Alternate Facts And Gambits

     When tested with an engine almost all gambit are unsound, but the old rule that all gambits are sound over the board still seems pretty accurate. What today we would call alternate facts. 

     In the following game white played the Scotch Gambit, one of those openings that has been around a long time, yet has not been used very often in tournament play. One of the main characteristics of it is that it sacrifices the "d" pawn for a lead in development and there are a lot of traps and mating attacks.

     The protagonists in this game that was played way back in 1820 were a couple of interesting characters, John Brand and Jacques-Francois Mouret.  

     1820 was not an especially exciting year. Domestic gas lighting and the electric battery were 20 years old and a punch card for weaving machines had been invented back in 1804 as was a steam locomotive that ran on rails. 

     The arc lamp came in 1807 and in 1810 a precision lathe and tinned food made their debut. In 1814, German Joseph von Fraunhofe came up with the spectrocope for chemical analysis. In 1815 a miners' lamp was invented by Humphrey Davy in England. In 1816 photography made its debut and in 1819 the stethoscope was invented. But in 1820, nothing. The electromagnet, waterproof clothes, passenger railways and the microphone were still a few years away as were the lawn mower and sewing machine which didn’t come into existence until 1830. 

     In the United States the President was James Monroe and his Vice President was somebody named Daniel D. Tompkins. In March, the Missouri Compromise, federal legislation that admitted Maine to the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state was enacted. 

     The Land Act of 1820 ended the ability to purchase the country’s public domain lands on a credit or installment system and required full payment at the time of purchase. But, to encourage more sales and make them more affordable, Congress also reduced both the minimum price from $2.00 to $1.25 per acre and the minimum size of a standard tract from 160 to 80 acres. The lands were located on the frontier which included Ohio, the Northwest Territory and Missouri Territory. 

     Out in what is now Seattle, Washington, Mount Rainier erupted. It’s last eruption was in 1894 and it is potentially the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range because of its great height, frequent earthquakes, active hydrothermal system and extensive glacier mantle. 

     Not much was going on in the chess world in 1820 either, but thanks to Bill Wall we learn that Alexandre Deschapelles (1780-1847) taught chess to his student, Louis-Charles Mahe de La Bourdonnais (1795-1840). 

 

   Sometime around 1820, the Dublin pattern chess sets in ebony and boxwood were marketed by Jaques. In 1820, Marcus Kann was born in Vienna. He published analysis on the Caro-Kann in 1886, the same year he died. On December 8, 1820, Thomas Frere was born in New York City. He was one of the foremost promoters of chess in the USA in the 19th century. He helped organize the First American Chess Congress in 1857. He died in 1900, at the age of 79.

     Both of the players in the game below were interesting fellows. John Brand (May 7, 1791 – April 20, 1856, 64 years old) of England appears to have been really weird. The London Times of August 1830 reported the case of a lunacy hearing for Brand who had been accused of various types of bizarre activity and supposedly became particularly strange when playing chess. He reportedly would become extremely agitated when he lost and had lost large sums of money betting on the game. Various altercations were described by relatives and doctors. His defense came from chess club members, one of whom testified that Brand was not more irritable, but less so, than other players. Chess.com has an interesting article on the man title John Brand. Cricketer, Chess Player, and Lunatic. READ.   

     Jacques-Francois Mouret (August 22, 1780 – May 9,1837, 56 years old) was from France and was one of the players who manned The Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player. It was a chess playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854 it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton. It was built and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen to impress the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The Turk gave demonstrations in Europe and the Americas for nearly 84 years. Masters who operated it included Johann Allgaier, Boncourt, Aaron Alexandre, William Lewis, Jacques Mouret, and William Schlumberger, but the operators during Kempelen's original tour are unknown.

John Brand - Jacques-Francois Mouret
Result: 0-1
Site: Match?
Date: 1820
Scotch Gambit

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 exd4 My database shows that if white plays 4.Nxd4 almost half of the games are drawn with the rest being almost evenly split between white and black. The same can be said of the Scotch Gambit except that the percent of drawn games drops to 28 percent. 4.♗c4 Now, of course, black should play either 4...Nf6 or 4...Bc5. Instead he plays a risky Q move, but this game was played in 1820 when opening theory was not as sophisticated as it is today. 4...♕f6 5.O-O d6 6.♘g5 Real caveman stuff. After 6.c3 white has a fine game. 6...♘h6 Not really bad, but 5...Ne5 or 5...Be6 were better. 7.f4 ♗e7 8.e5 Hoping black takes the P so he can carry out his attack on f7, but this is mistaken strategy because now black gains the advantage. 8...♕g6 This is best as now black enjoys a considerable advantage.

8...dxe5 was actually playable because after 9.fxe5 ♕g6 10.♘xf7 ♖f8 11.♘xh6 and chances are even.

9.exd6 cxd6 10.c3 Black n ow has a choices of good moves: 10...O-O, 10...Bf5 and 10...Bg4 among others. 10...dxc3 But after this white equalizes. 11.♘xc3 O-O 12.♘d5 ♗d7 White should now prevent ... Bg4 with either 13.h3 or 13.Be2. Instead he makes an elementary oversight thta costs the exchange. 13.♖f3 We've all done this...or worse. 13...♗g4 14.♗d3 ♗xf3 15.♕xf3

15.♘xf3 is no better, but it does contain a trap. After 15...♕h5 16.h3 Black can't take on d5 because of 17.Bxh7+ winning the Q. 16...♖ae8 17.♗xh7 Again the B can't be taken because 18.Ng5+ would win the Q. Nevertheless, black is also much better here, too.

15...f5 16.♗c4 White's attack only looks dangerous. 16...♔h8

16...♘f7 17.♘xf7 ♖xf7 18.♘xe7 ♘xe7 19.♕xb7 Much better than taking the R. (19.♗xf7 ♔xf7 20.♕xb7 ♕e6 21.♗d2 ♕d5 and black has equalized.) 19...♖e8 20.♕d7 ♔f8 (20...♖ef8 21.♕xe7) 21.♗xf7 ♕xf7 22.♕xd6 white is better.

17.♘xe7 ♘xe7 18.♕xb7 ♕f6 Also good was 18...d5 19.♗e3 ♖fb8 20.♕d7 ♖d8 21.♕b7 d5 22.♗b3 ♘c6 23.♗xd5 ♘d4 24.♖d1 ♘e2 This natural looking check actually lets white off the hook.

24...♖ab8 was better. If 25.♕c7 ♖dc8 26.♕e5 ♘c6 27.♕xf6 gxf6 28.♘e6 ♖xb2

25.♔f1

25.♔h1 This is actually a little safer, but nobody wants to allow a potential first rank mate. But, after 25...♖ac8 with equal chances.

25...♖ab8 26.♕xa7 ♖xb2 27.♘e6 Black has a draw if he wants it with 27...Ng6+ or he can just move the R away and keep a slight advantage. 27...♕xe6 Tricky, but it allows white to equalize with 28.Bd4 threatening mate and attacking the R.

27...♘g3 28.♔g1 (28.hxg3 ♕xe6 wins for black.) 28...♘e2 29.♔f1 ♘g3 etc

28.♗xe6 Natural back in those days...sacrifices were almost never refused. At least it allows a nice finish. 28...♖xd1 This mates in three. (28...♘g3 is mate next move no matter what white plays.) 29.♔f2 and resigned. (29.♔f2 ♘g4 30.♔f3 ♘xh2 31.♔f2 ♖f1#)

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