The Iron King

Street Chess took an excursion over the border today, playing a rare Sunday event in the village of Michelago. When I woke up this morning the weather looked quite worrying, but as I got closer to the venue, the skies had cleared considerably. However the wind was up and the original plan of playing out in the open was quickly abandoned as we were spending more time chasing boards and pieces.
Heading for cover, a modest 6 player round robin was organised. While the size of the field was small, it did attract a large number of curious onlookers. Going into the final round Lee Forace and Therese Tran shared the lead on 3.5/4, but a combination of fortunate results allowed be to finish in front on 4. My last round game against Lee was particularly interesting (and tragic for Lee), as the Nxe4 line of the Scotch Four Knights resulted in my King going for a walk into the middle of the board. The 'Iron King' (as it is sometimes known) managed to survive the worst of it, and as the pieces came off, came into its own. By the time an ending was reached it had taken up more normal duties, so much so that the game was over soon after.


Forace,Lee - Press,Shaun [C47]
Michelago, 01.05.2016

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxe4 6. Nxc6 Nxc3 7. Nxd8 Nxd1 8. Nxf7 Nxf2 9. Kxf2 Kxf7 10. Bc4+ Kf6 11. Rf1 c6 12. Kg1+ Ke5 13. Bf4+ Kd4 14. Bb3 d5 15. a4 Kc5 16. a5 Be7 17. Rae1 Re8 18. c3 b6 19. axb6 axb6 20. Bc2 Ba6 21. b4+ Kc4 22. Bd2 Bf6 23. Rxe8 Rxe8 24. Rf4+ d4 25. cxd4 Bxd4+ 26. Kh1 Re2 0-1