Let's Relax with a Miniature

Submitted by kco on Sat, 10/17/2009 at 6:48pm.

FIXED IDEAS

"The story goes that a practical joker, taking advantage of Akiba Rubinstein's predilection for 1.d4, once nailed down the grandmaster's Queen's Pawn. What appears as a harmless foible in a great player may,however , be magnified to dangerous proportions in his weaker brethen.
It is this quality which spoils so many Morphy games for us. His opponents always "attacked"; always defened badly, if at all; always underestimated the problem of defense -insofar as they were aware of it."

                          TWO KNIGHTS DEFENSE
                             New Orleans, 1858
                      White, Paul Morphy   Black, Amateur
                         (remove White's Queen's Rook)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5

Objectively this is not a blunder, since White's sacrificial reply (the "Fried liver") is unsound against the best defense. But since Black is patently incapable of playing the best defense , he should content himself with the more prudent 5...Na5.

(after 5...Nxd5)

6.Nxf7 ?! Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Ke6 8.Nc3 Nd4
He leave his menaced Knight in the lurch, and prefers "attack." Even this inferior move is permissible at the odds, but best of all is 8...Ne7 (unsatisfactory when White has his Queen's Rook)

9.Bxd5+ Kd6 10.Qf7 Be6? A much better reply to the threatened 11.Ne4 mate is 10...Qe7 ! forcing White to retreat without adequate compensation for the Rook minus.

11.Bxe6 Nxe6 12.Ne4+ Kd5 13.c4+! Kxe4 He must bite into the sour apple, for after 13... Kc6 14.Qxe6+ Bd6 15.Qd5+ Kd7 16.c5 (16.Nc5+? Ke8!} White is ahead in material and has a winning attack to boost.

(after 13...Kxe4)

14.Qxe6 Qd4? If 14...Qf6 15.Qg4+ Kd3 (or 15...Qf4 16.d3+) 16.Qe2+
as in the game. But 14...Kd4 ! was a far better defensive try. 15.Qg4+
Kd3 16.Qe2+ Morphy makes chess seem very simple. The contrast between his elegant economy and Black's ineffectual bumbling is quite vivid: the Black monarch is forced into a fantastic mating net. ...Kc2
17.d3+ ! Kxc1 Even refusal would have been unavailing: 17...Kb1 18.0-0 Kxa2 19.Qc2 ! and black is helpless against the coming discovered check with the b-pawn. 18.0-0 mate ! Morphy resolutely refused to allow his opponent's weak play to cheat him of a fine finish.

( 18.0-0 mate ! )

Note: I got this from a book called "Relax with Chess and win in 20 moves "by Fred Reinfield.

Interestingly there are two articles onthe Two Knights Defense written by GM Gseper ' first article' and 'second article'

And of course Dozy just did an article on King Hunt in which is has the same theme here 'click here ' a worthwhile read.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog and the two articles.

Here is the full game.

Previous- Miniture Introdution (comming soon) ideally for beginners.
Next-Miniature II "The Price of Progress"

» posted in kco's Blog

| 285 reads | 11 comments

Comments:

by Streptomicin - 32 days ago
Pozarevac Serbia

Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 1223

[COMMENT DELETED]

by BorgQueen - 34 days ago
Adelaide Australia

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 4526

Oh sorry, yes, I meant that lol

by kco - 34 days ago
Perth Australia

Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 6893

actually I think is it 5...Nxd5 6.Nxf7 (not the Bishop) is the Fried Liver.

by BorgQueen - 34 days ago
Adelaide Australia

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 4526

I learned something too! I know openings by their positions only (not many opening books around when I was first learning and certainly no computers) and so I had no idea what "fried liver" meant. Now I know it's the Nxd5 Bxf7+ thing!

by kco - 34 days ago
Perth Australia

Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 6893

Thanks Brad, I am glad you enjoyed reading it. I will be doing this every weekend from the Reinfield's collections. Thank you for pointing it out the mistake.

by BorgQueen - 34 days ago
Adelaide Australia

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 4526

Beautiful game, shows the power of initiative nicely!

Morphy was my "hero" when I was first learning chess... and still is today tbh. His attacking style is just brilliant and his games are almost always poetry to watch.

Error though:

he should content himself with the more prudent 5...Nh5.

should be

he should content himself with the more prudent 5...Na 5.

by ADK - 36 days ago
Santa Clarita, CA United States

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 16324

Sweet. : )

ADK

by Frenzal - 37 days ago
Napier New Zealand

Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 359

Very cool

by ooda_loop - 37 days ago
Auckland New Zealand

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 522

Yeh i think you should chuck it in somewhere, most people can't be bothered to enter the moves into a programme or play it out on their chess set, not when it's easy so just click your mouse button to watch a game.

As far as I knew you could adjust the board size to be quite small but I'm not sure; I haven't used it in a while.

Nice presentation though btw. Attractive background colour and border.

by kco - 37 days ago
Perth Australia

Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 6893

thank you ooda_loop, so maybe I put a whole game at the bottom of the page ? the problem is if I put it as a whole it only come out in one size (too big imo)

by ooda_loop - 37 days ago
Auckland New Zealand

Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 522

I remember reading a comment from a great player (can't remember who, it was Lasker or Alekhine or someone) that Ng5 is a "beginners move" Back in the romantic era they played it a lot though and Morphy could certainly get away with it. Nice game by Morphy, pretty typical of his aggressive style.

btw it would be easier for the reader if you had shown the whole game on one chess board rather than as notation :p

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