A Sacrifice In The French Defence - Assorted Games From The Past.
A short time ago, my friend @kamalakanta posted a game here with an idea we had been discussing. This is the game.
He also pointed out to me another game between the two with the same idea.
So, with an hour to spare, I will present a few games with the idea from the long gone past. No time to do notes, but hopefully you will get some pleasure from studying them for yourselves.
As a side note, I will point out that those first two games were part of an ongoing theoretical debate between the two, where the French player had something of a head start. Those kinds of positions were standard fare in the type of odds-games played in France at the time. Certainly the whole thing rather perplexed M'Donnell, who discussed it in a letter to George Walker.
Well, the idea was not new to La Bourdonnais - it had been used by the great Philidor himself ( who may have learned it from an even earlier player!) He probably used it many times, and it is to be found in two of the few games we have of his, including one of the very last.
Philidor giving odds in a blindfold simul.
And one of his very last games,
For some background on that game you can read a very fine article by our own @batgirl https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-man-who-saved-philidor
I recently came across the next game whilst browsing the 1869-1870 volume of 'The Westminster Papers', as you do!! It was supplied by the winner, John Cochrane.
A few years later we get an interesting little story involving the idea. On the morning of July 20th, Ernst Flechsig tried the idea against the great Anderssen - it didn't go well!
Then, in the afternoon - two games a day was normal in German tournaments of that era - Emil Schallopp decided to copy Anderssen's play against that great chess thinker Louis Paulsen, who did things rather better than Flechsig had done.!!
Three of the principal players in that little drama are nicely in shot in the group picture of the event.
Paulsen's idea remained a theoretical debate for quite some time - a decade later Tarrasch took the Black side twice, winning handily both times.
A couple of years later we find the idea in one of the strangest and most significant games of that - or any other - time. You can find the full story in an article that I really must get round to rewriting!!
And to finish with, one more little Hauptturnier drama - you can read all about it here :_ https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/barmen-1905-the-battle-for-the-master-title
Yep, a slightly different offering to last time round, but hopefully you will have enjoyed the chess. Feel free to add any games on this theme that you can think of - these are just the ones that came into my head. Cheers Guys Simaginfan.
