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Nov-15-10
 | | Benzol: Interesting to compare this to Rosenberg vs Tartakower, 1954 |
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Nov-15-10
 | | Domdaniel: Aha, the <Excelsior> theme. Isn't that one name for a pair of pawns simultaneously capturing their way to the final rank? And carrying on as Queens. I, ahem, played one about 33 years ago. G McCarthy vs M Kennefick, 1977. Not quite in the Polgar league, but fun. |
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| Nov-15-10 | | Travis Bickle: I scored 35 but I missed the crucial move of Bxe6. ; O Great game by Susan. |
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| Nov-15-10 | | David2009: <Domdaniel: Aha, the <Excelsior> theme. Isn't that one name for a pair of pawns simultaneously capturing their way to the final rank? And carrying on as Queens.> I think 'Excelsior' means a Pawn promoting in 5 consecutive moves starting from the second rank. <I, ahem, played one about 33 years ago. G McCarthy vs M Kennefick, 1977 Not quite in the Polgar league, but fun.> DOUBLE EXCELSIOR!! Respect! |
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| Nov-15-10 | | kevin86: Four queens at move thirteen! A whimsical game,to say the least. |
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Nov-15-10
| | Domdaniel: <David2009> Thanks ... *Double Excelsior* seems like a good theme for a game collection, if anyone knows of other examples. I saw one between P. Short and C. Daly in the Irish championships a couple of years ago, but I don't think it's in the CG database. |
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Nov-15-10
 | | Sneaky: The term "excelsior" refers to any position in which a pawn gobbles up pieces until it promotes. It is named after a chess problem by Sam Loyd that was dubbed Excelsior, a reference to the poem of the same name by Longfellow. As the story goes, a friend of Loyd commented that while he could not quickly solve composed chess problems, he had an excellent intuition about what piece or pieces will be involved in the final checkmate. Sam Loyd bet this person "a dinner" that he could be shown a position and not only fail to identify the mating piece, but be unable to point to a piece or pawn which does NOT participate in the checkmate. The position was this 
click for larger viewIt's White to move and mate in 5.
Sam's friend looked at the position for a few seconds and quickly pointed at the b-pawn, as being a piece which could not possibly participate in the final checkmate. Imagine his surprise when the solution was revealed to him: 1. b4!! <Threatening 2.Rf5 any 3.Rf1# or 2.Rd5 any 3.Rd1# > Rc5+ (forced) 2.bxc5 <Now threatening 3.Rb1#> a2 3.c6! <Again with the same threats: 4.Rf5 any 5.Rf1# or 4.Rd5 any 5.Rd1#> Bc7 4.cxb7 (any) 5.bxa8=Q# (or bxa8=B# if you find that prettier). Excelsior! |
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Nov-15-10
| | Domdaniel: <Sneaky> Very nice indeed. I'd seen this before -- in fact, I have a vague memory of having *solved* it once, though it hardly seems possible now. Loyd's friend (if he existed) must have seen that 1.bxa3 (threat: Rb1#) failed to 1...Rc5+, taking the white rook out of action. So he must have been confident that the b-pawn couldn't play a part ... let alone transmogrify into the piece that actually delivers mate. Which was also brilliant psychology from Loyd. He didn't just set traps ... he cunningly guided people into building their own traps and falling into them. A real beauty, this one, even without the story.
Next Question (don't worry, I can easily google it): outside of chess, isn't "excelsior" the refrain of a 19th century poem in which a Knight (in armour) moves ever onward? For some reason, I confuse it with 'Invictus', which became the title of a Nelson Mandela + rugby football movie. And I've seen a (parody?) verse somewhere in which the 'excelsior' hero rides a bicycle ... |
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Nov-15-10
| | Domdaniel: Right, Longfellow. Oops. |
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Nov-15-10
| | Domdaniel: This is from the middle of Longfellow's <Excelsior>. General idea is onwards, keep going, stick with it, don't be tempted, ever forwards, and if you die trying you go to the good place... <"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"
And loud that clarion voice replied,
Excelsior!
"O stay," the maiden said, "and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!"
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,
But still he answered, with a sigh,
Excelsior!
"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche!"
This was the peasant's last Good-night;
A voice replied, far up the height,
Excelsior!
At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
Excelsior !
A traveller, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hands of ice
That banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!>
"... ain't it just like a pawn to promote when you're trying to be quiet?
We took a few pieces and then we all tried to deny it,
And Louise had two Queens, saying anyone wanna defy it ...
... Excelsior lived in the loft
With his classical books we all scoffed
Latin? You gotta be soft ..."
... might be the Bob Dylan equivalent ... |
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| Nov-15-10 | | Shams: <"O stay," the maiden said, "and rest/
Thy weary head upon this breast!" >
Why doesn't this ever happen to me? |
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Nov-15-10
| | Domdaniel: <Shams> My very thoughts. If I was that Excelsior fella, my poem would end right there ... <"O stay," the maiden said, "and rest/ Thy weary head upon this breast!"
