I am a complete idiot!

[Geoff Chandler]

Some lad on RHP has posted a game where he too fluffed a Phildors Legacy.

The bones of the position.

1k1r4/pp6/2n2Q2/1N6/8/8/2q5/6K1 w - - 0 1
You can see the Legacy is on with either Rook or Knight take b8.
But White over looked that after Nxb8 the c2 Queen prevents Nc7 mate.
But White did not notice this till after he sacced his Queen....

...However when we add ALL the bits the board.

[FEN "1k1r3r/pp3p2/2n5/3N1Q1p/3p4/P2P2P1/2q1P1BP/1R4K1 w - - 0 1"] 1. Qf4+ Ka8 2. Nc7+ Kb8 3. Na6+ Ka8 4. Qb8+ {OOPS!} 4... Nxb8 5. Bxb7 {He honestly admits he never meant this.}

[Martin Crichton]

The Knight needs to be on h3 to make the combination work.

From a recent rapid-play

Event "Bourne End one day"] [Site "Bourne End"] [Date "2013.03.24"] [Round "4"] [White "Smith,AP"] [Black "de Coverly, RD"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B62"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Be2 Be7 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.Rd1 O-O 10.O-O Bd7 11.Nb3 Rc8 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qh3 Kh8 14.Qh5 Rg8 15.Qxf7 Rg5 16.f4 Qb6+ 17.Kh1 Rg7 18.Qh5 Rcg8 19.Bf3 Be8 20.Qh3 Bf7 21.f5 e5 22.Qh6 Bc4 23.Rg1 Nd8 24.Qd2 Nf7 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.Qxd5 Ng5 27.Qd3 Nh3 28.Rgf1 Qg1+ 0-1


well Roger, I would say you are definately not a complete idiot I heard about your draw with GM Glenn Flear so he repeated the position a couple of times...that's risky and proved costly! human error on both sides.
Regards

Martin

[stevencarr]

We've all made silly mistakes.

I remember pulling off a brilliant, but very standard combination once.

That's the one where you play as White Rxh7, King takes, the other Rook goes to the h file check, K g7, R h7 check, King takes, the other Rook goes to the h file check, Kg7, Rook up check, King takes , then the Queen goes to the h file check, followed by Qh7 mate.

Always nice when it works.

Well, I sacrificed the 2 Rooks on the h file, reached for the next Rook to remove the very last Black defender, and was shocked to realise that at the start of the game White is only issued with *two* Rooks, not three.

But my combination needed 3 Rook sacrifices....

[John Clarke]

We've all made silly mistakes.

I remember pulling off a brilliant, but very standard combination once.

That's the one where you play as White Rxh7, King takes, the other Rook goes to the h file check, K g7, R h7 check, King takes, the other Rook goes to the h file check, Kg7, Rook up check, King takes , then the Queen goes to the h file check, followed by Qh7 mate.

Always nice when it works.

Well, I sacrificed the 2 Rooks on the h file, reached for the next Rook to remove the very last Black defender, and was shocked to realise that at the start of the game White is only issued with *two* Rooks, not three.

But my combination needed 3 Rook sacrifices....

Well Steven, you haven't got that one on your own. The following position from a game in the Coburg tournament of 1904 was given by Assiac on p7 of The Delights of Chess:

r4r1k/3n1bbp/p1qp4/1ppN4/5P2/1B1PP1K1/PB4P1/R2Q3R

Here, Ehrhard Post (White) embarked on what looked like a brilliant combination with 1.Rxh7+?? Kxh7 2.Qh1+ Bh6 3.Qxh6+?? Kxh6 4.Rh1+ Bh5 5.Rxh5+?? Kxh5 - only to find that his intended 6.Rh1+ wasn't possible, on account of there was no third rook.

The almost equally ludicrous sequel was 6.Ne7 Qb7?? [6. ... Rg8+ - or almost anything else - would have won] 7.Bg7! - and Black can't avoid mate? Actually he could: 7. ... Ne5 8.Bd1+ Nf3 9.Bxf8 Rxf8 10.Bxf3+ Qxf3+ 11.Kxf3, and the game fizzled out into a draw many moves later.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi,

It appears loads of us have a copy of Assiac's 'The Delights of Chess.'

I've seen it mentioned recently in a few forums and I even used a study
from it in my latest blog. 'Trick, Trap or Tragedy.'
(good name for a book that. A book full of flawed brilliancies.)

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... postid=145

I've found the Duck, it is in Thailand.

Of course sometimes a blunder is the prelude to a brilliancy.
I sac piece, I blunder a piece, I sac another piece....I sac my Queen....I win.
I am the luckiest Chess Player ever.

G.Chandler - Dr.Ratcliffe. Edinburgh Chess League 1983.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 {Well I don't need any prompting do I......} 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Nxe5+ {Two pawns and a King on the run for a Bishop. A good Spec sac.} 7... Kf8 {OK Castle first then attack - attack - attack.} 8. O-O Bd4 {OOPS!. I missed that. Under other circumstances I would save the Knight as it is the developed piece but here (you must be ready to adapt when spec saccing) I used the Bishop as a target for my pawns..} 9. Ba3+ d6 10. c3 Bxe5 {Now two pieces down. One was a sac, the other a blunder.} 11. f4 Bf6 12. e5 Be7 13. Qe2 Bf5 14. g4 {No holding back, you must keep active. My only real concern is how do develop my b1 Knight?} 14... Bxb1 {Thank you} 15. Raxb1 d5 16. Bc1 {Keeping his Bishop on the board as a pawn target.} 16... Ke8 17. d4 Nc4 18. f5 Bg5 19. f6 Bxc1 {Three pieces down.} 20. fxg7 Be3+ 21. Qxe3 {Now I toss in my Queen.} 21... Qe7 22. gxh8=Q Nxe3 23. Qxg8+ Kd7 24. e6+ Qxe6 25. Qxe6+ Kxe6 26. Rbe1 {Perfect.}

[Ben Purton]

my most embarassing moment is I had a quite reasonable position all things considering but did not realise there was a double check allowing mate V Dave Spence, if I had won id have won the Brit U18 title. A certain forumite(Hello Geoff) found it very funny and decided to take a picture of me laughing during my analysis with Dave.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Ben,

Sounds like me.
I recall something of the incident. Did I publish the game and photo?
I don't want to go through a all those toe curling CC's. (what year?)

