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West Michigan Chess > Authors > Bethel McGrew
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8/29/2008
Greetings all! I bring you a tasty morsel from the renowned "King of Swindlers," Frank Marshall. But Marshall doesn't exactly "swindle" his opponent in this game. The word "pulverize," however, does come to mind. A defining moment:
White to move
White's Bishop is under attack, but Black's back is against the wall. Is there a way to take advantage of this? Or should White take the advice of the old proverb, "He who runs away lives to fight another day?"
Marshall?
Move backwards?
Naaaaah.
7/6/2008
Click here for a tremendously satisfying Open Games cruncher by the legendary I. A. Horowitz. Though he always went by his middle name, "Al", his first name was Israel. Draw your own conclusions. And take a shot at finding the brilliant combination below:
White to move
Here's a game from Arnold Denker, commonly known as the Dean of American Chess. Our hero was in a fighting mood and whipped out a Danish. The result: chaos, confusion, and a magnificently unpolished street fight. Below, try to figure out how he put the final nail in Black's coffin:
White to move
Note the tell-tale Danish Bishops and the fact that most of Black's army is all set up for game 2. Crazy, man!
4/6/2008The hero of this game is Simon Winawer, who was known for his zany, tactical play. Not even Steinitz's famed defensive techniques were good enough to fend Winawer off in this game. Buckle your seatbelts and hang on! This is the penultimate position. Find the move that seals Black's fate:
White to move
My apologies for not posting in the month of March. To make up for my laziness, I am posting two games this month. First off we have a 14-move cruncher from the 1920's. Black tosses off a Sicilian (!) but fares no better than Fezzini in The Princess Bride... The diagram below shows the position right before the knockout punch:
White to move
2/15/2008For this month, we have a 15-move mini-masterpiece from the well-known chess master Edward Lasker. The diagram below depicts the moment right before the final blow:
White to move
Click here for the game with annotations.
1/13/2008
For our first game of the year, we have a delightful miniature from Mikhail Tchigorin, one of the early masters of chess. His opponent, Carl Schlechter, was a serious contender for the world championship and actually drew a match with Emmanuel Lasker. However, Lasker needed only to draw the match in order to retain his title, and so his reign continued. Yet powerful as Schlechter was, he was convincingly thumped in this game, a position from which is given below:
White to move
12/14/2007
A pivotal moment in our final classic game of the year:
Black to move
Click here for the solution and the game.
11/11/2007
This month we have a miniature from Jose Raul Capablanca. Yes, you heard right. While he is best known for his endings, Capablanca's tactics were not to be underestimated, as this game shows. The diagram below shows the key position in the game:
White to move
Click here to see the game with annotations. 10/7/2007The following diagram shows the position just before the final combination in this month's very famous classic game:
White to move
Click here to see the full game with annotations. |
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