Pagan vs Joseph Henry Blackburne (1883) Pagan Holiday

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Pagan vs Joseph Henry Blackburne
"Pagan Holiday" (game of the day Nov-09-2006)
Glasgow (1883), Glasgow SCO
Center Game: Paulsen Attack Variation (C22) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Annotations by Joseph Henry Blackburne. [148 more games annotated by Blackburne]

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Mar-09-05		Orbitkind: Cowardly game by white, and a fittingly stupid error at the end.

Mar-09-05		Karpova: white played like a patzer

Mar-09-05		percyblakeney: Almost unchristian play by white...

Mar-09-05		tpstar: A combination involving the Knight fork is a known pagan ritual.

Nov-09-06		Sneaky: Chess is a game where you can't let your guard down for a minute!!

Nov-09-06		al wazir: OK, so what should white have played instead of 31. cxd5? Black is threatening 31. dxc4+ followed by the fork 32. Ne5+. If 31. Kc3 then 31...d4+ followed by 32...Ne5+, winning a ♙. If 31. f4, then again 31...d4, and black threatens to post a ♘ at e3 via f6 and g4. I don't think white was anywhere near getting a draw.

Nov-09-06		An Englishman: Good Evening: Blackburne showed great foresight in swapping down to the minor piece endgame, seeing the Bishop was a serious liability, out of play on the Queenside. Getting it back into the game would require a combination of Nc3-e2, c2-c3, Bb3-c2 and b2-b3 to prevent ...Nc4. But that would probably require the King to stay at c1 to protect the b2 pawn. So ...Nf6! forces f2-f3 to defend against a Knight invasion at either e4 or g4. But that weakens e3 and creates a potential invasion route for the Black King via either d4 or f4. So Pagan advances the King to meet Black's and walks into the trap. And yet White's in a bind. If 29.c3, White can't move the Bishop to c2 because of ...Nc4+; Kc1,Ne3. If 29.Ke3 the Bishop can't move to any square (except possibly a2) without allowing ...Nc4+ forking King and b2 pawn. This is just really good endgame strategy from a guy who usually preferred to sacrifice as many pieces as possible.

Nov-09-06		sfm: fm: 29.Kd3 is a clear mistake. 29.c3 and White is fine. <An Englishman: the Bishop was a serious liability, out of play on the Queenside. Getting it back into the game would require a combination of Nc3-e2, c2-c3, Bb3-c2> Well, after c2-c3 the bishop is no more out of play than blacks b6-knight. No need to get it "back into play", keep it there as long as black keep the knight on b6. 30.c4 is a nasty move to have to make. After 31.f4 (and not cxd????) I still think it is a draw, but black can play for a win, as indicated by Al Wazir. What do the Fritz & Co. owners say?

Nov-09-06		tatarch: pretty lame for a game of the day, especially if they're going to head back to the 19th century- i'm pretty sure i played a game like this on yahoo when i was drunk one night, can that be a game of the day too?

Nov-09-06		lvlaple: Worst GOTD in memory. That being said CG.com usually does an awesome job.

Nov-09-06		kevin86: Speaking of blunders,I once played a miniature with the Center game that went like this: I was black 1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 ♕xd4 ♘c6 4 ♕c3 ♗b4 5 resigns I thought by the pun,that Pagan was going to win-but even that assumption was a blunder,lol.

Nov-09-06		Operation Mindcrime: <lvaple> I agree. But everyone has an off day once in a while. Seriously, though, this has absolutely NO redeeming features. Even Blackburne says so himself in his notes - it was almost a dead draw, until white played cxd5????

Nov-09-06		gmgomes: <I don't think white was anywhere near getting a draw.> I have an evalution of -0.20 - so white could fight for draw.

Nov-09-06		Gameoverziggy: white can't fight for a draw after bxc4 Ne5+ winning the bishop

Nov-09-06		thegoodanarchist: Let's not be too hasty in our criticism of this GOTD. Even the most pedestrian of lines can be educational.

Nov-09-06		schnarre: <kevin86> Even I've played the Center Game better than that, & I'm not much of an 1. e4 player.... I'd be inclined to say "Passive play doesn't pay!" in regards to White's play here...

Nov-09-06		syracrophy: what's the fun of this game? lol

Nov-09-06		Manic: lol <kevin86> i once played a similar game as white where the moves were 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qc6??, to which i replied... 4.d4?? Nf6?? 5.Bb5 My weakness as a player (as well as the weakness of my opponent) is shown.

Oct-03-09		WhiteRook48: Blackburne vandalized the pagan temple

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