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| Dec-02-09 | | johnlspouge: Wednesday (Medium/Easy)
Bird / Dobell vs Gunsberg / Locock, 1897 (9...?) Black to play and win.
Material: Down a P (in an Elephant Gambit?). The White Ke1 has 2 legal moves, with the Black Qh4 x-raying e1. The White Rh1 is loose and isolated, suggesting a brutal candidate. The White Qa4 and Nd4 both attack Nc6, so the Black Ke8 appears unsafe. Candidates (9...): Qxh2
9…Qxh2 (threatening 10…Qxh1)
White must accept the sacrifice (now or later) or drop a R: 10.Rxh2 gxh2 11.Nxc6 h1=Q
The Black Ke8 escapes to f8, leaving Black up R for N+P, with a better position. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | OneArmedScissor: How did 2 people miss Qxh2? |
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Dec-02-09
 | | Domdaniel: Let's see. Ah: ...Qxh2 should do it, and if Nxc6 simply ...Bd7. |
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Dec-02-09
| | Domdaniel: Hmm. Maybe I overlooked some wrinkles. Like white's Qh4. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | Milesdei: 3 for 3 this week, but like David 2009 I feel that white gave up too soon. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | goodevans: <Fervac: 6...Nc6? i don´t see any comments about this move 6... Qh4+ and so 7.g3 Bxg3 8.hxg3 Qg3++> Absolutely! It just shows how rubbish white's opening play was that black missed a forced mate on move 6 but still won 3 moves later! |
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| Dec-02-09 | | TheTamale: THREE FOR THREE!!!! That never happens.
Of course, this week I got lucky. I'm sure I've seen this same motif before. In fairness, however, I believe I would've seen it anyway. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | beenthere240: I think I have seen this position as a monday puzzle after white's 6th move (where black has a forced mate). At this point, the move is thematic with the queen sacrifice leading to a forced promotion we saw in tuesday's puzze. I think this is one reason why many people meet From's gambit with 2. e4 in order to transition to a king's gambit. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | beenthere240: I wonder if the teaams were playing every other move (odd moves Bird and Gunsberg, even moves Dobell and Locock). If so, that might account for black's strange play on move 6, missing a mate in 3, which one would not expect from a strong player. However, that would mean that Bird played the absurd 9. g3 when h3 was essential. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | Patriot: I'm wondering if the teams in this game were laughing and having a good time, nothing serious, and missing good moves. Does that seem feasible? |
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| Dec-02-09 | | Patriot: Or maybe they were playing using one of those "drinking chess sets" where each piece is a shot glass filled with liquor. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | The Rocket: How can this be a medium/easy puzzle, I usually have to think at least on these ones |
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| Dec-02-09 | | VincentL: I have looked at this "medium/easy" position for a few seconds. I initially checked to see if threats could be made against the white king, but I see nothing immediate. Then I looked
at the h pawn, and immediately thought that Qxh2 is probably the starting move. Black needs to be careful regarding white's own threats - but I think Qxc6 can be met by Bd7. So 9.... Qxh2.
Now 10.. Rxh2 gxh2 and white cannot stop the pawn queeing. The best line for white is probably 11. Nxc6 Bd2, and then after the pawn queens, black will be the exchange up. I am sure this is the solution. Time to check. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | guikfc: 6..Qh4+! was winning. |
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Dec-02-09
 | | chrisowen: Perhaps the missed Qh4 mate hung heavily on Locock/ Gunsberg's minds in the post analysis. The package of pawn and queen nackers the kingside and straight away socks it to him. 5..g4 6.Nd4 Qh4+ and mate soon follows. White must have been nuts not trying h3 once g3 is played. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: White is up a pawn, but has lost castling privileges. This looks like another opening position from Bird's Opening/From's Gambit that the white team (including Mr. Bird) has misplayed. It's a no-brainer that you need to take reasonable precautions against a damaging Qh4+ and pay attention to development if you play this opening, but white has failed to move either center pawn or play the protective g3 (a reverse Leningrad-Dutch). Perhaps white sees that the king is safe from attack with a haven on c2, but there are other weaknesses to worry about: 9... Qxh2!
