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Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais vs Alexander McDonnell
"Horse Racing" (game of the day Aug-22-2007)
La Bourdonnais - McDonnell 1st Casual Match (1834), London ENG, rd 21
Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation (C23)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Annotations by Paul Morphy.      [30 more games annotated by Morphy]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Aug-22-07  brankat: <ahmadov> <At the end of the game, White does not promote to a Queen, probably understanding that 38...Nc2 is mate. However, it plays 39.Nb1 ignoring what he saw before promoting to a knight...>

It is highly unlikely that a player of La Bourdonnais's stature didn't the mate in one. Both masters were gentlemen, unlike some of the "modern" masters. I believe La Bourdonnais simply didn't want to deny his opponent the final mating scheme.

Aug-22-07  kevin86: What a finish! White's king appeared to be a fly netted by black's spidery knights. His cries of "Help me!" fell upon deaf ears as white's forces were to far away to do nothing but prolong the game-even so far as underpromoting a pawn to give one last check.
Aug-22-07  psmith: <HOTDOG> The suggestion of 30...Nxe4 is good, but Morphy's analysis, which is borne out by examination with Fritz, shows that 30...Bxe4 wins as well, if properly followed up with 32...Qf6.
Aug-22-07  smarterthanbobby: 32 queen E2 is unstoppable....
look at it! simple, clear, over!
Aug-22-07  smarterthanbobby: ha QUEEN E3 OPPS....
still unstoppable!!!!!!!
Aug-22-07  psmith: <smarterthanbobby>: 32. Qe3 Qf6 stops what you had in mind I think.

Who's Bobby?

Aug-22-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  fm avari viraf: A very thrilling encounter between these two Masters of Romantic Era. However, there were some slips from both the players under pressure, otherwise a wonderful game!
Aug-22-07  Chessmensch: <blingice> The Fritz 10 data base (Chessbase) gives f7-f8N+, same as Chessgames.com.
Aug-22-07  soberknight: Haha, f8=N+. A pretty "spite check," but I would have done the same thing.
Sep-28-07  nimh: Rybka 2.4 mp, AMD X2 2.01GHz, 10 min per move, threshold 0.25.

De La Bourdonnais 13 mistakes:
7.d4 -0.45 (7.e5 -0.01)
8.Bxf4 -0.58 (8.e5 0.14)
9.Bd3 -0.30 (9.e5 0.25)
11.h3 -1.10 (11.Nf3 -0.29)
14.Kb1 -0.71 (14.Ngf3 -0.16)
17.g4 -0.48 (17.Rhe1 0.00)
18.Rdg1 -0.89 (18.g5 0.35)
22.Rg4 -0.17 (22.h4 1.00)
23.h4 -0.83 (23.Nh4 0.39)
25.h5 -1.56 (25.Rf1 1.42)
27.Qf3 -2.57 (27.Qe3 -1.56)
30.Ka1 -3.47 (30.Kc2 -2.63)
34.Rxe1 #6 (34.Nb1 5.99)

McDonnell 14 mistakes:
5...Ne7 0.21 (5...0-0 -0.24)
7...Bb6 0.14 (7...d5 -0.45)
8...d6 0.25 (8...d5 -0.58)
12...Qe7 -0.31 (12...d5 -1.03)
13...c5 -0.16 (13...Bd7 -0.42)
15...a5 -0.26 (15...Bd7 -0.79)
16...Bd7 0.00 (16...a4 -0.27)
17...h6 0.35 (17...Bc6 -0.48)
18...a4 0.49 (18...Bc6 -0.89)
21...Bc6 1.00 (21...Rac8 0.23)
22...Ba5 0.39 (22...Qe6 -0.17)
23...Bxd2 0.30 (23...Qd7 -0.83)
24...Ra5 1.42 (24...Qe6 0.29)
32...Bg6 6.44 (32...Qf6 -3.49)

Oct-11-07  nimh: Correction, new threshold 0.33.

De La Bourdonnais 13 mistakes:
7.d4 -0.45 (7.e5 -0.01)
8.Bxf4 -0.58 (8.e5 0.14)
9.Bd3 -0.30 (9.e5 0.25)
11.h3 -1.10 (11.Nf3 -0.29)
14.Kb1 -0.71 (14.Ngf3 -0.16)
17.g4 -0.48 (17.Rhe1 0.00)
18.Rdg1 -0.89 (18.g5 0.35)
22.Rg4 -0.17 (22.h4 1.00)
23.h4 -0.83 (23.Nh4 0.39)
25.h5 -1.56 (25.Rf1 1.42)
27.Qf3 -2.57 (27.Qe3 -1.56)
30.Ka1 -3.47 (30.Kc2 -2.63)
34.Rxe1 #6 (34.Nb1 5.99)

McDonnell 12 mistakes:
5...Ne7 0.21 (5...0-0 -0.24)
7...Bb6 0.14 (7...d5 -0.45)
8...d6 0.25 (8...d5 -0.58)
12...Qe7 -0.31 (12...d5 -1.03)
15...a5 -0.26 (15...Bd7 -0.79)
17...h6 0.35 (17...Bc6 -0.48)
18...a4 0.49 (18...Bc6 -0.89)
21...Bc6 1.00 (21...Rac8 0.23)
22...Ba5 0.39 (22...Qe6 -0.17)
23...Bxd2 0.30 (23...Qd7 -0.83)
24...Ra5 1.42 (24...Qe6 0.29)
32...Bg6 6.44 (32...Qf6 -3.49)

Mar-18-10  SirChrislov: Now wait a second, something's wrong here. In the Chessmaster collection it shows the ending as: 38.f8=Q Nc2#.

