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Howard Staunton vs Elijah Williams
Staunton - Williams (1851), Cheshunt ENG, rd 6, Nov-??
English Opening: King's English Variation. General (A20)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Dec-20-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: 1. c4 e5 2. e3.
I don't usually play these openings, but I am sure that 2. e3 is fine and dandy as long as it is not followed up with
2...Nf6 3. g3?
A few moves later,
3...d5 4. cxd5 Qxd5 5. f3,


click for larger view

it's obvious that things have gone badly for White. But Staunton played this English opening <all the bloody time>. How could it be so bad?

Anyway, Black didn't want to punish his venerable opponent. The best move was 5...Bf5!


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Dec-21-17  Chess Is More: <offramp: The best move was 5...Bf5!>

5....Bf5 is good, yeah. Took me a while to see that the e4 pawn fork doesn't work (I often miss simple tactics) because after takes, takes then ...Qe4+ wins the rook in the corner.

Apr-17-20  Gejewe: In the excellent book “Howard Staunton – the English world chess champion” (1975) the authors Keene and Coles discuss Staunton's modern approach to flexibility connected with this particular game. Of course 3.g3.. looks very strange to say the least but let us look at the position after 8.a3.. and the book comments : “By rights his b3,d3 and f3 should be horribly weak , but Staunton made such a success of covering his light square complex that he even turns e4 into an 'overprotection' springboard for his own attack”. In the following moves 11.Be2 gets an exclamation mark, “Further evidence of Staunton's freedom of mind. No slavish fianchetto here!”. And the culmination is clearly 17.N3e4!.. and in the remainder of the game Staunton is said to have missed his chance not playing 24.d4!.. Which by the way Staunton already indicated in his own notes to the game. This is very interesting in the strategic sense but both Staunton back in 1851 (in game and notes) and the authors 124 years later missed the tactical blow that would have destroyed White's ingenious strategy, and that is 18.Qxc6 Nxf2! , simply picking up three good pieces for the queen and removing the pieces that held white's weakened white square complex under control. By playing 18.Nxe4 white probably keeps his edge, but the intermediary exchange of queens with 18.Qxc6? that Staunton played in the game is flawed.

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