The diagrammed position comes from a game between Alekhine and Capablanca. It was from the 1914 St Petersburg tournament and it is Black (Capablanca) to move. In The Art of Chess Combination, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky heaps praise on the game continuation 1... Nxg2 2.Kxg2 Qg4+ 3.Kf1 Qh3+ 4.Ke2 Rxe3+ 5.fxe3 Qxe3+ 6.Kd1 Qxe1+ and disparages the 'variation without a surprise' 1. ... Qg4 2.Qb7 d5 3.f3 Qe6 4.Bxf4 Rxe1+As it turns out the second variation is actually stronger than the first, although Znosko-Borovsky missed a brilliant sting in the tail. After Rxe1+ he simply states that Black wins the exchange at the price of the menace to the d pawn. However, if after 5.Kf2 Black finds 5. ... Rh1!! then he wins the other rook as well!
I wonder if part of the reason why Znosko-Borovsky didn't look too deeply at the second continuation was that he simply decided that if Capablanca played it, then it must be best.
2 comments:
Not many players would have second guessed Capablanca I think...:-)
Just to let everyone know, there are currently elections underway at www.ozchess.com. to have democratically elected moderators!
This is the first time any chess forum has ever done this, and it speaks to our democratic beliefs and principles.
Thank you.
Post a Comment