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!

[Event "Postal"] [Site "?"] [Date "1951.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Beckert"] [Black "Marvin Palmer"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C83"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1951.??.??"] {C83: Open Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 { This is the Open Defense; it lends itself more towards tactical play whereas the more common 5...a6, positional play.} 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 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} Be7 {This is the somewhat risky Dilworth Variation. 9...Bc5 is a bit sounder.} 10. Be3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Nxd2 12. Qxd2 Na5 13. Bc2 {The alternative was 13.Nd4 attacking the B and allowing the f-Pawn to advance.} Nc4 14. Qd3 g6 15. Bh6 {Going for the attack. 15.b3 and 16.Nd4 is the recommended alternative.} Nxb2 16. Qe3 {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. Qe2 Re8 17. Bxg6 hxg6 18. Qxb2 Bg4 19. Nd4 {is equal. Van Haastert,E (2429)-Vedder,R (2261) Netherlands NED 2015}) 16... Nc4 {This is at least as good as 16... Re8 which was recommended by Reuben Fine.} (16... Re8 17. Nd4 Bd7 18. Qg3 c5 19. Nf3 Nc4 {with full equality.}) 17. Qf4 Re8 (17... f6 {favors white.} 18. Bxf8 Qxf8 19. Nd4 Qf7 20. exf6 Bxf6 {After 21, Qg3 white would be better. Psakhis,L (2545)-Zaitsev,I (2465) Yerevan 1982}) 18. Rfe1 Rb8 {A slightly better alternative was 18...c5} 19. h4 Na3 20. Bd3 c5 21. h5 c4 22. Bxg6 {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. Qg3 Kh7 {This attack on the B is the losing move.} (24... Bf5 {keeps a slight edge after} 25. Nd4 Bd3 26. Nc6 Qc8 27. Nxb8 Nc2 28. e6 Qxb8 29. Bf4 Qd8) 25. Ng5+ Bxg5 (25... Kxh6 26. Qh4+ Kg7 27. Qh7+ Kf8 28. Nxe6#) 26. Bxg5 Qd7 27. Bf6 { Threatening mate in 3.} Rf8 28. Rad1 {Very nice! The attack needs reinforcing so he wants to bring up the R via d4.} Rxf6 {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 Re8 30. Re4 Bf5 (30... dxe4 31. Rxd7+ Bxd7 32. Qd6 Bg4 33. f7 Rh8 34. Qe7 {wins}) 31. Rxd5 {Both of white's Rs are en prise, but beither can be safely taken...quite a spectacle!} Qf7 32. Rh4+ {Black resigned. Perhaps he could have played on for a bit, but white has a mate in 10.} (32. Rh4+ Kg8 33. Rxf5 Re1+ 34. Kh2 b4 35. Rg5 Qxf6 36. Rxg6+ Kf7 37. Rxf6+ Kxf6 38. Rh6+ Kf7 39. Qg6+ Kf8 40. Rh7 Rh1+ 41. Kxh1 bxc3 42. Qf7#) 0-1