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David L Zardus vs Anthony Steventon
New Jersey (1986)
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit (B21)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Aug-03-09  AnalyzeThis: This is a trap that you learn about 15 minutes after learning Scholar's mate.
Aug-03-09  malbase: [Event "Oberschwaben-chB"]
[Site "Jedesheim"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Loew,H"]
[Black "Herz,Thomas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 1-0

[Event "GER-ch U11"]
[Site "Friedrichroda"]
[Date "1997.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Holzschuh,Stephan"]
[Black "Nass,Walter Robert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 1-0

[Event "RUS-ch U10 Girls"]
[Site "Serpukhov"]
[Date "1999.??.??"]
[Round "0"]
[White "Ulianova,Nadezhda"]
[Black "Solovieva,Maria"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 1-0

[Event "UKR-ch sf U12"]
[Site "Ukraine"]
[Date "2000.??.??"]
[Round "0"]
[White "Isaev,Izzet"]
[Black "Tishchenko,Ivan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 Nc6 9.Qd1 1-0

[Event "ASEAN-ch3 U12"]
[Site "Singapore"]
[Date "2002.06.08"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Lim Wei Han,Benedict"]
[Black "Balekundri,Ankush"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 1-0

[Event "ARG-ch U10"]
[Site "Esperanza"]
[Date "2002.08.16"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Perez Ponsa,Federico"]
[Black "Viola,Marcos"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qxd8 1-0

[Event "Canarias en Red prel 3rd"]
[Site "playchess.com INT"]
[Date "2004.05.05"]
[Round "10"]
[White "ThaSpy112"]
[Black "Cabrera Trujillo,Jorge Juan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 1-0

[Event "Bergamo op 19th"]
[Site "Bergamo"]
[Date "2007.01.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "De Palma,Fabrizio"]
[Black "Riva,Carlo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B21"]
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.e5 dxe5 7.Bxf7+ 1-0

Aug-03-09  MostlyAverageJoe: <Arcturus: Is there a running archive of these daily puzzles like there is with the Game of the Day?>

Yes, here: Tactics Archive but I think it is for premium members only.

Aug-03-09  Hans Wiemerink: This was a real "Kurz Partei". And an example of how dangerous a Gambit actually can be.....
Aug-03-09  patzer2: For today's Monday puzzle solution, White's 7. Bf7+! removes the guard (or defender) of the King and wins the Queen at the expense of a mere Bishop.

Black's mistakes were 5...Nf6? (better is 5. Nc6) and 6...dxe5?? (relatively better is 6...Nd7 or 6...Qc7, though B Wall vs K Saint Amant, 1991 could make you reconsider the latter alternative).

Aug-03-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  anthro: I've been thinking about the difficulty of the these puzzles. I usually look at them quickly online and try to solve them. I rarely spend more than 3-4 minutes at this. With my mediocre ability at chess, I can still almost always get Monday and Tuesday right; Wednesday is about 50-50 and Thursday about 25-75 (I usually get the first move or two right, but miss complications.) I rarely get a Friday-Sunday puzzle, though I often have the first move right.

Now I am sure I would do better if I tried one of the following methods: (1) look at the puzzle seriously taking 30 minutes or even more before giving up; (2) move the pieces on a chessboard as is done in correspondence chess. My guess is that method #1 would get me through Wednesday and often through Thursday and that method #2 might work even for Friday. But I think Saturdays and Sundays would be out of the question for any of these methods.

Anyhow, my question is which of these methods you all use and how far in the week you can get with them?

Aug-03-09  patzer2: <anthro> Looks like your success rate, time spent and methodology in tackling the puzzles approaches my own. I'm a retired class A player, and though I have had fair success Monday through Friday, I find the Saturday and Sunday puzzles particularly difficult.

For the more difficult puzzles, my main concern, after attempting a usually uncusccessful solution, is seeing if I can learn from them. I try to go back a few days later and see if I've retained enough to solve them. It seems to help some when approaching new puzzles, especially those with similar tactical themes.

