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Chandler Cornered
Englund Bust + Games+The Draw + Pope John Paul II
Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway Programme 12th May 1951.
Some people have heard my plea to send in some games.
Let us kick off with...
W. Marshall - C. Hutchinson
Edinburgh 2 v Juniper Green
In this position Bill spun a few graves with 42 Qxg6.
Bill suspected there were quicker and prettier wins but safety first in an Allegro.
Pity... He could have used the Chess formation called the Barbed Loop.
A pawn protects a Rook that protects a Knight that the protects the pawn
that protects the Rook that protects the Knight protecting the pawn.
It's easier to show than describe.
There are two cute lines from the diagram.
42 Qe7 and 42 Na4.
42.Qe7 Kb8 43.Nd7+ Ka7 44.Qc5+ b6 45.axb6+ Kb7 46.Qxc7+ Nxc7 47.Rxc7 mate
see it now? The Barbed Loop.
A pawn protects a Rook that protects a Knight that the protects the pawn
that protects the Rook that protects the Knight protecting the pawn.
Back to the start position and we will look at 42 Na4.
42.Na4 Kb8 (42...Kd7 43.Rxc7+ Kxc7 44.Qe7+ Kb8 45.Nb6)
43.Nb6 Qa7 44.Qd8+ Bxd8 45.Rc8 mate.
League Secretary Gordon Davies sent me his draw with Ali Amjad.
Down by 400+ grading points Gordon fearlessly played a Morra Gambit.
BLack played the quiet line giving back the pawn but creating no
opening problems for White.
Round about move 14 Black realised the game was drifting to a
placid position so started to mix things hoping his lower
graded opponent would mess up.
Gordon rose to the occasion and very nearly pulled of a
brillo win. I bet Black's heart skipped a few beats when
Black sacced the Queen.
G. Davies - A.Amjad
Pentland Hills v Edinburgh 1
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 d5 4.Qxd4 dxe4 5.Qxe4 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd7
7.Nf3 Nf6 8.Qe2 a6 9.Bd3 g6 10.Bf4 Bg7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Ne5 Nxe5
13.Bxe5 Bc6 14.Bc4 Nh5 15.Rd1 Qa5 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.g3 Qf5 18.Nd2 Rad8
19.g4 Qg5 20.Ne4 Qh4 21.Ng3 Qh3 22.Nxh5+ gxh5 23.Qe5+ f6 24.Qxe7+ Kh8
25.Qxf6+! Rxf6 26.Rxd8+ Rf8 27.Rxf8+ Kg7 28.Rg8+ Kf6 29.Bf1
Draw agreed as neither player wished to risk it in the Allegro finish.
The next game was not sent in. I nicked it.
K. McGeoch - D McGilvray
University 1 v Livingstone 1
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.h3? ....
Pointless. The fear of the pin.
4...Bd7 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 Nf6 7.Bc2 Be7 8.d4 exd4 9.cxd4 Nb4
White is going to lose his Lopez Bishop.
10.Nc3 Bb5?!
A Better plan would have been Nxc2 + and 0-0.
Between now and the next 7 moves Black should
have chopped the Lopez Bishop.
He refuses to do so and the Bishop ends up being
instrumental in mating him whilst the Knight on b4
becomes a liability.
11.Nxb5 axb5 12.0-0 c5 13.Qe2 0-0 14.dxc5 dxc5
15.e5 Nfd5 16.Rd1 Qb6 17.Be4 Nc7
Combo's are appearing featuring Bxh7+ and Rd6
(to stop the Black Queen from swinging across to Kingside.)
There is already a perpetual in the position. 18.Bxh7+ Kxh7
19.Rd6 Bxd6 20.Ng5+ Kg6 21.Qe4+ f5 22.exf6+ Kxf6 23.Nh7+ Kf7 24.Ng5+
18.a3 ....
This has no threat as the a-pawn is pinned.
White should leave his Rook pawns alone. He is playing OK.
Every now and then he feels an uncontrollable urged to move a Rooks pawn.
18...Nc6 19.Rd7 Rfe8 20.Bg5 Nd4?
20...Rad8 was the move. Black thinks the attack on the Queen
means he can ignore the double attack on e7.
The hole is White can move the Queen with check.
21.Bxh7+! Kf8
Taking the Bishop allows Qe4+ and Rxe7.Not taking it has it's owns problems.
22.Nxd4 Bxg5 23.Qh5 g6?
Black has only seen the mate on f7. g6 opens up a new route.
24.Qxg5 cxd4 25.Qh6 mate
The Englund Bust
I saw this opening being played twice in the 1st Division in
the past week. I'm happy to report Black lost both games.
I know I have featured this trap before whilst listing a few more
of it's victims. However I can report that White wins more games in
this opening than Black. Much more.
What happens is that White knows of the trap, sidesteps it and wins.
Usually because Black does not know what to do next.
