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George MacDonnell vs Henry Bird
"Face the Muzio" (game of the day Feb-24-2012)
London (1872)
King's Gambit: Accepted. Muzio Gambit Accepted From Defense (C37)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-17-06  Dodd: I should have said materialistically speaking...
Mar-17-06  DeepBlade: The Immortal Game approach KGA game.
Apr-03-08  Knight13: <DeepBlade: The Immortal Game approach KGA game.> Right on the spot. Wouldn't be surprising if MacDonnell got the idea from that game.
Mar-17-11  TheTamale: This reminds me of Joker vs. Batman, with MacDonnell being the Joker: "You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength."
Aug-02-11  Dr. J: <Mate Hunter: 15...Kxf7 16.Qxd4 Ke7 (sic) (17.Rxf5 Qxa1+ black wins) would be better than 15...Ke8>

I presume you meant 16...Ke8, whereupon 17 Qg4 probably wins, but 16 Rxf5+! is even better. White simply has too many attackers concentrated against the exposed Black King.

Aug-16-11  chessworm: I think if 15..Kxf7 16.Rxf5+ Nxf5 17.Qxf5+ Ke8 18. Rf1 .. threatening mate on next move with Black having nothing to prevent it.
Feb-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: The spectators must have loved it whenever these two got together. Here's one of Bird's wins: G MacDonnell vs Bird, 1874
Feb-24-12  sevenseaman: 12. Bd6 is a charmer. For a fleeting moment 16. Qxd4 seemed pointless, but what a grandiose pulling away of the N from watching e7! In affairs of the state no sac is too high.
Feb-24-12  Oceanlake: Maybe Bird made a bet that he would take the Queen Knight Pawn; I mean, haven't I read that taking the Queen Knight Pawn leads to a win?
Feb-24-12  LoveThatJoker: The conglomeration of White pieces surrounding Black's K reminds me of "The Immortal Game".

LTJ

Feb-24-12  Gogia: Is 15. ...Kxf7 better? I do not see immediate mate threat. thanks
Feb-24-12  LoveThatJoker: <Gogia> Excellent question! After 15...Kxf7 White wins via the following,

16. Rxf5+ Ke8

[16...Kg8 17. Rhf1 Ne6 18. Nd5 wins; 16...Ke6 17. Qc4+ Kxf5 18. Rf1+ wins; 16...Nxf5 17. Qxf5+ Ke8 (17...Kg8 18. Rf1 wins) 18. Qh5+ Kd8 19. Qg5+ and mate on e7 is unstoppable.]

17. Rhf1 Ne6 18. Qg3 Kd8 (White had the threat of 19. Qxg7!) 19. Qh4+ mates

LTJ

Feb-24-12  Xeroxx: A Night in Capablanca.
Feb-24-12  ventricule: I never understood the point of 4. ... g4. It sounds like screaming "come on, sac the knight and rape me". Why would anyone want to play the black side of the Muzio gambit instead of the rock solid 4. ... Bg7 Hanstein and Philidor gambits ?
Feb-24-12  goodevans: What happens after <11... Bxe5>?

This looks better to me than 11... Qc5.

Feb-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Nice game. It will end up looking like the Immortal Game.
Feb-24-12  ajile: Pawn hunting with king in center = fail.
Feb-24-12  rapidcitychess: Muzio is supposed to be a pun for music? That took me a sad amount of time to get.

A really good game though, with a quite nice finish.

Feb-24-12  daveinsatiable: How does white bring this home if black plays 16. Nxd6? All I can see is
17. Qxd6 Qxc3
18. e6 Bf6
Maybe 19. Rd/e1 Be7 (or 19. Rxf6 Qxf6 20. Rd/e1 Qe7
After that I'm stumped.
Feb-24-12  Shams: <daveinsatiable> 16...Nxd6 17.Qh4+ and 18.exd6+ looks promising.
Feb-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: First of all,Macdonnell castled--wasn't he the author of Nc3 (?)

The game looks a lot like the immortal game (king's gambit-but NOT Muzio),queen sac and mate at e7...

Feb-25-12  sneaky pete: <wasn't he the author of Nc3>

No, that honour belongs to
Alexander McDonnell

Feb-25-12  LoveThatJoker: <goodevans> Also a great question! Unlike gogia's query, I couldn't solve this on my own; so I instead gave 11...Bxe5 to Stockfish so it could evaluate it overnight.

Here is Stockfish's evaluation and line:

(-1.53) 11...Bxe5 12. Bxe5 Qxe5 13. Nd2 O-O 14. Rae1 Qg7 15. c3 d5 16. Bxd5 Ndf5 17. Qe4 Be6 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Qxe6+ Kh8 20. Qe5 Qxe5 21. Rxe5 Rae8 22. Re4 Kg7

Based on the evaluation, it is obvious that Stockfish prefers Black.

LTJ

Feb-26-12  sneaky pete: I don't understand why after 11... Bxe5 12.Bxe5 Qxe5 white should play 13.Nd2 .. instead of the natural 13.Nc3 ..


click for larger view

still threatening 14.Rae1 .. and in some lines Nc3-d5-f6+ next. The position looks very difficult for black.

Feb-26-12  LoveThatJoker: <sneaky pete> I gave your suggestion of 13. Nc3 to Stockfish and left it analyzing at full strength for 90 minutes.

This is what it returned: (-1.65) 13. Nc3 O-O 14. Rae1 Qg7 15. Nd5 Kh8 16. c3 Ne6 17. Nf6 Ng4 18. Nxg4 Qxg4 19. Re3 Qg5 20. Rf5 Qe7 21. Qe4 f6 22. Bd3 Rf7 23. Rh5 Rg7

LTJ

PS. I solved J.T. Barendregt's mate in 3 problem that you posted on his bio page like a week ago. Check it out.

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