Panov Hangs His Queen and His Opponent

Vasily Panov (Nov. 1, 1906-Jan. 3, 1973) is known today for the Panov Attack in the Caro-Kann Defense. He won the Moscow Championship in 1929 and played in the USSR Championship five times. Unfortunately, not all of his games are found in databases. Among those available there and in his biographical book of games (in Russian from 1966) include beautiful attacks with both colors. The following game demonstrates the power of a Panov attack in a Ruy Lopez. Yury Solntsev, who was 16 years younger than Panov, defended so well that Panov was pressed to donate his queen. This sacrifice rendered his opponent helpless. Included in the notes is a nice attack conducted by Yuri Averbakh against the same opponent in the same opening.