English Chess Forum

There were 2 highly unusual features in my game yesterday, in South Wales, against Tim Kett:

1) On move 9 Tim played his Queen's Knight to g1, and 2) from move 6 to move 15 he made 10 consecutive Knight moves, and in total 12 of his first 15 moves were with his Knights:

[Event "South Wales International"]
[Site "Park Inn Cardiff"]
[Date "2015.07.15"]
[Round "8.4"]
[White "Kett, Tim"]
[Black "Arkell, GM Keith C"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B17"]
[WhiteElo "2219"]
[BlackElo "2502"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Ngf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. N1f3 h6 8.
Nh3 g5 9. Nhg1 g4 10. Nd2 Qc7 11. Ne2 h5 12. Ng3 b6 13. Nde4 h4 14. Nxf6+ Nxf6
15. Ne2 Bd6 16. Qd3 Rg8 17. g3 Bb7 18. Bf4 Bxf4 19. Nxf4 O-O-O 20. O-O-O c5 21.
d5 Nxd5 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Qf5+ Qd7 24. Qxd7+ Rxd7 25. gxh4 d4 26. Rhg1 Rh8 27.
h5 Bf3 28. Rde1 Rd6 29. Re5 Rf6 30. Nd3 Kd7 31. Rge1 Kd6 32. b3 Re6 33. Kd2
Rxe5 34. Nxe5 Rxh5 35. Nxf7+ Kd5 36. c4+ dxc3+ 37. Kxc3 Rxh2 38. Re5+ Kc6 39.
Rf5 Be4 40. Rf6+ Kc7 41. Ne5 g3 42. Rf7+ Kd6 43. Nc4+ Ke6 44. Rf4 Bf5 45. Rxf5
Kxf5 46. fxg3 Rxa2 0-1

Keith, to get it to display properly, you need to use the pgn tag in the Full Editor.

[Event "South Wales International"] [Site "Park Inn Cardiff"] [Date "2015.07.15"] [Round "8.4"] [White "Kett, Tim"] [Black "Arkell, GM Keith C"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B17"] [WhiteElo "2219"] [BlackElo "2502"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Ngf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. N1f3 h6 8. Nh3 g5 9. Nhg1 g4 10. Nd2 Qc7 11. Ne2 h5 12. Ng3 b6 13. Nde4 h4 14. Nxf6+ Nxf6 15. Ne2 Bd6 16. Qd3 Rg8 17. g3 Bb7 18. Bf4 Bxf4 19. Nxf4 O-O-O 20. O-O-O c5 21. d5 Nxd5 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Qf5+ Qd7 24. Qxd7+ Rxd7 25. gxh4 d4 26. Rhg1 Rh8 27. h5 Bf3 28. Rde1 Rd6 29. Re5 Rf6 30. Nd3 Kd7 31. Rge1 Kd6 32. b3 Re6 33. Kd2 Rxe5 34. Nxe5 Rxh5 35. Nxf7+ Kd5 36. c4+ dxc3+ 37. Kxc3 Rxh2 38. Re5+ Kc6 39. Rf5 Be4 40. Rf6+ Kc7 41. Ne5 g3 42. Rf7+ Kd6 43. Nc4+ Ke6 44. Rf4 Bf5 45. Rxf5 Kxf5 46. fxg3 Rxa2 0-1

It might've been a record, Keith, except for the following game.

WHEN JULIAN Hodgson met David Gluckman in the first round of the Lloyds Bank Masters tournament, it began in the manner of a mildly deranged video game but turned into an impressive piece of positional constriction. On the way, the game also probably set a new record with 11 consecutive Black knight moves in the opening, and 16 knight moves out of the first 20. (WIlliam Hartston, Thursday 27 August 1992, The Independent)

[Event ""] [Site ""] [Date ""] [Round ""] [White "Julian Hodgson"] [Black "David Gluckman"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO ""] [WhiteElo ""] [BlackElo ""] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "??.??.??"] 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 e6 3 e4 Be7 4 Nc3 Nxe4 5 Bxe7 Nxc3 6 Bxd8 Nxd1 7 Bxc7 Nxb2 8 Bd6 Na4 9 c4 Nc6 10 Nf3 Ne7 11 Bd3 Nb2 12 Be2 Nf5 13 Ba3 Na4 14 Kd2 Nb6 15 Rb1 f6 16 g4 Ne7 17 Bd6 Nc6 18 Rb5 Nd8 19 Ra5 h5 20 Rg1 Nc6 21 Ra3 hxg4 22 Rxg4 Kf7 23 Bc7 Nxc4+ 24 Bxc4 d5 25 Bb3 b5 26 Rg1 a5 27 Bc2 g5 28 Bd6 Bd7 29 h4 b4 30 Re3 a4 31 hxg5 Na5 32 Bd3 b3 33 gxf6 1-0

Read the whole piece here - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 42798.html

A more definitive answer might be found here -

http://shop.chess.co.uk/The-Batsford-Bo ... b01599.htm

One of the previous record-holders here.

