| August 04, 2000 |
Biju Samuel vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 10 |
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This is the first known recorded game of Trice's Chess. It was played in the lunchroom of the law firm
of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius on the 19th floor of 1701 Market Street in Philadelphia.
It was played as a 10-minute blitz game, so some of the moves are not stellar under rigid examination.
What is demonstrated most of all is creativity. A different kind of thinking must go into the potential lethal
combinations in Trice's Chess.
Who saw the checkmate coming with the Chancellor at the end?
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| January 17, 2001 |
IM Larry Kaufmann vs. Ed Trice |
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Black resigned on move 41 |
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This game was played many years before Larry earned his Grandmaster title.
It was likewise played at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, but this time in their Washington D.C. office.
At the time Ed Trice was a computer contractor hired to redesign the payroll system for that large law firm.
The game was played during his lunch break while several employees observed.
Ed was not nearly as strong as he is today, and the shoddiness in his play is very apparent.
Still, this game is important for historical documentation.
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| March 24, 2003 |
Grim Reaper vs. Letchworthcrossing |
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White checkmates on move 62 |
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These were the early online accounts of Ed Trice from the USA and Collin Smith from Great Britain on the BrainKing.com playing site.
They would face each other again 20 years later also! (as GothicChessInventor and Letchworthshire) This variant was only three years old at the time and both players
were still in the formative stages of their playing careers. Here white fianchettoes his kingside Bishop and castles early.
After 14...Qd7 black has a nearly ideal setup with the Queen and Chancellor stacked in the d-file, the Queen supporing its light-squared
Bishop on one diagonal crossing while the Archbishop does the same on the perpendicular crossing, with a two-toned Pawn structure ready
to support Pawn breaks on either color rather easily. With 16. Ac5 white creates a Skork with his Archbishop, a skewer and a fork, threatening the
the black Queen with the Archbishop's Knight aura and the black Chancellor with its Bishop aura. This allows white to win the Light Exchange (Chancellor for Archbishop).
After a fair amount of manuevering, 40. f7 has white knocking on the door of a Pawn promotion. Black has to dedicate time and energy to remove this Pawn,
which white exploits and gains a mateial advantage. After 57. e5 white has another deadly passed Pawn that ultimately promotes and leads to
what is perhaps the first-ever two Chancellor checkmate.
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| August 25, 2003 |
Juan Grande vs. Ed Trice |
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White checkmates on move 15 |
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Played in the early days of Trice's Chess when people played 1. f4 as if it was the equivalent of 1. e4 in 8x8 chess, which it is not.
It is one of the earliest realizations that Nh6 and Bg4 made for a powerful attacking posture for black.
It is also perhaps the first game to show how deadly the Chancellor can be once the i-Pawn comes off of the board when the King is castled kingside.
The stunning sacrifice Axh3+ must have come as quite a surprise to white.
With the most accurate defense white can draw, but that never stops Ed Trice from playing with aggression.
The last five moves are worthy of study.
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| October 03, 2004 |
Ed Trice (Archbishop odds given) vs. Mattolin |
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White checkmates in 38 moves |
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Here is an interesting game played on GothicChessLive.com where white offered material odds at the start of the game.
Ed plays without his Archbishop the entire game. This was played at blitz time controls of Game in 12 minutes with a 12 second increment per move, at the request of black.
The game features white castling on move 4, something you cannot do otherwise in Trice's Chess (the removed Archbishop allows this
to happen one move sooner than usual.) Black intends to attack hard against the j2 square by trading the c8 Bishop for the h3 Knight,
then stacking up the Queen-Archbishop-Bishop all on the same diagonal (d8-e7-f6...j2).
Black is poised to make quick work of the game, and white, almost suicidally, opens the e-file, for the half-threat of getting
the castled Rook to hit against the Archbishop on e7 and Chancellor on e8. Mattolin dodges this easily with 11...Cg7 then 12...Ag6,
bringing these pieces ever closer to the enemy King. Trice tries to play passively after Mattolin castles,
but 17...g4!? breaks things open and the attack begins. With 23...Nxg2+!? we see black again acting very aggressively,
forcing most of white's play. Trice counters with the only means at his disposal, short range tactics to accumulate pawns,
while the strongest majors are exchanged. After 25...Axg3, black looks to be winning, as ...Ah2 would be mate if the white
Rook could be pulled off of the second rank. With some keen play with rooks in the open files, and some excellent coordination
with his very active Knight, white creates his only tangible threats of the game. Mattolin goes counter-Pawn-hunting with the
Archbishop, stranding it in the a-file, far from the white King. The checkmate that is delivered with white's Bishop, Rook, and Knight
almost looks like a subtle creation of an endgame problem composer.
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| October 14, 2004 |
Ed Trice (USA) vs. Uwe Kreuzer (Germany) |
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White checkmates on move 20 |
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Another one of the formative Trice's Gambit games, where players knew they had to defend h7, but the exact procedure for it was not yet known.
Uwe Kreuzer tries to assign this job to his Chancellor on f6 so that his Archbishop need not retreat to g8, but things don't work out well this way.
Ed mobilizes his army to attack quickly, and black is soon overwhelmed.
Uwe does realize white's sacrifice could lead to a solo Archbishop checkmate, so he tries to clear a flight path for his King
by moving his Chancellor. But he missed the tactic that was on its way, and it's an attractive checkmate using only the Archbishop.
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| October 16, 2004 |
Ed Trice vs. Robert Colanzi |
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White checkmates on move 15 |
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This game between "old chess friends" Rob Colanzi and Ed Trice ranks high on our list of favorites because of the interesting sudden turn of events.
Black plays a typical "King's Indian" type of game, with a fianchetto of the King's Bishop on the primary long diagonal for his side. Notice there are
actually three long diagonals in each direction (a1-h8, b1-i8, c1-j8) and (j1-c8, i1-b8, h1-a8) in Trice's Chess. The game proceeds in a logical fashion, each
side develops their pieces in a typical manner with some shared symmetry. White plays the move 7. j3 which appears to be a complete waste of
time, but the objective of the subsequent manuever Nh3-j2-i4 requires the j2 square to be vacated. After 13. g4! almost everyone looking at the
game thinks White has dropped his Queen, and indeed Rob plays NxQ (which is 13...Nxd4) next. But there is a stunning mate in two with just the Knight and Bishop
after immediately sacrificing another major piece: the deadly achbishop. After 14. Aj6+ either 14...Kj8 15. Bxi7# mates, or the finish my smiling
opponent saw and chose to allow for posterity.
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| December 22, 2004 |
Ed Trice (USA) vs. Andreas Kaufmann (Germany) |
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Black resigned on move 21 |
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Part of a 4-game match from the first Internation Tournament for Trice's Chess. Both Andreas Kaufmann and Uwe Kreuzer of
Germany made strong showings in this tournament, and the Trice-Kaufmann battles captured the most attention. This game features
a gradual build-up, then with one Knight incursion, the initiative swung convincingly to white's side. Black's pieces are soon
in the awkward situation of having to "interfere" with the radiating attacks from the white pieces, rather than fully defending
the position. With one miscalculated move by black, white is able to end the game with a surprise Queen sacrifice leading to a rare
solo-checkmate by the Chancellor on the next move. Black resigned without waiting to deal with it.
