Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Pinnacle of Manly Chess

Surely the above is an apt description of the King's Gambit. (If "Manly Chess" is too sexist, please substitute "Swashbuckling Chess" or some such.) If you don't believe me, take a look at Spassky-Bronstein, USSR Championship 1960. And of course the Immortal Game. But then again, there's yawners like Ivanchuk-Nakamura, Cap d'Agde 2010, an endgame grind.

In my old age I have belatedly taken up the gambit, at least in unrated Internet blitz games against random players. Very manly, I know. Here is one such example. Since I usually prefer Pusillanimous Chess, I didn't know book against the Falkbeer Counter Gambit. Although my 6.Be3 has been played, it turns out that the main line is the picturesque 6.Nf3 Bc5 7.Qe2 Bf5 8.Nc3 Qe7 9.Be3!, when 9...Nxc3 is met by 10.Bxc5!, as in the brilliancy Bronstein-Tal, 1968. Later in the game continuation, my 10.Be2? got me in trouble; correct was 10.Qe2! playing for a favorable ending. They do such things in the modern King's Gambit (is that an oxymoron?). Despite my weak opening play I managed to mate my opponent off the board in traditional KG fashion.

No comments: