TO G6 OR NOT TO G6!
Frank Marshall
Dear chess lovers, I like to browse chess books from different eras, and in doing so I sometimes find patterns that are beautiful, and poignant; patterns that are inherited from one generation to the next....
In this blog I will share with you four games that include bishop or Queen sacrifices in the square g6....in the game by Marshall it is a mirror image, because he had black, so the square is actually g3 for him...
But in the old descriptive notation, all the games find the sacrificed piece on the Kkt6 square!
It is said that when Marshall played 23....Qg3, the spectators showered the board with gold coins! Such was their delight!
Here is the complete game!
Our next example is from Bronstein....he also sacrificed his Queen on g6! (Kkt6!), and against Geller, no less, who was a Candidate for the World Championship at least three times!
David Bronstein
This move (20.Qg6) is a move of incredible beauty, to my eyes....again, as in the Marshall game, the Queen places itself in front of the king's fortress!
Here is the complete game!
A few years ago I bought a book with Anand's best games, and in it I found a jewel! Here is the position after the incredible move by Anand!
Vishy Anand
Here is the complete game!
And here is the game that sparked the creation of this blog...I was browsing through a book by Alexander Alekhine, "101 Great Chess Battles, 1939-1945" and found a game by Bogoljubow in which, like Anand, he sacrificed his bishop on g6!
Efim Bogoljubov
Here is the position after Bogo's great move!
and here is the complete game!
And last, but not least, this creative endeavor sparked a poem, which I now share with you all:
TO G6 OR NOT TO G6
To g6 or not to g6,
that is the question!
Perhaps to g3!
When winning and losing are bound
By the laws of art and science,
And found
To be both the common goal.....
When the pieces are talking,
And saying, "take me there, please!
I want to attack, I want to live!,
And bring to our side
The long-awaited victory!"
When the King's cover is not real,
An illusion, a chimera of protection,
An oasis with no water or shady palm trees,
A mirage!
To g6 or not to g6,
To follow
The inner voice that says,
"Win now!, or your effort will be hollow!"
And forward my queen or bishop go,
To the square
That is the stuff of dreams!
Where, shrouded in light,
Victory has the sweet smell
Of a thousand roses,
Or the swiftness
Of a thousand birds in flight!
-----------------------------
with gratitude, Kamalakanta Nieves
