| Mar-14-04 | | ughaibu: How come this didn't happen at Linares? |
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| Mar-14-04 | | aragorn69: And, ladies and gentlemen, yet another time, Krejcik wins his opponent's queen. What a seducer ! |
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| May-16-06 | | dakgootje: Of course 9. ...dxe4 was a blunder. Both 9. ...cxd4 as 9. ...f6 would've been quite drawish. |
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| Feb-11-09 | | YoungEd: This guy is amazing to win so many miniatures against strong opponents! Cute trap at the end. |
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Jan-26-12
 | | Domdaniel: Information moved slowly in those days. In 1885 Steinitz published analysis supporting 7...Nxe4, noting that 8.Re1 d5 9.Rxe4 could be met with 9...f6. He went on... <'But here is a brilliant coup', shouts a bystander of the dashing tendency, '10.b3 and still he dare not capture the Rook on account of Bf7+ and Ba3+.' Yes, but Black drily answers 10...Be7 and leaves the adverse rook and bishop in status quo.> Suechting can't have read Steinitz's International Chess Magazine, the ECO of its day. |
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| Jan-27-12 | | transpo: The whole idea behind the Smith Morra is to avoid the Sicilian. After 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nxd4 Nf6 and we have transposed back into the main line of the Sicilian Defense. |
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Jan-30-12
| | Domdaniel: <transpo> - < The whole idea behind the Smith Morra is to avoid the Sicilian.>
That may be true *now*, if by Sicilian you mean Open Sicilian with 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4. But the main lines of the Najdorf, Dragon, Kan, etc hadn't really been differentiated in 1908, and certainly not when Steinitz was writing 30 years earlier. I'd say the 'main' idea is to gambit the d-pawn for play and development, by analogy with the Centre Gambit, Scotch Gambit, Danish Gambit etc after 1.e4 e5. Surely a Sicilian is still anything starting 1.e4 c5 ...? Though I've sometimes reached one via other routes, such as 1.d4 e6 2.e4 c5 3.Nf3 a6 (Barcza-Larsen or Franco-Sicilian) ... or 1.Nf3 d6 2.d4 Bd7 3.e4 c5!? which was played against me once. A passing GM suggested that either 4.d5 or 4.dxc5 is better than my 4.c3, and I think he was right. You like transpositions? I have many more... |
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| Jan-30-12 | | King Death: <Domdaniel> Here's one that caught a strong player: the young Rafael Vaganian was playing some junior event and was (I assume) looking to get a Symmetrical English of some kind by playing 1.Nf3 c5 as Black. This was coming from somebody who, even as a junior, played mainly Alekhine's or the French. He was completely buffaloed when his opponent played 2.e4 producing a Sicilian and got pounded. |
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Jan-30-12
| | Domdaniel: <King Death> As somebody who usually opens 1.Nf3, I tend to assume that anyone playing 1...c5 *wants* a Sicilian. So they don't get it. But it could be interesting to call their bluff sometimes, as you say. |
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| Jan-30-12 | | mack: <<King Death> As somebody who usually opens 1.Nf3, I tend to assume that anyone playing 1...c5 *wants* a Sicilian. So they don't get it. But it could be interesting to call their bluff sometimes, as you say.> This happened to black in the following game, played for the BBC's Master Game series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCZW... Poor Ray spent a some time mouthing and muttering to himself furiously in the recreation for TV. Fine actor. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCZW...) |
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Jan-30-12
