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Jose Raul Capablanca vs Walter L Murdock
Simul, 40b (1919) (exhibition), Pittsburgh, PA USA, Feb-10
Four Knights Game: Double Spanish (C49)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
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Jan-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: And before you come down too hard on that parzer Capablanca (often known as NN) It should be pointed out that he was quite lost even without 30.Qb3:


click for larger view

White'a best is probably 30.Qxe4, for if <30.Qa5 Rc5!>, and he can't even get a rook for the queen. Capablanca was being gallant.

Jan-18-16  ChemMac: Capa could have played 24.Re7 which on 15 seconds looking seems to win easily.....
Jan-18-16  patzer2: "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" is once again the Monday puzzle theme as a Queen sacrifice with 30...Qe1+ leads to a back rank mate.

Capa missed a chance with 25. Qa8+?, allowing 25...Kd7 . Instead, 25. Re7! (+1.94 @ 37 depth, Stockfish 110115) is winning.

Even stronger, as <ChemMac> observes, would have been 24. Re7 (+21.99 @ 21 depth, Deep Fritz 15).

The decisive error was 26. Qxb7?, allowing 26...f4 (-3.90 @ 32 depth, Stockfish 301114). Instead, 26. Qa5 (-0.42 @ 21 depth,Deep Fritz 14) holds on.

Jan-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <ChemMac> tes, <24.Re7> looks deadly.


click for larger view

Black really has nothing better than Sheer Desperation with <24...Rd1+>. Now 25.Kh2 wins quickly, but there is always the million-to-one shot White will play <25,Rxd1??>,, better know as an Easy Tuesday Puzzle.

Jan-18-16  jith1207: It's amazing how silly a position could look like but when you look into the ways that could have avoided all this, you actually learn a lot. Thanks the lines, patzer2 and ChemMac.
Jan-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Congratulations, Mr. Murdock, on beating the future World Champion! Although I suspect I might be a little late with the well wishes...
Jan-18-16  M.Hassan: Easiest puzzle ever
Jan-18-16  agb2002: Black has a rook for a bishop and a pawn.

White's back rank is so weak that it allows mate in two: 30... Qe1+ 31.Rxe1 Rxe1#.

My theory is that Murdock was actually a beatiful girl with an impressive cleavage...

Jan-18-16  Cheapo by the Dozen: I had a chess teacher who used to say that sometimes a bishop was a "big pawn".
Jan-18-16  diagonalley: ...ah! ... i see it was a simul... nonetheless, an embarrassing defeat for the great man
Jan-18-16  Tiggler: Murdock was less fortunate 45 years later when he played in a simul against Fischer:

Fischer vs W Murdock, 1964

Jan-18-16  crazyhead: found this puzzle easy but some others defeat me
Jan-18-16  morfishine: <lost in space: Too easy for a Monday> But you still love'm, right?

*****

Jan-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <lost in space: Too easy for a Monday>

Must be, when even Ah kin nails it.

Jan-18-16  zb2cr: 30. ... Qe1+; 31. Rxe1, Rxe1#. As <patzer2> observes, this one could have come straight out of "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess".
Jan-18-16  Oxspawn: I thought there was hope for white with
29. Qd4+ Rd6
30. Qxd6+ Kxd6
31. Rxe2 Rxe2
32. Bxf4+
Seems to leave white with a bishop and pawns against rook and pawns. Not good, but you would think Capablanca could make it work. But then I realised that if
29. Qd4+ Kc8
30. Rxe2 Rc1#

The most lingering death I suppose is
29. Bxf4 Qxe1+
30 Qxe1 Rxe1+
31 Kh2 which leaves white with a bishop against two rooks. Hopeless. Except this is a chess god. What am I missing here?

Jan-18-16  sambo: Who here would have played 30...Rc1+ first?
Jan-18-16  TheTamale: <sambo> Me! Why mate in 2 when you can draw out the torture?

The hardest thing about today's puzzle for me was, as is so often the case on Mondays, paying attention to which side has the move. (I really couldn't find anything too forceful for White.)

Jan-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Peligroso Patzer: I see that <Tiggler> has already posted Murdoch's other game (a loss) in the CG database versus a future WCC, but here it is again: Fischer vs W Murdock, 1964.

FWIW, this game is Murdoch's only win from 5 games in this database. Nevertheless, a win against Capablanca (even in a simul) is a worthy achievement.

Jan-18-16  saturn2: got it!
Jan-18-16  Willem Wallekers: Very early monday morning.
Jan-18-16  dumbgai: Surprising to see Capa get backranked, even if in a simul.
Jan-18-16  Dr. J: From Murdock's main page:

<MissScarlett: <"Highlight of the entire week's activities was the simultaneous exhibition given by Dr Emanuel Lasker, where he played twenty boards on the evening of August 23 [1940]. The 72-year-old [sic] veteran was at the top of his form and provided some startling combinations to puzzle his adversaries. He wound up with 18 wins and two draws. Those drawing with him were Walter L. Murdock Jr. of Cazenovia and Charles Helms of Brooklyn in consultation with Walter Froehlich of Syracuse.">

http://www.chessbanter.com/rec-game...

Cazenovia, I learn, is in Madison County, NY.>

Jan-18-16  Poppa Mike: Great! I Finally got one!
Jan-19-16  kevin86: The queen sac sets up a back rank mate in the next move. Typical Monday!
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