10/16/2022 – Leinier Dominguez won his round-7 game in the U.S. Championship after only ten moves. The opening debacle prompted Jon Speelman to locate similar examples both in a book by Yakov Neishtadt and in the database of his own games. And he also remembered to give the solution of the proof game from last week!
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Quick and dirty
[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]
The opening debacle in the U.S. Championship last week put me in mind of more of the same. When I was a kid, I had a small hardback book of opening traps with a lightish blue cover by Al Horowicz which I tried to find on my shelves but without success. I did locate it fairly quickly though on a site called AbeBooks.co.uk. And in fact it’s called New Traps in the Chess Opening (Faber & Faber 1966) and the dust cover is a slightly darker blue than it was in my mind’s eye.
I’m sure it’ll turn up eventually, but I did in my search find another rather more serious book of opening disasters, which I’ve been browsing through for today’s column: Win in the Opening by Yakov Neishtadt. It seemed churlish to use too much of his material, so I had a glance at my database of my own games and added a few of them too.
I put them all in the .pgn and have got them as diagrams to solve here (with the numbers corresponding to the games in the database). Of course, I did also remember to give the solution of the proof game I left you with last week. Well done for anybody who solved it or held out until now for the solution. It’s in the .pgn too, and if you’d like a fuller solution then please turn to column 128.
1. White to play
2. Black to play and mate
3. White to play
4. White to play
5. White to play. Can you see his idea and how Black can then avoid losing a piece? (Though he’d still be worse)
6. White to play. Is e5 a good idea?
7. Black to play
8. White to play. What screams out to be played now?
9...Nd6
keeps the advantage within bounds.10.Bxe4!It is possible to miss this
because it's anti-positional. Black resigned at once, though there was a a
previous game in which he struggled on with thwo pieces for a queen.10.Bxe4!Bxe410...Qxe411.Re111.Nc3Bxf311...Qc612.Nxe4Qxe413.Re112.Nxd5Bxd5!12...Bxd113.Nxe7+13.Bf4c614.Re1Bb415.Re3Rd816.Qg4Nd717.Bh6g617...Bf818.Bxg7!18.Qh4Re819.a3Rxe320.fxe3Bd621.e4Be622.Rf1Re823.h3Bc424.Rc1Bd325.Re1a526.Qg4f527.Qd1Bxe428.Qb3+Bd529.Rxe8+Kf730.Qe31-0 (30) Baklan,V (2617)-Law,N (2208)
Hoogeveen NED 20111–0
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Jonathan SpeelmanJonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.
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The opening debacle in the U.S. Championship last week put me in mind of more of the same. When I was a kid, I had a small hardback book of opening traps with a lightish blue cover by Al Horowicz which I tried to find on my shelves but without success. I did locate it fairly quickly though on a site called 
