I woke up about 3 o’clock yesterday morning. I got up, went to the kitchen for a glass of water then went back to bed.
That’s not a hugely promising start to a blog, I know. I only mention it because while I was having that drink I happened to glance through an old chess book that I’d left on the kitchen table and that's how I stumbled across the position at the head of today’s post.
When I woke up again – this time at a more amenable hour – I assumed I must have dreamt it. I checked the book, though, and there it was. Astonishingly, it really is, or at least was, a theoretical position.
So who can tell me how you reach this rather wonderful set up? I’ll give you a clue. It’s White to play and Black’s last move was given an “!”.
More or less wild guess: 1 d4 f5 2 Nc2 d5 3 f3 (eh?) c5 4 e4 e5
ReplyDeleteLooks familiar
ReplyDelete1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 d5 3.f3 c5 4.e4 e5!
was if played in a game by Larsen as Black ?
Ben
Pomar-Larsen Spain 1975
ReplyDelete1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 d5 3. f3 c5 4. e4 e5 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7 7. Nxd5 cxd4 8.Ne2 fxe4 9. fxe4 Ngf6 10. Bg5 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qc5 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. Ng3 h5 14.Qf3 h4 15. Ne2 Qxc2 16. Qf5 Qxe4 17. Qe6+ Be7 18. Bb4 Nd5 19. Bxe7 Nf4 20. Qc4
Kxe7 0-1
But the same first 4 moves had previously been played in a game Rossetto-Pelikan in 1959, which White won after 5.dxe5.
I also have 17 later games in my database, with White scoring +8 =2 -7. Pavel Cech has had this position 4 times with White so he must like it.
My guess would be that it gets there via a Dutch: 1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 d5 3.f3 c5 4.e4 e5
ReplyDelete1d4 f5
ReplyDelete2Nc3 d5
3f3 c5
4e4 e5!
Ring any bells......??
1 d4 f5 2 Nc3 d5 3 f3 c5 4 e4 e5!
ReplyDeleteAnd a fiver says your book was Bellin's Classical Dutch.
So I'm the *only* chessplayer in Britain who'd never seen this sequence before then???
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you all.
PS: I owe JC a fiver.
I think it's more that a large proportion of your readers are of a certain age - except Jack R, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteBeing of around the same age as JR, I have to say I just guessed it was a Dutch (given there have been posts on the Dutch before on SBCB), remembered that 2 Nc3 used to be a vaguely fashionable sideline, and then really the rest writes itself. Never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteOur readers of a certain age might enjoy the nostalgia tinged post that's due this coming Monday which, as it happens, mentions a certain new book on the Queen's Gambit once or twice.
ReplyDeleteI sat next to it in a League match once. Don't quite remember when, but it might have been twenty years ago. It's most distracting trying to work out whether white can play any of the PxP moves with advantage.
ReplyDeleteI'd never seen it before. Thought maybe it came from a Caro-Kann fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI deliberately didn't say how many moves it was hoping that somebody would think it was move 5 or even 6.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the Caro-Kann Fantasy theory, as I'm sure TC has since realised, is that White can only have played 4 moves in that line and Black would have played five: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. f3 e5 4. Nc3 f5 5. c5, with exclamation mark for 5. ... c5 awarded for sneaking it in before White had chance to make his fifth move.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Andrew Martin publish an article subsequently on 2 Nc3 attempting to demonstrate that this position wasn't as wonderful for Black as Pomar made it look? I forget how.
ReplyDelete1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 e6 4.Nc3 f5 5.Nb1 e5 6.Nc3 c5.
ReplyDeleteBlimey. The Stonewall Caro-Kann!
ReplyDelete