King's Gambit

With Thanksgiving coming up, I recall one of the most fascinating

games I have ever watched. It happened 3 years ago at the annual

Thanksgiving tournament in Philadelphia:

Orest Popovych built up a dream attacking position against the tough

defender Gennadi Sagalchik. In preparation for the feast, Popovych had

sacrificed two pawns but had plenty of open lines. Amazingly,

Sagalchik allowed multiple dsicovered and double checks, and dicovered

attacks on his queen, but was able to dance away to safety. When

Sagalchik further perfomed a Houdini act in untangling his pinned and

overloaded knights, the game was decided.

Popovych - Sagalchik Philadelphia 1993

1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef 3 Nf3 h6

[A little-known move with a subtle point. The so-called

"Fischer Defence", which Bobby pronounced to be a "bust" to the King's

Gambit, arises after 3 ... d6 4 Bc4 h6 5 d4 g5.

White can and should avoid this line after 3 ... d6 by playing 4 d4 g5

5 h4. By getting in 3 ... h6 first, Black ensures that he

can meet 4 d4 g5 5 h4 with 5 ... Bg7.]

4 b3!

[A completely different way of inhibiting ... g7-g5. Since White's

plan is now to castle queenside and control the center rather than to

attack on the f-file, ... h7-h6 is rendered meaningless.]

Ne7

[Also possible was the straightforward 4 ... Nf6, and if 5 e5 Nh5 6

Bb2 d5, but instead White would maintain the tension with 5

Nc3.]

5 Bb2 Ng6 6 Nc3 d6 7 Qe2 c6

[Sagalchik was dissatisfied with plain vanilla development with 7 ...

Be7 8 O-O-O (less convincing is 8 Nd5 O-O 9 O-O-O c6) O-O 9 h4 and

Black has to face the music, e.g. 9 ... Nxh4 10 Nd5 or 9 ...

Bg4 10 h5 Ne5 11 d4.]

8 O-O-O Bg4 9 d4 Nd7?!

[More circumspect was 9 ... Be7 to prepare to castle in response to

the eventual e4-e5.]

10 h3 Bh5?

[Optimistically hoping to avoid ceding to White permanent compensation

based on the g-file and the light squares after 10 ... Bf3 11 gf.]

11 e5! de 12 de Bf3

[Necessary to avoid the possibility of White playing g2-g4, which

would undermine the arrival of the other bishop on e3.]

13 gf Bc5 14 e6!

[Popovych sacrifices a second pawn to soften up the knight on g6. It

seems that 14 Ne4 is a mere transposition after 14 ... Be3+ 15 Kb1 O-O

16 e6.]

Be3+ 15 Kb1

[Of course 15 Qxe3? fxe3 16 Rxd7 Qg5 would be absurd.]

fe 16 Ne4 O-O

[He must castle into it to avoid the check on d6.]

17 Qg2

[White's pieces are so beautifully placed that the optimum course is

to keep piling up the pressure. A frustrating alternative was 17 Nc5,

attempting to cash in. Then 17 ... Bc5? 18 Qe6+ Rf7 19 Qg6 is

hopeless. Not so clear is 17 ... Rf7 18 Ne6 Qe7 19 Qg2 and Black may

be holding on after 19 ... Qe6 20 Bc4 Qf5 21 Rd7 Qd7 22 Qg6 Kf8 23 Qh7

Re8 or 19 ... Kh7 (better than 19 ... Nh4 20 Qg4) 20 Bc4 b5. Popovych

also had to consider that Black might try to wrest the initiative with

17 ... Nc5!? 18 Rd8 Rad8, as White's remaining forces cannot resume

the attack very quickly.]

Kh7 18 Bd3

[The dream position has arrived, and the spectators await the final

flurry involving discoveries, double checks, etc.]

Nde5!!

[Calmly inviting White to do his worst. 18 ... Rf5 would have been

methodically beaten back by 19 h4 Qe7 20 Nd6.]

19 Rhg1?

[On 19 Be5 Ne5 there is no mate. White can then win the exchange with

20 Ng5+ Kh8 21 Ne6, but the position is not completely clear after 21

... Qe7 22 Nf8 Rf8 thanks to the strong Black bishop. Similarly

insufficient is 19 Nf6+ Qf6 20 Be5 Qe5 21 Qg6+ Kg8. More dangerous is

the thematic 19 h4 to exploit the overloaded knights. Then Black must

reply 19 ... Nxd3! 20 h5 Nge5! with the idea 21 Be5 Ne5 22 Rd8 Rad8,

and Black would have even material for the queen and securely posted

pieces. And Black holds on 21 Rd3 Qc7. But what Popovych

overlooked was that after 19 h4 Nd3, 20 Rd3 is very strong. For

example, 20 ... Qc7 21 Ng5+ hg 22 hg+ Kg8 23 Qh3 Kf7 (23 ... e5 24

Rd7) 24 Bg7 Rh8 25 Bh8 Rh8 26 Qh8 Nh8 Rh7+, or 20 ... Qe7 21 h5 Nh8 22

Rhd1 Rf7 23 Rd7!! Qd7 24 Rd7 Rd7 25 Qg7+! Rg7 Nf6 mate]

Bg1 20 Rg1 Qe7 21 Nf2!!

[Recovering to make the best move in a completely new situation. After

21 Be5 Ne5 the discoveries do not accomplish anything. More

interestingly, on 21 Nf6+, intending to capture on e5 after Black takes

the intruder, Sagalchik has 21 ... Kh8! with the variations 22 Be5 Ne5,

22 Bg6 Qf6, or 22 Nh5 Qg5! 23 Qg5 hg 24 Rg5 Nd3 25 cd Kh7 with

advantage to Black. If White had instead tried 21 Nd6, then

21 ... Rf6 defends. The point of the text was to meet 21 ... Rf6 with

22 Ng4. Finally, 21 h4 is now comfortably met by 21 ... Rf5.]

Rf5 22 Bf5 ef 23 Nd3 Re8

[Black is still trying to disengage his knights, but it seems things

are beginning to click together for him.]

24 Re1!

[If 24 Bc3 to prepare this, then Black unhooks with 24 ... Qf7. If 24

h4, Black can reorganize with 24 ... Nh4 25 Qh3 Neg6, meeting 26 Nf4

(idea: 26 ... Nf4 27 Qh4!) with 26 ... Qe3. Now White looks forward to

24 ... Qd6 25 h4 with a revived attack.]

Qh4!

[Now if White takes a few times on e5, Black will have a check on

e1. 25 Qf1 loses to 25 ... Nf3! and 25 Qe2 loses to 25 ... Nd3. The

only way to immediately renew the threat to take on e5 is the

problem-like 25 Qh1!!, leading to a very unclear situation, although

Black may be able to untangle with 25 ... Qf6 26 Qf1 Qd6.]

25 Bc3? Re7

[Now it's over.]

26 Rg1 Qg3 27 Qg3 fg 28 Ne5 Ne5 29 Rg3 f4 30 Rg2 Nf3

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