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| February 14, 2005 |
Ed_Trice vs. Benoit_Fressinet |
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White checkmates on move 18 |
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As the marketing and promotion of the Trice's Gambit Thematic Tournament was still underway, an unusual challenge echoed through certain internet discussion boards.
The "brother of a Grandmaster" claimed he had found a way to win as black when playing Trice's Gambit.
So, Ed accepted the challenge to play one game as white against him after 1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Axc4 was the designated starting position.
This claim was soon demonstrated to be "full of hot air" as Ed checkmated his opponent in less than 20 moves.
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| May 16, 2005 |
Andreas Kaufmann (Germany) vs. Ed Trice (USA) |
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Black resigned on move 37 |
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In one of the first large international tournaments, this was Ed Trice's first lost. Andreas Kaufmann played 1. h4 which is
an opening move rarely seen, and perhaps worth further investigation. Both sides have castled by move 14, and the stage is set for
an equal middlegame. White is able to control the action, gradually moving his pieces to the kinside for an attack. Black, in unfamiliar territory,
commits a few moves demonstrating his indecisiveness. After black grabs a meaningless Pawn with 26...Qxa2, white proceeds full steam ahead with
his attack. With a Queen and Chancellor hunting the black King, white crowns his victory with a nice sacrifice.
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| July 05, 2005 |
Robert Colanzi vs. Ed Trice |
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White checkmates on move 36 |
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One of the earliest games played on the beta version of our first online website (and man, the site was ugly!)
Opening with 1. e4 e5 (the Chancellor's Pawn), which has since fallen out of fashion (perhaps undeservedly so),
Rob manages to castle first while Ed "goes on a fishing trip" with his Chancellor.
Playing Cc7 as black is a bad omen. The Chancellor does much better to launch into the g-file rather than the c-file.
It tends to get stranded on the queenside, and such is the case here.
Rob correctly trades his Chancellor for black's Archbishop along with the opportunity to seize the open f-file.
White's rooks soon seize the 7th rank, setting up a nice Archbishop checkmate. Black had a mate in 2 in the final position, if he could only move!
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| July 05, 2005 |
Ed Trice (USA) vs. Andreas Kaufmann (Germany) |
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Black resigned on move 35 |
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Another Thematic Tournament was held in Prague in 2005 where Trice's Gambit was agreed to be played in a series of 2 game matches. Each player
played the same opening line beginning with 1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Axc4 as both white and black. This early gambit turned out to produce exciting games
with decisive attacks. The question is: Does black have time to grab the c-Pawn and retreat without losing too much momentum? This game does not disappoint,
as the gambit progenator sacrifices material in an unorthodox fashion to get the black King in all kinds of trouble. After 35 moves, the weary defender calls it quits in
an inferior position, some would say too early to resign in, although there are no winning chances for his side. We see a Queen sac, Knight sac, and Chancellor sac in this awesome game.
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| July 07, 2005 |
Ed Trice (USA) vs. George Tsavdaris (Greece) |
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Black checkmates on move 40 |
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One of the best games of Trice's Chess ever played, and one that Ed Trice himself analyzed on and off for over 15 years to try to better understand.
George plays "the game of his life" with profound manuevers and long range strategic objectives that seem to defy our common sense.
He gives up his Chancellor for Ed's Archbishop early on in the game, something which usually features the underdog with the remaining Archbishop about to go on a rampage!
Instead George only moves his Archbishop 2 more times in the next 25 moves. Ed's Chancellor, Queen, and Rook are stacked vertically in the d-file, a stronger formation than
Alekhine's Gun, yet he can't make use of them. The shocking Pawn thrust i5! by black miraculously causes a slow-motion collapse of the white position.
A game you must see!
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| October 05, 2005 |
Cartaphilus vs. TwirlingFern |
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Black resigned on move 34 |
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A game that transposes into the ever-popular Genesis Opening
black tries an early sortie with Ng4, an aggressive reaction, but white has a violent reply.
The early opening stage fireworks are fun to watch as the sparks fly.
Cartaphilus was an expert (USCF 2000) level player from California, and his tactical prowess was on display in this game.
TwirlingFern makes the most of his chances and tries to keep it respectable.
In the end, white has the clearly won game, so black respects that and resigned.
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| October 06, 2005 |
Cassius vs. Cartaphilus |
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White resigned on move 15 |
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Cartaphilus never disappoints with his dynamic, even risky tactics.
Cassius (Uwe Kruezer of Germany) tries to steer clear of The Genesis opening early on.
Cartaphilus just throws a hammer at him, demonstrating why certain moves are played in the order they are supposed to be played.
Cassius gets a little too aggressive with his Chancellor, and soon finds himself "in too deep."
Cartaphilus has a deadly but easy-to-see combination waiting for him at the end.
Frustrated, white resigns early.
The game of Trice's Chess will punish mistakes without mercy.
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| October 07, 2005 |
Robert Colanzi vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 15 |
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One of the most entertaining games on the site that you will see.
Played on a Friday night after a few beers, Ed decided to violate every opening principle and measure of sound advice.
Black brings out his Chancellor, and just keeps moving it around with reckless abandon.
Rob chases it around, as any self-respecting player would.
Then in a moment of buzzed inspiration, Ed finds a sneaky trick, if white gets too greedy.
Can you see the surprise checkmate at the end?
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| October 07, 2005 |
Larry Lepes vs. Cartaphilus |
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White resigned on move 32 |
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Necomer Larry Lepes crosses swords with online account "Cartaphilus" who is an expert class chess player.
White plays cautiously in the opening, and swashbuckling Cartaphilus brings out the heavy artillery at once.
Forced to make a retreat, black redeploys his forces quickly and "all over the place"
The black Archbishop and Chancellor are merciless in their onslaught.
White resigns once resistance is futile.
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| October 09, 2005 |
Ed Trice vs. Cartaphilus |
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White checkmates on move 25 |
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This game is interesting because Cartaphilus openly declared that he found a sure-fire way to win as black in the Trice's Gambit opening.
This has happened on more than one occasion with another player making a similar claim.
Stirring the controversy in the middle of the Thematic Tournament where that opening MUST be played by both sides, black continued to make grandiose claims.
For once, and to the surprise of many, Ed remained quiet during all of the posturing.
He "let his moves do the talking," and several of these were worthy of "style points" along the way.
Watch as Ed surrouds the enemy King and delivers back-to-back Pawn checks, and the only legal move is for the enemy Queen to take the pawns.
Ed picks up the Queen but black stubbornly plays on until the end.
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| April 14, 2006 |
Larry Lepes vs. Michael Ferris |
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White checkmates on move 5 |
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This game is more of a known trap than actual contest between two equally matched combatants.
Michael was literally brand new to the game, and Larry was being devious in rolling out the red carpet for him.