Aug-03-09  zanshin: What a strange way to play the Sicilian. I feel that White should have been punished for his play - if only Black had not played <6...dxe5??>
Aug-03-09  A Karpov Fan: yes 5...Nc6 would seem to have been better. I can just imagine the grin on the White players face after this...
Aug-03-09  Marmot PFL: One of the easiest, a very simple opening trap
Aug-03-09  Patriot: <anthro> My approach for any day of the week is to solve entirely without moving the pieces. This helps improve board vision.

Usually for Monday - Wednesday problems, it doesn't take me more than 3 or 4 minutes. Thursday problems sometimes take longer and the rest of the week even longer, because it can take longer to prove that a specific line doesn't lose, for example.

But if you are using only 3-4 minutes on Friday - Sunday problems then you're not giving yourself a fair chance.

Personally though, I rarely look at Saturday and Sunday problems because I know it will take AT LEAST 20 minutes to analyze them until I'm sure a line is either winning or at least a best chance for a win.

Your method 1 is far better than method 2. The more you get practice moving pieces in your head, the more you will be able to visualize in the future. A very important step though in improving analysis is getting feedback from a stronger player as to how your analysis is flawed.

Aug-03-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  anthro: patzer2 -- you're a bit better than I am. I'm a retired (from chess, not work) class B player.

patriot -- I look at these as puzzles and am not really trying to improve my chess much at this point. From this perspective, moving the pieces around is interesting.

I regularly do crossword puzzles, spending a lot more time on them than I do on these chess problems. The New York Times puzzles also vary greatly in difficulty from Monday through Saturday (Sunday is about Tuesday level), but I can do all of them (though at different speeds). Makes me think about what my crossword rating would be (though I could find out via crossword puzzle contests).

Aug-03-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  anthro: correction: The Sunday NYT crossword puzzle is Thursday-level, not Tuesday level.
Aug-03-09  MiCrooks: I don't think I ever take more than a minute or two looking at the problems. Typical Mon-Wed take a few seconds though occassionally they can take a bit longer. Today it probably took 15 secs because unlike the other poster I did not learn this combo minutes after learning the scholars mate :)!

I will admit that for later puzzles I don't always work out every line, and occassionally I will jump at the wrong line, but typically I have the right key move without perhaps looking down all of the possible responses. I give myself a reasonable amount of credit as to being able to find the right continuation.

Aug-03-09  Patriot: <anthro> Sorry I guess I missed your whole point.
Aug-03-09  muralman: That was delicious, like a chocolate truffle.
Aug-03-09  Kasputin: At this late date, no need to point out the obvious winning move.

But this motif, which is pretty common, isn't necessarily all bad for black if the board is set up a little differently. Sometimes black is able to bring out the king's bishop with check and then the black rook on h8 captures the white queen on d8.

I had a position like that in a recent game - all I would have won was a pawn and black would have had some compensation for the pawn as well. I decided (I think correctly) to move my white knight up to g5. Again I ended up a pawn ahead (after a few moves) but with a better position.

I point this out because in this game the winning move is very clear, but in other cases, one shouldn't be too quick to conclude that black will come out a major or minor piece down.

Aug-03-09  Patriot: <Kasputin: I point this out because in this game the winning move is very clear, but in other cases, one shouldn't be too quick to conclude that black will come out a major or minor piece down.>

Very true. Making such a false conclusion is what my coach calls a quiescence error.

Aug-03-09  WhiteRook48: 7 Bxf7+ Kxf7 8 Qxd8
Aug-03-09  minasina: <Arcturus: Is there a running archive of these daily puzzles like there is with the Game of the Day?>

You can always look the first lines of their daily comments:

User: dzechiel

or

User: johnlspouge

Aug-03-09  hms123: <Arcturus> There is this link: Tactics Archive but it might be just for premium members.
Aug-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  LIFE Master AJ: <Malbase> A nice little collection of games that feature BxP/f7+. It must have taken more than a little effort. (Thanks!) :)
Sep-09-09  WhiteRook48: by the way why is the opening listed Sicilian, 2 f4 and 2 d4?
Dec-08-11  transpo: Black's error was playing 5...Nf6?? Never play ...Nf6 prior to playing the necessary ...a6 which denies White the crucial square b5 which is the focal point of all White's tactical shots after e5
Dec-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Korora: Losing a ♕+♙ for a ♗ in the opening? Oxygen-Uranium-Carbon-Hydrogen!
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