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Johannes Zukertort vs Wilhelm Steinitz
"Bohemian Rhapsody" (game of the day May-24-09)
Steinitz-Zukertort World Championship Match 1886  ·  Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation (D53)  ·  0-1


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Given 43 times; par: 43 [what's this?]

Annotations by Robert James Fischer.      [17 more games annotated by Fischer]

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sac: 20...Nd4 PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Jan-29-05   aw1988: Sorry, couldn't resist.
Aug-29-05   Corwin: hey, what about 13. c6 ? it hammers black's queenside as far as i can see.
Mar-29-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  notyetagm: Tremendous central pawn roller by Steinitz.
Sep-25-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  aragorn69: Fischer's TV commentary is astoundingly superficial. Having said that 9.-d4 is "the winning move", he doesn't even mention the obvious possibility of 13.c6, trapping the knight...

:~((

Sep-25-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <aragorn69> Hey, good point. What about 13. c6 Nxc6 14. bxc6 Rb8 15. Rb1 Bxa3 threatening ...Bb4+. Does that work?
Mar-13-07   Emma: A great game from a great player
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Whack8888: I used to play c5 regularly, as I thought it was the minority attack! It is interesting how throughout this match anytime Zukertort advanced his pawns early like this, Steinitz eventually won the game with his own advanced pawns
Sep-09-07   ounos: What is the best way to keep the advantage after 12. e3 ?
Feb-26-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: <6. c5: White plays a mistake already; he should just play e3, naturally.--Fischer> Pretty much in every game Zukertort played c5 in this kind of position. More like 8. dxc5 is the "real" mistake.
Jul-22-08   Lutwidge: I doubt 13. c6 works all that well for White, though surely it can't be worse than the game continuation. A possible way the game might have unfolded could I suppose have been:

13. c6 Bc4
14. Qb1 Qd5
15. e4 dxe3
16. fxe3 Bxf1
17. Rxf1 Bc5!?
18. Nxc5 Qxc5
19. Kf2 a4
20. Qb2 Ra5
21. Rab1 Rd8

and black plans Rd5, finally winning the b5 pawn and freeing his imprisoned Knight.

Nov-17-08   sirfraix: I see a little silhouetto of a passed pawn!

Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the promotion!

May-24-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: For me, Steinitz' most amazing move was 19...Re8. How did he know what would happen? How did he know?!
May-24-09   Andrijadj: Well Re8 is a logical move(from modern point of view,though,so credits to Steinitz),supporting the pawn roller from distance.Nimzovitsch wrote about that sort of 'mysterious' rook moves.
May-24-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Calli: Steinitz wrote about Re8:

"With the object of defending the e-pawn once more, after removing 21...Bf6, should White attempt now 20.g4. The move in the text was, however, also very useful against the line of play actually adopted."

In other words, he didn't know. Steinitz was always honest in his annotations, unlike some who would follow.

May-24-09   Mikhail Tal fan: Hes just a poor pawn from a poor monarchy-
Spare him his life from this monstrosity-
Easy come easy go-,will you let me go-
Bismillah! no-,we will not let you go-let him go-
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No,no,no,no,no,no,no-
Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a pawn put aside for me,for me,for me-

R.i.p Freddie (1943-1991)

May-24-09   randomsac: Nice job of moving his connected pawns down the board to cause panic.
May-24-09   newzild: A fine game. Illuminating comments by Fischer.
May-24-09   MrMelad: <Mikhail Tal fan> How about BisZugzwang?
May-24-09   WhiteRook48: Nice game by Steinitz
May-24-09   Mikhail Tal fan: <MrMelad> : what's BisZugzwang? i understand only half of the word! XD
May-24-09   zzzzzzzzzzzz: Very good game, that was. Zukertort got owned.
May-25-09   MrMelad: <Mikhail Tal fan> BisZungzwang! no-, we will not let you go-let him go...
Jun-08-09   Mikhail Tal fan: ah haha!! now Mr <MrMelad> ,i think that i should put a song wich i have written , it s about Misha Tal, i will post it later !
Jun-08-09   chillowack: This game demonstrates the march of positional chess. Zukertort, a representative of the "old guard," did not really appreciate the power of the mobile center, but Steinitz knew how to wield it with great effectiveness. (Many years later, Nimzovich would write in detail about the mobile pawn center in *My System*, but as we can see, Steinitz already had a grasp of it in the 1800s.)
Sep-21-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  HansLoco: According to this record..Steinitz needed more competition?!!
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