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Akiba Rubinstein vs David Janowski
"Dancing the Knight Away" (game of the day Nov-06-09)
Marienbad 1925  ·  Indian Game: Saemisch-Indian (A50)  ·  1-0


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Given 31 times; par: 44 [what's this?]

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sac: 19.Ng5 PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Jan-11-07   Haeron: Argh. Got it up to Qg6+. Somehow missed the bishop-queen interplay, despite seeing that black is unable to take the h7 bishop. :P
Jan-11-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  YouRang: Got it (more or less). I saw right away that white had lots of force (Q+2B+R) directed ant black's king position. It was just a matter of getting stuff out of the way.

For that purpose, the obvious move was the clearance sac 19. Ng5!, getting both the knight and (after 19...fxg5) one of the black pawns out of the way.

This sets up 20. Bxh7+ (and I noticed that black had to play 20...Kh8; ...Kf7 leads to mate). After this things got a little foggier. I figured 21. Bxf7+ (clearing out the last defender) would leave the king wide open to the queen and rook (and bishop).

I didn't see all the way to the end, but I was convinced that white could put together a winning attack.

Jan-11-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: I was a little too snazzy-I went for Nxf6?

Black resigned as mate is threatened and the bishop is of course,immune: 25{...Rxg8 27 Qh6 makes a pretty, unilateral,epaulette mate.

Jan-11-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  cu8sfan: One of those puzzles where you can find the general idea rather easily but it takes some hard work and many variations to make it work. I admit, I didn't have this time today.
Jan-11-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  alphee: I got it but was not sure until I saw the solution and not until the end as I stopped at 23.Rh3. I spent a lot of time eliminating 19.Nxf6 for which I could not find the most appropriate answer for black. My guess was black would play something like 19...gxf6 20. Bxh7+ Kh8 21. Rh3 Rf7 22. Bg8+ Kxg8 23. Qg6+ Kf8 but was not sure. I did'nt explore the 19...Rxf6 variation as it was followed by 20. Bxh7+ Kh8 21. Rh3 and 19.Qxf6 didn't look as an option. Hence OTB I would have played Ng5 more by elimination than by conviction.
Jan-11-07   pggarner: Missed it completely; kept looking at 19.Nxf6+.

The beautiful, hard-to-foresee part is that Black won't be able to take the bishop on g8 six moves into the combination.

This opening variation is scary for me since I like to play the Queen's Indian as Black. Instead of spending time fianchettoing his KB, White gets in e4 early and builds a big pawn center.

Jan-11-07   Themofro: With all the peices lined up on the queenside like white's were, it obviuos that the move must be knight somewhere, just a matter of finding the best square. Nice game by Rubinstein.
Jan-11-07   Cannon Fodder: <chessmoron: There's a lot interchangeable moves here after 19...fxg6. 19...h6 avoids mate but Ne6 and Black's rook will eventually get captured.>

Thanks for posting your analysis, chessmoron. So, is it correct that black, with better play, could cut his losses to going down an exchange? (Not that I'm trying to say winning an exchange isn't important, especially with so much initiative on white's side).

It's a great puzzle anyway. I'll have to make a mental note of this "clearance sac," since I chose Nxf6.

Jan-11-07   TrueBlue: Rg3 also works. Is there a rule you need to sacrifice a piece to get points for solving the puzzle?
Jan-11-07   Fezzik: Regarding the benefit of 19 Rg3 vs Ng5... 19.Ng5!! scores aesthetically higher than does 19.Rg3. However, aesthetics in chess have been pretty much removed by computer calculations.

I'd give full marks to both but prefer the ingenious knight sac. After all, it was the sac that made this game famous. If Rubinstein had simply played 19.Rg3, we wouldn't be looking at the position now!

Jan-11-07   TrueBlue: well, I found Rg3, didn't even consider Ng5. What can I say, I never had any appreication for aesthetics :(
Jan-11-07   LivBlockade: I wonder if anyone considered 19. Nxc5?? and didn't see that 19...Bxc5+ was check.
Jan-11-07   Fisheremon: <TrueBlue><Fezzik: Regarding the benefit of 19 Rg3 vs Ng5... 19.Ng5!! scores aesthetically higher than does 19.Rg3. However, aesthetics in chess have been pretty much removed by computer calculations.> Perhaps, you didn't read my messages, I'd remind again. Aesthetically 19.Rg3!!, because it leads to a mate attack, 19.Ng5 looked nice, but in the variation 18...Re8 you don't get a mate attack.

More aesthetically must be 18.Nf6+!! (just after Black's blunder 17...f6) leading to immediate mate end.

Nov-18-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  InspiredByMorphy: Blacks piece coordination seems to be on the wrong side of the board.
Nov-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Check It Out: Black's opening seemed suspect. Allowing the white light squared bishop and queen to bear down on h7 and the dark squared bishop's control of the a1-h8 diagonal, didn't seem very sound. All it took was a nice knight sac at g5 to rip black's kingside apart, in a beautiful finish.
Nov-06-09   backrank: A splendid, albeit not very surprising finish, since Black has left his K-side entirely undefended by his pieces. To me, it is more surprising how a grandmaster like Janowsky can do such a strategic misjudgement.
Nov-06-09   lzromeu: <InspiredByMorphy: Blacks piece coordination seems to be on the wrong side of the board.>

First White atack on Queen side, then invert the atack to king side and mate fastly. Black couldn´t follow this.

Nov-06-09   Wuster: Masterful.

Rubinstein - one of the best players never to ascend to be world champion. His games are works of art.

Nov-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  parisattack: <Wuster: Masterful.

Rubinstein - one of the best players never to ascend to be world champion. His games are works of art.>

Truly spoken. His combinations are the cleanest, most elegant of any player. But the genius is not so much the combination itself but getting to such positions. (Similar to what Spielmann said of Alekhine.)

Nov-06-09   ungeneral: I think the key mistake for black was Nb6?

With Nf6, black can use the knight to defend the kingside...?

Nov-06-09   Everett: Black has no less than four (!!!) pieces out of play when the combination starts. Quite surprising from someone who has clearly shown better understanding before.

On move 11 or 12 at the latest black needs to play ..Bxc3. That bishop is doing nothing, and cannot return to action quickly. Is keeping white rooks off the e-file the best use of this piece?

14..Ba6 is also inferior. 14..Nf8 followed by Bc8 is better.

15..h6 looks like an improvement, and 16..Nf8 is another one.

Rubinstein has more worthy efforts than this. It was too easy.

Nov-06-09   WhiteRook48: nice for GOTD
Nov-06-09   AnalyzeThis: I thought Janovski's 8...b5 was an interesting move, ahead of it's time. Rubinstein knew what he was doing when he declined the material and played for the initiative.
Nov-06-09   Eduardo Leon: Is there a problem with 23.Bg8? If 23...Qd7 24.Be6 is decisive.
Nov-09-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: The bishop is taboo-so mate follows.
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