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William Napier vs Frank Marshall
Napier - Marshall (1896), Brooklyn, New York USA, rd 4, Oct-16
French Defense: Advance Variation. Nimzowitsch System (C02)  ·  1/2-1/2

8
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1
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White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1/2-1/2

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
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Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-18-06  kevin86: When it looks like all is lost,Marshall comes up with an instant stalemate forcer sac.Give that 74th move three exclamation marks!!!
Sep-18-09  WhiteRook48: and give 69...Kh2 five exclamation marks!!!!!
Feb-25-10  elohah: Fritz?
Mar-23-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: Well, if Napier would not have played naive 70.Kxf2??, Marshall's effort would be fruitless. 70.Qe5+ g3 71.Kf3 leads to quick mate and after 70...Kg2 71.Qf4 g3 72.Qc1 white wins as well, for example 72...Ba7 73.Qc6+ Kh2 74.Qc7 (pinning Pg3 and attacking the Bishop) 74...Bb6 75.Qd6! Bc5 76.Qe5! Bd4 77.Qf4! Bg1 78.Kf3 Bf2 79.Qe5 etc.
Mar-15-13  thomastonk: Though both men were quite young, and Napier won the match convincingly, it is hard to believe what has happened here: first White gives away the good bishop (5.♗b5, 6.♗xc6), and then this exchange sac 14.♘d2?, which is - to say something positive - highly speculative. And Black gives away all his advantage within the next moves, mainly due to the queen moves 15.. ♕d8? and 18.. ♕c7?. And at 19.. ♗f8 I am speechless .

Fortunately, the tactical skirmish that follows is not bad, and Napier shows gameness avoiding the perpetual.

But assume Black plays 33.. ♖xf8!, and then, say, 34.♘xf8 ♔c7 or 34.♕b5+ ♔c8? I think, White is simply lost.

Another mistake is 44.. ♕xg1+, because with queens on board, White's king is under permanent attack, and Black will soon win some of White's pawns.

The final is indeed funny, but as Honza explained it needed much help to save Black here.

Jan-11-15  ljfyffe: 53Kb3 Bxb4 54Kxb4 Kxg2 55a4 Kxh3 56a5 Kg3
57a6 h3 58a7 h2 :Kemeny.
Jul-26-17  Straclonoor: After 59 moves Lomonosov TB7 gives white mates in 33. Here is the line
60. a7 Bf4 61. a8=Q Kg3 62. Qa7 h3 63. Qxg7+ Kf3 64. Qb7+ Ke3 65.Qb6+ Kf3 66. Qc6+ Kf2 67. Qc2+ Kg3 68. Qg6+ Kf3 69. Qh5+ Kg3 70. Kc3 h2 71. Kd3 Bb8 72. Ke3 b4 73. Qf3+ Kh4 74. Qg2 b3 75. Kf3 Kh5 76. Qg4+ Kh6 77. Kg2 b2 78. Qe6+ Kh7 79. Qe7+ Kh6 80. Qf8+ Kg6 81. Qxb8 h1=Q+ 82. Kxh1 Kf6 83. Qxb2+ Ke6 84. Qd2 Kf6 85. Qd6+ Kf7 86. Kh2 Kg7 87. Qe7+ Kg6 88. Kg2 Kh6 89. Kf3 Kg6 90. Kf4 Kh6 91. Kf5 Kh5 92. Qh7#
Dec-26-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  nizmo11: Tablebase comments in addition to those above (moves 59, and 70):


click for larger view

64.Qc3+ was also a mistake (64.Kc2), but Black needed to answer 64... g3! 65.Qxc7 g2. After 64...Bg3, White was again winning until move 70.

The ending is surprisingly tricky, and requires accurate calculation. One move earlier, with the Queen in h1, the cleanest way to win was perhaps 63. Kc2 h3 64. Kd2(d1)! (and not 64.Kd3?? Kf2!) Kf2 65. Qe1+ Kg2 66. Qe4+ Kg3 67. Ke2

Dec-27-20  sudoplatov: Looks like 70.Qe5+ may win.

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