(I had a quick look and found something else for another thread. Cheers.)

EDIT: The Duck is on it's way to Africa.

[Giulio Simeone]

Look at what incredible game I lost yesterday. At move 20th my opponent smartly moved the knight to h3, I immediately realized what he was threatening but, since I had to constantly watch the f2 square, my play became very constrained and I lost very quickly.
[Event "Wednesday tournament"] [Site "Rome"] [Date "2013.09.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Simeone(2014)"] [Black "Feola(1628, italian rating)"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E61a"] 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 g6 4.e4 Nbd7 5.Be3 e5 6.Nf3 exd4 7.Bxd4 Bg7 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O b6 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.e5? {This is a mistake ...} 11...dxe5 12.Nxe5 c5! {When I pushed in e5, I didn't even consider that move, because I was confident the knight could take in d7 and then in f8. But things aren't that simple ...} 13.Nxd7 cxd4 14.Nxf8 {Now the knight gets trapped. Nxf6+ was a bit better but not too much} dxc3 15.Nxh7 Nxh7 16.bxc3 Qg5 17.f3 Qe3+ 18.Kh1 Re8 19.Bd3 Ng5 20.f4 Nh3 {I was hoping to resist by } ( 20...Ne4 21.Bxe4 Bxe4 22.Qf2 {, but black played much better.} ) 21.f5 Bxc3 {I can't take it because of the terrible trick} 22.fxg6 f6 {This is a bit risky, probably the only mistake black made during the game, but I was already very short of time ...} 23.Rab1 Bd2! {This move is terrible, because it cuts off my queen from f2 and again threatens the terrible trick. White has no defense, game is finished.} 24.Rxf6! {The only move that avoids the terrible thing, because now g1 is controlled by the other rook. But ...} 24...Nf2+ 25.Rxf2 Qxf2 26.Bf1 Bxg2+ 0-1

[Roger de Coverly]

Look at what incredible game I lost yesterday.

Which did you think was the worst move? Playing 11 e5 spoils a decent position, but there appear to be improvements which minimise the damage. By the time you play 17 f3, I suspect you are already busted with only your opponent's 1600ish rating giving chances to save the game. 21 .. Bxc3 is risky, the engine suggesting the straightforward Rd8. At the end 23. Rd1 instead of Rb1 keeps the game going.

[Barry Sandercock]

Can the Queen's Indian Defence be played as a Colle-Zukertort system in reverse, or is that not advisable due to being a tempo behind ?

[Roger de Coverly]

Can the Queen's Indian Defence be played as a Colle-Zukertort system in reverse?

I would have thought it difficult to play a move order that gets the pieces on the equivalent squares. In the traditional main line running 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. 0-0 the usual next move is 5. .. Be7. That part of a reversed C-Z that would require the Bishop to be on d6 isn't going to happen.

[Barry Sandercock]

Thanks for that, Roger.

[Giulio Simeone]

Which did you think was the worst move? Playing 11 e5 spoils a decent position, but there appear to be improvements which minimise the damage. By the time you play 17 f3, I suspect you are already busted with only your opponent's 1600ish rating giving chances to save the game. 21 .. Bxc3 is risky, the engine suggesting the straightforward Rd8. At the end 23. Rd1 instead of Rb1 keeps the game going.

Thank you Roger for your comments. Yes, after 11. e5 I could do a bit better, surely 14. NxNf6+ leads to fewer problems than NxRf8, but after 14. NxNf6+ I didn't really like the position with the d4 passed pawn, and so I tried to mess up things by taking the rook. My opponent suggests Nxg6 instead of Nxh7, in this way at least he can't play ...Qg5 threatening mate, and I can develop my pieces with more calm. Two pawns and a rook for two minor pieces don't seem to be that bad, and in some variations I can hope to weaken his king with h4-h5. Still, my engine gives a clear advantage to black.

Instead, yes, after Nxh7 and then f3 (more or less forced) the game is compromised, it's mostly the very bad position of the bishop that creates create problems to white, it can be easily attacked by black's queen and rooks and it has very little maneuvering space, so I have an hard time defending it. When moreover he moved the knight to h3 and threatened the terrible thing, white's situation became desperate, but with ... Bxc3 and especially with ... f6?? he gave me some unhoped chances. Yes, Rd1 instead of Rb1 prevents the terrible ...Bd2 and keeps the game going, but I was already very short of time. Time rate was 90 + 30, usually in Italy and especially in Rome time rates are more extensive, more than one time I convinced the organizers to give more time

One thing has to be said, though: my opponent's rating is so low because he hasn't been playing tournaments for a long time, is for this reason that he still doesn't have an international rating. Many players that know him, especially his clubmates, say that he's very strong, and he's worth at least 2000. Luckily, just because he doesn't have an international rating, I didn't lose any ELO. These are the defeats I like most, the defeats which I can learn from and that don't cost me any ELO