Black's attack comes first, thanks to the development advantage and the promotion threat. The Rh1 can't run away, so white must lose material: A) 10.Rxh2 gxh2 11.Nxc6 h1=Q (Bd7? 12.Qh4)
There are no particularly useful discovered checks for white and either the Bf1 or the N is lost. 12.Ne5+ c6 13.Qf4 f6 wins the Ne5 leaving black a rook ahead. A.1) 12.Ke1 Bg3+ wins.
A.2) 12.Qd4 Qxf1+ 13.Kc2 Qf6 ends counterplay.
A.3) 13.Qd4 Qxf1+ 14.Kc2 Qf5+ wins.
B) 10.Nxc6 Qxh1 11.Ke1 Qg1! 12.Qd4 Qf2+! 13.Qxf2 gxf2+ 14.Kxf2 bxc6 leaves black a rook ahead. B.1) 11.Ne5+ c6 12.Qf4 (12.Qe4 Qxf1+ followed by Bf5) f6 is similar to the main line of A. B.1.1) 12.Ke1 Qg1 (Bxe5 13.Qe4 gives some counterplay) 13.Nd3 (Qd4 Qf2+) Bf5 14.Qd4 Qxd4 15.cxd4 Bxd3 16.exd3 and black is an exchange up with a winning position. B.2) 12.Ne5+ c6 13.Nd3 transposes to B.1.1.
There may be better for black in the B lines - time to check. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | kevin86: A nice minature! |
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| Dec-02-09 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: <VincentL> <...The best line for white is probably 11. Nxc6 Bd2, and then after the pawn queens, black will be the exchange up. ...> I assume you mean 11... Bd7(??). This allows 12.Qh4 followed by g3 stopping the promotion. <David2009> <..10 Resigns ?? Now that is a surprise. ...> I agree - there are chances for black to go wrong. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | Patriot: <VincentL>
<Black needs to be careful regarding white's own threats - but I think Qxc6 can be met by Bd7.> Very true that black needs to tread carefully, but Bd7 would be a mistake--Qe4+ followed by Qh4 nets a piece for white. After 9...Qxh2 10.Qxc6+ just play the simple 10...bxc6. 10...Bd7 is one of those quiet moves one should look upon with extreme prejudice in an already winning situation. <So 9.... Qxh2.
Now 10.. Rxh2 gxh2 and white cannot stop the pawn queeing. The best line for white is probably 11. Nxc6 Bd2, and then after the pawn queens, black will be the exchange up.> Again those quiet moves will kill ya! 12.Qh4 and black is lost. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | zanshin: <guikfc: 6..Qh4+! was winning.> That's an understatement. It's mate in 3.
click for larger view |
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| Dec-02-09 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: <Jason Frost> < It seems highly unlikely that these two would pair up to play chess games, especially in 1866(2 years after Dobell was born) when CG's database has them playing Steinz.> Well, that would explain the team's weak play. Seriously though, the game could be genuine (with some incorrect information on the dates), given that in a doubles game (alternating moves), the team is as strong as its weakest link. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | YouRang: Yes, easier than the typical Wednesday.
Somehow, with black to move, the most interesting square on the board is h2, and it doesn't take long to see that 9...Qxh2 steals a rook in broad daylight, because 10.Rxh2 gxh2 gets the queen back. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | beenthere240: The Bird/Dobell vs Steinitz also has a missed mate in 1. |
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| Dec-02-09 | | YouRang: <Patriot: Or maybe they were playing using one of those "drinking chess sets" where each piece is a shot glass filled with liquor.> LOL! At least someone was sober enough (or drunk enough) to find 9...Qxh2. :-) |
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| Dec-02-09 | | Once: Is it just me, or is the final move the only good thing about this odd little game? Mind you, the final position shows an amusing lack of mobility for white's pieces: 
click for larger viewThe white pawns seem to have been specifically arranged to deny the Nb1 and Bf1 any moves at all. And that also means that the rooks are pretty useless too. This puzzle actually brings back semi unpleasant memories for me. I recall seeing a puzzle very much like it some years ago, but where the "queen sac/ unstoppable pawn" theme was well hidden amongst a number of other tempting tries. And I vividly remember the feeling of frustration as I first utterly failed to spot the solution and then kicked myself when I read the answer. Today, I spotted it straight off. Okay, so it was in a much simpler setting, and the theme of the week does rather give it away. Perhaps it means that I can replace my unpleasant memory of the earlier failure with a more warm feeling of getting it right today .... |
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