Sextuplet Knight Moves

 

   When this game was annotated in a magazine of the era the annotator based his notes more on the result than anything and was critical of black’s six moves with his Queen’s Knight and it finally landing on a3 where it was out of play. He also mentioned at one point that black was suffering from not having a Knight on f6. Annotations based on the result was not uncommon in those days; all the winner’s moves were praised and the loser’s condemned. In those days we amateurs rarely questioned even ordinary masters. Engines changes all that. Now any patzer with an engine can find fault with those old annotations! 

    There was absolutely nothing wrong with black’s opening play and white’s sacrificial attack was a good practical choice because, as is often the case, defending is not so easy because on small slip can be fatal. And, that’s what happened to black. Moving his Knight six times wasn’t the problem; it was 24...Kf7 which was a gross defensive blunder. Enjoy the game!

ChessBase

Robert Beckert–Marvin Palmer0–1C83Postal1951Stockfish 16

C83: Open Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 xe4 This is the Open Defense; it lends itself more towards tactical play whereas the more common 5...a6, positional play. 6.d4 b5 7.b3 d5 8.dxe5 e6 9.c3 Generally white plays 9.Nbd2 here, or less commonly 9.Be3. At the time this game was played Keres and Smyslov preferred 9.Qe2 with the idea of following it up with 10.Rd1 and 11.c4 e7 This is the somewhat risky Dilworth Variation. 9...Bc5 is a bit sounder. 10.e3 0-0 11.bd2 xd2 12.xd2 a5 13.c2 The alternative was 13.Nd4 attacking the B and allowing the f-Pawn to advance. c4 14.d3 g6 15.h6 Going for the attack. 15.b3 and 16.Nd4 is the recommended alternative. xb2 16.e3 At the time this was a new move; the older move was 16.Qe2 followed by 17.Nd4. The text intends to transfer the Q to the K-side where, hopefully, it will exert strong pressure. 16.e2 e8 17.xg6 hxg6 18.xb2 g4 19.d4 is equal. Van Haastert,E (2429)-Vedder,R (2261) Netherlands NED 2015 16...c4 This is at least as good as 16... Re8 which was recommended by Reuben Fine. 16...e8 17.d4 d7 18.g3 c5 19.f3 c4 with full equality. 17.f4 e8 17...f6 favors white. 18.xf8 xf8 19.d4 f7 20.exf6 xf6 After 21, Qg3 white would be better. Psakhis,L (2545)-Zaitsev,I (2465) Yerevan 1982 18.fe1 b8 A slightly better alternative was 18...c5 19.h4 a3 20.d3 c5 21.h5 c4 22.xg6 A bold sacrifice where white stakes everything on a mating attack. It's a good decision because otherwise black has reasonable expectations that his Q-side P-majority will give him good winning chances. fxg6 23.hxg6 hxg6 24.g3 h7 This attack on the B is the losing move. 24...f5 keeps a slight edge after 25.d4 d3 26.c6 c8 27.xb8 c2 28.e6 xb8 29.f4 d8 25.g5+ xg5 25...xh6 26.h4+ g7 27.h7+ f8 28.xe6# 26.xg5 d7 27.f6 Threatening mate in 3. f8 28.ad1 Very nice! The attack needs reinforcing so he wants to bring up the R via d4. xf6 Black counters with a very nice move of his own. He cedes the exchange in an effort to break the attack. Unfortunately for him the P on f6 turns out to be a good substitute for the B! 29.exf6 e8 30.e4 f5 30...dxe4 31.xd7+ xd7 32.d6 g4 33.f7 h8 34.e7 wins 31.xd5 Both of white's Rs are en prise, but beither can be safely taken...quite a spectacle! f7 32.h4+ Black resigned. Perhaps he could have played on for a bit, but white has a mate in 10. 32.h4+ g8 33.xf5 e1+ 34.h2 b4 35.g5 xf6 36.xg6+ f7 37.xf6+ xf6 38.h6+ f7 39.g6+ f8 40.h7 h1+ 41.xh1 bxc3 42.f7# 0–1

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