Tickling the Funny Bone

     Miniatures are very short games (generally 25 moves or fewer) that end early because of a blunder or sharp tactics are involved. 

     The losses don't happen only to inexperienced players or in games in which one player is vastly superior to the other. Masters, even world-class masters, can fall victim. 

     In a 1993 game former world champion Anatoly Karpov blundered a piece on move 12 against Larry Christiansen and promptly resigned. In the 1984 US Championship IM Kamran Shirazi was playing White against IM John Peters and Shirazi blundered on move 5 (!) then resigned after Christiansen's reply because he was going to lose a Rook. 

     These short stories of the chessboard may tickle our funny bone, but they also can have value. Even though the games are short and may contain mistakes by the loser, in some cases we may admire the ability of the winner to set up a situation where the error is possible. In other cases the game is actually worthy of study. And almost all miniatures contain something interesting in the opening.

     The following game won a special beauty prize. After 8 moves black's position doesn't look too bad even though his K-side looks suspiciously weak. His 9th move looks like it establishes a nice Pawn center, but the trouble is white is better developed and black's K has remained in the center just one move too long. And so...WHAM! Just like that black loses almost instantly. 

     The winner Luis Lalau (September 11, 1896 - February 8, 1971, 74 years old) was born and died in Buenos Aires. He was awarded the IM title in 1965. In 1965 he was the South American Champion. 

     His opponent, Dutch Master Jan Willem te Kolste (September 11, 1874 - January 31, 1926, 61 years old) was born in Utrecht and passed away in The Hague. 

[Event "London Olympiad Final"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "1927.07.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Luis Palau"] [Black "Jan te Kolste"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A48"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "1927.07.18"] {QP Opening} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Nh5 {Either 4...Bg7 or 4... c6 are more precise.} 5. Be5 {Black either must allow a slight weakening of his K-side or exchange his B with 5...Bg7 with also leave him weak on the dark squares plus his N on g7 would hardly be in a good place.} f6 6. Bg3 Nxg3 7. hxg3 c6 (7... f5 {as in Winants,L (2560)-Hovhanisian,M (2502) Belgium 2015 is not too bad of a choice.} 8. Ne5 Bg7 9. f4 Be6 10. e3 Nd7 11. Be2 c6 12. Qd2 Qa5 {White is a smidgen better.}) 8. e3 (8. e4 {is more aggressive.} Bg7 9. Bd3 dxe4 10. Nxe4 {With a minimal advantage. Pushkov,N (2434)-Rmus,A (2359) Obrenovac 2004}) 8... Bg7 9. Bd3 {Black is blissfully unaware of the threat of Rxh7} e5 {This sets up a nice center, but black now falls victim to a brilliant sacrifice.} (9... O-O {leaves black with a solid position even though the Ps in front of his K look weak.} 10. Qd2 e5 {He can get away with this now...or can he? Practically just about any developing move would likely turn out better.} 11. dxe5 fxe5 12. e4 Qe8 {with a solid position.} 13. exd5 { Or 13.Be2} e4 14. Nxe4 cxd5 15. O-O-O dxe4 16. Rde1 exd3 (16... Bf5 17. Bc4+ Be6 18. Rxe4 Bxc4 19. Rxe8 Rxe8 {White is better.}) 17. Rxe8 Rxe8 18. Qxd3 Bf5 {and technically at least black has enough compensation for the Q}) 10. Rxh7 Kf7 (10... Rxh7 11. Bxg6+ Ke7 12. Bxh7 {and white is clearly better.}) (10... e4 {This is his best chance, but it leaves white with a winning position. Just one quick example...} 11. Rxg7 exd3 12. Qxd3 Bf5 13. e4 dxe4 14. Qc4 Qd6 15. Qf7+ Kd8 16. Nh4 Nd7 17. O-O-O Qf8 18. Qxf8+ Nxf8 19. Nxf5 gxf5 20. d5 c5 21. Rxb7) 11. Bxg6+ {Another surprise.} Kxg6 (11... Kf8 12. Rxh8+ Bxh8 13. Nh4 Qc7 14. Qh5 Bg7 15. Qh7 Be6 16. Bh5 Bf7 17. g4 {Material may be equal, but positionally white has a won game. Here's Stockfish's best line after 15 minutes...} Na6 18. Ne2 Bg8 19. Ng6+ Kf7 20. Nxe5+ Ke6 21. Qg6 Bh8 22. g5 Qh7 23. Nf4+ Ke7 24. Ng4 fxg5 25. Qxg5+ Kd6 26. O-O-O b5 27. Ng6 Kc7 28. Nxh8 Qxh8 29. Qe7+ Kb6 30. Ne5 Qh7 31. Qxh7 Bxh7 32. a3) 12. Nxe5+ {[%mdl 512] Another sacrifice. White mates in 7} fxe5 (12... Kxh7 {Holds out a bit longer.} 13. Qh5+ Kg8 14. Qf7+ Kh7 15. O-O-O Bh3 16. Rh1 Qd7 17. Nxd7 Kh6 18. f4 Nxd7 19. Rxh3#) 13. Qh5+ $1 Kf6 14. Qxe5+ Kf7 15. Qxg7+ {Some sources have black resigning here. Others have him getting mated next move.} Ke6 16. Qe5# { After his slip on move 9 black never had a ghost of a chance.} 1-0