"Chess Fever"

Let's enjoy everyone's favorite Soviet silent comedy! Capablanca is our dashing leading man....

Adams-Torre, part 7

23.Qxb7!! is the killer. (23.Qxa5 and 23.Qb6 also eventually win, but only if White finds this idea.)

After 23.Qxb7!! 

Black to play: the queen can't escape

Here's the complete game.

Adams-Torre, part 6

Carlos Torre Repetto, 1925

When Adams and Torre played this game in 1920 (or, more likely, when Torre created the conclusion of this casual game from post-mortem analysis with Adams), Torre (born in 1904) was only about 16 years old!

Let's look at moves that don't work.  22.b3 is a very logical try:

After 22.b3?: Black to move

White makes a threat that must be answered, and 22...Qxb3?? loses for the usual reason.  But Black can simply reply 22...Qb5!, and I don't see a way to drive the Black queen off the a4-e8 diagonal.  For example, 23.Qc4 Qd7! 24.Qg4 Qb5! rewinds the tape of the game, except that White has lost the a-pawn.

22.Qa5?! is a better idea, and it gives White real winning chances:

After 22.Qxa5?!: Black to move

Black's only reply is 22...Qd7, and White can press Black with 23.Qc7! Qb5 24.Rxe8+ (24.Qxb7?? loses for the usual reason: do you see why?) 24...Rxe8 25.Rxe8+ Qxe8 26.Qxb7, with excellent winning chances in the endgame.  (The helpful knight on f3 guards the e1 square, so Black has no back rank mate.)  But White has better....

After 22.Re4!!: Black to move

 

22...Qxe4 loses to a version of a trick we saw in the Bernstein-Capablanca game.  23.Rxe4! and Black can't take both unprotected pieces at once.  So Black must return the queen to b5:

After 22...Qb5: White to play and win

There are a couple moves that win, but there is only one winning idea!

Adams-Torre, part 5 continued (so what's the right move?)

Let's take another look at the position after 20...Qb5:

 White to move and win (it will take a few moves!)

We just saw that 21.Qxb7?? loses to 21...Qe2!

Another idea is 21.Qc4, but that just leads to a repetition of position after 21...Qd7:  White could then play 22.Qc7 and Black would reply 22...Qb5: back where we started.

22.Rxe8? would be OK if we didn't have something better:  22...Rxe8 23.Rxe8+ Qxe8 24.Qxb7 wins a pawn, but Black has time to make Luft with 24...g6.  The Black queen will soon counterattack, and Black has good drawing chances.

The key to this position is to realize that the Black queen is running out of squares on the a4-e8 diagonal from which it can protect e8.  The White queen controls d7; the pawn on d5 attacks the c6 square.  So if we can find some way to attack the other two squares we can win immediately.  For example:

FANTASY POSITION (imagine White's b2 pawn was on b3)

White to play: 1.a4 wins immediately!

In this example, the Black queen has no safe square from which to guard the rook on e8.

But in our game, White has no time to play 21.b3, because Black will simply make Luft with a move like 21...g6, and there is no more back rank mate threat.  If Black has time to breathe, Black will create room to breathe.

The correct move is 21.a4!  Black's reply is forced, 21...Qxa4

White to play: how to drive the Black queen off the diagonal?

And now what?  Here are four possibilities:

a) 22.b3
b) 22.Re4
c) 22.Qxa5
d) 22.Qc4

Adams-Torre, part 5 (watch your own back rank!)

After 21.Qxb7??: Black to play and win!

In the Adams-Torre game, we've seen White sacrifice his queen on three consecutive moves.  So wouldn't it be cool to sac a fourth time?  Again, if Black were to accept the sacrifice with 21...Qxb7??, then 22.Rxe8+! would lead to a back rank mate.

The problem is that Black can reply with an even cooler counter-sacrifice: 21...Qxe2!  (It's an easy move to miss: one of the commenters fell into a different version of the same trap.)

After 21...Qxe2!  White to play

Black has a forced win here, but White can try to set a trap.

If White now plays 22.Qxc8, what's is Black's winning reply?

Or if White instead plays 22.Rxe2 Rc1+ 23.Ne1 (see diagram below), how does Black force the win?

After 21.Qxb7?? Qxe2! 22.Rxe2 Rc1+ 23.Ne1: 

find the win for Black

Adams - Torre, part 4

Adams played the incredibly beautiful 20.Qc7!!

  Black to move

As in the previous position, both the Qd7 and the Rc8 are committed to protecting the Re8: taking the "free" queen leads to a back-rank mate by force.

Torre played 20...Qb5.

White to play and win (still a few moves to go!)

I'll suggest a few moves: which do you think is strongest?  Please back up your opinion with careful calculation of all the possibilities!

a) 21.a4
b) 21.Qxb7
c) 21.Qc4
d) 21.Rxe8+

Adams - Torre, part 3

Adams played the amazing 19.Qc4!!

 Wow!  Black to play

While the white queen can be taken either by the Qb5 or the Rc8, both are fatal, as Black would then have only defender of the e8 rook, and 20.Rxe8+ would lead to mate on the next move.  19.Qc4 also prevents Black tricks based on the weakness of White's back rank.  For example, 19.b3?? Qxe2! would have been a killer: do you see why?

So Carlos Torre played the only move that controls the e8 square: 19...Qd7.

White to play

What was White's reply?  How deeply can you analyze the continuations?

Adams - Torre, part 2

Now that you've had the night to sleep on the question....  Adams played the brillant 18.Qg4!! 

Black to play

Variation A ) Black cannot play the natural 18...Qxg4, as 19.Rxe8+ forces mate on the back rank.

Variation B ) And the tricky 18...Rxe2 does not work as a defense for Torre: White would simply grab the queen with 19.Qxd7 Rxe1+ and now 20.Nxe1 leaves White with a decisive material advantage.

So Black plays the only move that allows him to continue to protect the e8 square: 18...Qb5.

White to move

Questions:

1.  Suppose White played 19.b3 in response to 18...Qb5.  What would Black's best move be?

2.  Find White's best reply.

3.  Try to find the best moves for both sides.  How many moves ahead can you see?

E.Z. Adams - Carlos Torre, New Orleans, 1920

As Frederick Rhine reminded us a few posts ago, this "game" is probably a product of the fertile imagination of Carlos Torre, Mexico's first grandmaster.

Former World Champion Alekhine invented at least one game in order to make him look like a greater genius than he already was. Torre, on the other hand, invented a game that he supposedly lost to his friend and patron, E.Z. Adams of New Orleans. Whether this was a true game or a mere "study," it's an incredibly beautiful example of the power of the back rank mate threat.

Adams-Torre, New Orleans 1920

White to move

Both players are potentially vulnerable to back rank mates, but White has two big advantages.  His knight on f3 offers protection to the crucial e1 square, while Black's bishop on f6, good-looking piece though it may be, is not doing much to help with the protection of Black's back rank.  Furthermore, it's White's move.  The rook on e8 is attacked twice and defended twice. 

What is White's best move?

Can you anticipate Black's best defense?

What move would you play then?