Getting the Chancellor into the same file as the enemy King can produce a so-called "smothered checkmate."
It is impossible to produce such a checkmate in 8x8 chess so quickly.
As a result, many newcomers get blindsided by this kind of attack.
Adding insult to injury, the Chancellor remains under attack on the very same move the checkmate is delivered.
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| May 28, 2006 |
Grandmaster Bobby Fischer vs. Grandmaster Friðrik Ólafsson |
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Draw agreed |
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Possibly the last private Bobby Fischer game played casually in Iceland while awaiting the arrival of Ed Trice, Frank Camaratta, Titus Keiningham, and the gorgeous model Alexis Skye.
Ed Trice raised $15 million to get Fischer to play a match against Anatoly Karpov in the 10x8 variant known as Gothic Chess at the time.
The team arrived in Reykjavik on June 7, 2006 to present Frank Camaratta's 10x8 board with the new piece designs.
This was not the first time Fischer played this variant, and he and his trusted Grandmaster friend demonstrate some deep and subtle notions in this game.
Fischer prefers to solidify his King at the expense of a Pawn or two, gets his own Knight kicked from c3 back to b1, yet still emerges with the best chances.
True to his well-known montra, Bobby had to "give squares to get squares," but his clever opponent hangs a Bishop intentionally to secure a clever draw at the end.
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| October 14, 2006 |
Ed Trice vs. Grandmaster Susan Polgar |
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Black checkmates on move 32 |
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Grandmaster Susan Polgar won the Women's World Chess Championship 4 times!
She was in Philadelphia to give a 65-board chess simul and to meet Ed Trice.
She was helping with the Bobby Fischer vs. Anatoly Karpov match where they would both play Trice's Chess.
In the event Bobby Fischer was incapable (or refused) to finish the match, she would step in and continue to play for the sake of the sponsors.
In this game, Ed attacked very quickly, getting a huge lead in development that looked overwhelming.
Susan realized he was "overdeveloped," and many of his pieces were targets that had to retreat (for many moves in a row!) eventually. Beautiful play by Susan crowns a Queen sacrifice leading to an "Arabian Checkmate."
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| Mystery Date |
Famous Player vs. Grandmaster |
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White checkmates on move 44 |
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This game appears in Ed Trice's multiple-book series, "Better Than Chess," in one of the later volumes.
The players are not disclosed here online.
It is the last known game of a famous chess player.
The rest is revealed in the book.
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| July 09, 2017 |
Sergey Bugaevsky vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 19 |
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Sergey is from the far eastern block of Russia and is a knowledgeable 8x8 chess player.
He has only been playing Trice's Chess for about a year at the time of this game.
This game shows one of the longest "check-bait" combinations ever! The opponent is "baited" into unforced moves
which allow a clever checkmate. The move 11...e6!! actually looks like a blunder, since white's 12. g5 is a Pawn
move that threatens both the Archbishop on f6 and the Knight on h6 simultaneously. One of them will be captured on the next move. Incredibly, black allows this,
lets the Knight get captured, then lets a Bishop get captured with check, all for sake of setting up a Queen sacrifice allowing a checkmate with the Archbishop and Chancellor!
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| January 31, 2018 |
Joker80 Program vs. Ed Trice |
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Black adjudicated a win on move 41 |
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The Joker80 program descended from the "Joker" 8x8 chess program code.
It was written by Physicist Harm Geert (who goes by H.G.) Muller from the Netherlands.
H.G. might be best known for writing an entire working chess engine using less than 2000 characters of source code!
Ed Trice and H.G. hold very different views for the "value" of the pieces on the 80-square board. Both have made compelling arguments
in online forums for their particular piece weight assignments. This game was proposed by Ed to showcase "how to win" against such piece weights as the ones chosen by H.G.
Ed played some "quirky but correct" moves to get Joker80 into trouble. In the end, he had a Chancellor + 6 pawns and Joker80 had just 6 pawns, so the game was declared a win for Ed.
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| January 31, 2018 |
Ed Trice vs. Chess V Program |
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White checkmates on move 35 |
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After "warming up" by beating the Joker80 program, Ed played against the weaker Chess V program.
Chess V was programmed to play many different variants, all roughly equally as bad.
Ed decided to play more for "style points" by making unusual and unexpected moves to "confuse" the program.
The result is an amusing game that showcases that there is plenty of room for creativity in Trice's Chess.
This game was likewise sparsely annotated in an online forum for a while and appears in Ed Trice's book quintilogy "Better Than Chess."
Hopefully this will inspire younger players not to fear computer opponents.
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| April 24, 2019 |
Ed Trice vs. Jon Fredrik Asvang |
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Black resigned on move 36 |
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Jon is a FIDE expert chess player rated in the high 2000 range closing in on 2100.
He scored impressively in the combined Nordic Championship in 2020 with players from Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Jon tied for 3rd place.
In 2019 he started playing Trice's Chess and is a rising star in this variant.
Here he plays The Genesis Opening in fine fashion against Ed Trice, but he makes a few non-optimal moves in the early middlegame.
This allows Ed to set up an intuitive Knight sacrifice on move 22, which is difficult to evaluate since it is traded for "attacking prospects."
In the end it proves to generate enough momentum that white emerges victorious.
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| April 24, 2019 |
Ed Trice vs. Anders Elberg Jensen |
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Black resigned on move 60 |
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Anders is from Denmark and he's an enthusiastic variant player across many different games.
Here he totally outplays Ed in the opening, getting 5 attackers on Ed's weak i3 Pawn early in the middlegame.
Ed scrambles to find some sort of way to equalize, and he barely avoids being wiped off of the board!
White finds a flaw in a few of black's' responses, leading to a long-range strategy that is easy to understand yet takes many moves to realize.
After "winning this middlegame battle," white has to avoid a few endgame landmines along the way.
The final endgame is a Chancellor against 8 pawns, one of which gets one square from promoting! White barely wins the race to prevent this.
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| June 30, 2019 |
National Master Jon Vehre vs. International Untitled Ed Trice |
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Black resigned on move 53 |
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Ed Trice likes to say "This is my favorite loss." It is a game that does not disappoint the crowd. The tactical complexities
generated in the middlegame are almost too numerous to deal with properly. Any of the trades made in the incorrect order, for 11 moves in a row,
could have spelled catastrophe for either side! Black plays in true coffeehouse style by moving his Chancellor on move 1, something that should be avoided!
This puts added psychological pressure on John to win. Black trades the Chancellor for the white Archbishop early on to create a solid Pawn chain, and
white trades a Knight for those 3 formidable pawns. Notice how Ed had the idle threat of Axa2# if white's Chancellor unguards the a2 square, meanwhile John is creating
threat after threat from a superior position. The battle is fought hard right down to the Rook and Pawn endgame, that John finally wins. One of the best games of Trice's Chess.
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| October 22, 2019 |
Ed Trice vs. Jarl Carlander |
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White checkmates on move 38 |
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This was a blitz game played online at PyChess before it became a site loaded with immature "cliques" that spread falsehoods about players they do not like.
