Posts Tagged ‘quora chess’

What is the Best Sacrifice in the History of Chess?

October 22, 2013
The position before move 22. Qxf4!!!!

The position before move 22. Qxf4!!!!


My answer to “What is the Best Sacrifice in the History of Chess?” as asked on Quora.

Before I explain my choice for the best sacrifice in the history of chess, I need to elaborate on the difference between: 1) what is the best move? and 2) what is a beautiful sacrifice? I define “beauty” in chess as a move played for the sake of art and not of necessity. Exciting moves should not be confused with beauty as exciting play is often the only correct path hidden by more natural looking moves. Many refer to such moves as “beautiful” but if a computer had played it the move would just be considered “best.” Therefor, a beautiful sacrifice in chess should be a move which loses material in route to a win for the sake of art and not because the position requires the piece to be sacrificed for victory to be achieved. It is my hope that what is “best” according to a computer will never become the standard for what is “beautiful” to a human.

Below is my favorite example of when the most beautiful piece sacrifice is not considered best by a computer, but still remains an ultimate achievement in human chess:

[Event “Ch Western”]

[Site “Detroit (USA)”]

[Date “1924”]

[Round “”]

[White “Torre Carlos (MEX)”]

[Black “Banks Newell”]

[Result “1-0”]

[Eco “A46”]

[Annotator “Chris Torres”]

[Source “”]

{[ 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3,A46] Torre Carlos (MEX) +4 =2 -0 Banks Newell +0 =0 -1 Torre Carlos (MEX)-Banks Newell +1 =0 -0}

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 {Carlos Torre delays his signature Bg5 for one move. The opening with 1. d4 2. Nf3 and 3. Bg5 is known as the Torre Attack.}

Bf5 4.Bg5 Ne4 {Some other moves worth thinking about are:}

( 4…Nbd7 5.Nh4 Bg6 6.Nxg6 hxg6 7.e4 c6 8.Be3 Qa5 9.f3 e5 10.Qd2

Be7 11.O-O-O exd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Kb1 b4 14.Ne2 Nb6 15.Nc1 c5 16.Nb3

Qa4 17.e5 cxd4 18.exf6 Bxf6 19.Re1+ Kf8 20.Nxd4 Rh5 21.Nb3 Rd5

22.Qf4 Qc6 23.Bd3 Na4 24.Be4 {…0-1, Hebden Mark (ENG) 2550  – Hanley Craig (ENG) 2396 , Halifax 2003 Ch Great Britain (active)}


( 4…c6 5.Bxf6 exf6 6.e4 Bc8 7.Bd3 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Qd2 Re8

10.Rfe1 Nd7 11.Rad1 a6 12.Ne2 Nf8 13.h3 b5 14.Ng3 g6 15.Nf1 Bb7

16.Ne3 d5 17.exd5 cxd5 18.Ng4 Bc8 19.Rxe7 Qxe7 20.Re1 Be6 21.Qf4

Nd7 22.Nh6+ Kh8 23.g4 Qf8 24.g5 {…0-1, Tasic Zoran (SRB) 2200  – Radlovacki Jovan (SRB) 2407 , Belgrade  1/24/2010 Ch City (open)}


( 4…d5 5.Nh4 Be6 6.Qd3 c6 7.f4 Ne4 8.f5 Nxg5 9.fxe6 Nxe6

10.O-O-O g6 11.e4 Bg7 12.exd5 Nf4 13.Qg3 Nxd5 14.Nf5 Bf6 15.Nh6

Nxc3 16.bxc3 Qa5 17.h4 Nd7 18.Bc4 Rf8 19.Rhe1 Qa3+ 20.Kb1 Nb6

21.Bb3 O-O-O 22.Ng4 a5 23.Ne5 Bxe5 24.Rxe5 {…0-1, Hebden Mark (ENG) 2567  – McShane Luke J (ENG) 2531 , Southend 2001 It “Redbus” (KO-system)}


5.Nxe4 Bxe4 6.Nd2 {A clever retreat which allows Carlos Torre to dominate the center.}

Bg6 7.e4 {Carlos Torre has established complete control of the center.}

f6 {Mr. Banks is trying to be a little too clever here. Better would have been just attacking the center with “d5.”}

( 7…d5 8.Bd3 c6 9.Qg4 dxe4 10.Bxe4 Nd7 11.O-O-O Nf6 12.Bxf6

gxf6 13.f4 Bxe4 14.Nxe4 Qd7 15.f5 O-O-O 16.Kb1 Qd5 17.Rhe1 e6

18.fxe6 f5 19.Qh3 fxe6 20.Ng5 Re8 21.Re5 Qd7 22.Rde1 Bg7 23.Rxe6

Rxe6 24.Nxe6 Re8 25.Qxf5 Bxd4 26.a3 Bb6 27.g4 {…0-1, Miles Anthony J (ENG) 2600  – Hickl Joerg (GER) 2535 , Calcutta 1994 It (open)}


