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Emanuel Lasker vs Mikhail Chigorin
Lasker - Chigorin Rice Gambit Match (1903), Brighton ENG, rd 1, Aug-03
King's Gambit: Accepted. Kieseritsky Gambit Rice Gambit (C39)  ·  1-0

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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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Kibitzer's Corner
Nov-04-05  Benzol: Suprising that this is the first kibitz on this game. <iron maiden> and <Backward Development> have included it in their collections, however. Rightly so too. This is a great battle and Lasker's only win from the Brighton 1903 "Rice Gambit" Match.
Nov-05-05  PizzatheHut: <Benzol> Would you mind explaining how this match got its interesting moniker?
Nov-05-05  iron maiden: <PizzatheHut> According to <Benzol> this match was a series of games in which Lasker (playing White) was forced to open with this line of the King's Gambit each time. Apparently it was arranged to test whether the "Rice Gambit" was sound or unsound.
Nov-05-05  Benzol: <PizzatheHut> <iron maiden> is correct. Issac Rice, millionaire and chess patron was fond of this variation of the Kieseritzky Gambit and organised and financed theme tournaments where this opening, named after him, had to be played. He financed a match in Brighton England in 1903 to test out the variation with Lasker having White in all six games (it might have been better if Chigorin had had White given his attacking prowess). It took place from August 3rd to August 15th with Chigorin winning (+2, =3, -1). The gambit is considered dubious.
Nov-05-05  percyblakeney: The theme tournament in Ostend 1906 ended with 6 wins for white and 41 for black, so the Rice Gambit wasn't entirely successful... A couple of links:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconVal...

http://home.wi.rr.com/etzel/ricegam...

Nov-25-05  Cogano: As with Hartlaub's game (vs. Testa), I need someone's help here. Again, I'm using my 100 Chess Gems by P. Wenman (Cadogan Books) as my guide. Except in it, it lists 16. Bd3 ("d6 is also a strong move.)...Qxd5; 17. Qc2 f5 ("Qh5 is the alternative."); 18. Nd2 b5 ("Black is drifting into a bad position.") 19. Re1 Qf7 (If Nd7, Nf1 and e3 [meaning Ne3, I think] will follow."); 20. Re5 Be6; 21. Ne4 ("Fine play. IF fxe4, Rg5+; Kh8, Be5+.")... Bc4; 22. Bxc4 Qxc4; 23. Nd6 Qf1 ("Now the play becomes very critical. Black threatens f2 and Qg1 mate."); 24. R27 ("Also with the mating threat of 25. Qb3+ Kh8; 26. Be5+.")...Nd7; ("If c5 (for c4); 25. Be5, Nc6; Nxf5 Rxf5; 27. Rg7+ Kh8; Rxp+ (presumably Rxg4) and White will at least draw.") 25. Rxd7 Rf6; ("Another clever move which saves the situation, for if White stops for 26. Be5, then Raf8; 27. Bxf6 Qh3+; 28. Kg1 Qxg3+; 29. Kf1 Qh3+; 30. Ke1 Qh1+; 31. Kd2 Qg2+; 32. Kc1 Qxc2+; 33. Kxc2 Rxf6; 34. Rd8+ Kg7; 35. Ne8+ Kg6; 36. Nxf6. (on a separate line below all that) f2 wins.") 26. Qb3+ Kh8; 27. Nf7+ Kg7; 28. Ne5+ Kh8; 29. Nf7+ Kg7; 30. Nd8+ Kh8; 31. Nf7+ ("White can only draw, for if he withdraws Qc2 Black wins by f2. An exciting game.") Well here's my question: Why play 28. Ne5+ at all? IMO 28. Ng5+ is the winning move: If 28. ...Kh6/h8; 29. Rxh7 mate; if 28. ...Rf7; 29. Qxf7+ Kh6/h8; 30. Qxh7 mate; & if 28. ...Kf8; 29. Nxh7+ Ke8; 30. Nxf6+ Kf8; 31. Qf7/g8 mate! I hope someone will post their opinion on this. Thank you.
Nov-25-05  Benzol: <Cogano> The notes you're quoting belong to this game Lasker vs Chigorin, 1903 from the same match.
Apr-20-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: To try to save Black's game, I suggest 21...Qe4.

If White trades queens, the attack becomes less sharp, as in 21...Qe4 22. Qxe4 Rxe4 23. Nxg4 Re2+ 24. Kh3 f2 25. Rf1 Rxb2, etc.

But if White avoids the queen trade, Black gains time to counterattack, for example 21...Qe4 22. Qc4 Qxf4!? 23. gxf4 Rxe3 with White's king in a net.

Apr-09-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: While looking through all the games these titans played, I was surprised to note that Chigorin never essayed the King's Gambit in any of the games in which he played White, given his predilection for and virtuosity with the opening, with both colours. His games from the Vienna (Wien) 1903 event are well worth a look.
Nov-27-14  TheFocus: Match game 1 of the Rice Gambit match, won by Chigorin +2=3-1.

This game was played in Brighton, England on August 3, 1903.

The opening repeated up to 15.Bf4.

Apr-19-22  SymphonicKnight: Playing the Rice Gambit is like taking a 200 point rating handicap by white according to both human practice and computer analysis. It was actually an accomplishment by Lasker to get 2.5/6 against a player of Chigorin's class playing only white.

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