Thursday 5 February 2009

Even in Correspondence, you've got to know your traps

Losing quickly at Correspondence Chess (CC) probably happens as frequently as losing at over the board (OTB) chess, but normally for different reasons. Most quick losses in CC can be attributed to 'clerical errors', where the wrong move is written down or transmitted.
However here is a collection of CC games which are won (and lost) in the more traditional style. The criteria I used to find these (from the Opening Master CC Database), was decisive games in 8 moves where the winner played a queen sacrifice. If you play through them you will see a number of familiar ideas, either as copies of previously sprung traps, or as a variation on a known trap.

Hnatovsky,N (2308) - Feyes,R (1360) [B12]
TE.2004.P.01602 IECG, 22.09.2004

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Nd7 4.c3 f6 5.Bd3 fxe5 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qxg6+ hxg6 8.Bxg6# 1-0

Smyth,P - Hargreaves,R [C41]
CL7-1999.15 IECC email, 1999

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.h3 Bh5 5.Nc3 c5 6.Nxe5 Bxd1 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.Nd5# 1-0

Egea,F - Uzcanga,J [B30]
CServe email CServe email, 1995

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bc4 d6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.Nxe5 Bxd1 8.Bxf7+ 1-0

Twigg - Gray,E [D21]
corr corr, 1947

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 b6 5.Bxc4 Na5 6.Qa4+ Bd7 7.Ne5 Bxa4 8.Bxf7# 1-0

Steindorf,A - Evans,H [E01]
ICCF corr, 1959

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 Nxd2 8.Nxd5 Nxf3# 0-1

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