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.
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