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Max Euwe vs Henri Weenink
Amsterdam 1923  ·  Dutch Defense: Staunton Gambit. Balogh Defense (A82)  ·  1-0


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sac: 27.Rxa6 PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
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Sep-24-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  suenteus po 147: Either I'm getting better, or this was an easy puzzle. The only thing that slowed me down was 30.Bg5, but it only took about a minute extra to see that a deflection was needed. Great queenside assault by Euwe, by the way :)
Sep-24-05   pantlko: i got it also up to 29Qa6 and after it was just a matter of technical finish.:-)

i fail to understand whether i am going strong or chessgames.com is giving easier puzzles!!!!!!!!!!!

any how its great satisfaction to solve problem on friday & saturday!!!!!!!

Sep-24-05   Counterpoint: IMO, and particularly in this puzzle (where there are so many options available) I think it's a waste of time calculating every possible line.

Rxa6 is intuitively the best move - it breaks up the defense around the black king, threatens the pushing up of white's b pawn and allows white's queen to check (especially dangerous as black's king is hemmed in by his own pieces).

The rook sacrifice is compensated by strong positional advantage, activation of white's heavy pieces and threats to the black king.

Sep-24-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  ckr: <Counterpoint> I agree in this puzzle. The rook sac offered many winning lines. I queened both 2 pawns, probably flawed but still winning.
Sep-24-05   blingice: My. Good. Lord.
Sep-24-05   Happypuppet: <Counterpoint et al> Intuition can be a dangerous approach. chessgames could have made this puzzle to lure people to play the move, when accurate calculation would make you see a surprising black defense. It wouldn't be the first time. (in that case the solution would probably be "any good move" and might lead to a draw)

Also keep in mind that if you're doing these puzzles to improve your play, you don't always know that there's a win or that the sacrifice you're calculating must work OTB; often times you can say that in a puzzle because no other one gets anywhere, and because it's a puzzle one must win.

Little food for thought from someone who likes to emphasize the purpose of these exercises. ;)

Sep-24-05   VinnyRoo2002: What's a matter with 30....Nf6 31.Bf4 Ne4. I also looked at 31.Qa4+ as a response to Nf6, but found nothing after Kd8. I also didn't find anything after Bxf6 Rxf6.
Sep-24-05   panthercat: VinnyRoo2002 - I think that after 30...Nf6, White has 31. Rb6 and Black suffers.
Sep-24-05   jcr2001: argh, i was looking at Rxa6 bxa6 b7. Then i stopped because the queen cant check the king :(
Sep-24-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: I'm with Euwe up to move 30, where I had c6+ instead of Bg5. I didn't have the continuation worked out completely, but it might have gone 30...Kd8 31. Qb6+ Qd7 32. Bg5+ Nf6 33. Qc5 Rf7, and black is in Zugzwang (but still a rook up!). But after 30...Ke8 31. Qb6 Rf7, white doesn't have anything good.

The alternative that seems to work is 30. Rc6. Then if 30...Rf6, white can play 31. Rd6+ Ke8 (31...Qxd6 32. Qxd6+ Ke8 33. Qxb8+, winning) 32. Qc6+ Kf7 33. Rd7 Qxd7 34. Qxd7+ Kg8 35. Qc7 Rff8 36. c6. Now white has a queen and a couple of pawns, one of which is likely to promote, in exchange for two rooks.

Incidentally, if black had played 30...Rf6 (not 30...Nf6 31. Bf4!) instead of accepting the bishop, white probably wouldn't have had any better continuation than 31. Rb6, etc.

Sep-24-05   DWINS: <VinnyRoo2002>, After 31...Ne4 32.Qa4+ Kd8 33.Bxb8 and Black is toast.
Sep-24-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: Black opens with the Duych vs Euwe!! More courage than smarts on this!

I saw the finale coming-the steamroller of pawns just needed a rook sac to start.

Sep-24-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: The lines starting with 27. c6+ are amusing but not as crushing at Euwe's beautiful combination.
Sep-24-05   dimradil: all of white's last moves had to be made with check, because he has a weak back rank himself - so the combination may be intuitive, and is sound, but needs some calculation
Sep-24-05   loudubb: Rather easy; but whats more impressive is how Max Euwe just utterly dismantled this guy; i mean after his 20th move Henri doesnt have a chance.
Sep-24-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: Exactly how far do we have to see to get "credit" for this one? I saw all the way up to 29...Qe7 (forced, to stop Qd6+), but I didn't think of Bg5, I was thinking more along the lines of c6+ (patzer sees check, patzer checks). I knew that today was queen-sac week so I figured a timely Qa8 would be the so-called sacrifice.
Sep-24-05   Koster: Serves black right for declining the Staunton Gambit. No point in playing the Dutch just to play passive defensive chess.

I got as far as Bg5, but missed Rb6 if black played Nf6. How many opportunities like that have I missed simply because I couldn't find the win in complications. Not to mention the times I did sac and it turned out to be unsound.

Sep-24-05   sharpnova: max euwe was probably the weakest world champion
Sep-24-05   sharpnova: also probably the fairest and possibly one of the most intelligent
Sep-24-05   Jafar219: Spassky was the fairest and the most intelligent world champion.
Sep-24-05   sharpnova: what about spassky's background makes you consider him so intelligent?
Sep-24-05   soberknight: I saw Rxa6, but I thought after 29...Qe7 White would play 30 c6+, which is clearly not best. Shows how much I know. :)
Sep-24-05   snowie1: Also, after Qxa6 white can win with c6+.
Oct-26-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: The puzzle solution 27. Rxa6! is the first of three deflection/decoy sacrifices in a winning passed pawn combination.
Jun-14-07   Bob726: Some postions just look totally different if you chance their open move order arounds. For example, after d4 f5 e4 (The staunton gambit) d6 simply appears to decline the gambit and to defend the pawn on f5 with his bishop. On the other hand, the move order (i simply play it) e4 d6 d4 f5 looks much more attacking as it seems to threaten the e4 pawn but both are actully the game postion.
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