Early on, this particular game had some dull "weaker piece threatening stronger piece"
type of back and forth moves. But, it quickly takes on a peculiar aspect. Black wins a Pawn at the expense of
having only one piece in play, his queenside Knight, which ends up hopping all the way over to the normal slot reserved for the
first move of the kingside Knight. Furthermore, white has already castled and has 3 pieces in play, with a 4th about to deliver check.
Most interestingly, during the live streaming of this game, black declared he would "toss the kitchen sink" just to play for a draw. With this modified premise in mind, note how he very
nearly achieves this goal, even at considerable material expense! Very impressive play by Jarl. Look at the traps lying in wait in the final few moves of this game.
Then, when all seems to be going in black's favor, white uncorks a killer mating tactic by sacrificing his Queen.
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| December 17, 2019 |
Ed Trice vs. Stockfish with Trice's Chess coded |
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White checkmates on move 39 |
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There was an interesting website that hosted some 10x8 variants, including Trice's chess, that ran a Stockfish variant engine online as well.
The "clicque" of immature players at PyChess, and the plethora of absurd variants it added later, made it a place only frequented by fools and dotards.
My first six games against the Trice's Chess Stockfish engine were all losses for me.
It was reaching depth 15-17 very quickly, quite impressive, and finding tactics that were out of this world.
After months of practice, I finally found potential weaknesses that could be exploited.
As you might expect, this required unorthodox play on my part, and this game features vicious attacks and counters, a must-watch game.
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| January 13, 2020 |
Zied Haddad vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 15 |
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This might be the first time two chess variant creators faced off against one another ever, or perhaps after at least a century if Jose Capablance played against another variant creator.
Zied Haddad is the creator of Musketeer Chess, an 8x8 variant with additional pieces that can be added to the back rank as space becomes available.
He encountred Ed Trice on the PyChess website back when it was worth visiting.
Ed had been playing Trice's Chess on and off for nearly 20 years at the time of this game, so it was not exactly an even match up.
Ed throws out an unexpected Queen sacrifice at Zied, which must be refused. But, it was accepted.
The result was a Chancellor rampage that was just about to checkmate with consecutive Bishop moves at the end.
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| January 19, 2020 |
Stockfish with Trice's Chess coded vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 42 |
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Due to glitches on the site this day, the Stockfish variant program that plays Trice's Chess was "only" reaching depth-15.
This resulted in some unusual, but interesting choices for moves made during the opening.
Ed played solid, "typical" opening moves for a while, electing to get a decent position before attacking.
In the middlegame, Trice showed the perfect technique for how to chase down an enemy Archbishop with your own Bishop pair.
Stockfish was forced to accept insufficient material for its Archbishop, leading to progressively worse positions.
The instructive checkmate that is demonstrated is worth watching.
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| March 31, 2020 |
Zied Haddad vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 21 |
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The two variant authors face one another again, this time Zied is better prepared.
Zied is still "playing 8x8 chess on the 10x8 board" however. His moves are just transplanted and not really adopting to the nuisances of the new setup.
Ed Trice dangles his Queen as bait, then lets her fall, all to get the Archbishop activated.
The resulting use of the black Archbishop should raise some eyebrows, as it covers a vast amount of territory as Ed "gets his monney's worth" from the Queen sacrifice.
As time winds down, white is still undeveloped on the queenside and without attacking prospects.
Ed is way ahead on time, so white just resigned.
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| April 20, 2020 |
Ed Trice vs. Chess.com account e-pluszak |
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Black resigned in 25 moves |
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Another experienced 8x8 chess player on the chess.com website crosses swords with Ed Trice, this time not believing he is the inventor of the game.
A humorous conversation takes place during the game as a result.
The opening was rather boring.
The early middlegame was slow and plodding.
Then Ed lets his Queen hang in a situation which appears to give black a huge advantage, but Ed thought way ahead on this passive sacrifice.
A deadly Pawn promotion, and entertaining combination, awaits at the end.
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| October 06, 2020 |
Gergely Máté (Hungary) vs. Doug Dysart (USA) |
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Black checkmates on move 28 |
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Here we see USCF Tournament Director and FIDE Arbiter Doug Dysart show his talent.
Also famous for being Patient Zero in the Betty Ford Clinic for Chess Variant Addicts, Doug is expert strength in 8x8 chess.
Here Doug swerves his way through Gergely Máté's deployments, deftly avoiding trouble while inviting his opponent to "try to attack."
Doug baits his opponent into executing a plan that literally misses by a single tempo.
Doug's unexpected checkmate at the end may surprise a few readers.
Were you able to spot this clever checkmate?
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| October 14, 2020 |
Rick Knowlton vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 25 |
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Rick Knowlton is recognized as the leading mind in the world of modern and ancient chess variants.
He is the co-author of the book "A World of Chess: It's Development and Variations through Centuries and Civilizations" which is a fantastic tome in its comprehensive coverage of variants from the 4 corners of the globe.
He has also met Ed Trice on several occasions, interviewing him for some of his informatinve YouTube videos.
Here Rick makes some cautious play early on, having faced Ed's violent attacks before.
Ed gets all three supermajors in play in close proximity, then fans out and covers a vast territory.
And as an inside joke, Ed "promised" Rick he would only ever checkmate him with an Archbishop.
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| October 26, 2020 |
"Isaiah" from GreenChess.net vs. Ed Trice |
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White resign on move 29 |
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The player with the handle "Isaiah" is a Trice's Chess aficionado that plays on GreenChess.net in Budapest.
He is very enthusiastic and does not ever refuse a challenge to play.
We see an unorthodox opening being tried in this contest. Both players focus on the queenside forces at first.
Ed plots an unusual course for his Queen's Knight, sending it all the way to e6 almost without a plausible purpose.
Next Ed crowns a complex tactic with an unexpected Chancellor sacrifice.
Black resigns after a deadly Archbishop check is nearly mate.
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| November 14, 2020 |
"Llamas" from GreenChess.net vs. Doug Dysart |
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Black checkmates on move 14 |
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Any chess player that is familiar with the attacking style of the Italian player "Greco" will appreciate this game.
Doug basically "throws the kitchen sink" at his opponent and creates a violent King hunt as a result.
The hapless white King is chased clear across the board to the j5 square.
A Pawn makes the final checkmating move.
This is known as a "David & Goliath Mate" or simply a "Goliath Mate."
A very entertaining game to watch.
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| November 14, 2020 |
Ed Trice vs. "Wizard Runner" from chess.com |
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Black resigned on move 25 |
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This game starts out in The Spike opening and quickly enters uncharted territory.
White establishes the "Broad Pawn Center" and soon gets his knights deep into enemy territory.
Black fights on with amazing tenacity, frustrating white at times with his unorthodox barricading technique.
In the end, with time running low, black waves the flag of surrender.
If you watch this game in video animation mode, you might have to go back and replay it step by step.
The wild play in this game will have you scrunching your eyebrows!
