Reader’s showcase
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Recently Louis played a game at the Montreal Chess Club that he was especially proud of and wanted to share with me.
A really nice game, Louis!
READER’S SHOWCASE
Louis Morin is no stranger to my readers from Montreal. A permanent fixture in Quebec chess, Louis is a rated expert, chess writer and has translated some chess books into French. When I was still living in Montreal in the late 1980s I would sometimes go over to Louis’ home and look at chess with him. Louis had one of the largest chess libraries in the city at the time.
Recently Louis played a game at the Montreal Chess Club that he was especially proud of and wanted to share with me.
”I took a few weeks before sending this game, because it is not at all obvious that amateur games like this one are interesting for your chess blog. But I thought that you would be happy to learn that because of some advice read on your blog, I was able to use this information to find a beautiful combination less than a day after.”
POSITION AFTER BLACK’S 25th MOVE (25…f5)
Daniel Pregent
Louis Morin
If the Black King moves to f8, then 28.Qg6! will force mate. Going into the corner also allows a forced mate starting with 28.Nf7ch
27…Bg5! 28.Nxg5 hxg5 29.Qxg5ch Ke8
”When this harsh advance of the f-pawn was played, I experienced like a flash! It reminded me of a similar advance from a game Amateur-Polgar in the very first round of the Olympiad. I had just read your comments on your blog the day before. The amateur played f2-f4, and instead of moving the attacked piece Judit Polgar sacrificed another piece and quickly won.
So I asked myself (not really seriously): can I do exactly the same as Judit? Can I leave my knight there and sacrifice another piece? And to my complete amazement, I soon realized that I could do it too, even though our positions are so completely different!”
26.Bxh6!!
This unexpected and beautiful move is very strong! Taking the Knight allows a mate in 2 starting with 27.Qf7ch. Taking the Bishop–which is what Black played– exposes the Black majesty; other moves would not change Black’s fate: 26…Bf8 27.Nc5! Bxc5. 28.bxc5 with a huge advantage.
26…gxh6 27.Qg3ch!
If the Black King moves to f8, then 28.Qg6! will force mate. Going into the corner also allows a forced mate starting with 28.Nf7ch
27…Bg5! 28.Nxg5 hxg5 29.Qxg5ch Ke8
Now perhaps 30.Qh6ch! is the cleanest way to win here, but Louis’ 30.h6 proved to be convincing enough! I invite the readers to take a look at the entire game in the pgn viewer below.
A really nice game, Louis!
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS