Lured by Fool's Gold

Fool's gold. It looks like the real thing. You think you've had the strike of a lifetime. But on closer inspection it turns out that what you thought was valuable beyond belief is actually worthless. Just a pile of glittering dust.

Well, this might be the stuff of maudlin tales told by washed up prospectors. But we amateur chess enthusiasts can suffer the same fate. Let me tell you about a game I recently played. But first a little context that will help set the scene.

The chess gold I dream about

There is a fantastic story about a game of Frank Marshall. You may well have seen it before. 

This position is taken from the game, Levitsky vs Marshall, Breslau 1912. It is black to move.

If you haven't seen it, take a moment to consider what you would play.

Frank Marshall unleashed the quite incredible 1. ...... Qg3!!

His stunned opponent thought for a moment and then simply resigned. He can capture the queen in three ways, but in each case 2. .....Ne2+ is fatal. 

It is said that the onlookers were so impressed by this stunning move that they showered the board with gold pieces! Real chess gold!

I came across this story in a wonderful book, The World of Chess by Norman Lessing and Anthony Saidy. I read (and reread) it when I was a child. I was enthralled by the incredible stories about chess and the remarkably beautiful moves. This was where I discovered that chess was more than just a game. It could be Art. Magical. And the quest was on. One day I would play moves as glorious as those described in the book!

Forty years have passed and I still dream about playing moves of such beauty.

But dreams can come true! Ever so occasionally, I come across ideas that just might be the real thing. Chess Gold! 

And so it was that earlier this week, I found myself in this position:

The game had not been going well. Just for starters, how had I managed to blunder a pawn playing a reverse Kings Indian? The whole idea of playing defences with reverse colours is to have an extra tempo. And still I had lost a pawn.

So I played in a bit of a negative fog. My opponent had perhaps become a little complacent - lulled by the easy, early win of a pawn. And so I found myself considering my move in this position. Out of nowhere I had the makings of an attack. He has back rank issues, a misplaced rook on a7 and my pieces are well positioned - everything is aiming at his king!

What I came up with was this. First I played, 1. e6 

This is somewhat counter-intuitive, because it allows him to exchange queens. Which he did; 1. ..... Qxg3

We were both running short of time so he no doubt expected me to recapture the queen. But I had prepared a surprise. I threw in a cheeky zwischenzug: 2. exf7 which threatens to capture his rook, queen the pawn and checkmate all in one diabolical move!

Of course, this is easy to sidestep. He quickly played 2. ....Rf8

He anticipated, 3. hxg3 Rxf7 4. g4.....when the game goes on. I am a pawn down, but, given our respective performances up until then, there is still hope.

This was not my idea. I wasn't in search of a prosaic struggle. No!!! I was after glory and I spurned the recapture of the queen and confidently played 3. Rxe7!!!

It was an online game, but I would have loved to have seen his reaction!

But he didn't panic. After all, can't he just move his queen? Indeed he played 3. .... Qd6.
He is attacking my rook and, after I play 4. Re8, the queen is defending his rook on f8. This x-ray defense gives him the luxury of a free move.

It was here that I believe it dawned on him that things weren't so simple. I am threatening to play Bf4, which chases the queen away from her defensive duties. He thought for a bit and the following moves were played:

4. .... Bd7 5. Bf4 Bxe8 6. fxe8=Q Rxe8 7. Bxd6

The dust has settled. I have two bishops for a rook and went on to win the endgame.

I knew I had got away with some dreadful play in the opening, but I was more than a little pleased with my queen sacrifice. Perhaps not worthy of gold coins, but I was happy nonetheless.

Happy, that is, until I had another look at the position later on. Both my opponent and I had completely forgotten about the rook on a7. Far from being misplaced it was in the perfect position!

Instead of 4. .... Bd7, black could simply have played 4. .... b6! 

5. Bf4 can be met by 5. ....Raxf7

Black gives back the queen and wins the rook on e8. Simple when you see it. During the game the rook had drifted out of our calculations. A sad combination of amateur blindness and time pressure.

So once again, my brilliancy was in reality just another unfortunate case of "Fool's Gold".

One day, one day I'll get to play that beautiful move! Until then the pursuit continues.