Dec-31-24
 | | WTHarvey: IM Rosen explains his moves for this game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJd... |
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Jan-01-25
 | | FSR: This is astonishing! The Stafford Gambit is completely unsound, as I well know. G Tanner vs F Rhine, 2023. It loses for Black. White is not only up a pawn, but he has two center pawns to Black's none. With correct play they will ultimately crush Black. https://www.chessable.com/stomp-the... Stockfish 17 gives White about a +2 advantage. I'm mystified by how (a) White, a grandmaster, evidently didn't know of the Stafford Gambit and (b) knowing he had White against Eric Rosen, didn't prepare for it. As I wrote in his chessgames bio, Eric "is a leading chess streamer and a popularizer and theoretician of the Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6?!)." Eric prepared for Erenburg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJd..., but apparently not vice versa. |
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Jan-01-25
 | | DaltriDiluvi: What really baffles me is that Eric Rosen has played the same game previously! It was a blitz game on Lichess a little less than two years ago. Here's a link to that game: S K Mousavi vs E Rosen, 2023 |
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Jan-01-25
| | FSR: <DaltriDiluvi> Good point. Pretty good - taking down two GMs in the same 14-move game ending in checkmate! |
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| Jan-01-25 | | dehanne: Looks like both parties messed up a lot of moves. 6.h3 wins. 6.Be2?! gives black equality with 6...Qd4 but after 6...h5?! 7.d3! is still much better for white. |
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Jan-04-25
 | | keypusher: Courtesy of my daughter, here's a musical video about the (Very Evil) Stafford Gambit. Like the gambit itself, it's more enthusiastic than sound. https://youtube.com/shorts/fVNLT5wK... It occurs to me that the Stafford is the Boden-Kieseritzky in reverse, but you'd get many more opportunities to play it with Black than with White, if you dared. |
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| Jan-14-25 | | whiteshark: Nakamura's take on this game + he's showing the best lines against the Stafford-Gambit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMA... (~ 21m:31s) Bonus 4u:
<The Stafford Gambit: A Complete Guide>
https://www.chess.com/blog/ThummimS... |
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| Feb-14-25 | | Mark Vincent: I thought I had found 11...Rh2+ for today's puzzle: 12.Kxh2 (12.Kg1 Qxg3#) Qh5+ 13.Kg2 Qh3+ 14.Kg1 Qxg3+ 15.Kh1 Qh3+ 16.Kg1 g3 followed by 17...Qh2# or 17...gxf2#. My excitement was short-lived, however; 13.Kg1 Qh3 14.d4! refutes. |
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| Feb-14-25 | | FM David H. Levin: The position after 11. Kg2
click for larger viewwas today's three-star puzzle. I worked out the game continuation but wasn't sure how to proceed if 11...Bxf2 were followed by 12. Kxf2 Rh2+ 13. Ke3 Qxg3+ 14. Bf3. 
click for larger viewMy silicon analyst thinks it might go 14...Be6, and if 15. d3, then 15...Qh4 16. Bh1 (Intending 16...Qg5+ 17. Rf4.) 16...Qh3+ 17. Bf3 O-O-O, 
click for larger viewand White seems hard-pressed to defend.
[The above could well be redundant with the posted youtube videos covering this game, but my dialup internet connection precludes my viewing them.] |
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| Feb-14-25 | | mel gibson: I wasn't sure what to do but there is no quick checkmate as per the game. Stockfish 17 follows the first ply but the King takes the Rook. 11. .. Bxf2
(11. .. Bxf2 (1. ... Bxf2 2.Kxf2 Rh2+ 3.Ke3 Qxg3+ 4.Bf3 Be6 5.d4 Bc4 6.d5 Bxf1 7.Qxf1 cxd5 8.Ne2
Qxf3+ 9.Qxf3 gxf3 10.Nc3 f2 11.Ke2 dxe4 12.Nxe4 f1Q+ 13.Kxf1 Rxc2 14.Nf2
0-0-0 ) +4.25/37 302)
score for Black +4.25 depth 37
if I force SF to take the Rook with the Rook as per the game: 12. Rxf2 Qh5
(12. .. Qh5 (1. ... Qh5 2.Rf5 Qh2+ 3.Kf1 Bxf5 4.Bxg4 Qxg3 5.Qf3
Qxg4 6.Qxg4 Bxg4 7.Kg1 0-0-0 8.d3 Rd6 9.Bf4 Rg6 10.Bg3 Bd1 11.Rxd1 Rxg3+
12.Kf2 Rg6 13.Ke3 Rg2 14.Kd4 f6 ) +5.34/44 307)
score for Black +5.34 depth 44. |
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Feb-14-25
 | | Sally Simpson: I got this one. An old whore like me is not going to miss a Bxf2 sac. (though I'm 99% sure I've seen it before.) |
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Feb-14-25
 | | Teyss: Thursday level if White takes the Bishop with the Rook, Saturday level if he takes with the King as highlighted by <FM David H. Levin>, so on average Friday alright. In any case the latter line is still less surprising than the fact David still has dialup internet connection. |
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| Feb-14-25 | | vajeer: In case you wanted to see any king hunt here is one line after 11...Bxf2
12. Kxf2 Rh2+ 13. Ke3 Qxg3+ 14. Bf3 Be6 15. Ne2 Qh4 16. Nd4 gxf3 17. Nxf3 Rh3 18. d4 Bg4 19. Kd3 Qh5 20. Be3 Bxf3 21. Qd2 Bxe4+ 22. Kxe4 Qg6+ 23. Rf5 Qg4+ 24. Rf4 f5+ 25. Ke5 Qg5 26. Rxf5 Rxe3+ 27. Qxe3 Qxe3# Of course some of the moves are inferior but still need to be evaluated when analyzing the position over the board. Also, wanted to share this bit for a fun. I dont think I have seen this mating pattern before. 
