Apr-12-11
 | | Phony Benoni: Black is James A Leonard. This is confirmed by an article in <Checkmate>, June 1901, p.83. The finish would see the king stick to the queen like glue, but to no avail: 23.Kf1 Rd1+ 24.Kg2 Bh3+ 25.Kf3 Rf1. At least, I think that's how Leonard would have played it; your friendly neighborhood engine would probably find something numerically better. |
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May-13-11
 | | FSR: A beautiful game by Leonard, which looks to have been flawlessly played from beginning to end. I was struck by his seemingly effortless defense to White's dangerous gambit. He played the theoretically best moves throughout, except that they wouldn't have been theory in 1861. He must have worked them out himself. Leonard handled this opening better than some strong modern grandmasters have done. See Games Like N Marache vs J Leonard, 1861 |
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| May-13-11 | | apexin: After 15.Qf3? black is winning easily,the attack just plays itself.
In the end Black wins with 23.Kxd3 Qxf2
There is certainly more ways to win,thats just the simplest. |
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May-13-11
| | FSR: My Wikipedia article on Leonard is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_.... Tragically, he died of dysentery only about a year after this game, while interned as a prisoner of war at a Confederate military prison. As it happens, I also wrote the Wikipedia article on Napoleon Marache. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napole... He was one of the first American chess journalists, and one of the country's leading players, though certainly not in Leonard's league. He is most often remembered today as the loser of the celebrated brilliancy N Marache vs Morphy, 1857. |
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May-13-11
| | Phony Benoni: 5.d4 is an attempt to reach the Max Lange Attack after 5...dxe4 6.e5 d5. 5...Bxd4 is a good line for Black, though tricky enough that he needs to take care. If White tries the immediate 14.Qxf6 instead of developing the knight, then after 14...Qxf6 15.Rxf6 Rd1+ he will have all sorts of trouble trying to develop his queenside. The queen offer with 15...Rd2 reminds me a bit of the game Raubitschek vs Capablanca, 1906, after <23.Qxf6>: 
click for larger viewCapa played <23...Rdg8>, foreseeing 24.Qxe7 Rxg2+ 25.Kh1 Bd5, winning. A bright little game with an amusing finish. The pun needs no explanation, of course. Everybody knows about General Marache, the famous French commander at the Battle of Waterloo. I can never remember the name of the little fellow who was helping him out--you know, the guy who was able ere he saw Panama. |
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| May-13-11 | | DarthStapler: Played the Koltanowski variation 42 years before Georges Koltanowski was even born |
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| May-13-11 | | Sho: Thumbs up, CG!
Love games from early modern chess. |
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| May-13-11 | | JohnBoy: Seems to me that 13.Qf3 was not nearly as troublesome as 15.Qxf6. If instead 15.Rad1 white challenges on the open d file. Maybe there is a pawn loss at a2, but the doubled black f pawns are a liability w/o rooks bearing down on the white king. |
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| May-13-11 | | howlwolf: FSR,
I read your Wikipedia article with interest. You say that Leonard died in a Confederete prison in Annapolis, but you don't give a state. Since you don't give a state most people are going to assume that you mean Annapolis, Maryland. There was a big prison and hospital located there, but it was a Northern facility, housing Yankee (my unreconstructed grandmother's most invective-laden epithet)patients and Confederate prisoners. Leonard could have well been sent there after the Battles of the Seven Days, which was in June of 1862. Thanks to the power of Google I have also found an Annapolis Junction in Virginia, and for all I know there may have been a Confederate prison there where Leonard languished and died. Thought you would want to know the above in case you wanted to clear up this minor inconsisteny in your otherwise quite informative article. |
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| May-13-11 | | ranger2a: <Phony Benoni>
It is actually worse then that.