| | Domdaniel: <mack> Superb stuff. I remember Lobron as the surprise package that year, but I'd forgotten the game with Mondo ... "He's young, maybe he'll make a mistake" ... you don't hear lines like that these days. While griping about having to make 40 whole moves in two hours. Gosh. I just played a weekender, 90 mins per game and no increments. My last three games all unwound in a frenzy of blitz play. I got through two, but lost in the last round as usual. Ray must have known there was a chance of a Sicilian. Of course he was Mr Flank Opening at the time, but he played lots of dashing stuff in his youth. "What would Karpov do?" Heh. Nice find. |
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Jan-30-12
| | Domdaniel: <Fine actor> Quite. And more Burgess Meredith than Danny De Vito. |
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Jan-30-12
| | Domdaniel: <mack> This one - http://youtu.be/VGLE8zKW6c0 - is even better. Mondo in blitz mate thriller finale shock! It even looks like one of my games, with no captures until move 30-something and a prelate immured on h8. |
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Jan-30-12
| | Domdaniel: That Quinteros-Keene game doesn't seem to be in the CG database. Curious, that -- of course it's just a 5-hour 'quick' TV exhibition between grandmasters, nothing on a par with, say, the London Boys under-16 championship. Here we are:
[Event "London BBC TV-A"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "1981.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Quinteros, Miguel Angel"]
[Black "Keene, Raymond"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E92"]
[WhiteElo "2505"]
[BlackElo "2490"]
[PlyCount "195"]
[EventDate "1981.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "3"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.e4 O-O 7.Be2 e5 8.Bg5 h6
9.Bd2 Nbd7 10.Qc1 Kh7 11.h3 Nh5 12.g3 a6 13.Nh2 Ndf6 14.Ng4 Ng8 15.Ne3
Ngf6 16.Ng2 Qe7 17.Qc2 Bd7 18.a4 Rfe8 19.O-O-O Reb8 20.Qb3 b6 21.Rde1 Bh8
22.Ne3 Ng7 23.Bd3 Nge8 24.Nc2 Nc7 25.Na3 Nh5 26.Be3 Ng7 27.f4 Nh5 28.Reg1 Ne8 29.f5 Nef6 30.Qc2 Rg8 31.Qf2 Raf8 32.Kd2 Bg7 33.Rb1 Be8 34.b4 cxb4 35.Rxb4 Nd7 36.Be2 Nhf6 37.g4 Nc5 38.Bd3 Nfd7 39.h4 Qd8 40.Bc2 b5 41.cxb5 axb5 42.Naxb5 Nf6 43.Qf3 Bxb5 44.Rxb5 Nfd7 45.g5 h5 46.Rf1 Qc7 47.f6 Bh8 48.Rh1 Rc8 49.Ne2 Ra8 50.Rhb1 Rgc8 51.Ke1 Na6 52.R1b2 Nac5 53.Kf2 Nxa4 54.Bxa4 Rxa4 55.Rb7 Qd8 56.Bb6 Qe8 57.Qh3 Nxb6 58.R2xb6 Kg8 59.Qxc8 Qxc8 60.Rb8 Qxb8 61.Rxb8+ Kh7 62.Ng3 Ra2+ 63.Kf3 Ra3+ 64.Kg2 Ra2+ 65.Kh3 Bxf6 66.gxf6 Rf2 67.Rd8 Rxf6 68.Kg2 Kh6 69.Ne2 Kg7 70.Kg3 Kh7 71.Nc3 Rf4 72.Rxd6 Rg4+ 73.Kh3 Rf4 74.Rc6 Rf3+ 75.Kg2 Rd3 76.Kf2 f5 77.Ke2 Rd4 78.Ke3 Kg7 79.Rc7+ Kf8 80.Nb5 Rxe4+ 81.Kf3 Rf4+ 82.Kg3 Rg4+ 83.Kh3 Rb4 84.d6 Ke8 85.Re7+ Kd8 86.Nc7 Rb3+ 87.Kg2 Rd3 88.Ne6+ Kc8 89.Rc7+ Kb8 90.d7 e4 91.Rc8+ Kb7 92.d8=Q Rxd8 93.Rxd8 Kc6 94.Rd1 Kb5 95.Nf4 Kc4 96.Kf2 Kc3 97.Ke3 Kc2 98.Rd6 1-0 Wow. The last 40 moves or so were played at blitz tempo, with both players in serious time trouble. On TV, it looks like they played on until mate, but maybe not. "He's gone mad" said Keene when Quinteros played 59.Qxc8 (winning, but not easily) instead of 59.Re7, winning at once. I think 59.Rxf7 might also do the trick. But it's impressive stuff, for all its flaws. Quinteros slowly builds up a huge attack on both wings, while Keene huddles in the corner waiting for counterplay - and grabbing it when he gets a shot. Bill Hartston, in the commentary box, explained Quinteros's large plus score against Keene by saying that Ray liked to keep everything under control positionally, while Quinteros thrived on chaos ... chaos with a slow build-up. My kinda guy. |
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| Feb-01-12 | | transpo: <Domdaniel>Your historical perspective may be correct, but my kibitz is intended for today's Smith Morra and today's player. Transpositions abound in every opening. |
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Jan-15-13
 | | FSR: 9...dxe4 is incredibly naive. Houdini 3 says that White has only a minimal advantage after 9...dxc4 (+.15). 9...Qd6 also isn't bad (+.23). |
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Jan-15-13
| | FSR: Even though this line is objectively nothing, Black has fallen apart against it. MegaBase has another game where Black grabbed the rook. And then there are these two games: http://www.365chess.com/opening.php... |
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Kibitzing
sac: 9.Rxe4