Showing posts with label Winster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winster. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part III)


Referred to by some as the "Immortal Draw," Hamppe - Meitner, Vienna 1872 can still amuse and delight chess players today.
Here's a modern, improved example.


Wind,Maurits - Winckelmann,Thomas
correspondence, 1993

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Na4 Bxf2+


See "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part I)"

4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.Ke3 Qf4+ 6.Kd3 d5 7.Kc3 Qxe4 8.Kb3 Na6


For 8...Nc6 and Steinitz see "Godfather of the Jerome Gambit? (Part II)"

9.a3 Qxa4+ 10.Kxa4 Nc5+ 11.Kb5


"Correct is 11.Kb5!, a move I suggested in Deutsche Schachzeitung 1972, without, however, myself realising its potential" wrote Wolfgang Heidenfeld in Draw! (1982)

Hamppe - Meitner continued instead with 11.Kb4, with the eventual draw, as did a "friendly skirmish" between Alexander Winster and Susan Eira played in London in 1953: 11...a5+ 12.Kb5 Bd7+ 13.Kxc5 b6+?? ( 13...Ne7 14.Nf3 b6 mate) 14.Kxd5 Nf6+ 15.Kxe5 0-0-0 16.d4 Rhe8+ 17.Kf4 Re4+ 18.Kf3? Bg4+ 19.Kf2 Bxd1 20.Bg5 Bxc2 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Re1 Rdxd4 23.Ba6+ Kd7 24.Nf3 Rxe1 25.Nxd4? Rxh1 26.Nxc2 Rxh2 27.Bb5+ c6 28.Bc4 Ke7 29.Nd4 c5 30.Nb5 1/2-1/2

11...a5

11...Ne7 is better. Wrote Heidenfeld

This is a suggestion by another German amateur, Johannes Schmedes, so as to avoid the freeing manoeuvre, b4. In most cases this would lead back to – and thus revalidate – the game continuation, but there is one exception: 12.c4! (just as White frees square b4 for the return of the K... so he tries to free square c4... If then 12...d4 13.Kxc5! a5 14.Qa4+ Kd8 15.Qxa5! Rxa5+ 16.Kb4 and White wins.
12.b4


It is only this move, found by the German amateur Josef Ettner, that justifies 11.Kb5. Its point lies in the fact that the b-pawn attacks two black units so that White is assured of freeing square b4 for the return of his K to civilized regions.– Heidenfeld

Taking the Knight, instead, leads to the standard draw: 12.Kxc5 Ne7 13.Bb5+ Kd8 14.Bc6 b6+ 15.Kb5 Nxc6 16.Kxc6 Bb7+ 17.Kb5 Ba6+ 18.Kc6 Bb7+ Ax Rombaldoni - A Bove, U20 Fiuggi, Italy.

12...Ne7 13.bxa5 Nc6 14.Kxc5 Rxa5+ 15.Bb5 Be6 16.c4 d4 17.Nf3 f6 18.Nxd4 1-0