19 February 2014

Exposed King

The first game of the second and longer match between Geza Maroczy and Rezső Charousek was an instructive win by Maroczy. Charousek delayed castling, and then was forced to make a capture with his king. Proceeding to castle by hand, he found his monarch under attack.

The critical position occurred after Charousek's 20...Nd8.

White to move

3 comments:

  1. I have Charousek's book by Seargeant and have only gone through the first game. It's excellent, I didn't realize what a great analyst that Sergeant was, and I believe it's his best book that he did.

    If I were blitzing, I would play 1.BxBe6 QxB, 2.Nc5, but if I had more time, but still not enough to find the most optimal move, I would play something positional such as 1.Nc2 to add support to d4.

    But, since this is a problem, and you have carefully chosen a problem position, which is difficult to pick out from a game, I am going to go with the devastating 1.Nf5! which looks to be nothing short of decisive.

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    Replies
    1. Maroczy played 1.Nd5, but 1.Nf5 is just as good.

      How many games are contained in Sergeant's text? I've found very few reviews of his book. Yours is the first that recommends his annotations. I've been debating whether I should buy a copy of Sergeant's book or the harder to find Victor A. Charuchin, Chess Comet Charousek, which is praised for containing game scores, and otherwise condemned as a bad book.

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  2. They are selling Sergeant's book on Charousek on Amazon for a song. You should buy it ASAP, IMO.

    146 annotated games, well annotated.

    Regarding, Victor A. Charuchin, Chess Comet Charousek, it has gotten unfavorable reviews for the text being dry, possibly computer-like. It was once on the Amazon UK site for a price still in the ball-park, but you can see that's no longer the case, and so I wouldn't recommend it at all.

    Regarding, Seargant, and I will review this book on Amazon since you point this out, he was Master level I would say, does diligent research from a historical context, so you would appreciate his effort in this book. Well, I should post something on Amazon, and also post a game on my website.

    I just published a review of the Amos Burn book last night on Amazon. My first book review on Amazon.

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