Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Arnold Anson against John Dufresne in 1852 Berlin.
So basically, after Anderson's death in 1879, Wilhelm Steinitz published an article in a magazine
called The Field, in which he annotated answers to most famous games.
So one of those games was the immortal game, and the other was the Evergreen game.
So he described Steinitz described basically an evergreen, is that in the Laurel crown of the departed
chess hero.
So, yes, it keeps on giving interest.
Basically, it's like evergreen.
So the narrative is like foliage, which remains green and functional for more than one growing season.
So it retains freshness or interest.
It's universal and continually relevant.
So yeah, this game has actually been analyzed by many, many people, including Kasparov, for over
a hundred years.
You know, various analysts have looked at this very beautiful game.
So let's have a look at it.
Also, for our purposes demonstrates how to exploit a king in the center.
So we have E4 from Adolf Anson do freeze plays 85, 93, 96, Bishop C for Bishop C5.
And now the Evans Gambit, which was all the rage, a bit like The King's Gambit.
Those two are iconic openings, in my view, of the romantic era representing gambits which give very
special perks, if especially if players were black, don't play too well against it.
So we have C three bishop going to a5 so d4 e takes and now white castles we have D three and now Queen
B frame.
So at the moment black has all pawns.
White has sacrificed to pawns.
But there's pressure on F7 that's defended with Queen F6.
We have E5 and now Queen G6 Rookie one.
We have 97 and now Bishop A3 three.
So this is one of the features actually of the Evans game.
But sometimes you can actually put the bishop and A4 in and try and stop the opponent from castling.
But here, because of this arrangement, it seems black is in the possession castle but Black played
B5 Black should have really castled In fact, if rookie Frey trying to get one of the pawns back, let's
say D5.
This is one of the best moves it takes.
C Tanks.
Bishop Tanks.
D4 Queen H5 Yeah, just allowing that pawn to go This position, which is now equal on pawns, is actually
slightly better for black technically after Bishop E6.
So this was the way to go.
It seems to castle here.
Yeah.
Just give back some of the material because there is a bit of a bind in this position.
Yeah.
So if one's going to get back a --, you know, this has to be played to energize the position to
liberate this bishop, etc..
But anyway, B5 was played to try and put the bishop on B7.
So the idea is to have bishops like this kind of pointing down the kingside.
But this does take time.
We see that pawn being taken.
Rook B ain't queen a4 Bishop B sex might be D2 and Albert should be seven.
So that's the idea to have these aggressive bishops.
It does make quite a bit of sense sometimes, but let's say 94 Queen F five Bishop takes D3.
So here one is French thing might six check all 96 check to win the Queen.
So the queen moves and now it move.
17.
There is a bit of a controversial move, actually.
Objectively, it does seem natural to try and open up to the king here in the center.
Should we do this, though?
So there are various ways which try to open up the EFL.
What do you think is the best move
objectively?
So this is a 17.
So this is yeah, it is an iconic immortal game, but sometimes.
It's the final combinations which make the game hugely celebrated.
The actual means of getting there sometimes can be a bit dodgy, so we've got to be able to discern
what was it.
Was there an element of risk getting there?
We don't want to have too much risks in our own games.
Ideally, we want to be able to scale up our play to stronger and stronger opponents.
That's what I'm asking.
What do you think is the best move here for 100 points?
Okay.
The best move is not anything spectacular.
But Knight Jeffrey just harassed this queen.
What is this queen doing on H five?
It's a subject of tempo again.
And look at our queen here.
We've got these squares covered.
So there's no Queen G four.
We're going to take that.
So when is the queen go?
If the queen can't go to G for, let's say H six, we can actually plan this position.
Brooke, 81.
And be very happy here, actually.
If Black Castles, we can further harass the queen with Bishop C1 and there's huge trouble here.
Where is the queen going now?
There's only basically one square, it seems, Queen 86, which again, now this runs into a full 95.
There's no defender on H seven.
So in fact, what is the mission?
Is it to exploit the King Center or is there like another attacking gradient?
You let the King Castle, if there's no real defensive knight on F6, it makes the soft spots softer.
And here they're very soft.
We'd be winning h seven.
