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Shelby Lyman: On ChessSeveral weeks ago we presented the spectacular Bro wne-Sosonko game, which featured a remarkable queen sacrifice in which Sosonko gave up his queen for two minor pieces. By curious coincidence we have recently discovered two other games with a similar material equation.In both of these games, Bobotsov-Tal and Capablanca-Chase, the sacrifice initiated an attackwhose momentum wascarried through to the final position and victory. In both instances, the defender’s extra material was not and probably could not have been effectively mobilized.In Diagram One, Bobotsov-Tal in 1957, the young Tal, his queen en prise, characteristically chose the speculative path.ueen Sacrifice Examples OfferedBLACKTALBO NO 90 O X BX NX dXciLIF9kM.....□nSL s$□□□I*□QR QN QB Q K KB KN KRBOBOTSOVWHITEBlack to playHe played 11. . .NxN. and (after 12. QxQ) 12. . .NxB. Tal had gained a knight and bishop for the queen, and was sure of winning another pawn.Bobotsov then immediate 1 v ( w i 11 v - n i 11 y )%/ %/ %Jjustified the sacrifice by returning the material differential with a sacrifice of his own. After 13. R-Bl,NxBP, Bobotsov played 14 RxN?!BLACKTALdo no ao o x ax nx uxQR QN QB QKB KN KRPOBOTSOVWHITENo defense (for white)Tal went on to win easily as you can see in Diagram Two. There white is to move, his queen is attacked and there is no answer to Tal’s R( 1)-QB1 and R-B8 check after BxN. But the question still lingers, perhaps never to be absolutely answered: was the queen sacrifice sound?BLACKCHASEdo no ao o x ax nx bxQR QN QB Q K KB KN KRCAPABLANCAWHITEWhite to playOur third diagram shows Capablanca turning the same trick. In Diagram Three his “amateur” opponent has just played 9.B-KN5, probably under the misapprehension that he has trapped Gappy’s queen. But Capablanca has planned a sacrifice! He played 10. NxN! and after . . . BxQ; 11. N-B6 check, K-K2; 12. NxB,he had a terrific attack against the black king.BLACKCHASEdo no ao o x ax nx axrrviLJQR QN QB QKB KN KRCAPABLANCAWHITE White plays Bx PIn Diagram Four we see the wind-up. White will play 24. BxQP, and there will be no adequate defense to 25. B-B6check Although Capablanca was noted for his refined and often “quiet” positional play, this game demonstrates his often unheraldedi iwit 1 A M I ITirf llAClt \ F
Newspaper Details
Glens Falls Post Star
Glens Falls, New York, US
Sat, Jun 14, 1975
Page 38
Full Page
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Los A.
CA, USA 03 Jan 2023
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