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Semyon Alapin vs Emmanuel Schiffers
St. Petersburg National t (1877), St. Petersburg RUE, Oct-??
Spanish Game: Open. Zukertort Variation (C80)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [35434 more games annotated by Stockfish]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Aug-02-23  Brenin: 20 ... Ng3+ wins the Q, since 21 hxg3 allows 21 ... hxg3+ 22 Kg2 Rh2+, skewering the Q.
Aug-02-23  ariel el luchador: Las blancas sacaron ventaja en la apertura pero jugaron con timidez y le regalaron la partida alas negras volver con el alfil a la casilla inicial es raro
Aug-02-23  lentil: <Brenin> that's not the end.. W has 23 Kf3 Rxe2 24 Kxe2 and the material loss is not huge. The sting in the tail is 24 ... g2!
Aug-02-23  King.Arthur.Brazil: The beginning can be: 20...Ng3+ (21. Kg2 Nxe2 win the ♕... ) 21. hxg3 hxg3+ 22. Kg2 Rh2+ 23. Kf3 Rxe2 24. Kxe2 Qxg4+ 25. Nf3 g2 26. Re1 g1=N+ 27. Rxg1 Bxg1 28. Bd1 Qg2+ (29. Ke1 Qf2#) 29. Kd3 Qf1+ 30. Kd2 Qf2+ 31. Kd3 c5 32. Bd2 c4+ 33. Kc2 d4 White is lost.
Aug-02-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Too many lost tempi culminated in grave danger for the white king; even before the futile gesture 20.g4, there was no good defence to 20....Ng3+.
Aug-02-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Korora: Got it!
Aug-02-23  stacase: Got it move for move, but I can't claim that I saw all three moves from the start.
Aug-02-23  jrredfield: I saw the first three moves almost instantly but wasn't sure after that as it appeared that White has several options, none of which stood out to me.
Aug-02-23  Mayankk: Nice puzzle. Once you see the first move, rest flows seamlessly. Not a lot of sidelines to worry about.

20 ... Ng3+ and White may as well resign. The Knight has to be captured as it is a Royal fork otherwise. 21 hxg3 hxg3+ 22 Kg2 Rh2+ 23 Kf3 Rxe2 24 Kxe2 Qxg4+ is all forced. White Queen is lost, its King is under attack and Black has a deadly g3 passed pawn. Can't be a clearer win.

Aug-02-23  agb2002: Black wins decisive material after 20... Ng3+ 21.hxg3 hxg3+ 22.Kg2 Rh2+ 23.Kf3 Rxe2 24.Kxe2 Qxg4+ followed by g2.
Aug-02-23  Refused: the big check 20...Ng3+ costs white decissive material.

21.hxg3 hxg3 22.Kg2 Rh2+ 21.Kf3 Rxe2 22.Kxe2 g2 (or 22...Qxg4+) just ends any pretense of white being able to fight on.

Aug-02-23  mel gibson: I saw that but I was looking for a checkmate but couldn't find one.

Stockfish 16 says:

20... Ng3+

(20. .. Ng3+ (Nf5-g3+ h2xg3 h4xg3+ Kh1-g2 Rh8-h2+ Kg2xg3 Rh2xe2 Bb3-d1 Bc5-f2+ Rf1xf2 Re2xf2 Kg3xf2 Qd7-a7+ Kf2-e1 Qa7-e3+ Bd1-e2 d5-d4 c3xd4 Qe3xf4 Be2-f3 ) +6.13/39 240)

score for Black +6.13 depth 39.

I also considered 20...hxg3 e.p. and it's almost as good:

SF says:

20. .. hxg3 e.p.

(20. .. hxg3 21. Nf3 (Nd2-f3 Nf5-h4 e5-e6 Qd7xe6 Qe2xe6+ f7xe6 h2xg3 Nh4xf3+ Kh1-g2 Nf3-d4 c3xd4 Bc5xd4 Bc1-d2 Bd4xb2 Rf1-b1 Bb2-d4 Bb3-d1 ) -4.73/39 252)

score for White -4.73 depth 39.

Aug-02-23  saturn2: Black gets Q for N+R and a strong attack against the exposed king. I did not look for further mate.
Aug-02-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Had never seen 8...Nd7 before today, and perhaps with good reason--no games in the DB after 1912. Time for rediscovery?
Aug-02-23  Willem Wallekers: To my surprise this game cannot be found on chessbase (http://database.chessbase.com).
Games with 8 ... Ne7 on this database are won by a great majority of the white players.
Aug-02-23  Brenin: <ariel el luchador: Las blancas sacaron ventaja en la apertura pero jugaron con timidez y le regalaron la partida alas negras volver con el alfil a la casilla inicial es raro> Yes, 15 Bc1 looks very timid. 15 Bf4 Ng6 16 Bg3 h5 17 h3 Bc5 is not very inviting, but 15 Bd2 looks better.
Aug-02-23  Whitehat1963: This looked clearer to me than Monday�s puzzle.
Aug-02-23  Chesschronicle22: 23.Kxg3 Rxe2 24.Bd1 Re3+ 25.Nf3 Qa7 26.Bxe3 Bxe3 27.g5 Qa1 28.g6 Qxb2 29.Nh4 Qxc3 30.gxf7+ Kxf7 31.Bh5+ Kg8 32.Rf3 g5 33.fxg5 Qxe5+ 34.Kh3 Bxg5 35.Rg3 Kh7 36.Nf3 Qe6+
Aug-03-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Korora: Was Schiffers a satirist? Because Alapin got skewered. ;þ

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