The bishop goes back to check from H3. Then moves to F1 with threat of Qe3 mate on capture.Sorry about formating but I have no time to do better. |
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May-13-11
| | FSR: <howlwolf> Thanks for the comment. You make a good point. Annapolis is not listed (for either the Confederate or Union side) in the incomplete list of Civil War prisons that Wikipedia has. http://bit.ly/mwxSOI The two such prisons listed from Maryland were Union prisons, not Confederate prisons. The facility at Annapolis, Maryland is described, consistent with what you said, as "a site where Union and Confederate prisoners of war were brought for mutual exchange and eventual return to their respective homes." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parole... Since we don't know of any Civil War military prison in an "Annapolis" other than that one, it seems likely that it is where Leonard was held and died. But as you say, the description of it that I have in the Leonard article, "a Confederate military prison," is incorrect. I'll change it accordingly. |
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| May-13-11 | | kevin86: White cannot avoid loss of the queen by pin or mate. No Friday the 13th theme today!! Too Bad! |
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May-13-11
| | FSR: The "Met His Waterloo" pun is particularly apt for Marache. As I note in the aforementioned Wikipedia article, he was born in Meaux, France three years to the month after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. I'm sure it was not a coincidence that his parents chose that name for him. |
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| May-13-11 | | Ghuzultyy: IMO 15.Qf3? is a bad move allowing 0-0-0
17.Qxf6?? is terrible. Black has played the last move for a reason. |
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| May-13-11 | | ROO.BOOKAROO: This "Italian" opening, Giuoco Piano, is a very old chestnut, first analyzed by Pedro Damiano in his book "How to Improve Your Game of Chess" published in Rome in 1512. It is part of chess history, and was still a popular opening of the 19th century, when the palette of openings was pretty limited. We revisited the more challenging variant of the Giuoco Piano, the Evans Gambit, on May 10, in "S Rosenthal vs Allies, 1887". Both the Giuoco Piano and its variant, the Evans Gambit, are now historical curiosities, rarely encountered in top tournament play. But still useful as elementary openings when teaching young children the rudiments of development. Amazingly, Karpov used the Giuoco Piano twice against Korchnoi in their WCh rematch in 1981, resulting in two draws. But Karpov used the Ruy Lopez five times (scoring 3 wins and only one draw), while Korchnoi used neither. In his book of "The World's (112) Greatest Chess Games", Burgess found only one Giuoco Piano worth mentioning, dating from the end of Steinitz's career, in the 1895 Hastings tournament, "Steinitz vs Von Bardeleben, 1895" , while Burgess included in his book of Greatest Games 7 English, 10 Ruy Lopez, 11 King's Indian Defense, 20 Queen's Gambit Declined, and 22 Sicilian Defense. Still, the Giuoco Piano has been such an old trusted companion of chess players that it deserves paying it a visit from time to time. |
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| May-13-11 | | Dr. J: What happens after 17 Kh1? The best I see is 17...Qe3 (threat Rxh2+) 18 Qf3 Qxf3 19 Rxf3 Rxb2 with considerable advantage for Black, but White can still play on. Is there something more forcing? |
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| May-13-11 | | Ghuzultyy: <Dr. J: What happens after 17 Kh1?> 17...Bh3! 18.Rg1 Qe3!
Next is Bg4-f3 |
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| May-13-11 | | KingV93: White's play looks exceptionally poor here, he generates no counter play and Black punishes him accordingly. A good old fashioned walk over. |
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May-13-11
| | Phony Benoni: <ranger2a: <Phony Benoni>
It is actually worse then that.
The bishop goes back to check from H3. Then moves to F1 with threat of Qe3 mate on capture.
Sorry about formating but I have no time to do better.>Are you referring to the final position?
click for larger viewIf so, then 22.Kf1 Bh3+ 23.Ke2 Bf1+ doesn't work. 24.Qxf1 would allow 24...Qe3#, but White can play 24.Kxf1 instead. |
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| May-13-11 | | WhiteRook48: 22 Kf1 Rd1+ 23 Qe1 Rxe1+ should be enough to win. If white resists giving up the queen with 23 Kg2, then 23...Bh3+ 24 Kf3 Rf1 should do it. |
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| May-13-11 | | KingV93: White looks cooked after 7.♙f4 to me.
I could not resist 9.♗xf7+ OTB
I'm sure it loses but....
Actually Fritz says it doesn't just lose badly, but really badly. |
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| May-17-11 | | Dr. J: <<Dr. J: What happens after 17 Kh1? The best I see is 17...Qe3 (threat Rxh2+) 18 Qf3 Qxf3 19 Rxf3 Rxb2 with considerable advantage for Black, but White can still play on. Is there something more forcing?> Ghuzultyy: 17 Kh1? Bh3! 18.Rg1 Qe3! Next is Bg4-f3> If 17 Kh1 Bh3 White's best seems to be 18 Qf3 Bg2+ 19 Qxg2 Rxg2 20 Kxg2 and I think that White, though still lost, has more resistance left than in the line I gave. |
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Kibitzing
