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Celso Golmayo Zupide vs Samuel Loyd
"Mate in Eight?" (game of the day Jul-21-2016)
Paris (1867), Paris FRA, Jun-27
Scotch Game: Classical Variation (C45)  ·  0-1

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
Congres international des echecs, 18690-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

explore this opening
find similar games 1 more C Golmayo/S Loyd game
sac: 29...Ra1+ PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Nov-17-10  tsvanerp: Beautiful! But was this game really played OTB? Sam Loyd was a mathematician famous for his puzzles. This combination is so unusual, especially the Ra1+! pattern I have never seen before in any ordinary game. I am a bit doubting if this game wasn't composed for artistic reasons
Nov-17-10  consul: Isn't
12. f4
just a blunder? If you really want to sacrifice a pawn (it's the sacrifice day for muslims, happy eid al-adha) you can go for 12. h4 After a weak play of White, Black consolidated and after some other moves came the combination...
Nov-17-10  Ghuzultyy: Wow. That was beautiful.
Nov-17-10  solskytz: Lloyd risked nothing. He could always opt for 33...Nd2+ drawing comfortably (if indeed the game terminated by resignation at move 29)
Nov-17-10  Tigranny: Loyd clearly led this game.
Nov-17-10  kustah: how about instead of 25.Re1, 25.Qxc8 and after 25...Qxc8 26.Ne7+ winning the queen back and also provide advantage on account of changing a knight with a rook? am i overlooking something?
Nov-17-10  picard: beautiful ending
Nov-17-10  The HeavenSmile: <tpstar> After 34.Ka2 Qxc2 35.Qxb3 Ra8+ 36.Qa3 Rxa3+ 37.Kxa3 White has two rooks and a knight vs. blacks queen, certainly enough to put up a fight.

Black does have 36...Qc4+ picking up the knight too and leaving white with a passed pawn backed up by a rook on the a file. Still fighting chances for white i think

Nov-17-10  kevin86: The finish is a smothered mate morphying into an Anastasia's mate!
Nov-17-10  JG27Pyth: 29...Ra1!!
Nov-17-10  JG27Pyth: tsvanerp:<Beautiful! But was this game really played OTB? Sam Loyd was a mathematician famous for his puzzles. This combination is so unusual, especially the Ra1+! pattern I have never seen before in any ordinary game. I am a bit doubting if this game wasn't composed for artistic reasons>

I don't know Loyd's games all that well... but I had heard that he was so enamored of chess problems that the artist in him often got in the way of his results -- he couldn't resist steering games toward an intriguing problem-like finish even if this meant needing to play some dubious moves along the way. So the sparkle at the end of this game is not uncharacteristic of Loyd.is not uncharacteristic of Loyd.

Nov-17-10  David2009: I saw this first in "L'art de faire mat" by Renaud and Khan when I was a boy.


click for larger view

The story is that Lloyd announced mate in 8 starting ...Ra1+ and demonstrated it to his opponent who promptly resigned. The flaw was only discovered later. Renaud and Khan set the modified position (with the c7 Pawn moved to c4) as an excercise - mate in 8. A beutiful combination of corridor-mate and smothered-mate themes.

I can remember once watching a blitz game where the following skeleton mate arose:


click for larger view

There were other pieces somewhere including, last but not least, a White KIng. White to play and checkmate.

Nov-17-10  jepflast: Cool! This was one of the 10 or so puns I submitted for the original contest. It was my favorite, so I'm glad CG started recycling them.
Nov-17-10  WhiteRook48: white missed 34 Ka2
Nov-17-10  eightbyeight: <Whiterook48: White missed 34. Ka2.> Actually, 34. Ka2 does not win here; it loses after 34. ... Qxc2. Yasser Seirawan gives these lines showing that Black's attack is still overwhelming in his book, Winning Chess Combinations.

After Qxc2:

-35. Qxb3 Ra8+ 36. Qa3 Qc4+ 37. Kb1 (if 37. b3?? Qc2#!) ... Qe4+ 38. Ka2 Qxd5+ 39. Kb1 Qxh1+, with decisive material gains.

-35. Nxc7 Nxa1 36. Na6 Nb3 37. Qxb3 Qc6 38. Rd1 Qxa6+, with a winning ending.

-35. Qb7 Nc5! 36. Qc6 Rb8 37. Rab1 (Rhb1?? Qb3#!) ... Qc4+ 38. Ka1 Nb3+ 39. Ka2 Nc1+ (Double check, please!) 40. Ka3 Qa2#.

So Lloyd was wrong to announce mate in 8, but at least Ra1+ was sound.

Nov-17-10  CapablancaFan122: Wow, what a spectacular finish indeed! What's funny is that there is an absolutely forced checkmate after 29.. Ra1+
Nov-18-10  Nullifidian: <eightbyeight: Seirawan gives these lines showing that Black's attack is still overwhelming in his book, Winning Chess Combinations.>

Seirawan should have considered 35. ♕c6!, covering the a8 square and threatening the queen simultaneously. If Black takes with 35... ♕xc6, then White responds with the fork 36. ♘e7+ ♔h7 37. ♘xc6 and has an edge after 37... ♘xa1 38. ♔xa1.

Black's best try after 35. ♕c6 is probably a direct 35... ♘xa1 36. ♔xa1 ♕e2 37. ♘xc7 ♖b8 38. ♖b1 ♕xg4, but it still only yields a draw with best play from both sides.

Nov-20-10  eightbyeight: You're right about 35. Qc6, but my computer gives as best play 35. ... Nxa1 36. Kxa1 Qe2 37. Qb7 Qxg4 38. Nxc7 Qc4 29. Rg1 Qd4.
Jul-26-15  KingsBischop: Black gave up his advantage after 24. Ne4. White should have played 25.Qxc8 Qxc8 26.Ne7+ Kh7 27.Nxc8 Nd2+ 28.Kc1 Nxf1 29.Rxf1 Rxc8 30.Rxf7
Jul-26-15  KingsBischop: 29... Ra1?? is a complete blunder for Black, allowing White to equalize with 30.Rxa1 Qg5+ 31.Kb1 Nd2+ 32. Kc1 Nb3+ 33. Kb1; Because 33... Qxc1+ is another very bad move that leads to White's advantage after 34.Ka2 Qxc2 35.Qc6 Qxc6 36.Ne7+ Kh7 37.Nxc6 Nxa1 38.Rxa1 Ra8+ 39.Kb1 Rxa1+ 40.Kxa1

Black could have kept the advantage on move 29 with Qg5+ 30.Kb1 Rxa3 31.bxa3 c5 32.Qd3 Rb8+ 33.Ka2 Qxg4 34.Rb1 Re8 35.Nc7 Ne5 36.Qd5 Rd8 37.Nb5 Qc4+ 38.Qxc4 Nxc4 39.Rd1 d5 40.a4 Ne3 41.Rd2

Jul-21-16  RookFile: Loyd had such a fantastic imagination, which is why he truly was the puzzle king. You can be sure that Karpov plays instead 29....Qg5+ and says: "just win, baby".
Jul-21-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  alexmagnus: It's funny how people praise a combination in which both used themes are incorrect :D. If some talented kid played this, his coach would be mad and not full of praise :D
Jul-21-16  kevin86: Is this a smothered mate or Anastasia's mate? Black tricked white into a quick mate- but white missed his escape.
Jul-21-16  thegoodanarchist: I'm glad cg.com replaced pun of the day with rhyme of the day
Aug-03-23  ariel el luchador: Un excelente remate de una mala partida .me encanto el remate.
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