Henry Bird vs Berthold Englisch (1883) Oh, Henry!

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Henry Bird vs Berthold Englisch
"Oh, Henry!" (game of the day Jul-13-2005)
London (1883), London ENG, rd 3, Apr-30
Italian Game: Bird's Attack (C53) · 1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

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Aug-26-04		VStrider: lol thx <cu8fan> i tried <font color="#CC6600"><that></font> but i never tried <that>. i just thought it wouldn't work. Like those rare queen sacs, they're simple and win the game but you intuitively don't even look at them :-)

Aug-26-04		kevin86: Going back a few moves,the game looks drawish;white's extra pawn is doubled and two rook endings are very hard to win.Maybe Bird wasn't so dumb after all. (lol).

Aug-26-04		IMDONE4: the question was quite easy after all. u instantly c the need 2 sac both yur rooks, as there is no other choice 2 draw this game

Aug-26-04		crafty: 42. ♔f2 ♖f8 43. g4 ♖xf6+ 44. ♔g3 ♖d6 45. ♖a3 ♖hd1 (eval -5.34; depth 17 ply; 750M nodes)

Aug-26-04		Dillinger: <IMDONE4> umm right.. isnt that the point of a puzzle? If there were a lot of choices it wouldn't be very interesting at all.

Sep-20-04		Knight13: This puzzle is not Draw. I can force a queen here.

Sep-20-04		tpstar: The game is drawn by stalemate. That was the entire point of the 2 Rook sacrifice. White's extra material is meaningless because Black has no legal move.

Sep-20-04		Knight13: <tpstar> I never know of stalemate. It never happend to me before.

May-16-05		lopium: Ahahah! Funny end of game!

Jul-13-05		An Englishman: Good Evening: Admit it--if you were shown this position and asked to guess who played Black, wouldn't you guess Marshall?

Jul-13-05		weary willy: Just know that if I'd had this position, I'd have protected the knight with 39 Kh3

Jul-13-05		Benzol: Having just seen the game of the day's title I'm reminded of the song 'There's A Hole In My Bucket'. C'mon <tpstar>, all together now "Dear Liza, dear Liza...."

Jul-13-05		Sneaky: <I'd have protected the knight with 39 Kh3> 39.♔h3?? ♖h5#

Jul-13-05		martinshortsays: <chessgames.com> This is one of my favorite titles for a game I can remember.

Jul-13-05		al wazir: Suppose black had played 41...Re1+ 42. Kf2 Rhh1, threatening Rhf1#. If 43. g4 or Kf3, then 43...Rf1+ wins the knight. If 43. Ra8+ Kg7 44. Ne8+, or if 43. Rh7+ Rxh7 44. Kxe1, then white has a knight and doubled pawns against a rook, and I don't know what happens. Maybe Englisch didn't either.

Jul-13-05		patzer2: In this game, the "Oh Henry!" Bird missed was the stalemate trap his opponent played with the brilliant defensive move 39. Rh5+! After 39. Rxe8, Bird was hoping for 39...Rxe8?? 40. Nxf6 when White threatens a decisive double attack (mate or win a Rook). However, he overlooked the key in-between move 39. Rh5+! and the subsequent stalemate.

Jul-13-05		Knight13: Hey. My favorite player BIRD! Bird's got weak pawn structure, man. I don't understand 14. b5?!. Why did he sacrifice a pawn for?

Jul-13-05		patzer2: Bird missed a win by not playing 32. Qh5! A move-by-move analysis, playing it out with Fritz 8 @ 14 to 15 depth, follows: 32. Qh5! Qe3 33. Qxg4+ Qg5 34. Qe6+! Kh8 35. Qe7! Ng7 36. Rxf6 Rd1+ 37. Kh2 Rxf6! 38. Qxf6! Qxf6 39. Rxf6 h5 40. Rf8+ Kh7 41. Rf7 Kg8 42. Re7 Rf1 (42... Kf8 43. Ng6+ Kg8 44. g4 hxg4 45. Kg3 Rg1 46. Nf4 Kf8 47. Rb7 Re1 48. Rb4 Ne8 49. Kxg4 Ke7 50. e5 Kd7 51. e6+ Ke7 52. Rb7+ Kd6 53. Kf5 Rf1 54. Rd7+ Kc5 55. e7 Re1 56. Ne6+ Kc6 57. Rd8 Ng7+ 58. Nxg7 Rxe7 59. Ne6 Rf7+ 60. Ke5 Rf2 61. g4 Re2+ 62. Kf6 ) 43. Nf3 Kf8 44. Rb7 Ne6 45. Rb8+ Kf7 46. Rb5 Kg6 47. Nh4+ Kf6 48. Rxh5 Nd4 49. Kh3 Nc2 50. g4 Re1 51. Rf5+ Kg7 (51... Ke6 52. Nf3 Re2 53. Kg3 Kd6 54. Kf4 Rxg2 55. g5 ) 52. Re5 Re3+ 53. Kh2 Kf6 54. Rf5+ Ke6 55. Rf4 Ke5 56. Ng6+ Kd4 57. e5+ Kc5 58. Rf3 Kd5 59. Rxe3 Nxe3 60. Kg3 Ke6 61. Kf3 Nd1 62. Kf4 Nc3 63. Nf8+ Ke7 64. Nh7 Ne2+ 65. Ke4 Ke6 66. Ng5+ Ke7 67. Nf3 Ng3+ 68. Ke3 Ke6 69. Kf4 Ne2+ 70. Kg5 Kf7 71. Kh6 Nf4 72. g5 Nxg2 73. g6+ Kg8 74. e6 Ne3 75. Nd4 Nd5 76. Nf5 Kf8 77. g7+ Kg8 78. e7 Nxe7 79. Nxe7+ Kf7 80. g8=Q+ .

Jul-13-05		Kelvieto: i saw this game once in a puzzle form

Jul-13-05		Gowe: Interesting Kelvieto, interesting. Very interesting.

Jul-13-05		tpstar: <Kelvieto> Actually they used it here back in 8/04 as Black to Play and Draw. Otherwise it's one of the most famous swindles ever. <Benzol> Oh go on, you and your newfangled music! ;>D

Jul-13-05		al wazir: Footnote to my earlier post: After 41...Re1+ 42. Kf2 Rhh1 43. Rh7+ Rxh7 44. Kxe1, black has 44...Rg7. If 45. Kf2 then 45...Rf7 wins the knight; if 45. g4 then 45...Rg6, or if 45. Nh5 then 45...Rg5, or if 45. Ne4 then 45...Rg4, in each case winning the pawn. After 43. Ra8+ Kg7 44. Ne8+ I think black also wins a pawn, but I can't demonstrate it.

Feb-07-06		Knight13: <Knight13: <tpstar> I never know of stalemate. It never happend to me before.> I think I did know about stalemate at that time. :/

Aug-04-06		TheSlid: Is this a made up game? The finale seems contrived to my limited understanding.

Dec-24-08		WhiteRook48: why would Bird continue after 43...Rh1+?

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