Stunningly beautiful? Ravel is terrible. He's lost by move 11 IMO. But Prokofiev conducts his attack quite forcefully. Both 20.Rf5+! and 21.Qe2! are quite nice.
A spectacular sacrificial gem between two legends
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Was this game really played by these two, or is this just according to legend?
JG27PH: well, I was mainly talking about Prokofiev when I said that, but I don't think that Ravel's failures take anything away from what Prokofiev was able to accomplish. (On a sidenote, if we're going to be only looking at games where both sides played super competantly, we might as well toss out a number of brilliant gems in chess history. After all, you can make similar claims about some of Anderrsen's or Morphy's games.) <As a sidenote, I'm not saying that Prokofiev was anywhere near a Morphy or an Anderrssen, but I feel that this same argument can be applied>
quixote88pianist: I got the game off chessgames.com so it's real as far as I know.
prokofiev beat capablanca!!In an endgame!!;
Go here to read more about prokofiev and chess: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/prokofiev.html
One excerpt I particularly like;
An extract from the entry dated 7 April 1914 (old style calendar) in S. Prokofiev’s diary, regarding the St Petersburg tournament:
‘At eight o’clock I went to the opening of the Chess Championship and found myself translated immediately into an enchanted realm, a realm alive with the most unbelievable activity in all three rooms of the Chess Club itself and three more rooms made available by the Assembly Committee. This tournament is a top-level affair, everyone in tailcoats, and here were the masters themselves each surrounded by a crowd of admirers.
Lasker, a little greyer since the 1909 tournament, with his distinctive face, his slight stature and an air of knowing his own worth; Tarrasch – a typically upright German with Kaiser Wilhelm moustaches and an arrogant expression; our own Rubinstein – a coarse, unintelligent-looking face, a touch of the shopkeeper about him, but modest and talented compared to Tarrasch, erratic but dangerous to any opponent; Bernstein, a prosperous-looking man with a handsome, impudent face, shaven head and a colossal nose, dazzling teeth and relentlessly brilliant eyes. Our own gifted Alekhine, with his lawyer’s coat and his slightly pinched, slightly disagreeable lawyer’s features, self-confident as ever but nevertheless a little subdued by the magnificence of the company. Marshall, the American, a typical Yankee, with a touch of Sherlock Holmes about him, ferociously passionate in play but ludicrously taciturn in private. Yanovsky [sic] from Paris, a deserter in his youth from military service and now exceptionally allowed special dispensation to return unmolested for the championship, wearing an exquisitely elegant light grey suit, formerly a famously good-looking breaker of hearts but now in his fifth decade showing his age and wearing gold-rimmed spectacles. The combative vegetarian Nimzowitsch, a typical German student and trouble-maker. Finally two older men, destined to be the victims of all, the portly Gunsberg and, wearing on his face a permanently injured expression, Blackburne, still, despite his 72 years, capable of producing original combinations and elegant developments in his conduct of a match. The crowd’s favourite, Capablanca, young, elegant, gay and with a constant smile on his handsome face, circulated through the hall laughing and chatting with the easy grace of one who already knows himself to be the victor.
Thus it was that I found myself in this irresistibly seductive kingdom, absorbed from the first moment by the forthcoming contest. The speeches began, laying stress on the unprecedented importance of the event with its exceptional galaxy of participants. Journalists from England, Germany, Moscow, Kiev, Vienna, chess masters from Germany, photographers, all added to the splendour of the occasion. The first round begins tomorrow!!!’
@Tarikh
Fantastic journal entry! Thanks so much for sharing that! The thumbnail sketches of the masters are priceless ---- The combative vegetarian Nimzowitsch, a typical German student and trouble-maker.
I laughed out loud when I read that description.
A stunningly beautiful game, even if the combatants weren't strictly chess professionals.