Nevermind, I'll lean towards this game as the authentic, I've found several errors in the Chessmaster database and I'll assume this is just one more. For example, in the game Staunton vs St. Amant 1843, game #5, it is Staunton who played with black, not white as CM shows it.

May-29-10  gort3200: This game, in its entirety, is featured in the eighteenth episode of the fourth season of Lexx. The game itself is played between one of the main characters and the villain for high stakes, with the pieces on the board represented by the talking heads of various characters from the show, often trash-talking each other; the talking pieces peg the 21st move as the major turning point of the game.

The episode can be seen on Hulu at this link: http://www.hulu.com/watch/152256/le...

Sep-16-10  Robin01: Did everyone know that this game was used in the TV broadcast, Season 4, Episode 18, of LEXX. If you missed this episode, it is a great episode in which this game is basically played out.
Dec-14-11  fetonzio: SICK GAME!
Jan-31-12  Knight13: <...the talking pieces peg the 21st move as the major turning point of the game.> I disagree. Black was playing well at that point, setting up enormous pressure in the center that can't be ignored. If anything, the position is still unclear.
Oct-10-12  Anderssen99: Couldn,t de La Bourdonnais have played 33.Rh7+!! at once? That sacrifice would have given him a mating attack whether Mcdonnell captures the rook or not.
Oct-10-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Anderssen> yep, that's why I always think playing forcing moves is best. If you put the other guy in check, he's got to address it immediately.
Feb-20-14  RookFile: Pretty game.
Jun-23-17  Roman Petrakov: this game in video-mode from LEXX:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Q...
(russian)
Apr-05-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: White has just played 29.Rh1-g1


click for larger view

"It seems hardly possible for either player to save his game."

page 133. of Staunton's 'Chess Theory and Practice' published 1876.

Apr-05-18  Howard: Wasn't a similar remark made in the book Draw! about some other game ?
Apr-05-18  Retireborn: <Howard> Heidenfeld quotes or paraphrases that Staunton remark in his introduction to a Mikenas-Sokolsky game.
Jan-10-23  generror: An absolutely thrilling game and, like other commenters said, this is Romantic chess at its purest (I hesitate to say "best"). After <29...Nc3+ 30.Ka1> (D), the white king is tucked in a corner with no squares left to go and to black knights just waiting to mate him, while the black king has all the heavy white pieces lined up in front of him. But although my bet would have been on White, it somehow doesn't quite manage to get at the opponent king.

The cherry on top, at least to me, is that beautifully futile <38.f8=N+> -- an underpromotion in order to give one last check before White is mated, that's probably unique in chess history and definitively a move worthy of Game Collection: Krabbé's Most Fantastic Moves Ever Played. Just awesome!

But once again, going through this with Stockfish is really depressing. While I played it through first, I was constantly confused about the player's plans in the middlegame, but Stockfish clearly says that virtually every move from <8...d6?> to <25.h5??> is not just inaccurate, but an actual mistake, blundering at least the equivalent of a pawns on each move. For example, <17.g4?> changes the game from ~0 to -1; after <17...h6?>, it's +2; after <18.Rdg1?>, -1 again; and after <18...a4?>, it's +1. I didn't have the stamina to find out why exactly Stockfish thinks so, but, together with my first impression, I suspect both players just didn't have any definite plan, and I guess that's the problem with the Romantic era: As soon as there isn't an obvious way to attack the king, the players just don't know what to do. "Exploiting positional weaknesses" wasn't a thing back then, so they essentially blundered along pretty much like me on chess.com. (Although even I usually have a plan, even if it's usually not a very good one :)

Jan-10-23  generror: And indeed, lo and behold, from move 25 on, as soon as the kings are in danger, both begin to play really good. <25...Rxg5!> is indeed masterful -- giving up the exchange is the only move that doesn't lose, but to be able to *see* that and act accordingly, that's master play.

And even if <32...Bg6??> (D) turns out to be an massive blunder (Morphy correctly analyses that <32...Qf6> would have secured Black's victory), it's one that I actually admire. It's desperate, but it's also pretty clever. (I was actually thinking about it when I first played the game through and thought, "nah, that's too crazy, it will never work" :)


click for larger view

The drama reaches its climax after <33.Qe1+!> (D), a very Romantic queen sacrifice -- but one that's justified by leading to a mate in six (mating BLACK, to be clear, which IS necessary in this ending :). White takes it, probably knowing very well that it's his end, but the tragedy of it all is that the totally unromantic and unlikely <34.Nb1!!> (D) would actually have won the game (for WHITE). Morphy shows how after <34...Qxg3>; and if Black plays <34...Kxg7> instead, White wins with <35.gxf7+ Qxg3 36.fxe8=N+! Kf8 37.Rxg3 Kxe8 38.Rxd3>, being a rook up. (Note that the lovely underpromotion is actually vital to the win win in this variation!)


click for larger view

The finish of this game is really one of the most memorable and nerve-fracking of all times, and it actually does make up for all that tedious, dubious, blind blundering during the middlegame. If you had told me that during my analysis, between moves 20 to 25, I really wouldn't have believed you, I really thought this game just STINKS, and no ending whatsoever could make up for it.

And once again, Morphy's annotations are amazingly spot on; that guy definitively was the first who would be called "master" in a modern sense. He does miss a thing or two, for example, after <30.Kc2>, he suggests <30...Qxg5> and his line (to which Stockfish agrees) leads to being two pawns up; but <30...Ne1+ 31.Rxe1 Qxg5 32.Qxc3 Qxh5 33.Qd4 d5 34.Kc3 dxe4> leads to three pawns up, all connected, all passed, which looks much more winning to both Stockfish and me.

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