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John Grefe vs Miguel Najdorf
"Grefe Stricken" (game of the day Sep-15-2006)
Lone Pine (1976), Lone Pine, CA USA, rd 5, Mar-11
Philidor Defense: General (C41)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-07-05  Poulsen: Great game - strangely enough without any kibitzing. 25.Rxd5! and 26.Rb5!! are key-moves to blacks downfall.

May-30-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: Fantastic conception by Grefe with the two sacrifices.

Najdorf smelled a rat and wisely sidestepped 25 Rxd5. But did he have to?

The first moves are obvious if he took 25...cxd5, but I had to resort to Shredder to find the 30th move which tosses another piece into the fray.

25...cxd5
26 Nxd5 Bg7
27 Nxg7 (27 Nf6 is just a draw after Bxf6)27...Kxg7
28 Nf6 h5
29 f5 Rh8
30 Nd7! Bxd7
31 Qf6+ Kg8
32 Kh2 and White's attack crashes through on g6 with either Rxg6+ or fxg6.

May-30-05  farrooj: Rxd5!Rb5! aiming to get the knight into the attack. Great tactic game by Grefe. Thanks tamar for the analysis
May-30-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: You should try your hand analysing 26 Rb5 <farrooj> (and by the way it was 24 Rxd5 I meant in the last post)The variations are very similar to the earlier sacrifice.

Are there other games like this where a player insists on a sacrifice?

Sep-15-06  khense: < Tamar Player insists on a sacrifice

Best of all time: Steinitz vs Von Bartleben

Check it out on Chessgames.Com

Sep-15-06  Polak: It's rare to see a combination based on pawn c6, when black's king seems to be hidden safely on kingside. Who could suspect this? A brilliancy, though.

Sep-15-06  PivotalAnorak: Steinitz vs Von Bardeleben, 1895 Karpov vs Topalov, 1994
Sep-15-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  chrisowen: Here white cracks the whip. Black's 6...0-0 is tamed and hoop trained.
Sep-15-06  RandomVisitor: Black's last chance for counterplay seems to be 25...Nxc3 26.Bxb6 Ne2+ 27.Kh2 axb6 and the White attack is slowed.
Sep-15-06  kevin86: Black does get two rooks for thequeen-but until the end,most of his pieces are in stasis. Black has virtually no moves and must suffer the indignity of having the bishop turn his q-side pawns to rubble.
Sep-15-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: OK, OK, I know it may be analysis rather than a real game. But if you're talking about insistent sacrifices, you have to mention E Z Adams vs Carlos Torre, 1920
Sep-15-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: Kasparov vs Topalov, 1999

Botvinnik vs Portisch, 1968

In both these games, White sacrifices one rook and then repeatedly offers the other.

Sep-15-06  RandomVisitor: After 25...Nxc3 26.Bxb6 Ne2+
1: J Grefe - Najdorf Miguel, Lone Pine op 1976


click for larger view

Analysis by Rybka 2.1c mp: 27-ply in progress

1. (-0.77): 27.Kh2 axb6 28.Nd6 Be7 29.Qg4 Nxg3 30.Qxg3 Bxd6 31.Rxd6 Rxa2 32.f5 Ng7 33.Qb3 Ra5

2. (-1.06): 27.Kh1 Nxg3+ 28.Nxg3 axb6 29.Rd6 Rxa2 30.Ne4 Bg7 31.Nf6+ Bxf6 32.exf6 Kh8 33.Qg3 Ra5

(, 15.09.2006)

Sep-20-06  patzer2: Perhaps Najdorf could have had winning chances with 21... g6! 22. Qg4 Qc5+ 23. Rf2 Kh8 24. Nd6 Bxd6 25. exd6 Ng7 .

Also I concur that Najdorf could have made a more even contest after <RV>'s suggestion of 25...Nxc3 26.Bxb6 Ne2+ .

Following the error 25...Qb4?, Grefe's surprise double attack 26.Rb5! wins the Queen as in the game or leads to mate.

Sep-20-06  patzer2: Actually, its probably more correct to state that 26. Rb5! either mates quickly or results in a mating attack after exchanging White's two Rooks for the Black Queen.
Sep-20-06  patzer2: The deflection followup 31. f5! is noteworthy in how effectively it rips open the Black position for the completion of White's mating attack.
Aug-01-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: Here are both players' scoresheets:

http://img2.photobucket.com/albums/...

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