Here is the refutation.
1.d4 e5?!
Black starts fighting in the tunnel before the kickoff.
I've never advocated that Black should equalise first and then try
and win. Black should develop a few pieces and then steal the
initiative. If this involves a pawn sac or two, then so be it.
1...e5? does not give White a chance to go wrong.
At our level the White pieces are a handicap.
The White blunder arrives one move sooner than Black's.
When Black plays a well timed e5 v 1 d4 or d5 v 1 e4 these are big
moments in any game and usually signify that White has shot his bolt.
After 1 d4 e5? White still has all his bolts left.
Black has wasted his big move against 1 d4. (...e5).
2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7 4.Bf4 ....
This is the move that will have Black putting 0-1 in his mind.
He will think White is going to fall for the trap.
4.....Qb4+ 5.Bd2 Qxb2 6.Nc3
And now Black, who was planing his early pint, can see the 0-1
fading away and will spend a fair bit of time looking for his win.
Just in case you have been living on Mars here is the trap.
6 Bc3 Bb4 7 Qd2 Bxc3 8 Qxc3 Qc1 mate.
6...Bb4
No better is 6...Nb4 7.Nd4 Bc5 8.Rb1 Qa3 9.Ncb5 Qa5 10.a3 Bxd4
11.Nxd4 Nxc2+ 12.Qxc2 Qxe5 13.Nb5 Kd8 14.Bc3 Qg5 15.Nxc7 Rb8
16.Nb5 Ra8 17.Ba5+ b6 18.Qc7+ Ke8 19.Nd6+ Ke7 20.Nxc8+ Rxc8
(20...Ke8 21.Rb5) 21.Bb4+ Ke8 (21...Kf6 22.Qd6+ Kf5 23.e4+ Kg4
24.Be2+ Kh4 25.g3+ Kh3 26.Bf1+ Kg4 27.Qd1 mate) 22.Qxc8+ Qd8 23.Qxd8+
7.Rb1 Qa3 8.Rxb4 ....
Saccing the exchange to make the Queen's Bishop sole master
of the black square. A routine sac in such positions.
Already I hear them mumbling.
"I'm not sacrificing the exchange because Chandler says so."
8....Nxb4 9.Nb5 Qa5 10.e4 a6 11.Nxc7+ Qxc7 12.Bxb4 Qb6 13.Bd6 Qa5+
14.Nd2 ....
What a fine position. This whole line is practically forced.
Now 14...Qxa2 which allows 15 Bc4 is a blunderwin position.
By that mean I mean White will win even if he blunders
a couple of times.
So Black has a crack at the centre whilst White is not fully developed
14....f6 15.Bc4 Qc3 [15...fxe5 16.Bxg8 Rxg8 17.Qh5+] 16.Bxg8 Rxg8
17.Qh5+ Kd8 18.Qxh7 Qa1+ 19.Ke2 Qxa2 20.c4 Re8 21.Qxg7 1-0
So that's that refuted. Next Month I bust the Ruy Lopez and current
endgame theory. (I've found a way to Queen a Rook's pawn).
That Draw I Keep Talking About
I was talking about this game in the pub the other night.
Note that Wiess is German for White and Schwartz = Black.
Wiess - Schwartz
Nuremburg 1883
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 Bd6
6.0-0 0-0 7.Bg5 Bg4 8.c3 c6 9.Nbd2 Nbd7
10.Qc2 Qc7 11.Rfe1 Rfe8 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Nxf3 h6
14.Bxf6 Nxf6 15.Nh4 Rxe1+ 16.Rxe1 Re8 17.Rxe8+ Nxe8
18.Nf5 Bf8 19.Qe2 Nd6 20.Nxd6 Qxd6 21.Qe8 Qe7 22.Qxe7 Bxe7
23.Bf5 Bg5 24.Bc8 Bc1 25.Bxb7 Bxb2 26.Bxc6 Bxc3
27.Bxd5 Bxd4 draw agreed. The final position.
And finally...
Pope John Paul II has just passed away.
I remind you he was a noted Chess problem composer.
He was also a goalkeeper and by all
reports quite a skillful one too.
Conan Doyle was a goalkeeper. He kept goal for
Plymouth Argyle. This is true.
I don't think Sherlock Holmes was a goalkeeper.
Did Conan Doyle write:
"The Case of the Broken Goalpost"
Where was I. Oh Yes. Pope John Paul II.
Here is one of his problems composed under his real name.
Karol Wojtyla, Poland 1940's
White to play and mate in 2.
The solution is on the bottom left hand corner
of the Speedway programme that headed this piece.
**********
I've been recently emailed that this problem may be bogus
and indeed the whole story that the Late Pope John Paul II
composed problems may be a 'joke,'
check out www.astercity.net/~vistula/vatican.htm
I'll leave this item on a warning to future 'copiers'
I got the Pope's problem from Evan's Chess Beat.
