English Chess Forum

Thursday 14 November I played the following game in the London League.
P Gibbons v S Reuben. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6 5 c4 Bg7 6 Nc3?? Nxd4 7 resigns. Arguably my shortest win.
He meant to play 6 Bd3, but picked up the knight to move it.
I only thought afterwards, there could be a view that he touched the knight without intending to.
I travelled over an hour for that game and an hour back, which lasted perhaps 10 minutes.

That made me think. I had a game, again with the White pieces in the Finchley Schools League 62 years ago when I was 17.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nd7? 4 cxd5 cxd5 5 Nxd5 e5 6 dxe5 Qg5?? 7 BXg5 Nxe5 8 Nc7#
I hesitate to give his 7th move a ? Perhaps it was the second best, after resigns.
Again I travelled the better part of an hour for that game. I spent more time consoling my opponent that he wasn't that bad, than on the entire game.

A few years later this time I had black against, I think, Steven Guy..I m not certain of the tournament.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 d5 6 a3 dxc4 7 b? and he resigned without completing 7 b3. Was that shorter than my game last night?
It is difficult to write down in moves what happened. Steven and I did it differently and the press came to ask me what had actually happened.
We had been skittling through the moves and he assumed I had played 6...Bxc3+

I was 16 and had White in the Chess Festival in Westcliffe in 1955. I was 16 and have no idea who my adult opponent was.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 Ng4 4 Nf3 Nbd7 5 Bf4 Bb4+ 6 Nbd2 Qe7 7 a3 Ngxe5 8 axb4?? Nd3#
I was too naive to think, why did he make a move losing a piece?
If I hadn't lost, I would have won a prize in that tournament. My excuse is that I had to share the bed with my father the previous night, who had come to visit that day.

Of course, my shortest gAme was against Tony Miles in Luton in 1974. It went 1 draw agreed.
The FIDE Laws now require at least one move by each player for a game to be rated. I call that an Anti-Reuben Law. There are others. What me, paranoid?

I had a blitz game for money at odds in the 1970s. I had the White pieces and gave him R at a1 against P on f7, Traditionally the pawn a2 is placed on a3.
1 e4 e5? 2 Qh5+ resigns??
He can survive after 2...Ke7 3 Qxe5+ Kf7 4 Bc4+ d5. 2...g6 3 3 Qxe5+ Qe7 4 Qxh8 isn't that bad either.

Somebdy told me of the following. He had White.
1 e4 e5 2 f4 Nc6 3 q4?? Qh4#.

Has anybody won. or lost, a shorter game than mine?

I had a game in the Cambridge college league once that went 1.Nc3 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Ndb5 d6 6.Nd5 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 1-0, and one in the South Wales International that went 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Qf3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 e6 6.Nh3 c5 7.Ng5 1-0

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 15, 2019 2:07 am

Has anybody won. or lost, a shorter game than mine?

No, but only because when playing Jovanka in a rapidplay around 25 years ago I failed to resign after the moves
1. e4 d5 2.ed Nf6 3.c4 e6 4. de Bxe6 5. Nf3 Qe7 6. Qa4+ Bd7+

I was once, at a Barbican rapidplay (or possibly even Barbican Congress!) mated with white on move 8 by a Mr S. Reuben though.

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 15, 2019 2:07 am

Has anybody won. or lost, a shorter game than mine?

One of the shortest ever was John Cooper's win in the Falkbeer at the Nice Olympiad in 1974. That ran 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. fxe5?? Qh4+ 4. g3 Qxe4 5. Kf2 Bc5 . Other people falling for that trap give up the Rook by playing 5. Qe2 and play a few moves before resigning.

I played in a thematic tournament at Hastings Chess Club back in about 2000. The first round was From's Gambit and the pre-decided moves were:
1.f4 e5 2.dxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 g5.

Before the games started there was some joking around that there were at least a couple of options to avoid, but one player must not have been paying attention as he continued 5.h3?? - and I believe he was at least 160 strength. So only 1 move each!

