NN vs Gioachino Greco (1620) Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

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NN vs Gioachino Greco
"Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts" (game of the day Jan-02-2018)
Miscellaneous Game (1620), ?, rd 12
Italian Game: Italian Variation (C50) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Jun-16-04		Jesuitic Calvinist: A very early example (perhaps the first recorded one) of the smothered mate. Known as Philidor's legacy, of course, but as this game shows, it was a part of Greco's legacy well before Philidor. There is another Greco game with the same motif as well.

Jun-16-04		Gypsy: <Known as Philidor's legacy, of course ...> My guess is that Philidor Legacy is more specific to the motive after, say, 1...Q(a7-d4)+, or after a discovered Q check along that diagonal, The Legacy then refers to the whole finish: <2. Kh1 Nf2+! 3.Kg1 Nh3++! 4.Kh1 Qg1+! (only now) 5.Rxg1 Nf2#.<>> (Of course, Legacy does not work with white rook at f1.)

Jun-16-04		poktirity: I've suceeded twice with Philidor's legacy, once after playing the "juggs gambit" that places the king on h8 =) My best game of all time ;)

Jun-16-04		Gypsy: Great fortune smiled upon you--twice! (Congratulations.)

Nov-27-04		sourcerer: was that mate!!mate?:-) greco theorem.nice

Nov-28-04		Knight13: 9. cxd4? a mistake? This maate is just like the mate played in the start of the Chessmaster (computer)'s commercial cartoon!

Feb-09-05		InspiredByMorphy: <Knight13> <9. cxd4? a mistake?> Yes. 9.Bf4 was better.

Feb-15-05		Cyphelium: <IBM> After 9. ♗f4 dxc3, 10. ♖e2 seems to be the only move to cover both b2 and f2. Then 10.- cxb2 11. ♖xb2 d6 and I doubt that white has enough compensation for two pawns.

Feb-15-05		sneaky pete: 9.Nxd4 Qh4 is still hopeless (10.h3 Qxf2+ 11.Kh1 Nxd4). If 9.Bf4 dxc3 10.Re2 .. black plays .. Nxf2! winning. Another typical Greco brilliancy would have been 9.Bg5 dxc3! 10.Bxe7 Bxf2+ 11.Kf1 cxb2 etc. 9.cxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qh4 11.Be3 .. would have been his best chance, the position after 11... Qxh2+ 12.Kf1 Qh1+ 13.Ke2 Qxg2 is far from clear. White should of course have played 8.cxd4 .. (instead of 8.e5? ..) with a slightly better game.

Feb-15-05		InspiredByMorphy: <Cyphelium & sneaky pete> Thanks for the input. Indeed white should have played 8.cxd4 .

Jan-01-07		Dr.Lecter: this guy uses the smothered mate a lot, doesn't he?

Jul-29-08		Whitehat1963: Excellent Monday/Tuesday puzzle after 11. Nf3.

May-17-10		SirChrislov: "Philidor's legacy" first demonstrated by Lucena in 1497. about 250 years before Philidor.

May-17-10		MaxxLange: Lucena has that Rook ending position named after him, at least

May-17-10		keypusher: <MaxxLange: Lucena has that Rook ending position named after him, at least> Wrongly, i think

Jan-04-11		kevin86: an early,crude smothered mate.

Sep-07-11		Nightsurfer: When we get taught the GREAT SMOTHERED MATE we normally do not get demonstrated this finish here in <NN vs G Greco, 1620> by the Big Three, namely Queen plus Back-up Bishop plus Knight in <NN vs G Greco, 1620>, but the somewhat more recent version, namely the Bad Blow by Queen plus Knight that is called "Philidor's Legacy" and that has been demonstrated by Maestro <G Greco> too: NN vs Greco, 1625 The latter version NN vs Greco, 1625 - though it is not the oldest one - is considered to be the most basic version of the GREAT SMOTHERED MATE , therefore it is fair enough to call it "VERSION NO. 1" of THE GREAT SMOTHERED MATE (the fact notwithstanding that it is the slightly "younger" version of the GREAT SMOTHERED MATE). Some more samples of VERSION NO. 1 of the GREAT SMOTHERED MATE aka "Philidor's Legacy": Morphy vs Schrufer, 1859 , B Koester vs R Gralla, 1971 , C Bloodgood vs B Evans, 1961 , S Duron Godoy vs V Garcia Castro, 2004 and K Bischoff vs K Mueller, 2004 . Whereas the replay of the execution in this game here <NN vs G Greco, 1620> - the replay of the BASIC VERSION NO. 2 OF THE GREAT SMOTHERED MATE (the fact notwithstanding that this version is slightly "older" than THE BASIC VERSION NO. 1 in NN vs Greco, 1625 ) has been put on the board some thousand miles up north and !! 350 years !! after this game here <NN vs G Greco, 1620 >: T Peine vs V Budde, 1970 . The most recent case - !!! 380 years !! after this game here <NN vs G Greco, 1620 > : Grischuk vs Ponomariov, 2000

Apr-17-14		Soob: Love it! One of the first smothered mate ever written down, I guess.

Jun-06-16		Christoforus Polacco: Lucena's first smothered mate is here: Game Collection: Philidor's Legacy

Jan-02-18		algete: N.N. nunca aprende

Jan-02-18		Cheapo by the Dozen: The punster for this title worked like a Trojan.

Jan-02-18		ChessHigherCat: <Cheapo by the Dozen: The punster for this title worked like a Trojan.> Are you contra his conception?

Jan-02-18		morfishine: "Late Knight"...White's knight arrived too late *****

Jan-02-18		tpstar: Greco conned him into capturing 10. Nxd4? as 10 ... Qh4 was hard on his position.

Jan-02-18		schnarre: ...Shouldn't the pun read "Beware Greco's Bearing Gifts?!"

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