May-05-23
 | | keypusher: And here it is. Thanks to cg.com for getting this uploaded, and thanks to FSR for helping identify my opponent in yet another of my glorious games! Copying FSR's post from my page: <<Here's one I'd like to upload. I don't have the score, but as our Secretary of State might say it is seared -- seared! in my memory. I've mentioned to you before. It was when I lived in England in the early 90s, and for some reason -- perhaps a cholera epidemic -- I was playing first board for Wood Green in a team match. There was a pub next door, to which my opponent repaired after each move (which he took about five seconds on).
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.d4 ed 5.Nxe4 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Qxd4 7.Be3?! Qxb2 8.Bc4 e6 (8....Qb4+ would have been good here) 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Rab1 Qe5 11.Nxf6+ Qxf6 12.Rxb7 Qxf3 (hurrah, the queens are off!) 13.gf Ba3 14.Rd1 0-0 (blessed relief, followed immediately by...) 15.Rd3 1-0 (...crushing embarassment). My opponent graciously accepted my resignation and headed back to the pub.Maybe one of our English kibitzers could tell me who my opponent was so I could upload the game. He was overweight (natch) and had a beard and a +200 BCF rating. Or we could call him NN or my personal preference, <Drunken Master>.> On Facebook, I posed your query in the British Chess Magazine forum. Paul McKeown responded: <Possibly the late Colin Crouch, playing for Drunken Knights? The public house would have been downstairs, The Plough, Bloomsbury.He was an International Master and a great writer on chess; also a doctor in social and economic history.> The hyperlink has a photo of Crouch. He was an IM, and looks bearded and overweight. Could be your man.> > Scott Thomson (kibitz #169) It remains for me to say that 8....Qb4+ would not, in fact, have been particularly good, and that the whole idea of grabbing the pawns was ill-advised. Entirely by coincidence, I own Crouch's <Magnus Force> and it's very good. Unfortunately Crouch himself is no longer with us. |
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| May-06-23 | | Diademas: <<keypusher>: the whole idea of grabbing the pawns was ill-advised.>
If it’s any consolation, and it shouldn’t be, I would have gone one further and played 9… Qxc2. Stockfish gives it +8.62 for white. |
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May-06-23
 | | perfidious: <keypusher....It remains for me to say that 8....Qb4+ would not, in fact, have been particularly good, and that the whole idea of grabbing the pawns was ill-advised....> Your suggestion has been tried, though I agree with your conclusion that this line is dodgy for Black. Y P Ulianov vs A Krutiansky, 1962 |
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May-06-23
 | | FSR: Do you suppose Crouch was generally a heavy drinker, or was that required while playing for the Drunken Knights? Would they have drummed him off the team if he'd kept a water bottle by his side? |
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May-06-23
| | FSR: GM Erwin L'Ami comments in his Chessable course on the Caro-Kann on the line that was played in your game. After 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.d4, he remarks <4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bxf3 6.Qxf3 Qxd4 White refutes this in great style with 7.Be3! Qxb2 8.Bc4! [so far as in your game] Sacrificing two rooks! If Black takes them with 8...Qxa1+ 9.Ke2 Qxh1 mate is unavoidable. 10.Qxf7+ Kd8 11.Qxf8+ Kc7 12.Bf4+ Kb6 13.Qd8#> He instead recommends 4...Nf6 5.Bd3 e6 6.O-O Be7 7.Re1 O-O=. Opening Explorer shows that 4...Nf6 scores very well for Black, while 4...dxe4 does badly, especially if followed by the pawn grab. Opening Explorer. The latest build of Stockfish (more recent than 15.1) gives the position as +0.15 after l'Ami's line, and +1.5 after 8.Bc4! as in your game. |
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May-06-23
 | | Sally Simpson: A bright and amusing finish. Trapping a bishop on a nigh open board. The kind of game I can build a column around. (and I probably will). 
click for larger viewGood sport K.P. I have a few of those shorties but nothing as quite as instructive.
Did Tal in his book on the 1961 final not mention he was considering this line v Botvinnik. Needs a pun and there is plenty of ammunition on display.
Trapped Bishop, Drunken Knight, Crouch, Scott, Wood Green.... ('Greats Scott! A Crouching Tiger' must have been used before) |
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May-06-23
| | keypusher: <FSR> <diademas> <perfidious> <sally> Thanks for the helpful comments. <('Greats Scott! A Crouching Tiger' must have been used before)> Unfortunately all the greatness in this game was on Colin's side. |
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May-06-23
| | perfidious: <keypusher....Unfortunately all the greatness in this game was on Colin's side.> An only too familiar feeling from most of my encounters with IMs and GMs. |
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| May-06-23 | | stone free or die: <A very sobering game> |
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May-06-23
| | Sally Simpson: Hi K.P.
I was thinking 'Great Scott!' as exclaimed by Doc Brown in the 'Back to the Future' films. I was slightly correct about the position in Tal's book on the 1960 W.C. Final (I've noticed I called it 1961). In a training game looking for ideas v the Caro Kann Tal reached here. 
click for larger view
(Moves:1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. gxf3 e5 6. f4 dxe4 7. fxe5 Qd4 8.Qe2 Qxe5 9. d4 Qxd4 10. Nxe4 Be7 11. Bf4 Qxb2 ) Which is close considering it's a note from something I recalled from years ago. And thank you. It has been too many years since I went through that book. Why do we hang onto good books and never re-read them? I'm quite a bit disappointed with myself for leaving it gathering dust for so long. Especially when I consider all the junk I've been reading in the past 10 years. So everything has being dropped till I do it again. Every move, every note.
Two games a day. (this place will thank you as well - they get will some peace.) |
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