So technically this is a fantastic way to go just to actually let the opponent cancel.
So like 97 is hitting the queen and we're just chewing up the opponent's kingside and absolutely non
controversially winning here.
That is objectively the way to go.
But we do get a game of extreme beauty coming up with the move of the game, which does actually lose
technically the advantage for White.
So nice to have six check.
And I'll show you why that is the case, because it does seem to have a compelling logic to it.
Gee, tanks it takes.
And now.
Yeah.
It seems Plant wants to try and make use of the Queen, the Bishop and this road to the king and plays.
Actually, Rook, she ain't.
So it is getting a little bit scary for for white we have now Rook 81.
Adherence.
Blackstone term to make it a big mistake.
Rook 81 is interesting Bishop E4.
Just to show this position queen free how dangerous it is because there is a pin pawn on F2.
So how do we defend this fact?
Geoffrey There's rook takes.
Geoffrey And actually, we have to be careful not to be baited here.
King F1 Queensland's F2 is made so key H one bishop takes F2.
There is Bishop takes E seven Queen and three take nine H to this position which emerges is only a small
edge for white.
Yeah.
So that's that's not too glamorous.
So you might think, okay, so what's wrong with Rook 81?
Well, it works a treat, but maybe shouldn't off black makes a huge mistake now, which is very, very
tempting just to win that night on F3.
It is tempting.
So why is it One is why I ignored that.
France.
Before we get into that though, there is a move for Black, just for the record now, which is much
better than Queen takes F3.
And I'm just going to show you it.
Just for the record, Bishop, before it shuts down some of the dangers with these these soft spots,
the king's in the center, so there's actually a D.
Seven soft spot.
So we could say, well, it shields the D seven soft spot, which is important in various respects.
If Knight takes the four route, takes to check this position, Knight takes D four check.
It gets kind of hairy.
So check Queen snakes, E four.
It leads to a position where black is actually slightly better than in that variation.
If White's not careful, black can be slightly better if sea tanks, queen tanks.
This looks scary.
Bishop e4 Rook takes G to check King H one Rook takes H to check King takes H two.
This position leads to a false draw, basically.
Yeah.
White doesn't want to allow alone.
Well, let's just go with this check.
Bishop G to check if Bishop takes F5.
Actually didn't show that non e five check D five Queen takes F five.
This will be resulting in a perpetual draw draw potential.
So let's say Bishop G.
To check in this position, Black has to play and is a very logical looking move.
93 so this actually threatens Queen.
Thanks G2 mate.
What does White want to do here?
This has to be played by E three because if King D ain't once getting an advantage here of the d59 CD
four Bishop e seven check King K why it has the advantage.
It looks a bit scary but yeah, white is better there.
But with 93 black is guaranteeing actually a draw it seems because if rook tanks e free queen tanks
e3d5 black has Queen H six check and can do a perpetual check scenario.
And the reason why Y has to kind of keep up this perpetual check is if King have one, what would black
play here?
Shane Black does have resources as well, just in time.
So for ten points, what would you play here with Black?
Okay.
Yeah.
A five to support Bishop six.
What does White want to do?
White would have to give up.
Give.
Get the queens off.
And that's just better for black.
The thing is, if three takes bishop, a six is painful.
This is just a brutal.
So, yes, this whole variation here isn't so great if Bishop Defour is played.
So let's continue the analysis there.
If.
King If one then thinks G2 is interesting for 95.
Bishop takes E4, Czech Queen takes her free check, and this position warrants getting mated.
So.
KING F1 is actually very, very scary if we look at that.
Rook takes G2.
Yeah.
What do we do here?
It's just this is pretty diabolical.
If Rook takes the E4, Queen takes her free check.
Queen, G2 check.
And White's again, you know, in big trouble in that variation.
So yes.
Bishop d4.
Just to recap.
Bishop d4.
Is scary stuff.
It really is.
And it should have been played, it seems.
So anyway, it wasn't Queen saying they're free.
And what is going on here?
Well, there are certain soft spots, you could say around the king, anywhere where the king is kind
of around protecting.
They are very dangerous soft spots.
And in fact, why exploits the situation of the king in a sense now in a really amazing manner.
