[Event "Ladies International Chess Congress"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "1897.06.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Louisa Matilda Fagan"] [Black "Eliza Mary Thorold"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C23"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1 (12s)"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1897.??.??"] {Bishop's Opening} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 {This is one of the oldest openings that was ever analyzed. It was studied by Lucena and Ruy Lopez and later it was played by Philidor. Bent Larsen played it occasionally after using it at the 1964 Interzonal tournament. In White to Play and Win, Weaver Adams claimed that the Bishop's Opening resulted in a forced win for white, but he was unable to prove it and later decided that it was the Vienna Game that won by force; he couldn't prove that either. With best play it leads to equality, but that's all.} Bc5 {Black usually plays 2...Nf6 probably with the hope that white will transpose in the Vienna with 3.Nc3.} 3. b4 {Very, very rare, but by no means bad.} Bb6 (3... Be7 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. Bxe5 Bxb4 6. c3 Be7 7. Qf3 O-O { is roughly equal. Heil,S (2355)-Loechner,F/Dresden 2001}) (3... Bxb4 4. c3 Bc5 5. d4 Bb6 6. Qb3 Qe7 7. Ba3 Qf6 {with equality. Larter,N (1780)-Benedic,P (2075)/ Leipzig 2008}) 4. Nf3 d6 (4... Qe7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O {Novotny,M (2238) -Bracha,P/Litomysl 2006. The position is equal.}) 5. c3 Nf6 6. d3 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 Bg6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bh4 Qd7 11. a4 {Black's position is somewhat passive and she soon lands in trouble. She should seek immediate counterplay with 11... a5 before it's too late.} a6 (11... a5 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. b5 Qe7 14. Nh4 Nd7 {followed by ...O-O-O and the position is about even.}) 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. Nb3 {Missing her chance to seize the initiative and win a P.} (13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Nh4 Ne7 15. Qf3 O-O-O 16. Qxf6 {with a good game.}) 13... d5 {A well timed advance to get some play.} 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Qd2 {Again, way too passive. } (15. b5 {This results in multiple exchanges, but it's white's best line. No doubt the large number of exchanges would have been very difficult for the players to calculate OTB.} Nxc3 16. Qc1 Nd4 17. Nxe5 Nxb3 18. Nxd7 Nxc1 19. Nxb6 Nxd3+ 20. Kd2 cxb6 21. Bxd3 Bxd3 22. Kxc3 Bg6 {with a likely draw.}) 15... Nf4 {Hardly a mistake, but she could have gotten the advantage after 15...f6} ( 15... f6 16. Bg3 O-O-O 17. O-O-O h5 {with the advantage.}) 16. O-O-O Ng2 { This turns out to be disastrous because she is going to get her K caught in the center.} (16... f6 17. Bg3 Nd5 18. a5 Ba7 19. Rhe1 O-O-O {with even chances.}) 17. Bg3 f6 18. Rhg1 Nf4 19. Bxf4 exf4 20. Rge1+ {The problem with her 16th move is now apparent.} Kf8 21. d4 Bf7 22. d5 Ne7 23. a5 Ba7 24. Re2 ( 24. Nbd4 {with the idea of Ne6 was a strong alternative.} Nxd5 25. Nf5 c6 26. Re7 {with a winning attack. For example...} Qd8 (26... Qc8 27. Rxf7+ Kxf7 28. Nd6+) 27. Rxb7 g6 28. N5d4 Bxd4 29. Nxd4 {and black is helpless.}) 24... b5 25. axb6 cxb6 (25... Bxb6 {also fails after} 26. Qc2 h5 27. g5 Qxh3 28. d6 cxd6 29. Qe4 Re8 30. gxf6 gxf6 31. Bxf7 Kxf7 32. Rxd6 Nf5 33. Ng5+ {This is decisive.} Kg6 34. Nxh3 Rxe4 35. Rxb6 Rxe2 36. Nxf4+) 26. d6 Ng6 27. Bxf7 Kxf7 28. Qd5+ Kf8 29. Qxa8+ Kf7 30. Qd5+ Kf8 31. Rde1 {Black resigned. A forceful game by Fagan.} (31. Rde1 Bb8 32. Nbd4 Bxd6 33. Nf5 Ne5 34. Rxe5 fxe5 35. Nxe5 Qxf5 36. gxf5 Bxe5 37. Rxe5 f3 38. Qd6+ Kg8 39. Re8+ Kf7 40. Qg6#) 1-0