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Maurice Delage vs Sergei Prokofiev
"The Fiery Angel" (game of the day Mar-09-2021)
? (1937)
French Defense: Winawer. Poisoned Pawn Variation Main Line (C18)  ·  0-1

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
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d
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f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
0-1

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

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jan-24-10  binno: great!!
Apr-14-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  tpstar: 22 ... Qxf4+!! is a brilliant Queen sacrifice forcing mate with the two Rooks plus the Bishop while White's major pieces can only watch.

Beautiful win by the renowned composer.

Sep-17-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Stonehenge: The best composer won.
Dec-13-17  sea7kenp: I know Prokofiev as a Classical Music Composer. (Check out Wikipedia). I found this game, by Googling "stunning queen sacrifice". It fits, here!
Mar-09-21  newzild: Ouch! 22...Qxf4+ was a shot.
Mar-09-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  LRLeighton: This game is pretty but I question whether it is real. Prokofiev returned to the Soviet Union in 1936, and although Delage travelled the world when he was younger (20 years before this game), I haven't found any evidence that he ever travelled to the USSR. But if the date is wrong, and the game was played (?) earlier and somewhere else, then the problem is that this variation of the Winawer Poisoned Pawn with ...Qc7 was first played by Levenfish in 1936. In other words, either Prokofiev wouldn't have been able to play this opponent after 1936, or he wouldn't have known the opening prior to 1936.
Mar-09-21  Brenin: 22 gxf4 is no better for White, allowing 22 ... Rxg1 23 Kxg1 Qg7+ 24 Kf2 Qg2+ 25 Ke1 (Ke3 Qf3 mate) Rd1+ 26 Kxd1 Qf1 mate.
Mar-09-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <Apres moi, le Delage>
Mar-09-21  W Westerlund: Prokofiev also won a game against Capablanca in a simul.
Mar-09-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Chernev mentioned losing in a simul to Capa while Prokofiev lost on the board next to him. 22. Qxf4 is a nice shot.
Mar-09-21  Jazzer32: Is this a real game, or it is COMPOSED? ;)
Mar-09-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  scutigera: <LRLeighton>: Nobody ever knows who played this or any other variation first, only who managed to have their game published first. For something like this, with an unknown venue and date, even publication probably wouldn't count. Anyway, it's a plausible move regardless and was probably tried dozens of times in offhand games before Grigory Levenfish inspired masters to take it seriously.
Mar-09-21  Greek73: <perfidious> top pun!! Chapeu!
Mar-09-21  Greek73: Chapeau -)
Mar-09-21  Cheapo by the Dozen: Perfect pun for a queen sacrifice game by that composer!
Mar-09-21  Diana Fernanda: Qxf4 is a play that Fischer invented against Letelier, since then every time it appears in a combination is synonymous with victory.
Mar-17-21  newzild: <Diana Fernanda> Look closely at the date of this game and report back to us.
Feb-16-22  Mathematicar: Beautiful game by Prokofiev.

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