An Al Horowitz Favorite

    In one of the first chess books I ever had, The Golden Treasury if Chess, the author, Al Horowitz wrote, “In the course of the decades which I have devoted to the preparation of this volume, I have had occasion to examine thousands upon thousands of scores. Those that have pleased me most are included in (this book). But even among these favorites, there are some which I have enjoyed so much that I have set them aside in order to attract the reader's attention to these games. I will not deny that ten years ago I might have selected other games, and that in the years to come, my tastes will again be modified! Nevertheless, you will be delighted with these games.” 

    The following was one he called, “one of the most astonishing games on record.” A cold look at the game with Stockfish shows it to be riddled with flaws on the part of both players, but that doesn’t matter...it’s still a fascinating game. 

    There is an interesting discussion about the game on chessgames.com. Whatever the true facts about the game are, it truly is quite remarkable. Was THIS man the winner? 

 

[Event "Paris"] [Site ""] [Date "1843.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Michelet"] [Black "Lionel Kieseritzky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C37"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1845.??.??"] {C37: King's Gambit Accepted: Salvio Gambit} 1. e4 {According to Bobby Fischer, who was mentioned in the previous post, these old players knew something about chess because they almost always opened with 1.e4.} e5 2. f4 {For an opemingthat has been around for some 500 years the King's Gambit is still a reasonable choice.} exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 {White has a few options here: 5.O-O (Muzio Gambit, 5.d4 ( Ghulam Kassim Gambit), 5,Nc3 (McDonnell Gambit and 5,Ne5 (Salvio Gambit).} 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. Kf1 {This position is rightly considered better for black due to the insecurity of white's K.} (6. g3 {loses...} fxg3 $2 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 {[%eval -321,16] [%wdl 0,0,1000] [%emt 0:00:03]} 8. Qxg4 Qxg4 9. Nxg4 g2 10. Rg1 Kxf7 11. Rxg2 d6 {Black has won a piece for a P.}) 6... f3 {Black may play safely with 6...Nh6 (Silberschmidt Variation) or counter-sacrifice with this, the Cochrane Gambit or 6...Nc6 (Viennese Variation).} 7. d4 Nf6 8. Nc3 Bg7 {Black has played it a bot too safe and as a result white has now nearly equal.} (8... Nc6 9. Bxf7+ Kd8 10. Bb3 Nxe5 11. dxe5 fxg2+ 12. Kxg2 Qh3+ 13. Kf2 Bc5+ 14. Ke1 Qh4+ 15. Kd2 Nh5 16. Rf1 Qxh2+ {Now after 17.Kd3 black has only a slight advantage. Instead whitye blundered with} 17. Qe2 Ng3 {0-1 Zukertort,J-Anderssen,A Breslau 1865/ The continuation might be} 18. Qxh2 Nxf1+ 19. Ke2 Nxh2 {and black is R+P up.}) 9. g3 $2 {White has only one good move here.} (9. Bxf7+ Ke7 10. Bb3 d6 11. Nf7 {with nearly equal chances.}) 9... Qh3+ 10. Kf2 d6 (10... Qg2+ {While 10...d6 is hardly bad, this is much better,} 11. Ke3 Nc6 12. Nxf7 Na5 $3 13. Bd5 Nxd5+ 14. Nxd5 Kxf7 {Black is a piece up.}) 11. Nxf7 $2 {While this may look good, it leaves gim with a losing position.} (11. Bf1 {is his best chance.} Qh5 12. Nd3 O-O 13. Nf4 {with at least some chance of surviving.}) 11... Rf8 (11... Qg2+ {Again, this should secure the win.} 12. Ke3 Nc6 13. Qf1 d5 14. Qxg2 fxg2 15. Rg1 Kxf7 16. Nxd5 Be6 {Black is a piece up.}) 12. Ng5 $2 {This shpuld lose. Again, he had to try 12.Bf1} Qg2+ 13. Ke3 Bh6 {This is much weaker than 13...Nc6} (13... Nc6 14. d5 Nb4 15. Bf1 Nxc2+ $3 16. Kd3 Qxh1 17. Kxc2 Qxh2+ 18. Bd2 Qxg3 {Black us the exchange and 3Ps up.}) 14. Kd3 Nc6 15. a3 {Prevents Nb4+.} Bxg5 16. Bxg5 {Black has played weakly over the last few moves and his advantage has largely vanished. Je now needs to resort to routine play with ...Na5, ...b6 amd ...Ba6} Nxe4 {[%mdl 8192] A completely unsound sacrifice!} 17. Qe1 $2 {Taking the N would have left white wit a winning position.} (17. Nxe4 Bf5 18. Kc3 Bxe4 19. Rg1 Qh3 20. Re1 {wins the B.}) 17... Bf5 $1 18. Nxe4 f2 {This prevents Rg1, but it wasn't necessary.} (18... Kd7 $3 {gettingout of the pin and allowing him to retain a slight advantage.} 19. Rg1 Qh3 20. Kc3 Rae8 21. Nf2 Rxe1 22. Nxh3 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 gxh3 {Black is slightly better.}) 19. Qe3 {Due to inaccurate play by both sides the position is now evaluated at 0.00!} Kd7 20. Bd5 {[%mdl 32]} Rae8 21. Raf1 $4 {It's been said a thousand times before...wrong Rook!} (21. Rhf1 {Right Rook.} Bg6 22. Bf4 (22. Bh6 Rf3) 22... Ne7 23. Bxb7 d5 24. Rxf2 Qxe4+ 25. Kc3 {and it's anybody's game.}) 21... Bxe4+ $4 {[%mdl 8192] This logical looking move is wrong. There would be no good answer to 21...Bg6} (21... Bg6 22. Bf4 Ne7 23. Bxb7 d5 {wins. Unlike in the pevious note with the a1R on f1 white cannot play Rxf2 because the other R is undefended..} 24. Kc3 Qxe4 25. Qxf2 Qe6 26. b3 Qb6 27. Bxd5 Nxd5+ 28. Kb2 Qa5 {and black is winning.}) 22. Bxe4 Rf3 23. Qxf3 {Even though 23.Kd2 gets a slightly higher evaluation ny the engine, the stunning text is prettier!} gxf3 24. Bf5+ {White's two Bs prevail.} Re6 25. d5 {[%mdl 32]} Ne5+ 26. Ke4 h5 27. dxe6+ Ke8 28. Bf6 h4 29. Bxe5 {aiming for Bf6.} dxe5 30. Kxe5 hxg3 31. Kf6 {and wins, The remaining moves are not known, but white has a mate in 10.} (31. Kf6 gxh2 32. Rd1 f1=Q 33. Rhxf1 Qg8 34. Bg6+ Qxg6+ 35. Kxg6 Ke7 36. Kf5 f2 37. Ke5 Kf8 38. Rxf2+ Kg7 39. Rg2+ Kf8 40. Kf6 h1=Q 41. Rd8#) 1-0