To celebrate the London Classic, which starts at Olympia this Saturday, I shall be paying a series of homages to illuminati of the game who have achieved great things in London. I kick off with Howard Staunton, who won the equivalent of World Championship matches against the German masters Harrwitz and Horwitz in London and who also founded the first ever international tournament in the capital in 1851. The winner of that inaugural event was another German, Adolf Anderssen, who won probably the most celebrated game of all time, for which see this week’s puzzle.
For information on the London Classic see londonchessclassic.com.
Staunton-Horwitz; London 1851; Dutch Defence
1 c4 e6 2 Nc3 f5 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 c6 5 d3 Na6 6 a3 Be7 7 e3 0‑0 8 Nge2 Nc7 9 0‑0 d5 10 b3 Qe8 11 Bb2 Qf7 12 Rc1 Bd7 13 e4! This central thrust announces that White has won the battle of the opening.
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