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Daniel Gormally vs Meenakshi Subbaraman
"I don't Gormally win, but when I do, I sac by queen" (game of the day Jun-18-2022)
British Championship (2002), Torquay ENG, rd 6, Aug-03
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Bogoljubow Defense (D24)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Sep-15-04  Helloween: Not many games feature such a stunning Queen sac as Gormally's 18.bxa6!!.
Sep-16-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: The way I see it, Gormally's going to get his king up the board and then play b8=♕+, ♖g8+, ♖xb8 and then win the pawn-ending. So by the end he will have had 5 queens on the board - half his pawns will have promoted! Amazing stuff.
May-16-06  Autoreparaturwerkbau: I would never guess black's name Subbaraman is female. Nice struggle by her anyways.
Jun-18-22  Brenin: A very entertaining game. After 38 ... Rxd7 39 Rxd7 Kxd7 40 Kf1, White wins the K+P endgame on account his passed b-pawn and Black's doubled and vulnerable e-pawns.
Jun-18-22  nalinw: < Autoreparaturwerkbau> It is her first name "Meenakshi" that is supposed to tell you she is female .... good sac, good resistance and good pun .....
Jun-18-22  nalinw: As soon as I saw the name Gormally I was thinking of how to find a game for "The Punch Heard Around the Chess World" ....

There are actually two games between Gormally and Aronian in the database - and some people have posted some good stuff there ....

However, given the tragic death of the lady concerned perhaps we should let things be ...

Jun-18-22  Shrinarayanan: why not 52.Kb3?
Jun-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Needs work.
Jun-18-22  goodevans: What the pun lacks in brevity it makes up for in accuracy. Danny Gormally's overall record of +251 -102 =253 means he's won a mere 41.4% of his games so, yes, he doesn't 'normally' win.

The Q-sac is imaginative and stunning but (and I hate to be a killjoy) it's not actually winning. Black needed to vacate e8 with <21...Kf7> so that <22.Rxd8 Qxd8 23.Nc6> could be met with <23...Qe8 24.b8=Q Qxc6> with a roughly even game.

Jun-18-22  Brenin: <goodevans>: As an alternative to 21 ... Kf7, 21 ... Qb5 22 Rxd8+ Kxd8 23 b8=Q+ Qxb8 24 Nc6+ Kc8 25 Nxb8 Kxb8 leaves Black a P up (but only temporarily), with a playable game.

<Shrinarayanan>: 52 Kb3 seems more logical, as White's winning plan is to move his K to d4 or d5 and then take Black's e-pawn. However, 52 Kb2 was sufficient to induce a resignation, so let's not complain about it.

Jun-18-22  Saniyat24: lol...good one...!
Jun-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: Yes a good game and although 'goodevans' has spotted a resource, OTB it's a difficult game to hold and a good example of a good player finding a move (18. bxa6) that sets an opponent problems.

But also let us give a nod to Black for accepting the challenge


click for larger view

They could have refused the sac with 18...Rxa6 then it's just another game and the Queen sac would have been relegated to a footnote.

Jun-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: Danny returns to the Meen Streets...

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