( 7…c6 8.f4 f6 9.Bh4 e6 10.Bd3 Na6 11.O-O Be7 12.f5 exf5

13.exf5 Bf7 14.Bxa6 bxa6 15.Qe2 O-O 16.Qxa6 Qb6 17.Qd3 d5 18.b3

Ba3 19.Rae1 Rfe8 20.c3 a5 21.Nf3 Qb5 22.Qd2 Bd6 23.Rxe8+ Rxe8

24.Re1 Ra8 25.Bg3 Bf8 26.h3 a4 27.b4 {…1-0, Miles Anthony J (ENG) 2590  – Pedzich Dominik (POL) 2435 , Cappelle la Grande 1998 It (open)}


( 7…h6 8.Bh4 Qd7 9.Bd3 e5 10.c3 Be7 11.Bg3 exd4 12.cxd4 O-O

13.O-O d5 14.Qb3 dxe4 15.Bxe4 Bxe4 16.Nxe4 b6 17.Rfd1 Nc6 18.d5

Na5 19.Qe3 Rfe8 20.Rac1 Bg5 21.f4 Bd8 22.Qf3 f5 23.Nf2 Bf6 24.Nd3

Re4 25.Ne5 Qd6 26.Qh5 Rf8 27.Qxf5 {…1-0, Tregubov Pavel V (RUS) 2602  – Honfi Karoly (HUN) 2365 , Hungary 1992 It (open) “Duna Kupa”}


8.Be3 e6 9.Bd3 {White’s pieces and pawns are better.}

( 9.c3 Qc8 10.h4 d5 11.h5 Bf7 12.Bd3 Nc6 13.Qf3 Qd7 14.exd5 exd5

15.h6 Bg6 16.Bf4 O-O-O 17.O-O-O Ne7 18.hxg7 Bxg7 19.Nf1 Qa4 20.Kb1

Be4 21.Bxe4 dxe4 22.Qe2 Nd5 23.Ng3 Rde8 24.Bc1 Qd7 25.Rh5 Kb8

26.Rdh1 Rhf8 27.Nxe4 f5 28.Nc5 Qc6 {…1-0, Tregubov Pavel V (RUS) 2545  – Van Esch Sebastian (NED) 2206 , Groningen 1994 It (open)}


Be7 10.Qg4 {Despite the fairly tame opening that is named after him, Carlos Torre was a master of attacking chess.}

Qd7 11.O-O {The three opening goals are:^013^010

} {1) Maintain a center pawn.^013^010


{2) Castle^013^010

} {3) Unify Rooks.^013^010

} {Carlos Torre has accomplished all three. Black has accomplished none.}

e5 12.Qg3 exd4 13.Bxd4 Nc6 {Black forces some concessions but still has not accomplished any of the three opening goals.}

14.Bc3 O-O-O 15.b4 {Again, we see Carlos Torre play extremely aggressively.}

Rdf8 {And again we see Mr. Banks fail to thrust his pawn to “d5.”}

16.b5 Nd8 17.Qe3 b6 {?} {Defending by playing Kb8 would have not created weaknesses around black’s king.}

18.a4 {Carlos Torre controls the center so he focusing on a flank attack. Attacking on

the flank with “pawn storms” is an important strategy when the two players are castled on opposite sides of the board.}

Qg4 19.a5 Ne6 20.axb6 axb6 21.Bc4 Nf4 {Black finally has a serious threat of his own. I imagine he was expecting pawn to g3 or Queen to g3.} {%08DA}

22.Qxf4 {!!!!!} {

And now we have the most beautiful sacrifice ever played on a chessboard. The

strongest chess engines of 2013 still fail to completely comprehend the winning lines which are forced to follow.}

Qxf4 23.Be6+ {!} Kb7 {?} {mate in 9!} ( 23…Kb8 {This would be better but there still is no escape for black.}

24.Bd5 c6 25.bxc6 Bf7 ( 25…Rc8 26.Rfb1 Rxc6 27.Bxc6 Kc7 28.Bd5

Rb8 29.Nf3 Bxe4 30.Bxe4 Qxe4 31.Re1 ) 26.Ra6 Bxd5 27.exd5 Qg5

( 27…Qf5 28.Rxb6+ Kc8 29.Ra6 Qxd5 30.Ba5 Qb5 31.Ra8+ Qb8 32.Rxb8+

Kxb8 33.Rb1+ Kc8 34.Rb7 d5 35.Rxe7 Re8 36.Rxg7 Re1+ 37.Nf1 Rb1

38.Rc7+ Kb8 39.Rf7 Re8 40.Rxf6 Ra1 41.Bd2 d4 42.Rf7 {and white wins easily.}

) 28.Rxb6+ Kc7 29.Rb7+ Kd8 30.Nc4 Ke8 31.Re1 )

