Sudden death in the Scandinavian

by Oliver Reeh
1/11/2025 – In the diagram position axb4 is not a threat, so Black can actually play whatever he wants. However, a continuation leads straight to the orcus, with mate in 4 - ha det så kul!!!

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1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 e6 Not the most demanding of all Scandinavian variations for Black, but despite giving up the bishop pair early, he is very solid. I've constructed the next moves to be able to delight you once again with a classic mating motif. 8.Bf4 8.Bd2 Nd7 9.0-0-0 Ngf6 10.Kb1 Qc7 11.Ne4 ½-½ (11) Yagupov,I (2450)-Rustemov,A (2495) Spasskoe 1996 8...Nd7 9.Be2 Bb4 10.a3 Sudden death in the Scandinavian In the diagram position axb4 is not a threat, so Black can actually play whatever he wants. However, a continuation leads straight to the orcus, with mate in 4 - ha det så kul!!! 0-0-0?? Castling into dusaster. I recently stumbled across this position on our tactics server https://tactics.chessbase.com - always worth a visit! 10...Ngf6! - among other things!
10...0-0-0?? was completely wrong - why?
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Alertsson-Blundersson-1–0 B01

Oliver Reeh in ChessBase Magazine

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Oliver Reeh has been working for ChessBase for many years as a translator and presenter of the internet show TV ChessBase, and he also looks after the tactics column in ChessBase Magazine, for which he has also been responsible as editor-in-chief since 2019. The International Master has contributed to the CB "MasterClass" series and is the author of the DVDs "Strike like the World Champions" and "Master Class Tactics - Train your combination skills!" Volumes 1 & 2. Oliver Reeh lives in Hamburg.

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oliver reeh oliver reeh 1/14/2025 01:56
Thank you very much for the correction!

So, according to the source, the game was in fact played by the Peruvian master (later grandmaster) Esteban Canal vs. an anonymous amateur in Budapest 1934 at a simul, the exact move order being 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bf4 e6 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 Bb4 9. Be2 Nd7 10. a3 0-0-0 11. axb4 Qxa1+ 12. Kd2 Qxh1 13. Qxc6+ bxc6 14. Ba6#

Strangely enough, the game wasn't featured in my databases. Please accept Blundersson's sincerest apologies.

Best wishes to you all, enjoy chess

Oliver Reeh
larry77 larry77 1/13/2025 07:16
I think there is something strange going on here. Is this game not the famous Peruvian immortal? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Immortal
geeker geeker 1/12/2025 04:08
Thanks. Not too difficult, since a well known theme (name omitted to avoid spoiler) is evident.
Jacob woge Jacob woge 1/11/2025 07:17
Thanks for the hint :-)
PhishMaster PhishMaster 1/11/2025 03:51
Finally, an easy one. :)
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