Not as short as some of the above, but:

About 35 years ago I was Black in a game in the Insurance Chess Club Inter-Office Competition which went 1. d4, d5; 2. c4, e5; 3. dxe5, d4: 4. e3, Bb4+; 5. Bd2, dxe3; 6. Bxb4, exf2+; 7. Kxf2, Qxd1; 0 -1.

I was rather disappointed. Neither before or since have I had the opportunity to play 7. Ke2, fxg1(N)+.

I have had the situation as an arbiter, though. Stewart may remember that at the Colin Crouch Celebration Tournament in 2016, Barry Miles of South Norwood came to the Congress Office shortly after the start of play in one round and asked if he could have an extra Black Knight.

[Event "Isle Of Man"]
[Date "2007"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Nicholson, John"]
[Black "Spanton"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "1910"]
[BlackElo "1982"]
[PlyCount "10"]
[EventDate "2007"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Ne7 5. Nxe5 c6 0-1

I also had an eight-move checkmate: https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2019/06/ ... -game.html

I'm sure I read somewhere someone once played 1. Ng3 by mistake in 1st round of a rapidplay, and as it was an illegal move....

To save me digging my games out, we have discussed this before viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6226&start=15

David Sedgwick wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:23 am

About 35 years ago I was Black in a game in the Insurance Chess Club Inter-Office Competition which went 1. d4, d5; 2. c4, e5; 3. dxe5, d4: 4. e3, Bb4+; 5. Bd2, dxe3; 6. Bxb4, exf2+; 7. Kxf2, Qxd1; 0 -1.

I was rather disappointed. Neither before or since have I had the opportunity to play 7. Ke2, fxg1(N)+.

I had a game I think 47 years ago where my opponent played 7 Ke2 fxg1=N+ 8 Rxg1 Bg4+ 9 0-1 - it lasted about six minutes. It was in a lower division of the Kent Championship, and in those days games were played home or away, in houses rather than clubs, with a three hour playing session before adjournment. My father had driven me about 40 miles to play this away game, no mobile phones clearly, expecting to get a call from my opponent when the game was over to pick up his 11 year old son. As soon as he got home he was on his way back and in the intervening two hours I played a number of friendlies with my rather embarrassed opponent.

I saw 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 dxc4 4 e3 Be6 5 Ng5 Qa5 0-1 perpetrated by a 180 with white. But like a lot of these games, whether it is less than 10 moves depends on whether the person blundering the piece resigns immediately. So the mates are better IMO.

I managed to allow the famous Nd3 mate in the Fajarowicz Budapest once in 5 minute online, but haven't managed to do anything similar in a serious game.

Part of my chess lore is that the shortest game between masters went 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nd2 e5 3 de Ng4 4 h3?? Ne3 0-1

Might be stretching the concept of 'master' though.

Nick
Part of my chess lore is that the shortest game between masters went 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nd2 e5 3 de Ng4 4 h3?? Ne3 0-1

IM Al Howitz had this story. They were playing for money. Black had the right to pay Al to make a move, whih, of course, he could reject.
Black paid for 4 h3 then Ne3. Al said he went on to win.

Which brings me to the issue of resigning. When is it plain bad etiquette to play on?

In the masterpiece quoted by me, White was facing mate or catastrophic loss of material. The only option is to retire to the bar.

In the example quoted by Tim (strange how these disasters often befall White), White will have a pawn for the piece. Might I fancy my chances of playing on against a certain type of opponent? Possibly, as Black will still need to demonstrate a degree of accuracy to win.

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 15, 2019 3:21 pm

In the example quoted by Tim (strange how these disasters often befall White), White will have a pawn for the piece. Might I fancy my chances of playing on against a certain type of opponent? Possibly, as Black will still need to demonstrate a degree of accuracy to win.

Two pawns, assuming his next move captures a pawn on c6/d7/f7.