So what do you think is the first move here for 100 points?
So it looks as though we're threatened, but we've really got to do something quick.
The first move is rook tanks e seven shank.
Now, if this is not taken, let's just entertain King The eight, there's rook tanks D seven check
here.
KING Tanks.
And now we have this double check.
So the king has to move.
Bishop D7 King.
Bishop, take C six.
Check.
Queen 61.
King.
Queen D seven is Chapman.
So that's.
A refusal to take the rook.
Yeah.
So Rook takes D7 and here, if King sits there, does that mean actually a brilliant move in this position?
Which has rocked the eat shack.
So this is this is a really funny situation.
Rock the Shack, actually.
So if rock takes, we can rule that out.
We just we're just going to take the Queen.
Okay.
And if King takes, we play Bishop E for check and then take the queen.
Okay.
We're just better here in this resulting situation.
The Queen is better than the two rooks.
The other possibility.
Knight.
Thanks.
So what do we want to play here?
So there is a beautiful move in this position, a truly beautiful move, which leaves us.
It's like leveraging the power of double checks, actually.
Can you see what that move is?
Absolutely beautiful move to leverage the power of double checks.
Queen didn't even check was a black play.
King takes.
And then we're leveraging.
A double check scenario.
We can play bishop at five, check as example, and it's double check.
So the king has to move.
Queen can't take diplomatic immunity.
Where does the king go?
So say, to see sex.
And then we have Bishop D7 and that is actually checkmate.
So yeah, what a beautiful variation there.
So that's absolutely wonderful stuff.
If, if the king moves essentially we have Rook takes these seven check.
Amazing stuff.
And if.
King eight.
Yeah.
As mentioned, Rook, the Czech Bishop E4 is winning the Queen.
Okay, so anyway, it is taken.
But again, there's this amazing leverage of something very, very special.
So what would you play in this position?
Check all checks, even the outrageous ones.
So I won't play here.
Okay.
It is actually a beautiful queen.
Queen, 67 hair, Czech king tanks, and now Bishop F five.
Double check.
KING And now, Bishop.
Seven check.
KING fights.
If King dates her, then we can take we've either the pawn or the bishop, and that's checkmate.
So.
KING And then Bishop takes E7.
Checkmate.
Beautiful stuff.
KING Hunting.
Beautiful combination at the end.
But the focus of our course, we've got to get there safely for these combinations.
So we've got to be aware of the objective reality of this game.
As beautiful as it is from an instructive point of view, my six check.
Is it better to let the King console and exploit the soft spots because there's no defense of Knight
on F6?
That's the big question.
It turns out engines believe that in this position, you know, Knight Geoffrey was actually the way
to go.
So we're getting a situation that they can't play there.
So let them.
CASTLE because we're getting this amazing situation where H seven is terribly weak.
Yeah.
So och but anyway, you can see that the beautifully, you know, the wonderful combination in the end
makes this game really evergreen and the, the interesting inaccuracies and mistakes.
They actually adds to the analysis.
You know, if you, if you want to see the wonderful variations and resources of both sides, they add
interest, they add color.
Mikhail Tal said, you know, game without mistakes is like a game without color.
It's not as colorful as game with some inaccuracies and mistakes.
So, yeah, it's it's just a wonderful game, wonderful combination.
But from our point of view, I think consider sometimes letting the opponent Castle as a major option
to see if you've got key soft spot targets.
But yeah, this worked out like a treat.
It is fundamentally a scary proposition to me personally to allow this G4 and these these bishops looking
down at the king, it does look kind of scary what is played and you know, objectively that amazing
resource that black hands behind the scenes does actually spell out some of these factors in Black's
favor.
But yeah to find that amazing bishop D4 resource you know it's a compute move though so you know so
yeah this sort of queen sex Geoffrey which is so lucrative you can see why this is absolutely lucrative
Queen takes a free but yeah this move bishop forward is a strange one in a way.
Yeah.
Once you are starting to be aware of the x ray dangers on King's soft spots, it makes a little bit
of sense from a human point of view.
But yeah, it's.
It's easy to understand why.
Why this wasn't an expected response.
Okay.
I hope you enjoyed this game so much.