24.Bd5+ c6 25.Bxc6+

{?} {Slightly inaccurate. Better was bxc6+.} ( 25.bxc6+ Kb8 26.Ra8+

Kc7 27.Ra7+ Kd8 28.Rd7+ Ke8 29.Ra1 Bd8 30.Ra8 Qxf2+ 31.Kxf2 b5

32.Raxd8# )

Kc8 26.Ra8+ Kc7 27.Ra7+ Kc8 28.g3 {Again a slight inaccuracy.}

( 28.Nc4 d5 29.Nxb6+ Kd8 30.Nxd5 Qxh2+ 31.Kxh2 Bd6+ 32.e5 Bf5

33.Ra8+ Bc8 34.Ba5+ Bc7 35.Bxc7# )

Qg4 29.Rfa1 Kd8 30.Bd4 {and black resigned as there is no way to stop mate.}


My answer to Would Paul Morphy in his short prime be competitive with the Grandmasters of today?﻿

September 29, 2013

From Quora


Without question, Paul Morphy was the greatest player of his time. His brief career in chess represents a golden age for our pastime and his four hundred or so games still serve as an instruction manual for the chess prodiogies of today. During his prime, Paul Morphy advanced the science of chess and captured the world’s attention by making it appear as art. Without the advancements made by Morphy, the modern era of chess understanding could have been delayed for, at best, decades and perhaps even as long as a century.

On today’s standards, Paul Morphy’s chess games feature old fashioned opening play that allow modern analysts ample opportunities to feel superior by reciting well known refutations. The middle games that resulted from Paul Morphy’s opening lines seem to lack the subtleties in strategy that are synonymous with modern Grandmaster chess.   However, despite these perceived flaws in his play, Paul Morphy won with astonishing regularity that is beyond compare to any top player record in the 21st century.

What if Paul Morphy had been reborn in the year 1993? At our current date, Paul Morphy would be in his prime but how good would he be on today’s standards?  The answer is seemingly very good if not the best.

As a child chess prodigy born in 1993, Paul Morphy would have had easy access to the greatest chess books written in the 20th century, computer databases such as chessbase , intuitive tactical training software  and regular practice on the Internet Chess Club. Having been born into a wealthy family, Paul Morphy would have had the best chess coaching available and mastered all of the contributions made by his great predecessors at an early age. Furthermore, the late 20th century saw many improvements to the structure and size of scholastic chess in the United States and Paul Morphy would have greatly benefitted from the regular opportunities to play championship chess that today’s top scholastic chess players attend.  The end result of all these factors would have made Paul Morphy much stronger much faster than in his previous life.

By the year 2013, I feel quite comfortable in stating that our modernized Morphy would definitely be one of the top Grandmasters in world. Indeed, if history were to repeat itself, Paul Morphy would become widely recognized as the best chess player in the world before ending his chess career to pursue greater challenges in the court room. Despite only having played top level chess for a couple years, Modern Morphy would leave the 21’st century chess enthusiasts with a body of work which would take us the remainder of the century to fully decode and learn from.

Paul Morphy’s talent and determination at chess would enable him to become the top chess player in the world of 1858 or 2013. In fact, it is my firm belief that regardless of what era Paul Morphy was born into, his destiny was to become the greatest chess player ever.

I leave the skeptical reader with some quotes on Morphy

from the greatest chess minds ever:

“[I play in] the style of Morphy, they say, and if it is true that the goddess of fortune has endowed me with his talent, the result [of the match with Emanuel Lasker] will not be in doubt. The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess. Technique, strategy, tactics, knowledge which is inconceivable for us; all that was possessed by Morphy fifty-four years ago.” ~ Capablanca

“How much more vivid, more rich does the figure of Morphy appear before us, how much clearer does the secret of his success and charm become, if we transfer ourselves in our thoughts to that era when he lived and created, if we take the trouble to study, only a little, his contemporaries! Then…in London and in particular in Paris, where the traditions of Philidor were still alive, where the immortal creations of La Bourdonnais and McDonnell were still in the memory, at that time, finally, when Anderssen was alive, and with brilliance alone it was hardly possible to surprise anyone. The strength, the invincible strength of Morphy- this was the reason for his success and the guarantee of his immortality!” ~ Alekhine

“A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today… Morphy was perhaps the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly, rarely taking more than five minutes to decide a move. Perhaps his only weakness was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness.” ~Fischer


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