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| November 14, 2020 |
"Archbishop Checkmate" from chess.com vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 31 |
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This opening transposes into something that resembles an "Old School" version of The Genesis opening, with a few notable differences.
White has a very stable position with a castled King, while Ed seems to get into a bit of trouble.
Ed loses the right to castle and his King is even momentarily on the second rank.
It is all part of an unlikely, long-range tactic that has a lightning bolt end to it.
Ed wins the opponent's Queen then sacrifices his own to get his Chancellor into a killer attacking position.
After some fancy footwork with his Chancellor and Bishop, he receives white's resignation.
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| March 11, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. Anonymous player from chess.com |
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White checkmates on move 18 |
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Yet another Spike Opening, but this one features white getting his Archbishop stationed on the d3 square.
From here it can do a great deal of damage with g6 a checkmating square in its range.
We see white sacrifice a Bishop to deflect the black Queen away from a critical defense.
A rare Archbishop + Rook cooperative force for such a short game!
Usually we see Chancellor and Bishop tag-team checkmates.
As always, any player that wishes their published game to be anonymous, the wish will be granted.
However, once I do this, I will never subsequently reveal your name, even if you asked me to do so.
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| March 28, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. tiagoalves3000 from chess.com |
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Black resigned on move 24 |
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Black plays too passively against the aggressive Spike Opening.
Ed gets 4 pawns in the center that are ready to get in even deeper, keeping black's pieces at a distance.
With his Chancellor on i3 and Archbishop on f2, Ed has black's castled King in the sniper rifle's scope ready to fire upon.
Black can only make retreating moves and wait for the final assault to happen.
The Chancellor play by white collapses the black King's safety.
See if you could spot it at the end.
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| April 16, 2021 |
specialsunflowers1 from chess.com vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 16 |
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White is a strong 8x8 chess player with a 2700 rating on chess.com
Like most chess players, he opens by pushing his King's Pawn twice, which is 1. f4 on the 10x8 board.
This is not the best first move in Trice's Chess however, but there is nothing wrong with it, of course.
Ed detects that his opponent is still "thinking like an 8x8 chess player," so he looks for some unfamiliar attacking patterns that will confuse his opponent.
The first such pattern is the Knight + Bishop attack against the white Archbishop. It's an "upside down" version of how the attack usually takes place.
The straw that broke the camel's back was the offbeat Archbishop attack against the white Rook with the black Knight helping out.
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| May 05, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. National Master John Vehre |
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Black resigned on move 17 |
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Almost two years since their last encounter, which John won in impressive style, these two titans meet again.
While Ed has been playing at least 10 games per week since their last struggle, John has been enjoying war gaming scenarios more than variants.
Ed has since taken up the mantle to shape The Spike opening into a formidible weapon, something he and John both researched years ago.
This opening lands in the Half Queenside Petroff variation, the most complex offshoot of what is considered the most complex opening in Trice's Chess.
Ed has a small notebook on how to play this line, John is seeing it for the first time.
It only took one strategic miscue by black to allow white to pounce and get the best of the play.
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| July 08, 2021 |
National Master "eltendorf" on chess.com vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 26 |
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This game turns into a classic "street fight" almost immediately.
White fianchettoes and looks to try to castle early, but black frustrates the completion of this with some taunting moves that postpones this.
Both sides remain uncastled and it is white that gets in the first check that forces the black King to lose castling rights forever.
Black enters into a well-planned "tough scrape" after bossing white around, so white takes the bait and relishes getting the counterplay started.
White's relentless attacks against the black King (stuck in the g-file) are met with well-timed escapes.
Ed's "denouement" is a stunning "interference theme" featuring a Chancellor sacrifice for checkmate, a new pattern worth learning.
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| October 23, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. "DongrUn" on chess.com |
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White checkmates on move 16 |
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This game ends with a spectacular Archbishop solo-checkmate after sacrificing a Chancellor.
It is the quintessential example demonstrating how quickly a fatal attack can be congured in Trice's Chess.
Even more impressive, white sacrifices a Knight for a Pawn just to get the Archbishop in range to execute the eventual checkmate.
Steady, consistent Pawn pressure can lead to positional merit that leads to such lightning bolt tactics.
An excellent blend of strategy and tactics.
Well worth the price of admission.
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| October 29, 2021 |
Anonymous on chess.com vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 10 |
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Another game with a spectacular Archbishop solo-checkmate, but this time, after sacrificing a Queen.
The opening is heading for a typical Genesis arrangement, but white veers off this course.
White gets a little ambitious with an aggressive Archbishop check that is easily countered.
Black blocks with his own Archbishop.
Rather than exchange archbishops, white gets greedy and tries to pin black and win his Queen.
After black allows white to capture his Queen, the surprise checkmate is demonstrated.
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| November 06, 2021 |
Anonymous on chess.com vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 19 |
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This is becoming known as "The Korchnoi Game," after Victor Korchnoi.
Korchnoi, in turn, was known as "Tal in reverse," after legendary merciless attacker World Champion Mikhail Tal.
In extremely complex, tactical positions, Tal would increase the complexity by attacking something else while leaving all existing attackers still in place!
Korchnoi would do the opposite and allow his opponents to attack him and place his own King in great jeopardy.
In this game, Ed emulates Korchnoi by allowing a vicious attack against his King while one of his own pawns guarding the King gets captured on the i7 square.
With one surprise move at the last second, all attacks are stymied simultaneously.
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| November 20, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. Nika Nikatovic |
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White checkmates on move 20 |
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This has been called "The Opera Game of Trice's Chess," after the famous game where Paul Morphy defeated the Duke Karl von Braunschweig and Count Isouard in consultation played during a night at the opera in Paris in 1858.
The Morphy game is perhaps the most famous game in 8x8 chess, for its brevity, intuitive sacrifices, and spectacular finish.
This Trice's Chess game has many parallel features, including one innocent-looking Pawn sacrifice early on which results in a momentum buildup which cannot be stifled.
At several points along the way, instead of opting for an obvious material gain, Ed applies even more pressure and gets the "perfect piece for the job" into play right when it is needed.
The fluidity of the resulting attack is impressive to watch as it unfolds.
This game was given its name by Trice's Chess enthusiast Doug Dysart.
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| November 24, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. Nika Nikatovic |
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White checkmates on move 10 |
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Just a few days after their now-famous game, Nika Nikatov Nikatovich challenged Ed Trice to a rematch with the same colors being played.
Ed was in top form, drilling tactics for 2 hours per day while building animated GIFs to aid in his study.
The result is an amazing ultra-miniature game.
The Archbishop solo checkmate at the end comes right after a Knight sacrifice.
Were you able to see it coming?
Worth watching as a "movie" here on the site.
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| December 03, 2021 |
Nika Nikatovic vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 20 |
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Ed and Nika go at it again.
This time, Nika has the white pieces.
Ed positions all four of his minor pieces to attack and work their way closer to the enemy.
He doesn't have to actively use a single major or supermajor piece.
Notice how instead of winning the white Rook with Bxa1 black plays Bc3! instead.
Where can the white Chancellor run to in the final position? A true "strangulation."
