LCCC Returns OTB Monday Sept. 12 at the BWW in Brighton - also meet Nimzo's Galloping Knights

 

We will be meeting again this coming Monday night, Sept. 12, at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton at the Green Oak Shopping Mall.

Stop on by for some friendly chess games and conversation. We start at 4pm and go until 9pm usually.

Your humble scribe hopes to have reports of how our members faired in the recent Michigan Open tournament.  Please bring your games and your stories to me this Monday night please. 

The Galloping Knights

No chess piece is more troublesome for the chess beginner to learn and manage than the knight. It’s strange hoppings from one color to the other and vise-versa, and adding to that, has the ability to leap over friend and foe alike, makes the knight difficult to learn, let alone master.

But knights in the hands of the masters can do some sparkling dancing. 

Your humble scribe refrains from reviewing games because you can find volumes of that stuff elsewhere, and with much better analysis and banter.

But this caught my attention (see diagram). It was a game from a tournament in 1926 between IM Karl Gilg with White, who takes on GM Aron Nimzowitsch with the Black pieces. We pick it up in mid-game for your enjoyment:

Black has just played 19. …..g5! which prevents White from playing Nf4.

20.    Ng1?       Ne4

White needed to play Kg1 with equality.

Meanwhile, Black played "hope chess" with the second-best move hoping to be able to play the pretty mate combination of 21. ……Qxh2+, 23. Nxh2, Nxg3 mate!

The best is the stunning 20. …..Nf2+  21. Qxf2, Ng4  22. Qxf8+, Rxf8  23. Nh3, Qf7  24. Re2, Re8  25. Nxg5, hg  and Black is up 4 pawns!

21.  Nh3          Ngf6

22.  Bxe4?       Nxe4

White blunders here under the panic of Black’s dominating knights compared to his uncoordinated ones. Correct was 22. g4  to allow the move 23. Re3 to defend the knight on h3.

23.  Ng1?        Nf2+

As we soon see, White needed to play 23. Qd3 which would have allowed the return capture of a knight after 23. ……Qxh3 with 24. Rxe4. But instead, the f3 square is clear for the Black Queen to invade.

24.  Kg2           Bh3+

25.  Nxh3         Qf3+

26.  Kg1            Qh1 mate