English Chess Forum

Hi Roger,

"I seem to have got under his skin as someone that he would like to ridicule."

Ignore it.

I see that you cannot forget that loss v Arkle.
Next time you play him dismiss all thoughts of an ending.
Play what I played against IM Mark Orr's Caro Khan.

G.Chandler - M.Orr Edinburgh Open 1980's (cannot recall the exact year....it's the right decade.)

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 e6 5. Rh3 Bxh3 6. Nxh3 {This piece of OTB inspiration to leave me with the only light squared on the board banished all thought of an ending from my mind. I'll start worrying about endings if I have not mated him in the Middle Game and in this case I'm certainly lost in an ending so it will make me try harder in the Middle Game. I eventually lost but my only regret was not playing a4 and Ra3 to see Bxa3 there by ensuring I would not get involved in a Rook ending. Good Luck.}

Brilliant, Geoff.

Would love to have been able to see the expression on your opponent's face when you played 5. Rh3. Hope you managed to do it with a poker face yourself.

Are we allowed to call this the 'Chandler Gambit', BTW? Or does a gambit only apply to a pawn sacrifice?

PPS Now I just need to find a 3. ..Bf5 Caro enthusiast at the club to try the Chandler Gambit out on...

Sorry to be a spoilsport, but isn't g4 a bit better than Rh3?

Hi Austin.

Wasted on Mark Orr, he knows me very well so he knew he would
get something stange it just a case of when.
I think over the years I only managed one win v Mark and that was in a 30 min fun day allegro.

I play all my moves with a poker face, I have to, most of the time I am shoving my face into a fire.

I think I'd love to have an opening trap named after me.

I'm claiming this one but have very little experience playing it as
I usually play 1...Nf6 looking for a KID. No victims (as yet) in Blitz.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 {Now some think playing 4....Nbd7 here is setting an trap. No. It is a perfectly sound move. A correct opening trap must leave the trap setter material or a position down should it get spotted.} 4... Bd6 {The same idea hidden as a 'by the way blunder' in 4...Nd7 but 4...Bd6!? sheds material with no obvious play (but see the ref below). It's a genuine opening trap.} 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nxd5 Nxd5 7. Bxd8 Bb4+ {Black is winning. I have seen just one game with this line between a couple of 1400 players and Black failed to play 6...Nxd5.}
The refuatation

[FEN "rnbqk2r/ppp2ppp/3bpn2/3p2B1/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R2QKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"] 1. cxd5 exd5 2. Bxf6 Qxf6 3. Nxd5 {White has won a centre pawn but.....} 3... Qg6 {I'd take Black there against anybody on the planet. No development problems and (to me) it has more potential than some of the theorectical safe lines that Black is offered in 1.d4 d5 openings.}


Hi Mathew.
But Black still keeps his light squared Bishop and you are left with a Charlie Rook on h1.
(I'm not very kind to my Rooks in my games. I'm a Knights & Bishops guy. Especially Knights.)

I'm thinking I like White here.

rrbqkbrr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBQKBNN w kq - 0 1

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Hi Mathew.
But Black still keeps his light squared Bishop and you are left with a Charlie Rook on h1.
(I'm not very kind to my Rooks in my games. I'm a Knights & Bishops guy. Especially Knights.)

Geoff, I'm thinking you might have missed the point behind Matthew's post...

Amazingly, it turns out I have an old game in precisely this line (!). I found Matthew's move 5. g4, and heroically managed to achieve victory with a mere extra piece... Both my opponent and I were graded in the 130s at the time.
[Event "London U-16 Ch 1976 Rd 11"] [Date "1976.01.03"] [White "Elliott, A.C."] [Black "Starkey, R.J."] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteECF "137"] [BlackECF "133"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 e6?? 5. g4 Be4 6. f3 Bc2: 7. Qc2: Be7 8. g5 Nd7 9. Be3 Qc7 10. Nc3 a6 11. Bd3 Rc8 12. Nh3 c5 13. f4 b5 14. Rc1 c4 15. Be2 g6 16. a3 h6 17. h5 Nf8 18. Nf2 hg: 19. fg: Qd8 20. Qd2 gh: 21. Rh5: Rh5: 22. Bh5: Kd7? 23. Bf7: Nh7 24. Nh3 1-0

Edit: For some reason the machine says 18. ..hg: is an 'invalid ply'. Hey ho. Never mind.

sigh, and there goes the "Not Chess" section ....

Jonathan Rogers wrote:sigh, and there goes the "Not Chess" section ....

Heh. Only if you consider the stuff we've been posting here as chess. Opinions may vary... (!)

Geoff's comment that "Roger's loss v. Arkle". That would certainly be an interesting game.

Trolls are fat, don't feed them.

Roger de Coverly wrote:I seem to have got under his skin as someone that he would like to ridicule.

Hi Richard.

I got the point right away. Don't take moves back, never go back and correct a post.
(on a few sites I post you cannot edit a post anyway.)

I have move the order wrong. I cannot see Mark playing a duff move like 4...e6.
I can however see me not playing 5.g4.

Good to see that someone has actually fallen for it though. (I bet he is not the only one).
If it's happened once....

Geoff Chandler wrote: I'm thinking I like White here.

rrbqkbrr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBQKBNN w kq - 0 1

How about you challenge the forum to a game of Chandler chess? You play White and start with two moves (not just one), and then we can see how Black will do with four rooks against four knights...

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:How about you challenge the forum to a game of Chandler chess? You play White and start with two moves (not just one), and then we can see how Black will do with four rooks against four knights...

I think white is in difficulties in the Chandler chess starting position, assuming he will be unwilling to swap any of his four knights for any of blacks four rooks

I'll win. Infact I won.
The rules were first to post a win wins. (that's me).

The PGN thingy won't accept the position. I'm betting engines, unless
tweaked into Fairy Chess mode, won't either...another reason why I'll win.
You are now computerless.

(I wonder what the correct term is for someone who does not have
chess computer...A Chess Player?)

Anyway. Here are the moves.

Handsome Geoff Chandler v You Ugly Lot.

1. Ng3 h5 2. Nf3 g5 3. Nc3 b5 4. Nb3 a5 5. Nd5 a4 6. Nc5 h4 7. Nf5 g4 8.
Ne5 b4 9. Ne4 e6 10. Ndf6+ Qxf6 11. Nxf6+ Kd8 12. Nxf7 Mate.

Position after your 9...e6??

rrbqkbrr/2pp1p2/4p3/3NNN2/pp2N1pp/8/PPPPPPPP/2BQKB2 w kq - 0 10
You guys will have to get your slack pawn moves sorted out.
Freddy Reinfeld warns you about making too many pawn moves in the opening.

Here is the final position.

Don't talk to me about the strength of doubled Rooks
What about Tripled Knights?

rrbk1brr/2pp1N2/4pN2/5N2/pp4pp/8/PPPPPPPP/2BQKB2 b - - 0 12
That by the way is a pure mate.

Impressive. The knights certainly deliver a speedier helpmate. I wonder what is the quickest a helpmate can be delivered with the four rooks? You wouldn't need all of them, of course, but the condition is that White only moves pawns, and Black only moves.... oh, pawns and rooks, I suppose. Not as pretty. But still, it will take a long time to get those rooks out. Hmm. Seems the rooks (two of them) can deliver helpmate in 8. Maybe I do win! Unless you are requiring a pure mate with one rook? (OK, rooks can't deliver pure mates). A single knight can deliver a helpmate in 4 (on g7).