This week, a tribute to the one major Scottish contribution to chess, the invention of the Scotch game, later to become a favourite of Garry Kasparov. The following game, one of the earlier chess encounters whose record has survived, sees play devolve into a complex endgame. Ultimately the London side lose their footing, miss the right path and go down to defeat.
Edinburgh Chess Club-London Chess Club: Correspondence match (Game 5) 1824-1826; Scotch Game
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 Nxd4 The accepted main line these days is 3…exd4. One heavyweight example is Kasparov-Karpov, Tilburg 1991 which went 3 … exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nxc6 bxc6 6 e5 Qe7 7 Qe2 Nd5 8 c4 Ba6 9 b3 g6 10 f4 f6 11 Ba3 Qf7 12 Qd2 Nb6 13 c5 Bxf1 14 cxb6 axb6 and now after 15 e6! White gained the advantage and went on to win. 4 Nxd4 exd4 5 Qxd4 Ne7 6 Bc4 Nc6 7 Qd5 Qf6 8 Nc3 Bb4 9 Bd2 d6 10 Bb5 Bd7 11 Qc4 Bc5 12 0-0 0-0 13 Qd3 Ne5
The London group attempt to ease their situation by seeking exchanges. 14 Qg3 Bxb5 15 Nxb5 c6 16 Nc3 Nc4 17 Bg5 Qg6 18 b3 f6 19 Bc1 Qxg3 20 hxg3 Bd4 21 bxc4 Bxc3 22 Rb1 b6 23 Rd1 Rae8 Rather than be reduced to passive defence of his weakened central pawns, Black strives for counterattack. 24 Rb3 Ba5 25 f3 f5 26 exf5 Re2 27 g4 Rxc2 28 Bf4 Rxc4 29 Bxd6 Re8 30 Ra3 Black’s bishop has been driven to the extremity of the board and White plans to immobilise it completely. 30 … h6 31 Bc7 Re7 32 Rd8+ Kh7 33 Rc8 Rc1+ Better is 33 … Rc2.
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