Mystery Game #7: King's Gambit, well off the beaten track!!

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  • Mystery Game #7: King's Gambit, well off the beaten track!!

    Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to try to identify the era, players and their strengths, and conditions, for the following fascinating game.
    1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6 4.h4 Qe7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.d3 d5 7.e5 d4 8.Ne2 Ng4 9.Bxf4 c5 10.Qd2 Nc6 11.Ng3 Ngxe5 12.O-O-O Nxf3 13.gxf3 Be6 14.Ne4 O-O-O 15.a3 h6 16.Re1 Qd7 17.Rg1 Qd5 18.c4 dxc3 19.Nxc3 Qb3 20.Be2 c4 21.Bd1 Qb6 22.Be3 Qa6 23.d4 Ne5 24.Be2 Bf5 25.f4 Nd3+ 26.Bxd3 Bxd3 27.Nd1 Rd5 28.Nf2 Bf5 29.Qc3 Qa4 30.Ng4 f6 31.Bf2 Bd6 32.Be3 Rb5 33.b4 Bxb4 34.axb4 Rxb4 35.Kd2 Qa2+ 36.Kd1 Rb2 37.Bd2 Bd3 38.Re3 Qa1+ (38...Rb3!?) 39.Bc1 Qa4+ 40.Ke1 Rc2 41.Qa3 Qxa3 42.Bxa3 Kd8 43.Re7 Re8 44.Rxe8+ Kxe8 45.Kd1 Ra2 46.Re1+ Kd7 47.Bf8 Ra1+ 48.Kd2 c3+ 49.Kxd3 Rxe1 50.Kxc3 h5 51.Nf2 g6 52.Kd3 b5 53.Ne4 Ke6 54.d5+ Kxd5 55.Nxf6+ Ke6 56.Ne4 Rd1+ 57.Kc3 a5 58.Bh6 Kf5 59.Nd2 b4+ 60.Kc2 Rh1 61.Bg5 Rh2 62.Kd3 a4 63.Nc4 a3 64.Ne3+ Ke6 65.Nc2 a2 66.Na1 Rh1 67.Nb3 a1=Q 68.Nxa1 Rxa1 69.Kc4 Rb1 70.Bh6 Kf5 71.Bf8 b3 72.Bh6 Kg4 73.Bg5 Kg3 74.Kc3 Rh1 75.Kxb3 Rxh4 0-1.

  • #2
    Dr. Peter Sibbald -- Matthew Struthers, Kingston Championship, Candidates' section, 1999. Played May 10, 1999; 30\90, SD\60. King's Gambit, C34.

    White's 4th is new or rare; I searched at the time and could find no other games with it. The Kingston Chess Club of that era had two strong players -- Sibbald and Geoff McKay -- who played the King's Gambit regularly, while I was an occasional practitioner. The game saw both sides castle long. The h4 pawn, advanced on move 4 to stop ...g7-g5 by Black, fell at the end to decide the game. I was TD for this event, and was following the conclusion very closely, and recording the moves, since both players were very short of time, in a pre-increment era of time controls. Peter could probably have flagged Matthew at the end, since converting the win would take quite a bit more time, so I thought it was sporting of him to resign once it was clear he was lost.

    Peter holds a PhD in physics, and has worked in his profession in industry as well as academia; he lived in Germany for a few years, as well as in Vancouver, before arriving in Kingston in 1995; in his first Kingston event, he won the 1995 Kingston Whig-Standard. Peter built two fine wooden storage boxes for KCC, and donated them to the club; they are still used for our equipment. He has been out of organized chess for some years now. Matthew was a physics student at Queen's; he played in the 1993 Canadian Junior, and served as Ontario Chess Association Youth Coordinator in 1994-95; in that capacity, he worked with me to organize and direct the 1994 Ontario Junior and Cadet Championships in Kingston. Both players at the time were rated in the 2000-2100 range.

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