I like to play chess online as a relaxation. They’re usually 5-minute games, and they can get pretty intense at times. I was Black in this position. The game had started out with: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 c6 4.Qe2 cxd5 5.fxe5 Nc6 6.c3 Qh4+ 7.g3 Qe4 8.Bg2 Qxe5 9.Qxe5+ Nxe5 10.Bxd5 Nd3+ 11.Kd1 and now Black is confronted with the choice between winning the rook with 11…Nf2+ or checking with the bishop with 11…Bg4+. I played 11…Bg4+. Your task is to figure out why! See how far ahead you can get toward where this position ends up. I have to confess that I didn’t see all that far ahead because I had faith in being able to find something to keep attacking his king. What happened was quite unexpected for me!

Solution:

The rest of the game is the solution. They are all checks. No matter what Black does, there always seems to be a check! Did I see so deeply into the position? No! What I saw was 11…Bg4+ 12.Kc2 Ne1+ 13.Kb3 Bd1+ AND the fact that the bishop on f8 was attacking the squares b4 and a3. That was all I saw. I had enough faith in the exposed position of the White king to be able to get him somehow. As the game progressed, the “somehow” was astonishing to me in terms of the incredible cooperation of the pieces. The notes that you see in parentheses are lines I analyzed AFTER the game. Here’s the whole game with notes: Anonymous-Pete Tamburro, ICC, 2011:

1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6 4. Qe2 cxd5 5. fxe5 Nc6 6. c3 Qh4+ 7. g3 Qe4 8.Bg2 Qxe5 9. Qxe5+ Nxe5 10. Bxd5 Nd3+ 11. Kd1 (See Diagram) 11…Bg4+ 12. Kc2 Ne1+ 13. Kb3 Bd1+ 14.Kc4 Rc8+ 15. Kd4

(15. Kb5 Rc5+ 16. Kb4 Nd3+ 17. Ka3 Ra5#)
(15. Bc6+ Rxc6+ 16.Kd5 [16. Kb5 Rc5+ 17. Kb4 a5+ 18. Ka3 Rxc3#] [16. Kd4 Bc5+ 17. Ke4 Nf6+ 18. Kf5 Bg4+ 19. Kf4 Ng2+ 20. Kg5 (20. Ke5 Re6#) 20... h6#)] 16... Nf6+ 17. Kd4 Bc5+ 18.
Kc4 [18. Ke5 Nd3+ 19. Kf5 h6 20. Nh3 g6#] 18... Ba4 19. Na3 a5 20. d4 [20. Nf3 Bg1#] 20... Bxa3#)

15... Bc5+ 16. Ke4

(16. Ke5 f6+ 17. Ke4 Bc2+ 18. Kf4 g5+ 19.Kg4 h5+ 20. Kh3 g4+ 21. Kh4 Ne7 22. Be4 Nf5+ 23. Bxf5 Ng2#)

16... Nf6+ 17. Ke5

(17. Kf4 Bd6+ 18. Ke3 Ng4+ 19. Ke4 Bc2+ 20. d3 Bxd3+ 21. Kd4 Bc5#)(17. Kf5 Bg4+ 18. Kf4 Nd3+ 19. Kg5 h6+ 20. Kh4 g5#)

17... Nd3+ and White resigned as he saw 18. Kf5 Bg4+ 19. Kg5 h6+20. Kh4 g5#

What a king march/chase! The White monarch went from e1-d1-c2-b3-c4-d4-e4-e5-f5-g5-h4.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.