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| December 12, 2021 |
Ed Trice vs. Sveshy on chess.com |
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White checkmates in 12 moves |
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A surpringly quick win against another strong 8x8 chess player.
Black's first mistake was to allow his Archbishop to be traded for a Bishop and a Knight.
This is almost NEVER a good idea.
Next, we see a typical "poisoned Pawn" being offered up, captured by the black Queen.
Stranded and out of play, the Queen sits on the a3 square while white gets his Chancellor and Archbishop into deadly position.
The Archbishop delivers checkmate as black's Chancellor is pinned and cannot recapture, a position you just have to see!
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| December 18, 2021 |
Linden Lyons vs. Ed Trice |
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White checkmates in 19 moves |
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The very end of the game is the most intriguing part of this contest.
Linden is a new enthusiast from Australia who really enjoys playing Trice's Chess.
He is one of the most active players on chess.com and he's one of Ed's friends on the site.
Black makes some aggressive Pawn moves to get Linden in a little bit of a jam.
The clever Queen and Knight coordinated attack is worth watching carefully.
The move order and the Chancellor sacrifice required at the end are of a puzzle-like quality that you will enjoy.
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| January 17, 2022 |
Stockfish Experimental 14.7.2.5 vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigned on move 25 |
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As a result of some online discussion board "chatter" (trash talk) where fans of Ed Trice were perhaps paying him too much homage, a splinter group from the Stockfish Variant code fork were contacted.
These team members were responsible for maintaining the Open Source code segment that allowed Stockfish to play variants.
The Stockfish variant code is not authored by the original 8x8 chess programming team but it is supposedly equally as formidable.
This experimental version of Stockfish is capable of defeating all other Trice's Chess programs, including Gothic Vortex.
The question was raised, could it defeat the inventor of the variant?
Although Ed won this game, the team discovered a bug in the program which hindered its play.
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| January 19, 2022 |
Ed Trice vs. Stockfish Experimental 14.7.2.7 |
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Black resigned on move 48 |
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The Stockfish team requested 24 hours to debug and test their Artificial Intelligence code. The time out was granted.
Play resumed 2 days later, at which time the Stockfish team disclosed that 600,000 CPU hours were used to train the original algorithm.
Ed Trice said since 4,000,000 CPU hours were used to train Deep Mind's "AlphaZero" 8x8 chess program, perhaps more time was needed for his 10x8 variant to be learned by a machine.
The team was not very receptive of this innocent remark, and some hostilties were exchanged.
In the end, Ed Trice prevailed again, this time promoting a Pawn to a Chancellor to seal the win.
Ed offered the suggestion that 80,000,000 CPU hours, minimally, might be needed to train a 10x8 program to play Trice's Chess as strongly as AlphaZero plays 8x8 chess.
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| February 22, 2022 |
Ed Trice vs. Nauthnim |
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White checkmates on move 21 |
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A real 8x8 chess "speed demon," Nauthnim is a player from North Vietnam.
His play is fearless. He attacks while under attack, and his play reminds us a bit of Mikhail Tal.
When the position becomes complex, we find both players making it even more complex.
Pieces are found hanging, even the Queen. Archbishops are on the loose, and knights check and fork kings.
It is as if we are watching an Old West gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona.
Ed delivers a nice checkmate on move 21 after the dust has settled.
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| April 02, 2022 |
Ed Trice vs. "Checkmate Me With A Pawn" |
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White checkmates on move 17 |
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This was a casual game played between rounds at the 2022 Cincinnati Open.
Black had never played Trice's Chess before, but saw Ed playing a simul and asked if he could try "with one special request."
Ed was asked to use a Pawn for the checkmate, provided that the Queen was also not nearby.
To make sure he would complete the task, Ed made sure his own Queen was off the board early.
Black was rated under 1600 in 8x8 chess but his enthusiam for Trice's Chess is well over 2000!
He eventually scored 3.0 points in his section which is a pretty good result for a young player.
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| April 23, 2022 |
Ed Trice vs. Linden Lyons |
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White checkmates on move 27 |
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Linden Lyons is a Trice's Chess aficionado from Australia. In this game, Ed offered to play him with Archbishop Odds.
White removes his own Archbishop from the board before the start of play. This type of handicapping in 8x8 chess was popular in the late 1800s, and with so much material on the Trice's Chess board, it is a fun way for strong players to provide their opponents with better chances.
An experienced player may notice the game starting as if it might be some sort of gambit line, and white does play a little too glibly for rapid development.
White gets excellent squares for all of his minor pieces and castles before black even moves his Archbishop.
By the time the black Archbishop gets into the playing field, his own King is in the process of being surrounded.
Only the second recorded game with Archbishop Odds being won by the oddsgiver.
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| May 03, 2022 |
Doug Dysart vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates in 56 moves |
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One of the longest games featured on the website, signaling that Doug came well prepared for battle.
Ed was in a bad mood, since someone deliberately crashed into his Tesla that day, "to see if it would automatically move out of the way" to avoid the crash.
Doug immediate played The Spike opening, and Ed surprised everyone with 1…e5 as his reply.
The game was in new territory already on move 2.
It quickly broke into a few Pawn skirmishes in between piece manuevers, foreshadowing a long, slow attack to come.
The game ends in a puzzle-like fashion, an Arabian-mate using a Chancellor instead of a Rook and Knight. A hard fought game by Doug, who is evolving into a formidable player.
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| May 31, 2022 |
Ed Trice vs. Boris Kruglan |
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Black resigned on move 24 |
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Variant enthusiasts from all over the world are able to find out who's who thanks to search engines. This is how Ed Trice encounters most of his challengers.
Boris claimed to be rated "2600" but did not specify if this was FIDE, over the board, or from an online playing site.
He was generally overbearing, and he was persistent, so I granted his request for a game.
If it really was his first game, he played very well. I threw the Advance Variation of The Spike opening at him, one of the hardest to defend properly.
Kruglan played like a typical 8x8 chess player, establishing a broad Pawn center but he could not resist getting his Chancellor into play too early.
Ed sacrificed some material to create open lines to the enemy King, and the fight ended soon after the white Queen started her rampage.
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| August 25, 2022 |
Lenny Cavallaro vs. Ed Trice |
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Black checkmates on move 17 |
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Lenny has been playing chess a great many years, and Trice's Chess for about three of those years.
He always plays energetically in the opening, and he loves to fianchetto when it's practical.
Lenny resisted the temptation to do so in this game, and with good cause. He played a very pragmatic opening, opting for small, tangible improvements to his position.
What is special about this game is how quickly it becomes violent. For those who insist bishops are always stronger than knights, take a closer look at the finish of this game.
After Ed plays Bxj2+ "it's all over but the shoutin'" as they say.
The sacrifice of the Chancellor at the end of the game to allow the Queen + Bishop checkmate is particularly enjoyable.
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| October 15, 2022 |
Wise Experienced Player vs. New Eager Player |
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White checkmates on move 31 |
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A game played between an experienced Trice's Chess player and a decent 8x8 chess player who was new to Trice's Chess.
