A Monster Attack And Key Endgames
I’ll start with a fun game. Black was so taken with his own brilliance that he wrote a blog about it, and he gave his opening a name: "The Magicians’ Attack!"
Well, he should be excited since this kind of attack and subsequent mate is, to many, a dream that never comes true... a once-in-a-lifetime game.
Black christened this line "The Magicians' Attack."
Impressive! However, White walked into a mess right in the opening, which is typical with this kind of mate — when White gets mated in 14 moves you know something went haywire! So, let’s take a quick look at the opening and see how White could improve.
Another possibility for White after 3...Nc6 is 4.Bxf6, and even the quiet 4.Nf3 or 4.Bb5 deserve consideration. Black is, of course, okay — but the knight on c6 is a bit of an eyesore due to it blocking the c-pawn.
Our next game is between a 1754 player (Adis_X) and a grandmaster (MacMolner).
GM Mackenzie Molner.
One would think that the grandmaster would roll over his opponent, but Adis_X played the opening well, then he botched it and got into serious trouble (I’m not going to go into any of that stuff), then the grandmaster didn’t take full advantage of his opponent’s errors and we ended up with the following position:
The reason I’m showing this game is to implore everyone to learn basic endgames. It’s clear that if White hadn’t studied his endgame basics he would have lost. So, let’s take a look.
However, another position could have occurred that is more difficult than the one in the actual game. It’s called the Philidor position and it is a must-know for every serious chess player:
The classic Philidor position is this:
Notice how knowledge of both the king and pawn vs. king position and the Philidor position are important, since one can turn into the other.
