Black to move
White's four pieces are well-coordinated for the final assault on the king. A position like this one could arise with additional defensive resources that would tip the balance in Black's favor. Without them, Black is near lost.
I put this position on the demonstration board at the start of the lesson for my after school chess club on Tuesday, noting that White's light-squared bishop could be anywhere along the diagonal from a2 to d5. We looked at several possibilities for Black's defense and White's attack, most leading to either checkmate or the loss of Black's queen.
Then, I showed the students two games. The first appears in several of Gioachino Greco's manuscripts, and is well-known from its inclusion in the usual databases. David Levy and Kevin O'Connell, Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games, Volume 1 1485-1866 (1981) has this as Greco 11 (2).
Greco,Gioacchino -- NN [C53]
Greco Europe, 1620*
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 d6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Nxe4 10.Re1 d5 11.Rxe4+ dxe4 12.Ng5 0-0 13.Qh5
Black to move
13...h6 14.Nxf7 Qf6
We also looked at 14...Rxf7, which is a better defense. This move and the subsequent 15.Bxf7 precede Greco, appearing in the Regole MS, which some scholars have credited to Giulio Cesare Polerio and dated to the late sixteenth century (see Peter J. Monté, The Classical Era of Modern Chess [2014], 158-160, 465.)
15.Nxh6+ Kh8
15...Kf8 was also examined by Greco, but is not so credited in the ChessBase database. The line appears as an annotation in Levy and O'Connell, as three variations appear in Professor Hoffman, The Games of Greco (1900). This line merits a separate post. It was not part of the lesson at the youth chess club.
16.Nf7+ Kg8 17.Qh8# 1-0
The second game had been played that morning.
Stripes,J -- Internet Opponent [C70]
Live Chess Chess.com, 16.11.2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Bb7 6.c3
Inaccurate?
6.0-0 Nf6 7.c3 Nxe4 8.d4 Na5 9.Bc2 is normal.
6...Bc5
Probably a mistake.
We also looked at 14...Rxf7, which is a better defense. This move and the subsequent 15.Bxf7 precede Greco, appearing in the Regole MS, which some scholars have credited to Giulio Cesare Polerio and dated to the late sixteenth century (see Peter J. Monté, The Classical Era of Modern Chess [2014], 158-160, 465.)
15.Nxh6+ Kh8
15...Kf8 was also examined by Greco, but is not so credited in the ChessBase database. The line appears as an annotation in Levy and O'Connell, as three variations appear in Professor Hoffman, The Games of Greco (1900). This line merits a separate post. It was not part of the lesson at the youth chess club.
16.Nf7+ Kg8 17.Qh8# 1-0
The second game had been played that morning.
Stripes,J -- Internet Opponent [C70]
Live Chess Chess.com, 16.11.2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Bb7 6.c3
Inaccurate?
6.0-0 Nf6 7.c3 Nxe4 8.d4 Na5 9.Bc2 is normal.
6...Bc5
Probably a mistake.
7.0-0 Nf6 8.d4
Black to move
8...exd4
This move accelerates White's attack.
8...Bb6 9.Re1 d6 10.a4 0-0 has appeared in a game between masters.
8...Bd6 9.Bg5 is an engine suggestion.
9.cxd4 Bb6 10.e5 Nd5
Simply giving away the knight. Black's position is near hopeless already in any case.
10...Ng8 11.d5+-
11.Bxd5 0-0 12.Ng5 Bxd4
12...h6 may be the last chance.
13.Qh5
We arrive at the basic pattern from Greco and his predecessors.
This move accelerates White's attack.
8...Bb6 9.Re1 d6 10.a4 0-0 has appeared in a game between masters.
8...Bd6 9.Bg5 is an engine suggestion.
9.cxd4 Bb6 10.e5 Nd5
Simply giving away the knight. Black's position is near hopeless already in any case.
10...Ng8 11.d5+-
11.Bxd5 0-0 12.Ng5 Bxd4
12...h6 may be the last chance.
13.Qh5
We arrive at the basic pattern from Greco and his predecessors.
Black to move
13...h6 14.Nxf7 1-0
My opponent resigned here.
The game might have continued 14...Rxf7 (14...Qe7 15.Nxh6+ Kh7 16.Nf5#) 15.Bxf7+ Kh8 16.Bxh6 and the engine points out that 16...Qg8 is the only move.
*The game appears in Greco's Godolphin manuscript, an undated MS from the London sojourn, so should be dated 1623. It also appears in several MSS 1624-1625 produced in France.
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