The experienced player makes some moves that, on the surface, appear to be bad.
Usually these moves lose material or surrender something that you might not want to give up.
The eager player accepts these "gifts" and appears to be better off in so doing, but we find out the wise player was planning ahead and setting traps.
This is a "parable game" that appears in Ed Trice's book series, "Better than Chess" but it was an actual game between two combatants.
The material sacrifices are worthy of study for anyone seeking to explore the depths of this game.
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| November 12, 2022 |
GM Kravtsiv vs. IM Pavlov |
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White checkmates on move 51 |
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A UNIQUE game played between two strong Russian 8x8 chess players. You get the sense they are "half-playing" chess and half-playing this variant,
since some moves are "typical" of 8x8 chess motifs but slightly out of place in the 10x8 environment.
For example, as both players push their f-pawns twice, they shut-in their own Bishops in their c-files.
The game turns into a long series of Knight maneuvers early on, with the associated antagonistic Pawn play.
It is a strategic battle in search of lightning bolt tactics, which appear at the end.
An entertaining game produced by a pair of minds with a creative interpretation of Trice's Chess.
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| February 21, 2023 |
Bihasa vs. Gothic Vortex |
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Black checkmates on move 77 |
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Here we see the complex Half Queenside Petroff Variation of what started out in the Genesis Opening.
National Master John Vehre has said this line of play "Opens up a can of worms," and Ed Trice calls it the "Tornado Construction Kit." It gets complicated very quickly.
Bihasa reached at least depth 19 on every move. Depth 22 was seen a few times. Vortex reached depth 13 every move, but hit 30+ during quiescence when just generating captures. Depths
15-17 were reached near the end of the game.
The "amazing thing" was how often the programs disagreed in their displayed lines of play.
Look at: 22…Bxh3!? 23. Axh3 Qxh3! 24. ixh3 Ai5! and there is a brief pause in the action. Bihasa must walk into the check and drop material as peril looms.
Continue 25. Kh1 Axh3 26. Rf1 Axj2+ 27. Ki2 Ag5 28. h4 Ah6 and the game is far from decided. Vortex maintains a "strange, long lasting initiative" from here even though the
Archbishop has no immediate rampage or plunder to undertake.
Bihasa could search all day and NOT see this line of play, because of the values chosen for its piece weights.
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| March 31, 2023 |
Leonid vs. Vassily |
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Black checkmates on move 22 |
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Here we have an interesting game featuring some surprising tactics.
Not because the tactics are "long range" - because they’re short range with occasional intermezzos with subtle, quiet moves that are profound.
They are also not commonplace nor are they typical: we see a creative mind at work playing with the black pieces.
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| April 04, 2023 |
brogg on GreenChess dot net vs. Ed Trice |
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White resigns after move 24 |
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A player of unknown strength appeared on Green Chess, winning games in some esoteric variants.
After playing only one game of Ed's variant, he showed some remarkable skill, possibly an 8x8 chess player with good tactical vision.
Whenever encountering such an unknown player, Ed tries for some oddball moves that mask subtle combinations in the subterranean weeds.
13…d6 sets up the freeing 14…Nd7 which looks unimpressive but that Knight wants to get to e5 next.
16…Ae5! was even stronger, making the curious 18…d5!? slow motion attack possible, even though the black Bishop
on a6 was still hanging. Mate threats come out of nowhere once white takes the free Bishop!
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| May 01, 2023 |
Ed Trice vs. Doug Dysart |
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Black is checkmated on move 46 |
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Ed begins with 1. h4 which has similar objectives as the 8x8 chess line known as Bird's Opening (1. f4) without fear of any Fromm's Gambit continuation. White's 5. Nf4?! was a weak attempt to distract his opponent. Doug chased it to d3 instead, soon seizing the iniative. By the time of 10...Af5 black is well on the way to controlling
most of the key white regions on the board. Ed can only turn things around by noticing the g2 square is currently the safest one on the board for his King, so he "allows" his own
Chancellor to become pinned by Doug's Archbishop. After 13...Archbishop takes Chancellor with check and King takes Archbishop, white's position continues to improve.
The tactic 22. Nj6+ is worthy of study.
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| May 08, 2023 |
GothicChessInventor vs. letchworthshire |
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letchworthshire resigns after move 29 |
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This game harkens back to the era of material oddsgiving where one side gives the other a piece before the first move of the game.
Here Ed Trice gives up his Queen's Knight and allows the other person to move first.
This would have been known as Knight And Move Odds in the 1800's. Even more confusing, if you click on the link provided to the GreenChess website,
you'll see it is black to move first in the game shown there. That's because there was no way to edit the board before the start of the game.
To give Knight and move odds white had to throw away the piece then retreat his other Knight to the starting position, after which it was black to move first.
The replay of the game shown here is actually white to move while a piece ahead, and you will notice there is no black Knight on the b8 square at the beginning of the game
and white is allowed to move first as you would expect. We color converted the game to make it more natural to replay.
So Ed is down material to start out with and stil trades his Queen for the enemy Archbishop. We refer to this as losing The Heavy Exchange in Trice's Chess.
There's also a Medium Exchange and Light Exchange in this variant. Next Ed sacrifices his only remaining Knight just to have the enemy King recapture onto the 3rd rank.
This exposes the King to a barrage of attacks, often called a King Hunt in chess literature. Amazingly, the King Hunt leads to the Queen being checkmated in the final position.
That is, the Queen is attacked and has no safe square of refuge (it's not in check of course because it's not a King). Weary from the relentless attack,
letchworthshire resigns in exhaaustion. A creative game that one has to see to appreciate!
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| May 09, 2023 |
ChessPlayerMateo vs. letchworthshire |
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Black checkmates on move 30 |
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This is a game where black decides to sacrifice material in serarch of dominance along the diagonals alone.
First, a Chancellor is foresaken just to have a specific Pawn recapture that starts to crack open lines in the vicinity
of the enemy King. We see a Rook tossed to the wind where a Pawn could capture it, but white doesn't take the bait. So what does black do?
He captures a different white Pawn along the same rank, and this time white does take the Rook with a Pawn. And that's all that was needed
to set up the tactical combination where black checkmates with his Archbishop and both Bishops exhausting every flight square possible.
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| May 26, 2023 |
panzerschiff vs. letchworthshire |
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panzerschiff offered a draw on move 31 which was accepted |
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White is retired National Master John Vehre who was also a master in correspondence play in the USCF. This game started out in the
Spike Opening: Advance Variation which John helped forge as a strong system many years prior.
White maintains an enviable positional advantage throughout most of this game. Black played 13...O-O-O castling queenside early
and white delayed kingside castling with 24. O-O much later. Opposite-side castling usually sets the stage for wild kingside attacks,
but in this game, the slow-motion buildup to it is played at a very high level that requires deep analysis to appreciate. With pressure mounting
after 20. Bd2 black is practically forced to trade his Knight for only two pawns with 20...Nxc4 21. dxc4 Bxc4+ which showed amazing foresight.