Slightly later in the game, but here's one that looks genuine with 27(!) consecutive knight moves:

[Event "Rotterdam k.o."] [Site "Rotterdam"] [Date "1990.??.??"] [Round "2"] [White "Nijboer, Friso"] [Black "Douven, Rudy C"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B93"] [WhiteElo "2485"] [BlackElo "2440"] [PlyCount "122"] [EventDate "1990.??.??"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "NED"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.11.25"] [WhiteTeam "Sweden"] [BlackTeam "Wales"] [WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"] [BlackTeamCountry "WLS"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 a6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. Nf3 Qc7 9. a4 g6 10. O-O Bg7 11. Qe1 O-O 12. Qh4 b6 13. f5 exf5 14. exf5 Bb7 15. Bh6 Rae8 16. Ng5 Qc6 17. Rf2 Qc5 18. Raf1 Ne5 19. h3 gxf5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Bxf5 Ng6 22. Bxg6 fxg6 23. Kh1 Qc6 24. Qd4 Re5 25. Nf3 Rf5 26. Nh4 Rxf2 27. Rxf2 Qc5 28. Qxc5 dxc5 29. Rd2 Ne4 30. Rd7+ Rf7 31. Rxb7 Rxb7 32. Nxe4 Re7 33. Nc3 Re1+ 34. Kh2 Rc1 35. Nd5 Rxc2 36. Nxb6 Rxb2 37. Nd5 Ra2 38. Nc3 Ra3 39. Nd5 c4 40. Nf3 c3 41. Nd4 Rxa4 42. Ne6+ Kf7 43. Nxc3 Rc4 44. Ng5+ Kf6 45. Nce4+ Ke5 46. Nd2 Rc2 47. Ndf3+ Kd6 48. Nxh7 a5 49. Nd4 Rc4 50. Nb5+ Kc5 51. Na3 Rc3 52. Nb1 Rb3 53. Nd2 Rb2 54. Nf6 a4 55. Nfe4+ Kb4 56. Nf3 a3 57. Ne5 a2 58. Nd3+ Ka3 59. Nd6 Rc2 60. Nb5+ Ka4 61. Nd4 Rc3 0-1

From move 35:

[Event "Rotterdam k.o."] [Site "Rotterdam"] [Date "1990.??.??"] [Round "2"] [White "Nijboer, Friso"] [Black "Douven, Rudy C"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B93"] [WhiteElo "2485"] [BlackElo "2440"] [PlyCount "122"] [EventDate "1990.??.??"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "NED"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2001.11.25"] [WhiteTeam "Sweden"] [BlackTeam "Wales"] [WhiteTeamCountry "SWE"] [BlackTeamCountry "WLS"] [FEN "8/6kp/pp4p1/2p5/P6N/2N4P/1PP3PK/2r5 w - - 0 35"] 35. Nd5 Rxc2 36. Nxb6 Rxb2 37. Nd5 Ra2 38. Nc3 Ra3 39. Nd5 c4 40. Nf3 c3 41. Nd4 Rxa4 42. Ne6+ Kf7 43. Nxc3 Rc4 44. Ng5+ Kf6 45. Nce4+ Ke5 46. Nd2 Rc2 47. Ndf3+ Kd6 48. Nxh7 a5 49. Nd4 Rc4 50. Nb5+ Kc5 51. Na3 Rc3 52. Nb1 Rb3 53. Nd2 Rb2 54. Nf6 a4 55. Nfe4+ Kb4 56. Nf3 a3 57. Ne5 a2 58. Nd3+ Ka3 59. Nd6 Rc2 60. Nb5+ Ka4 61. Nd4 Rc3 0-1

Didn't do him any good, perhaps the king should have got involved.

Cheers guys, and WOW re that last one!

I guess the b1 N to g1 on move 9, by Kett, is too near to theory to have much chance of originality.