click for larger view |
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Feb-14-25
 | | scormus: I'd never heard of the Stafford gambit, and when I read the instructive comments of <FSR> I was astonished. Back in the 1960s when I was a teenager and inexperienced at chess, I was a bit of a tearaway (in chess terms). I was fascinated with wins got by sacrificing an N on N5 in front of my opponent's castled K. One time I got picked to play for the school team, which was a rare occasion. I had black on one of the lower boards of the 3rd (yes third) team. I was pretty fired up and went for the jugular. I cannot recall all the moves. It wasn't this position, but was vaguely similar (though easier to see the line). My opponent had castled K-side and played P-R3. I'd already played P-KR4 and went N-KN5. I was praying he would play PxN (wasn't sure what I would do if he didn't). He did and got mated 2 or 3 moves later. I checked this line with SF and saw that W was at a disadvantage (ca. -2) after 8 O-O, with ... Ng4 and in worse trouble (ca. -3.5) after 9 fxg4? |
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Feb-14-25
 | | chrisowen: I farm bug it's when it's cop q jury it's Bxf2 acc mack it's aoh it's jah it's a fig pug it's bog tag Bxf2 cad; |
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| Feb-14-25 | | FM David H. Levin: <<Teyss>: [...snip...] In any case the latter line is still less surprising than the fact David still has dialup internet connection.> Hi, <Teyss>. As of a few years ago, there were still about 200,000 of us dialup users in the States. I've remained with it because I don't really have a compelling need for high speed. Maybe it's a form of conservation, albeit on a small scale. |
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Feb-14-25
| | Teyss: Hi David,
You're part of a select elite ;)
Apart from S K Mousavi vs E Rosen, 2023 mentioned above, Eric Rosen can use this gambit in fast formats. Sometimes it works:
S Tadic vs E Rosen, 2020
Dmitry Zhuchek vs E Rosen, 2021 with a bonus castle-and-mate. Sometimes it doesn't:
L P Supi vs E Rosen, 2022
Caruana vs E Rosen, 2022 |
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| Feb-14-25 | | TheaN: The famous Stafford sac line, that sadly makes this Friday a <tad> bit of a spoiler for me. Having said that, I've seen the game line played out a couple of times in Eric's videos, but was unaware of the intricacies. <11....Bxf2!!> soundly blows the White castle right open. White has to address the threat of Qxg3# and frankly this can only be done by a capture on f2, as the alternatives are moving the rook with -#2: 12.Rh1 Qxg3+ 13.Kf1 Rxh1# and 12.Rg1 Qxg3+ 13.Kf1 Qxg1#. 12.Rxf2?! is almost exclusively played but this is technically inferior, after 12....Qh5 Black just threatens too much. The base threat is Qh2+ Qh1#, and this is awkward to challenge: 13.Bxg4? Bxg4 -+ and White only helped Black because now Bxd1 is threatened also, the most played line is 14.Bf3? in a futile attempt to give material back, but 14....gxf3+ 15.Rxf3 (Qxf3 Qh1#) Qh2+ 16.Kf1 Bg4 -+ is also over. So White has to move the rook. Point is, there's no good square: 13.Rf1 Qh2#, 13.Rf3 Qh2+ 14.Kf1 gxf3 15.Bxf3 Bh3+ -+ is terrible, any other square allows 13....Qh2+ 14.Kf1 Qxg3 -+, except for 13.Rf5 because of Re5+ but then Black zwischenzugs 14....Bxf5 -+ instead, allowing a quick O-O-O if necessary. This, <12.Kxf2>. This looks terrible, but the prospects of a king run with two pieces up isn't so bad. <12....Rh2+ 13.Ke3> 13.Kg1? Qxg3#, 13.Ke1? Qxg3+ 14.Rf2 Qxf2#, <13....Qxg3+>:
click for larger view
The problem is that White's down to all alternatives that spell disaster. 14.Rf3? is the worst choice, allowing the simple 14....gxf3 -+ and Black continues attacking equal material, 14.Kd4?! looks insane, and after 14....Be6 only 15.Nd5! keeps the position playable but Black is winning after 15....cxd5 16.e5 c5 -+. So <14.Bf3 Be6 15.Ne2 Qh4 16.Nf4 gxf3 -+> Black won back one piece, White king out in the open and the White queen side completely undeveloped is what justifies this sac, but White can muddy the waters for a bit. |
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| Feb-14-25 | | TheaN: <keypusher: Courtesy of my daughter, here's a musical video about the (Very Evil) Stafford Gambit. Like the gambit itself, it's more enthusiastic than sound. https://youtube.com/shorts/fVNLT5wK... Oh wow, I've seen a couple of her shorts Scott and they're amazing! I knew she has a chess-playing father at least, actually very surprising to learn who it is on a CG daily puzzle. |
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Feb-14-25
| | chrisowen: Happy Valentine's day ie x |
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| Feb-14-25 | | mel gibson: < FM David H. Levin: As of a few years ago, there were still about 200,000 of us dialup users in the States.> A Fide Master has only dial up?
How terrible for you. |
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| Feb-15-25 | | FM David H. Levin: <mel gibson>, I imagine there are people with only dialup who've had no exposure to chess at all! |
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| Feb-15-25 | | stone free or die: <<mel> How terrible for you.> You know, you can throttle down a whole lot of the crap out on the internet just by using dial-up. It does have its advantages. |
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Feb-15-25
| | Teyss: < mel gibson: (...) A Fide Master has only dial up? How terrible for you.> David H Levin is the opposite of some of us who have fast internet, strong engines and little Chess knowledge. "Us" because I include myself in the lot. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 8...Ng4
