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Igor Nikolayev vs Eric Luce
"Let There be Light" (game of the day Feb-22-2020)
RCC Saturday Open (2010), Rochester, NY, rd 3, Feb-27
French Defense: Rubinstein. Fort Knox Variation (C10)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Feb-21-20  lunchwithgina: 23...fg6 looks safer then 23...hg6. After 24. Bd4 Rd4 25. Rd4 Rd4 26. Qe3 threatening Qh8 looks like curtains until you find 26...c5! I wonder how far ahead Luce saw this resource. And it looks to me (not using an engine) like White is still very much in the game until 36. Qg2? A very near miss for Nikolayev who won 7 out of the 8 games played against Luce listed in the Chessgames database.
Feb-22-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: 35. g5+ would have been better. Then I think it's a draw.
Feb-22-20  jith1207: 34.Qe3 seems to force a Queen exchange, leading to a drawn ending.

34. Qe3 g5+ 35. hxg5 fxg5+ 36. Kf3 Qf1+ 37. Kg3 Kg6 38. Qf2 Qxf2+ 39. Kxf2 Kf7 40. Ke3 Kg6

Feb-22-20  jith1207: What does the pun stand for here?

Lucifer (Luce) would rather prefer darkness. ;-p

Feb-22-20  areknames: At move 36 White's Q needs to continue controlling d4, so Qa1, Qe5, Qh8, Qf2 and even g5 are all acceptable moves. Most of them lead to a quick perpetual, 36.Qf2 seems to be only attempt to keep some life in the position but that also looks drawish.
Feb-22-20  areknames: Regarding the pun, I imagine the player in question to be of Italian American descent and Luce means light in Italian. So, when he finally manages to win a game against his nemesis Nikolayev (thanks to a massive blunder by his opponent) perhaps the solemnity of the occasion could warrant the biblical reference? A bit (much) of a stretch, I know, but I've seen worse puns.
Feb-22-20  areknames: Just to be clear; the pun is pretty good!
Feb-22-20  Pyrandus: The pun? Always the pun? I hate the pun! Dixi.
Feb-22-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Lucky Luceiano!
Feb-22-20  lunchwithgina: <areknames> Your analysis of the pun development is spot-on; btw, Nikolayev is/was a killer in open tournaments. <HeMateMe> Very good pun choice for this game :-)
Feb-23-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: <Pyrandus: I hate the pun!>

About 19 times out of 20, the so-called pun just amounts a way of mispronouncing a player's name so that it sounds like an English word.

They're about as clever as knock-knock jokes.

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