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Wilhelm Steinitz vs Mikhail Chigorin
Steinitz - Chigorin World Championship Match (1889), Havana CUB, rd 10, Feb-07
Queen's Gambit Declined: Chigorin Defense. Main Line (D07)  ·  1-0

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

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sac: 25.Rxe7 PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-12-04  aw1988: This game has one of the worst pawn structures i've ever seen.
Sep-15-04  Giancarlo: Yes, I have to also say after move 8 white is looking pretty messed up. But Black does nothing to take advantag of the situation. I think although Black has an early advantage, he must lock it up by contesting the huge advantage white has in semi-open files because of the doubled pawns, which now mught actualy be a plus side for white as we see by the sacrifice on e7 which led to either mate or the loss of a queen. The exchange on f3 may have done good for white, as Black could no longer castle KS because of the open g-file. However, it may have been not a bad choice for nlack to attempt the KS castle as he was stuck in the middle at the end for a nice combo by white, while the white King was tucked away safely on the QS.
Apr-08-07  Whack8888: Chigorin had some really great ideas but often it seemed he failed to fully take advantage of his ideas--still a very interesting player to study.
Feb-28-08  Knight13: < Giancarlo: Yes, I have to also say after move 8 white is looking pretty messed up. But Black does nothing to take advantag of the situation. > He never got a chance to; White kept him busy making defensive moves.
Sep-14-12  SFVinyard: I can't believe how brilliant Steinitz played this one out. Great opening by black tho. I think Blacks obvious first mistake is 14. be7. Black wants to castle, but if he had known about the rook move after, he probably would have decided to fianchetto the bishop instead?

Steinitz was so quick to be aggressive after getting the double pawns, which seems so right. If black could find a way to buy some time and trade pieces, black probably does great. Course easier said than done.

Very nice rook sac to. Blew my mind.

Sep-15-12  RookFile: Ye olde two bishops. They help white.
Apr-04-14  Tal1949: The opening play by black was horrible, with his pieces moving counter-intuitive to the direction that he was trying to go in. It was hard to pinpoint the problem with the opening. It seemed like the whole thing was completely broken.
Jan-05-15  Smite: Fritz 13 thinks black is losing after move 7. Still a great game to analyze.
Jun-05-20  Chesgambit: don't exchange Queens nice straregy
Jun-05-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: It's hard to believe this was a WCC game. I agree with <Tal> that Black's opening was terrible. But it's easy to see the biggest problem. How do you not play 6...cxd4? It's with tempo, and not playing it allows <that Pawn> to be captured <with tempo> the next move.

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