Edward Winter
In Kingpin in 1997 (see too page 285 of Kings, Commoners and Knaves) we gave the following Danish Gambit loss by Marshall against J.P. Hopkins in a simultaneous exhibition:
1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 c3 dxc3 4 Bc4 Nc6 5 Nf3 Nf6 6 O-O Be7 7 e5 Ng4 8 Qe2 d6 9 exd6 Qxd6 10 h3 Nd4
11 Nxd4 Qh2 mate.
We commented:
It is not recorded whether the spectators showered Marshall with anything.
Our source was page 201 of the June 1916 BCM, and the game was also given (‘New York, 1915’) in the ‘Chess Caviar’ column on page 71 of the March 1951 Chess Review. More detailed information is available on page *3 of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 13 April 1916:
A similar specimen:
Max Euwe – Salo Landau
ASC-NRSV match, 1933
Queen’s Pawn Game
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 e3 d5 4 Bd3 Nbd7 5 Nbd2 c5 6 c3 Bd6 7 O-O Qa5 8 dxc5 Qxc5 9 e4 dxe4 10 Nxe4 Nxe4 11 Bxe4 Nf6 12 Bc2 Bd7 13 Be3 Qc7 14 Bd4 Bc6 15 Qe2 Ng4 16 h3 Nh2 17 Nxh2 Bxh2+ 18 Kh1 Bf4 19 Rfe1 O-O-O 20 b4 Kb8 21 b5 Bd5 22 b6 axb6 23 Rab1 Qc6 24 f3 Bc7 25 Bd3 f6 26 Qf2 Qd6
27 Bxb6 Qh2 mate.
Source: Tijdschrift van den Nederlandschen Schaakbond, March 1933, page 79.
It can be imagined how notorious such a game would have become had it been lost by Capablanca.
(Kingpin, 2000)
There follows another case, the score of which is most peculiar:
Wilhelm Steinitz – Voigt
Philadelphia, February 1885
Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e5 Ng8 5 d4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 e6 7 Ne4 d5 8 exd6 Bxd6 9 Bb5 Qd7 10 c3 Bb8 11 Nc5 Qc7
12 O-O Qxh2 mate.
Source: Schachmeister Steinitz by L. Bachmann, volume 3, page 41.
(Kingpin, 2000)
In C.N. 4976 we observed:
This may be regarded as the ultimate case of ‘castling into it’.
Page 313 of A Chess Omnibus gave the conclusion of a game between J. Berger and H. Süchting, Vienna, 15 April 1908:
Black to move
Süchting avoided the exchange of queens with 24…Qh5, after which there came 25 Qd5 Qxh2 mate.
Source: tournament book, page 142.
Page 195 of the September 1908 American Chess Bulletin quoted from the Australasian:
‘No common commotion was caused among the masters who were playing at Vienna by Herr Tartakower’s attempt to deny the existence in the chess code of the “J’adoube” rule. The preposterous claim had one funny result. Professor Berger, who was paired with Herr Süchting, was so much unnerved by the disturbance that he overlooked a mate on the move. His more stolid opponent at once effected the mate. Thereupon Professor Berger lodged a protest against a loss of which, as he said, the Tartakower-Maróczy incident had been the cause. It seems possible that the equity of the claim was not denied by the playing committee; but the legal force of the claim was not acknowledged; and Herr Süchting was allowed to score the game as a win.’
Avital Pilpel (Haifa, Israel) draws attention to the conclusion of the game between Itzchak Aloni (Israel) and Suren Momo (Mongolia) at the 1962 Olympiad in Varna:
27 Nf5 Qxh2 mate.
(4976)
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Copyright: Edward Winter. All rights reserved.