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Jose Raul Capablanca vs Savielly Tartakower
"Rook Before you Leap" (game of the day Aug-23-05)
New York 1924  ·  Horwitz Defense: General (A80)  ·  1-0


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Given 31 times; par: 102 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 8 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: yeah it leads to this line

32...Nc1 33. Bb1 Ne2 34. Kg5 Nxg3 35. Bxg6 Rxc3 36. f5 Ne4+ 37. Kf4 Rc1 38. Rd7

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <Open Defence: may I have your lines for 31. Kh3 Nb3 32. Kh4 Nc1 ?>

Heh. Nc1 again? Is that your solution to everything? Well, it seems to do well here. I'm surprised I didn't look at it before.

31. Kh3 Nb3 32. Kh4 Nc1


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The following is sort of in the style of the game. White ignores material, this time on g3.

The knights tour of the realm is amusing.

33. Bb1 Ne2 34. Kg5 Nxg3 35. Bxg6 Kg8 36. f5 Ne4+ 37. Kf4 Nf6 38. Rf7 Ne8 39. Kg5 1.06/18


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Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: yeah unless we find an improvement soon Nc1 should be abandoned
Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <Open Defence: yeah it leads to this line...>

Hey! You better not be answering your own questions, sister!

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <Open Defence: yeah unless we find an improvement soon Nc1 should be abandoned>

Actually 1.06 holds up as best of a bad lot. Black is in a lot of trouble here. 31. Kh3 looks golden.

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: This just in:

Rybbie's rating jumped into the range after 39. Kg5 in my so called 1.06 line. Bloody computers.

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: let me know what you have for

31. Kh3 Nb3 32. Kh4 Rxc3 33.Bxg6

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Chessical: Considering the line <31. Kh3 Nb3 32. Kh4 Rxc3 33. Bxg6>


click for larger view

the natural move seems to be <33... Nxd4> after which there appears to be a straight-line sequence of moves in: <34. Rf7+> Kg8 35. Rd7 Nf3+ 36. Kh5 Kf8 37. Kh6 Nh2 38. f5 Rxg3 39. Rf7+ Kg8 40. Rxc7 Ng4+ 41. Kg5 Nh2+ 42. Kh4 Rg1; and White should have enough to win.

After <36.Kh4> in the actual game,


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is there a better defence than <36...Rf3> in <36...a6> trying to push the Q-side pawns?

<37.g6> copying Capablanca in the actual game allows Black to put up stiff resistance: <37...b5> 38.axb5 axb5 39.Rf7+ Kg8 40. Kh5 b4 41.Rxf5 Rh3+ 42.Kg4 Rh1 43.Rxd5 Kg7 44. Kg5 Rg1+ 45. Kf5 Rxg6

<37.Rd7> Rf3 38.g6 Rxf4+ 39.Kg5 Re4 40.Rxc7 Rxd4 41.Rb7 Rc4 42.Rxb6 Rc8 may also be defensible for Black.

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <Chessical: Considering the line <31. Kh3 Nb3 32. Kh4 Rxc3 33. Bxg6>

the natural move seems to be <33... Nxd4> after which there appears to be a straight-line sequence of moves in:

<34. Rf7+> Kg8 35. Rd7 Nf3+ 36. Kh5 Kf8 37. Kh6 Nh2 38. f5 Rxg3 39. Rf7+ Kg8 40. Rxc7 Ng4+ 41. Kg5 Nh2+ 42. Kh4 Rg1; and White should have enough to win.>

This line is a bit too long to inspire confidence although a white win wouldn't surprise.

Backsliding, I found that 41...d4 is better and leads to a .

There may be more improvements lurking earlier in the line.

Aug-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: This is a ginormous line. But many of the moves are either forced, logical, or charming.

31. Kh3 Nb3 32. Kh4 Rxc3 33. Bxg6 Nxd4 34. Rf7+ Kg8 35. Rd7 Rc6 36. Bf7+ Kf8 37. Kg5 Nf3+ 38. Kf5 Nd4+ 39. Ke5 Nf3+ 40. Kxd5 Rc3 41. Ke6 Rc6+ 42. Kf5 Nd4+ 43. Ke5 Nf3+ 44. Ke4 Nd2+ 45. Kd4 Nf1 46. g4 Rf6 47. Bd5 Rxf4+ 48. Ke5 Rxg4 49. Rf7+ Ke8 50. Rxf1 Rg5+ 51. Ke6 Rg6+ 52. Kf5 Rh6 53. Kg5 Rd6 54. Bc4 c6

White probably can't win this.


click for larger view

Aug-04-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Red October: but these masters work out these lines OTB... under time controls.. :)
Aug-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: <Boomie, Open, Chessical> I may have to add some of this stuff to my web page, its great!
Aug-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: Maybe the title of this game should have been: "Rook before you reap." (Scooby-dooby-doo!)
Aug-07-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <LIFE Master AJ: Maybe the title of this game should have been: "Rook before you reap." (Scooby-dooby-doo!)>

I've been calling it "The Neverending Endgame".

Aug-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: <Boomie> I like that one too! :)
Aug-10-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  shakespeare: if you look at the play until move 26 - Tartakower played like Capa - wreck the pawn structure of the opponent - exchang into the endgame - and win...

only the last point he misses^^ - due to the far superior endgame CAPA-bilities

Aug-18-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: nice comment, dude
Aug-18-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: Someone recently sent me an e-mail and asked for the link for this game ... he also commnted that I had TWO versions of this game on the 'net.

At first, I dismissed his claim as silly, but ...

http://www.lifemasteraj.com/great_c...

http://www.lifemasteraj.com/old_af-....

This two versions differ slightly, one I started to update and add comments to ...

How did this happen? Right now, I'm not really sure.

Aug-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Boomie: <LIFE Master AJ: How did this happen? Right now, I'm not really sure.>

I suspect your evil twin LIFE Munster AJ.

Aug-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: <Boomie> I think I MIGHT have figured it out ... but its a VERY long story. (Right now, I don't even feel like typing that much.)
Aug-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: <Boomie> I know its a joke ... ha,ha ... heee, hee, ... ho, ho, ho. (Wait!!!!! Is it December already?)
Aug-29-09   Blunderdome: No doubt, my favorite Capablanca game.
Aug-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: Capa played MANY great games. My favorite - of all time, after extensively analyzing many of them with a computer - would be: Capablanca vs Spielmann, 1927.
Nov-13-09   GrahamClayton: How many of us would have played 27.Re1+, gaining a tempo against the Black King and controlling the open e-file? Black however canplay 27...Re7, contesting the open file.

Capablanca sees that the h-file is the best entry point for the White rook. Once the White rook parks itself on h7, it controls tha game. I have read of rooks like this being called "Tank Rooks" - a great description.

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