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Siegbert Tarrasch vs Marotti / Napoli / de Simone / del Giudice
"Ashes Tarrasch's" (game of the day Jun-26-2009)
Consultation game (1914), Naples ITA
Bird Opening: Dutch Variation (A03)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 41 times; par: 53 [what's this?]

Annotations by Fred Reinfeld.      [2 more games annotated by F Reinfeld]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jun-26-09  chesssantosh: yes best move in chess i have ever seen.it looks like a quite move but in fact is a brilliant move.it falls under every category like sacrifice or deflection or interference.an awesome move.
Jun-26-09  Dr. Funkenstein: I agree with Hedgehog as Marshall's Qg3 is my favorite move of all time as well, but Bc7 is an absolutely stunning move both in its visual and tactical value
Jun-26-09  kellmano: <Capablanca44> First time i've seen that avatar and it's probably my favourite.
Jun-26-09  gtgloner: Here is a link to see the position referred to by Marshall's Qg3, (at the bottom of the page):

http://www.chessbase.com/columns/co...

This move has been called "the most brilliant move in the history of chess". I remember reading a chess book where someone was quoted as saying "Some of Marshall's greatest moves first appear as typographical errors"

Jun-26-09  njchess: A very famous game by Tarrasch. The Plachutta is rarely seen in chess since most key squares are over-protected. Bc7 is a tremendously delightful move. Reinfeld couldn't have said it better. I wonder how long it took Black to understand what had just happened!
Jun-26-09  percyblakeney: Monokroussos showed something a bit similar in his blog from a game played a couple of weeks ago. Black resigned before the combination was played out, otherwise the finish would have looked like this:


click for larger view

Ne7+ and if the bishop takes it's Qh7#, if the rook takes it is Rxf8# and if the queen takes it is Rxf8+ Qxf8 Qh7#

http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/fil...

Jun-26-09  Funicular: I've alwayls liked Qg3 better. This is a beautiful "quiet" move, but Qg3 is more visually stunning, since it's in front of the kingside castling. It's like "Nowhere to run"

This is just as Petrosian - Pachman Bg7 i think it was

Jun-26-09  kevin86: The move in itself is not the greatest in my opinion,but the follow-up is!

31 ♗c7!! ♕xc7 32 ♕b7+!! ♕xb7 33 ♖xc5#

WOW!!!

Jun-26-09  brainzugzwang: OK, here's the patzer question of the day: What's the followup to 30...Kxa5 that I'm not seeing? I see a whole bunch of danger for the black K, but I'm not seeing what nails it down.
Jun-26-09  dhotts: <kevin86 31 Bc7!! Qxc7 32 Qb7+!! Qxb7 33 Rxc5#> I don't think this is mate as 33...Rxc5 and now what does White do? There must be something wrong with the move sequence as Black has a rook at c8 that can recapture on c5.
Jun-26-09  dhotts: <kevin86> Actually there is nothing wrong with the move sequence, the mate occurs as follows. 31.Bc7 Qxc7 32.Rxc5+ Qxc5 33.Qb7+ Kxa5 34.Ra1#.
Jun-26-09  jsheedy: <brainzugzwang> If 30. Kxa5, 31. Ra2+ (or Ra1+), Qa4, 32. Rxa4#.


click for larger view

Jun-26-09  Once: !!!!!

(That's the sound of me being speechless with admiration. What a move!)

Jun-26-09  WhiteRook48: this pun is weird
Jun-26-09  Once: <WhiteRook48>

"Ashes to ashes" ...

Part of the Christian burial service (ashes to ashes, dust to dust).

A song by David Bowie.

A british martial arts film.

A british TV series about a time travelling policeman (series one) and policewoman (series two and three).

A star trek voyager episode.

A Faith no more song.

Quite a clever pun, at least that's what I thought.

Jun-26-09  lzromeu: <"White's last move is one of the most beautiful ever played on the chess-board." Reinfeld>

And most complex too. About 30 minutes looking it and I not yet understand all the possibilities.

Jun-26-09  Once: Okay, let's see if we can map all the main variations here. From the starting position ...


click for larger view

... white threatens both 32. Rxc5# and 32. Qb6+ Kxa5 33. Ra2# or Ra1#. Any "pass" move by black gives white a choice of these mates, so black needs to block the attack, give a perpetual check or a move that defends both b7 and c5.

Let's try the rook recapture first:

31... Rxc7 32. Qb7+ Kxa5 (32...Rxb7 33. Rxc5#) 33. Ra1+ Qa4 34. Rxa4#

Then we'll try the queen recapture:

31... Qxc7 32. Rxc5+ Qxc5 33. Qb7+ Kxa5 (33... Qb6 34. Qxb6#) 34. Ra1#

Then let's try to interpose the black queen:

31... Qc6 32. Rxc5+ Qxc5 33. Qb7+ Qb6
34. Qxb6#

Then we can try a pawn block:

31...c4 32. Qb7+ Kxc5 33. Rxc4#

Throwing a rook doesn't help either:

31...Rxg2+ 32. Qxg2 Now the finish will be as for the previous variations. For example, 32...Qxc7 33. Rxc5+ Qxc5 34. Qb7+ Qb6 35. Qxb6#

Can't claim too much credit for spotting all this - Fritzie did the hard work. A fabulous achievement for Tarrasch to work out the complications OTB.

Jun-26-09  lzromeu: <once> Tks a lot. Really beautiful puzzle-move.
Jun-26-09  whiteshark: Another OTB Plachutta <sleepyirv: Apparently not>

How about <36.Rc6!!> in Navara vs A Dergatschova Daus, 2007


click for larger view

Jun-26-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  sleepyirv: <Once> Thanks! I really like this game and thought it was really worthy GOTD. Spent a good 10 minutes trying to find a pun out of Plachutta until I came up with this entry.
Jun-26-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Benzol: We know Major Tom's a junkie.
Jun-26-09  ROADDOG: <once> Thanks for showing the lines after 31.Bc7. Amazing. Could or did Fritz find Bc7 after 30...Kb5?
Jun-27-09  Lightboxes: IF 30. ... Kxa5
Then
31. Rxc5+, Rxc5
32. Rxc5+, Kb6
33. Rc7, Qe6
34. Qb7+, Ka5
35. Rc5#
Jun-27-09  Once: <ROADDOG: Could or did Fritz find Bc7 after 30...Kb5?>

Afraid so! Bc7 is one of those counter-intuitive moves that we mortals find so difficult, but the computer spots in an instant. I've got Fritz11 running on a so-so laptop and it found Bc7 in about 2 seconds.

I suppose the computer's weakness and strength is that it has no intuition or feeling about a position. This means that it will examine a lot of garbage moves that we would dismiss in a heartbeat. But occasionally one of those garbage moves will turn out to be pure gold. That is why the computer is a lot better than us at finding counter-intuitive moves, such as putting a piece en prise.

Jun-27-09  gilbav: <whiteshark> I think the combination in Navara - Dergatschova Daus is not a Plachutta. It seems a little simpler. The rook and bishop are not similarly-moving pieces -- if one of them takes on c6 it blocks the other, and that's it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plachu...
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