Classical Games Everybody Should Know, Part 4
Since we finished last week's article with "the Immortal Game" it is only fair to start today with its twin - "the Evergreen game".
(Just like in most of my articles I give you a chance to test your chess skills, so the games are given as a Quiz. Please remember that you can always replay the whole game from the first move if you click "Solution" and then "Move list".)
It is by games like this that Anderssen earned himself the nickname of "the magician". The following game is another example of his combinational genius:
When you analyze Anderssen's games you see why chess is more then just a war between wooden pieces. Instead you can enjoy the beauty of the Royal Game. And yet, sometimes you cannot help but feel that most of the games Anderssen played with a motto "combinations for the sake of the combinations". If you are not sure what I am talking about, let's look at the next example:
It's a beautiful little combo, isn't it? Except Anderssen didn't go for it and instead played 11...Bxd4?! Why? He saw an even more beautiful combination!
Didn't he see the simple combo which would win the Queen and therefore the game? I bet he did! But instead he preferred a more beautiful combo which wouldn't even work if instead of the greedy 12.Qxe4?? White played 12.cxd4 Qxd4 13. Qd7+ Qxd7 14. Nxd7. You might say that just one game doesn't prove anything. Fair enough. But what about the next game then?
Simple, right? Well, probably too simple for Anderssen, so he decides to add some spice by an additional sacrifice, so he played 1.Bg5!? first and after 1...Qxg5 executed a beautiful combo:
Despite the above-mentioned shortcomings of Anderssen's play, his games should be definitely analyzed by any serious chess player who wants to improve his tactical abilities or by anyone who just wants to enjoy chess as an art. At the end, let me quote Kasparov: "Not surprising that chess players of the time, impressed by this kind of greatness, did not want to listen to dull positional advice. But the old combinational school,led by its first knight Anderssen, was doomed in the battle against the modernized warfare techniques of Paul Morphy, whose tactics had a much better positional foundation."
to be continued...
