Count Down

Here's a lovely little miniature of Zukertort's that I came across today. He gives his opponent knight odds and quickly attacks his opponent's kingside. On move 15, he begins a delightful little combination in which he sacrifices a knight, a queen, and finally, a rook. He also leaves a bishop en prise.

His advantage is so great that eight moves later, he can afford to make a quiet but deadly pawn move that forces his opponent to resign. By the way, I found this little anecdote online and thought that you guys might like it. Credit goes to Phony Benoni for the story and ChessGames for the blog title.

It's a moment of swelling exhileration for the winner and a slow dawning of doom for the loser. One of the best descriptions was an anecdote about Charles Jaffe, recounted by Alfred Kreymbourg.

Jaffe was playing a coffeehouse game against some random NN, who after long thought grabbed a pawn with his queen. Jaffe quietly and delicately moved a knight--forking NN's king, queen, and both rooks.

NN sighed, "I guess I have to lose the exchange."

"Look again", said Jaffe.

"I have to lose one of my rooks or the queen".

"Look again."

"I'm in check; I have to move my king and lose my queen! Why didn't you say check?"

"I didn't have to. Didn't you hear me say 'Mate'?"