- Yessssssssss!" |
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| Nov-15-10 | | WhiteRook48: nice win |
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Nov-15-10
| | Sneaky: There's a variation in the English opening that contains a double excelsior, it goes 1. c4 c6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. fxg7
click for larger viewAnd now 6...cxb2?? is moronic because White queens first and covers a1, so instead the logical move is 6...cxd2+, forcing White to address the check. I found playing this line as Black that the position is great if you can just get in the moves Bf5 and Bg6--but White, if they're smart, will prevent that plan with a move like Qc2. Therefore this variation is somewhat discredited, which explains why we haven't seen it at the GM level since the 1970s. See http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... for some examples of this variation. |
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Nov-15-10
 | | Phony Benoni: <Domdaniel: <David2009> Thanks ... *Double Excelsior* seems like a good theme for a game collection, if anyone knows of other examples.> The line played in this game pops up in a number of games in our database. For instance: Krogius vs Kamyshov, 1949
Chekhover vs Suetin, 1951
I Johannsson vs Z Nilsson, 1954
Rosenberg vs Tartakower, 1954
V Barsauskas vs Kholmov, 1955
Lazarov vs Goldstein, 1962
Benko vs K Pytel, 1973
L Pliester vs Dreev, 1989
K Klim vs K Bulski, 2007
I Goldenberg vs E Schon, 2009
And, just for fun, a game which features four queens by move 7: Casper vs Heckert, 1975 |
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Nov-16-10
 | | Richard Taylor: I followed this game from move 9 to the finish (17 moves) "in my head" - lol. Interesting calculation exercise. Fun working out those "long chain" sequences! |
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| Nov-16-10 | | weisyschwarz: On the heel of "An Angel Gets His Wings", you could have gone with "Zsuzsa's Pedals". Same movie. |
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| Nov-19-14 | | patzer2: Forgot I'd seen this combination seven years ago. So this Wednesday puzzle took me a while to recall. The main point is 20. Bxe6!! fxe6 21. Bxf6  yields two possible winning double attacks: If 21...Bxf6 22. Qh5+, then White gets mated after 22...Kf8 23. Qf7# or drops
the Queen to a Knight Fork after 22...Ke7 23. Qxh7+ Kd6 24. Nf7#. If 21...Qxd4 (as in the game), then White gets mated after 22. Qh5+ Kf8 23. Qf7# or drops the Queen to a Rook Skewer after 23...Kd8 24. Rd1 . |
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| Nov-19-14 | | diagonalley: darn... i didn't find the knight fork, so couldn't make it work :-( |
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| Nov-19-14 | | Granny O Doul: Why is "doozy" spelt this weird way? |
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Nov-19-14
| | Richard Taylor: The fork works if she captures on h7 which was the trick but Qf7+ looks tempting also. |
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| Nov-19-14 | | agb2002: White is one pawn down.
Black threatens 20... Qxd4.
White would deliver a nice mate if 20.Qf5 exf5 21.Bxf7+ Kf8 22.Bh6# were a forced line. However, this suggests 20.Bxe6, threatening that mate in two: A) 20... fxe6 21.Bxf6
A.1) 21... Bxf6 22.Qh5+ Ke7 (22... Kf8 23.Qf7#) 23.Qxh7+ Kd6 (23... Ke(f)8 24.Qf7#; 23... Bg7 24.Qxg7+ Kd6 25.Nf7+ is even worse for Black) 24.Nf7+ Kd5 25.Nxd8 Rxd8 26.Qxb7 + - [Q+P vs B]. A.2) 21... Qc7 22.Qh7+ Kd8 23.Qf7 Qd6 (23... Bxf6 24.Qf8#) 24.Qf8+ Kc7 25.Qxe7+ Qxe7 26.Bxe7 + - [N]. A.3) 21... Qd6 (or 21... Qxd4) 22.Qh7+ Kd8 23.Nf7+ wins the queen. A.4) 21... Qd5 22.Bxe7 Kxe7 23.Qf7+ Kd8 24.Qxb7 wins a piece. A.5) 21... Qb6(a5) 22.Qh5+ Kd8 23.Bxe7+ wins a piece or delivers mate (23... Kxe7 24.Qf7+ Kd6(8) 25.Qd7#. B) 20... Qd6 21.Bxf7+ Kd8 22.Nc4 Qb4 (22... Qxd4 23.Rd1 wins the queen) 23.Bxf6 wins a knight and a pawn. |
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| Nov-19-14 | | morfishine: Took me awhile to sort out the correct move-order:
<20.Bxe6> best
20...fxe6 21.Bxf6 Bxf6 22.Qh5+ Ke7 23.Qxh7+ Kd6 24.Nf7+ forking the Queen ***** |
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| Nov-19-14 | | starry2013: I assume there's a checkmate. I ended up trying a double sacrifice with Bf6 and Nf7, while I had plenty of pressure I couldn't 'bring home the bacon'. |
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Nov-19-14
 | | tobywan: <Granny O Doul> Because "Duesy" is the correct (well, that's an odd adjective to apply; at least it's the original) spelling. "It's a Duesy" was originally an ad slogan for the Duesenberg automobile. Of chess I am largely ignorant, but ads crowd my brain. |
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