White anticipated this volley and basically dared black to try and attack his position. Black responded by playing for the most unlikely
drawing sequence ever observed. After a bit of necessary manuevering, black disposes of a Pawn, a Knight, and a Bishop
to threaten a mate-in-1 with his Rook and Chancellor. White has only one defensive move in reply, and this allows a rare Chancellor Repetition Draw.
The purple diagrams at the end show the repetition moves, but they were not played in the actual game.
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| June 08, 2023 |
letchworthshire vs. shogi |
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White checkmates on move 18 |
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The first of two Letchworthshire games against shogi played on chess dot com with time controls
of 10 minutes per game with a 5-second increment.
This was the Genesis Opening: Fischer Attack named after Grandmaster Bobby Fischer who first played Af2 against
Grandmaster Friðrik Ólafsson in Iceland in 2006.
In this game white has a pretty Queen sacrifice 17. Qxi6+ hxi6 18. Cxi6# checkmating with the Chancellor and Knight
in an unusual configuration. Another great game by Letchworthshire.
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| June 08, 2023 |
letchworthshire vs. shogi |
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White checkmates on move 19 |
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Another instructive miniature delivered by England's best 10x8 variant enthusiast letchworthshire.
This was the Genesis Opening: Reversed Attack line. This variation is characterized by 3. c3 by white, sometimes played
after black plays an early ...d5 Pawn push. Recall white usually plays Nc3 to force ...c6 for black, so in playing
the c3 line white is making a move typically issued with the other color. White wastes no time dominating the d1-j7 diagonal so we get
an advanced preview of where the attack will land. White's 16. Ni5! is the signo dato that the attack is ready.
White offers the Archbishop as a sacrifice with 17. Aj7+ and accepting it would lead to an immediate checkmate
17...Nxj7? 18. Qxj7# so black plays 17...Kj8 instead. But this is a brinkmate that cannot be avoided.
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| June 10, 2023 |
letchworthshire vs. Antontio_III |
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White checkmates on move 13 |
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A blitz game from chess dot com played at 10 minutes per game with a 5 second increment per move. Here we see some home preparation
from The Urvogel opening (named from the Archaeopteryx fossil found in Germany. The "Ancient Bird" is like the old Bird's Opening in 8x8 chess.)
White sets a trap after 6. Qxc1 Ah6 7. Ai5! since after the black Archbishop takes white's Queen with 7...Axc1? 8. Ah7+! is deadly.
Letchworthshire said he already worked out tactics utilizing the Archbishop and Chancellor pieces that lead to a King hunt.
The final coordinating checkmate is rather impressive.
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| August 24, 2023 |
Rastapopoff vs. letchworthshire |
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Black checkmates on move 8 |
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A stunning minature from the Fast London Counterattack opening. It begins with black offering a Pawn gambit that white accepts,
then a black Knight is allowed to be captured trivially without material compensation (a passivle sacrifice), next comes an active
Chancellor sacrifice on e3 followed immediately by the other Knight, and this excellent combination is crowned with an Archbishop Solo Checkmate
that is amazing to watch.
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| August 27, 2023 |
letchworthshire vs. silly_goofy |
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White checkmates in 31 moves |
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Letchworthshire is a strong variant player from Great Britain. He is not without a sense of humor either. Much later he told me someone contacted him and said,
"I can't beat this kid no matter how hard I try. Can you play some unusual and quirky moves that still win? Just to demoralize him for me."
In this game, Letchworthshire did just that. Notice how 4. g4 loses a Pawn for white but 5. c4! doesn't win it back right away, and, in fact,
it offers up another Pawn, which must be refused! (if 5...dxc4? 6. Bxb7! striking the Rook on a8.) Look at further oddball moves by white such as
7. a4 and 9. a5 which advance a Rook-Pawn way too early. These confounding moves still do the job well and frustrate black.
Try to find a refutation for moves such as 14. Ra4 or after 16...Nxh2+ 17. Kg2! which eventually allows black to play Knight x Rook.
In this game, white had the chance to play a deadly Chancellor's Vortex which is a tactical motif that's so important we inserted
special diagrams into this game with notes to explain it as well.
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| September 04, 2023 |
Letchworthshire vs. GothicChessInventor 2023 Match Game 1 |
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Rare draw by insufficient material after white's 67th move |
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Letchworthshire came prepared for a fight in this long contest. He said if he gets a draw, Ed Trice was to continue playing him until one of them wins
three games, which Ed reluctantly agreed to in the end. Black played into the risky Queenside Alekhine: Four Pawn Attack via transposition.
White established pawns on c4, d5, e4 and f4 and black attaks on the flank after posting knights on h6 and g4. After 9. Cf3 each of white's supermajors
(the Queen, Chancellor, and Archbishop) are tasked with protecting lowly pawns. This is poor use of such strong pieces! Some players are critical of black's 11...Axe4 when
he could have taken the white Queen with his Archbishop, but Ed insists the preservation of his own piece outweighed swapping it off of the board. With 13...Af6! black again
threatens the white Queen and Chancellor simultaneously with the Archbishop, and leaves white with the difficult choice of which one to save. White's 17. Bc3 skewers black's
Chancellor and Rook and just one move later white has both Bishops threatening both of black's Rooks at the same time. Black finds a crazy way out of the mess,
and white's well-timed 23. Ah3! exhausts safe options for the black Chancellor, which must lose the Light Exchange (Chancellor for Archbishop). By the time the middlegame
passes into the endgame, we get to observe some accurate play by both sides. Black gets pawns down to a2 and b3 forcing white to sacrifice his Rook to prevent them from promoting.
Black is left with only his Bishop, so the game is a draw.
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| September 19, 2023 |
GothicChessInventor vs. Letchworthshire 2023 Match Game 3 |
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Black resigns on move 39 |
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This is Trice's Gambit Accepted with the Standard d-Pawn Reprisal variation. The earliest variation of this gambit,
played originally in 2003. After 9. Ne4 white has four well-placed pieces while black has only two out of the gate. Just nine moves later,
18. Nxh7+ throwing away the white Knight might come as a shocking start to the game-winning combination to some of our readers.
White follows up by taking aim at the overloaded black Archbishop with 22. Bj5! which is a deadly trap if black doesn't see
22...Axj5?? 23. Ag6+ Kg8
24. Qh5 Nh6 25. Re7!
leading to a forced checkmate for white. Black correctly avoids this bait and sets up his own trap with
26...Be6 27. Ah5+ Kg8 28. Rxe6
Ng7!
creating a triple fork of white's Archbishop, Rook, and Bishop. However, white's strong 29. Ag4!! indicates he saw further since it sets a counter-trap
29...Nxe6?? 30. Axe6# checkmating at once. White has the chance to win material but instead shows that black is in a zuzwang spiral that gets only worse.
Black waves the surrrender flag soon thereafter. A great game by both players.
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| Still in progress |
GothicChessInventor vs. Letchworthshire 2023 Match Game 4 |
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Still in progress |
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This is the Half Queenside Petroff opening. More text will appear here when the game is finished.
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