| Jan-24-07 | | prinsallan: A very famous swindle game, with comments found here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...
Here's a little of the above page: After 13 ... N-Q2; 14 P-KR3, B-R4; 15 B-K4, Shirazi should have played 15 ... R-B1; 16 P-QR4, P-QR3; 17 Q-Q3, B-N3, with only a slight superiority for White. Instead, he carelessly played 15 ... Q-B2? (Marshall occasionally nodded, too) and was struck by 16 BxPch! Since 16 ... KxB; 17 N-N5ch, K-N3; 18 P-N4 is very strong for White, Shirazi had to acquiesce in the loss of a pawn with 16 ... K-R1. Before Black could get an attack going, DeFirmian forced a relaxation of the tension with 20 N-N5! The upshot, after 25 ... B-Q3, was that Shirazi was a pawn down with nothing to show for it. After 26 QxKP, he could not play 26 ... RxP?, which would have allowed 27 Q-R4ch. And since there was no chance to save the game by mincing play, he threw everything, with 26 ... Q-B2, into the sort of wide-open tactical game that Marshall loved. After 27 QxP, Q-N3, DeFirmian's objective was to consolidate his great material advantage. He could have accomplished this with 28 R-N2! because 28 ... R-K1 can be answered by 29 B-Q2!, but not by 29 B-K3?!, RxB!; 30 PxR, Q-N6!, which forces White to take perpetual check with 31 Q-K8ch, K-R2; 32 Q-R5ch, K-N1; 33 Q-K8ch, and so on. Instead, he played 28 RxP? and permitted 28 ... RxP. He thought to bail out with 29 Q-R8ch, R-B1; 30 R-N5, but Shirazi unleashed the marvelous Marshall masher, 30 ... Q-K5!, and the game was over. Since 31 QxQ allows 31 ... R-B8mate, DeFirmian gave up... Best Regards
-Prinsallan |
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| Jul-27-14 | | Ke2: Qe4, Qh7, Qh6, and Qe6 even all win. Qe4 is the cleanest and most beautiful. 28. Rb2 was necessary. Why so greedy Grandmaster? |
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| Apr-30-20 | | SpiritedReposte: What a clever shot <30. ...Qe4!> de Firmian no doubt shaking his head in disbelief. |
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Oct-20-24
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: The title looks like a pun on "Sultans of Swing," a classic Dire Straits song. The game proves a useful reminder; yes, Shirazi once lost a game in 5 moves, but in this tournament, he pulled off a few upsets and finished with a plus score. |
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Oct-20-24
 | | offramp: Do you know User: Operador?
She kibitzes very sparsely, but they are worth waiting for.
Her next kibitz is due on 16th July 2031.
<<<<<<
Operador>
Member since Oct-28-12
Last seen Oct-19-24
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Operador has kibitzed 3 times to chessgames.>> |
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Oct-20-24
 | | Teyss: <prinsallan>'s post explains the swindle if you can remember how to read descriptive notation (doesn't make us feel younger). I was doubting if 27...Qg6 is really a swindle since the bait 28.Rxb5 and the continuation is not that obvious but after second thought, yes it qualifies. BTW it's included in this excellent collection: Game Collection: Outrageous swindles The game <An Englishman> is referring to is K Shirazi vs J Peters, 1984. In that tournament Kamran Shirazi scored 0.5 out of 17 games, an almost perfect achievement. |
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Oct-20-24
| | offramp: User: Operador created today's pun. It's a good one. <An Englishman: ...The title looks like a pun on "Sultans of Swing," a classic Dire Straits song...> Mr User: An Englishman is almost certainly right. I have awarded him 2 marks for spotting the source of the pun. I can't stand that tedious song - I can't stand their entire <oeuvre>. <DIRE STRAITS> wrote the song when thinking about the famous baseballer named <Babe Ruth>.
In the yellow press Mr Ruth was nicknamed <"The Sultan of Swat">, because he hit home runs with alacrity. Mr Ruth also won many beauty contests. The nickname for Mr Ruth is based on a very popular and funny poem: <The Akond of Swat>, by Edward Lear. That poem is in two versions, 20 verses and 95 verses. Read the short version. Lear's poem is based on a real actual human!
<Swat> is a province of Pakistan next to Afghanistan. Its ruler was named the Akond. True story. |
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Oct-20-24
| | Teyss: Since we're on the subject, whilst I agree 'Sultans of Swing' is not very special in the album version, it is outstanding in the live version on the mythical 'Alchemy'. BTW this double album is IMHO one of the best rock opus ever. Back to the game. Why was I doubting it was an actual swindle: generally in swindles a player baits the other one who accepts the bait and the result is overturned in just one move (two plies). See for instance most games of the collection above. Here there are two baits: 27...Qg6 triggering 28.Rxb5 and 28...Rxf2 triggering 29.Qa8+, which means White could have avoided defeat twice. Double swindle or doubly lucky, decide for yourself. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 24...Bxe2
