Saidy vs C Brasket, 1972

click for larger view

<35.?>

Full credit today.

Oh,he mates three moves later!!

click for larger view

(Finn vs Heasman 1993 12?) with a link to Crafty End Game Trainer to explore the various defences (starting 12.Qe3 to trigger the game combination): http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-t....

The two Rooks occupying 'close-to-be-opened' files of d and e can work together majestically and efficiently:

12............Nxe5
13.Qxc5 Ne6++
14.Ke2 Bxc4+

<if 14.Kc1 Rd1#>

15.Qxc4 Nxc4+
16.Ne6 Rxe5+
17.Kf3

knight take d5 phalanx to having break up the chain 13.Qxc5 and

knight goes to e3+ king up in e2 the light force wain gotcha

bishopc4+ 15.Qxc4 oh well it sayeth in e3xc4 black regaining his

pieces e5 trivial one in rooke8xe5 light has no development in 0l

gas for highball it urge in undulate again 13.cxd5 bxd5 winning for

queen cant escape at injury it dug in d2 table Rxe3 or donkey it

double in b4 as tardy it omen in d5 too f3 plutarch in stone the

crow squeeze brag queen down king churlish in exposed again d1 fold,

third option (effect ive) rever 14.qxc5 look in dire straights mate

ring b3+ I gun for Kc1 ascent rook in d1 er egg in old gate bishop

rook mate it vindicate king bottled in c1 melding so it e2? Engine

12...Bxd5 13.Qxc5 Bxf3++ 14.Kc2 (14.Ke1 Rd1#) Bd1+ 15.Kc1 (15.Kc3 Ne4#) Re1. I'm thinking 16.b4 may help him slip out of this. Another try may be 14...Ne4 15.Qa3 Nd4+ 16.Kc1 Nxf2 threatening mate. 15.Qe3 looks like another possibility.

Part 1 of 3<<<<>>>>>

When I first looked at this position, I knew White was at death's door and knocking hard. So like was it to some of the immortal and evergreen games of centuries past, that I wondered how much Black had paid to obtain it. Then I saw my answer: a mere pawn!

I must therefore look upon this game as a collaborative suicide. But how to effect it?

In such a case, one does not respect material. A queen becomes no more than flotsam; there is but one target and one aim, and therefore but two choices worth examining.

At first, I was taken by <12. ...♗xd5?>, but although I strove amain, I could find nothing after <13. ♕xc5, ♗xf3††; 14. ♔c2> that didn't rely upon a further blunder by White.

As I have said, however, there were only two moves worth considering, so from here it was but a short step to the real key: <12. ...♘xd5!<>>. And now, any other move being hopeless, White has two options, the first of them readily disposed of.

<(1) 13. cxd5?, ♗xd5!>

What is White to do? With his queen attacked by the rook on e8 and his king on an open file about to be filleted by Black's choice of discovered checks, his course is set, for better or worse:

<14. ♕xc5...>

Again: What else? It's either take the queen and hope, or submit to the attack with the queen actively joining in it. (Besides, this sets a subtle trap: So enamored of his double checks as not to examine them in detail, Black could still go wrong here with <14. ...♗xf3††?>, when the white king escapes on c2.)

<14. ...♗b3††!>

But Black, having found so much, will not let victory slip his grasp now, and the game ends after <15. ♔c1 ▢, ♖d1#>.

Part 2 of 3<<<<>>>>>

White, however, needn't go gentle into that good night. After the knight sacrifice on d5, he can also choose to take the queen without opening the c-file, leading to our main line:

<(2) 13. ♕xc5, ♘e3††<>>

What a paradoxical-looking move. As the diagram shows, it's as if Black were shooting blind, and blasted away at the square the white queen just fled:

click for larger view

But of course the queen is not Black's target; she is mere flotsam.

Now White has three legal moves, but two lead to swift and bitter death:

<(2.1) 14. ♔c1??, ♖d1#>

<(2.2) 14. ♔e1?, ♘c2†; 15. ♔e2, ♗xc4#>

So much for the Ungood and the Bad; there remains only the Ugly:

<(2.3) 14. ♔e2, ♗xc4†<>>

Since <15. ♔e1, ♖d1#> is not an option, White flings flotsam in the teeth of his pursuers:

<15. ♕xc4, ♘xc4†<>>

And so great is the abjection of his position that White must now fling away his knight as well.

<16. ♘e5 ▢...<>>

Part 3 of 3<<<<>>>>>

Here Black has multiple ways to carry on with his assault, but I give the nod to the one the leaves White the fewest defenses:

<16. ...♘4xe5<>>

This position deserves another diagram, for although much heavy material has left the board and there is no immediate prospect of mate, White is still in a desperate bind.

click for larger view

From a pawn down, Black is now in the endgame with a pawn plus. Ordinarily, this would mean but a slight edge. But this is no ordinary position.

After 16 moves and many tactics, White has not a single developed piece. His king is trapped in the center on an open file controlled by an enemy rook, and potential discoveries and their aftermath make it hard for him either to remedy this or to develop safely. Meanwhile, although I'm not equal to examining every possible option for attack and defense, Black is at leisure to construct a mating net, and many of the lines I've looked at from here do indeed lead to mate — not infrequently after further sacrifices on Black's part.

Upon finally looking at this "game," I see that this Finn not only lacks all knowledge of openings Scandinavian, but when put to the test, chose to shuffle off this mortal coil at double-time.