’ The world and it’s buses no longer exist.
Adolf Albin - Rudolf Charousek Cologne 1898.
We join the game after Albin has just played 16.Nh4.
This is not the ‘twopenny trap’ it is just an interesting moment from August 10th 1898.
I love this. You don’t need an all singing and whistling Tardis with lights a flashing,
bells a ringing and an actor hamming it up past the point of credulity.
A simple chess book and the past reaches through the 21st century in a
silent warm cloak dropping you gently you at the chessboard with the players.
16.Nh4 drops the e-pawn. No it’s a trick, no there is counter trick, but there
is a counter-counter trick…wait…a counter-counter-counter trick.
A beautiful position.
You can see what Albin was thinking and just how deep he dived in.
You can see Charousek thinking along the same line and going deeper.
Stop for a moment. Forget that bus.
Can White using the unprotected Knight on h4 nick the e-pawn? (16…Bxe4 )
Can you see the sneaky pete White has up his sleeve.
Can you see that Black saw it and has his own sneaky answer.
Can you then spot that White has seen Black’s sneaky answer and has a sly reply.
(this is moment White stop analysing.)
Can you see Black’s answer to White’s sly reply.
It takes place over 5 moves.
The ‘twopenny’ trap?
It’s here. White to play.
How good are you are setting ‘twopenny traps.’ (answer at the bottom.)
“A simple chess book and the past reaches through the 21st century in a
silent warm cloak dropping you gently you at the chessboard with the players.”
I have to sit here and watch him write that crap.
What green noggin did not tell you was that he missed his bus and had to work
two hours over to make up for all the other times he has missed previous buses.
Albin never got the chance to pay his Knight mate.
Here is an RHP player that did get his chance and took it.
Cappy02067 - dare2win RHP 2007
I have another Knight mate.
It features Black playing an early h6.
Black has just played 3…h6 to stop Ng5.
It is a very popular move on here. The RHP DB has over 10,500 games with 3…h6.
White has won 55% of them.
There is no outright refutation, infact a good Black player may use it to lure a mad
hack-attacker into a frenzy of unsound sacrifices.
I think we can term this as playable but dubious. But always remembering Tartakower’s
wise words on opening assessments: “….dubious. therefore perfectly playable.”
adirfarhi - REDH0TPAWN RHP 2009
Ernie is still on holiday, so no endgame lessons this week.
“Hooray!” the Duck.
We end with a rare occurrence. White giving mate by castling.
roma45 - blade68 RHP 2011
Albin - Charousek the ‘twopenny’ trap answer. White played 38.Qc7
If 38….Qxc7 then 39. Ne6 mate. (Charousek never fell for it and went onto win.)
The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 148417
This is the bright red bus that takes me to work and as I hate hanging
around bus stops I always leave it until the last possible moment to catch it.
The driver of the No.27 bus is a sadistic swine who I imagine keeps
a private tally of the potential passengers he has left panting at bus stops.
He waits until you are nearly there giving the impression he is waiting and then,
with 10 breathless yards to go, he pulls away.
The old, the young, the able, the infirm, the sick the lame and the lazy.
He has no favourites, no compassion, no patience….no mercy.
We are now on nodding terms.
I give a ‘I made it again’ look. He returns with a ‘One day I’ll leave you.’ glare.
So the other day I’m looking for any excuse not to leave too early and I notice this…
…amongst the DVD’s in the rack where only DVD’s should be.
Chess books are all over my house. 90% of them not where they should be.
This often leads to frantic searches as I seek out a book I want to consult.
I find other long forgotten treasures but never the book I’m after.
I know I’ll find it when I’m looking for something else so I then pretend I’m
looking for something else and I soon discover I can’t find that either.
Anyway I’m taking the book to my chess library (a place full of chess books that
are not there) I open it and a note leaps out….
….I go to the board.
A ‘twopenny trap.’ The world and it’s buses no longer exist.
Adolf Albin - Rudolf Charousek Cologne 1898.
We join the game after Albin has just played 16.Nh4.
This is not the ‘twopenny trap’ it is just an interesting moment from August 10th 1898.
I love this. You don’t need an all singing and whistling Tardis with lights a flashing,
bells a ringing and an actor hamming it up past the point of credulity.
A simple chess book and the past reaches through the 21st century in a
silent warm cloak dropping you gently you at the chessboard with the players.
16.Nh4 drops the e-pawn. No it’s a trick, no there is counter trick, but there
is a counter-counter trick…wait…a counter-counter-counter trick.
A beautiful position.
You can see what Albin was thinking and just how deep he dived in.
You can see Charousek thinking along the same line and going deeper.
Stop for a moment. Forget that bus.
Can White using the unprotected Knight on h4 nick the e-pawn? (16…Bxe4 )
Can you see the sneaky pete White has up his sleeve.
Can you see that Black saw it and has his own sneaky answer.
Can you then spot that White has seen Black’s sneaky answer and has a sly reply.
(this is moment White stop analysing.)
Can you see Black’s answer to White’s sly reply.
It takes place over 5 moves.
The ‘twopenny’ trap?
It’s here. White to play.
How good are you are setting ‘twopenny traps.’ (answer at the bottom.)
“A simple chess book and the past reaches through the 21st century in a
silent warm cloak dropping you gently you at the chessboard with the players.”
I have to sit here and watch him write that crap.
What green noggin did not tell you was that he missed his bus and had to work
two hours over to make up for all the other times he has missed previous buses.
Albin never got the chance to pay his Knight mate.
Here is an RHP player that did get his chance and took it.
Cappy02067 - dare2win RHP 2007
I have another Knight mate.
It features Black playing an early h6.
Black has just played 3…h6 to stop Ng5.
It is a very popular move on here. The RHP DB has over 10,500 games with 3…h6.
White has won 55% of them.
There is no outright refutation, infact a good Black player may use it to lure a mad
hack-attacker into a frenzy of unsound sacrifices.
I think we can term this as playable but dubious. But always remembering Tartakower’s
wise words on opening assessments: “….dubious. therefore perfectly playable.”
adirfarhi - REDH0TPAWN RHP 2009
Ernie is still on holiday, so no endgame lessons this week.
“Hooray!” the Duck.
We end with a rare occurrence. White giving mate by castling.
roma45 - blade68 RHP 2011
Albin - Charousek the ‘twopenny’ trap answer. White played 38.Qc7
If 38….Qxc7 then 39. Ne6 mate. (Charousek never fell for it and went onto win.)
The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 148417
