The One That Got Away.

Chess players, like fishers, sometimes like to talk about the beautiful game that never happened. They like to talk about the one that got away. Here is one such example.



22. Ng6!! White offers the knight. 22...Rd8. Black declines with thanks. If 22...hxg6 then there follows 23. fxg6 and White has either a mating net or wins the Black queen.

The game continued 23. Re7 Rf8 This is the only way to stop 24. Qxf7+ followed by 25. Qxg7 mate. 24. Nxf8 Rb1+ 25. Kg2 Qxf8 Again, to stop mate after 26. Qxf7+ etc. 26. Re8 That's gotta hurt! Rb6 27. Rxf8+ and Black resigned. However, a most beautiful ending that never happened was as follows...



23. Qxf7+!! Sacking the queen while the knight is still hanging! 23...Kxf7 24. Re7+ Kg8 25. Re8+! White sacs the house: a queen, a rook, and leaves a knight hanging. Rxe8 26. Bd5+ It is over. Black only has a rook to throw away before the inevitable mate. 26. ... Re6 27. Bxe6 mate. The ending is a rare minor piece mating net. A thing of beauty ... that never happened. It's the one that got away.



26. Bd5+ Mating at once! The actual game (ending with 27. Rxf8+) was played in the 4th round of the Mike Shpan Memorial TNT between Jordan Kwiatek and Dezheng Kong. Chess in Manitoba should have the game up in the next day or so. In the meantime, if you are really keen to see the whole game, have a look at Susan Polgar's Chess Discussion Forum. Thanks to Nikolai Pilafov!

Tell us about the beauty that never happened and we'll be happy to publish it. Show us the one that got away.