[Event "GotM #43"] [Site "Breslau"] [Date "1912.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Levitsky, Stepan M"] [Black "Marshall, Frank James"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C10"] [Annotator "Connaughton, Ken"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "1912.??.??"] [EventCountry "GE2"] {[%evp 0,46,44,44,72,32,49,20,178,94,90,98,108,67,64,62,45,46,66,15,36,13,2, -25,-22,-96,-75,-57,-48,-76,-57,-87,-66,-70,-65,-68,-68,-68,11,11,13,-14,-219, -269,-273,-371,-350,-381,-381]} 1. e4 {King's Pawn Opening} e6 {French Defense} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 {Paulsen Variation} c5 {The classic c5-push, the main idea for Black in the French Defense as he sets about undermining White's center.} 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. exd5 {White decides to take the tension out of the position by neutralizing the center.} exd5 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. Bg5 O-O 9. dxc5 { [#] And now Black is left with an isolated d-pawn. White will try to build up the pressure on this pawn and Black will try to hold it.} Be6 {[%CAl Ge6d5]} 10. Nd4 Bxc5 11. Nxe6 {Taking out the defender but now d5 has a solid base coming from the support of e6. So now Black has hanging pawns to defend.} fxe6 {e6 is the new target.} 12. Bg4 {[%CAl Rg4e6,Rg5d8]} Qd6 {[%CAl Gd6e6]} 13. Bh3 {Keeping the Bishop out of the Knight's reach.} Rae8 {[%CAl Ge8e6]} 14. Qd2 { [%CAl Ra1e1,Ra1d1]} Bb4 15. Bxf6 {The attacking side always does well to exchange pieces. It's harder to defend weaknesses with less pieces.} Rxf6 16. Rad1 {White begins what he hopes will be the decisive combination.} Qc5 17. Qe2 {[%CAl Rc3d5,Re2e8] [#] He's hoping the hanging Rook on Black's homerank will provide the basis for a tactical maneuver.} Bxc3 {Black exchanges off the threatening Knight and he will also win a pawn and rupture White's Queenside.} 18. bxc3 Qxc3 {But now White can make use of his tactical opportunities, first winning back the pawn.} 19. Rxd5 {[#]} Nd4 {Black counters.} 20. Qh5 {The threat on the Black Rook should preserve the White Rook on d5. But this move is a critical error. He needed to maintain a presence on the e-file.} (20. Qe4 $11 {would have kept White in good stead.}) 20... Ref8 21. Re5 {And now White wants to return to targeting e6.} Rh6 $1 {[%CAl Rh6h3] [#] And suddenly White realizes he is not the one with the whip hand. His opponent, a renowned tactical wizard, has seen a clever shot that may turn the game on it's head.} 22. Qg5 Rxh3 {[%CAl Rd4f3] The Rook can't be taken of course as the overworked g2-pawn has a more important task than protecting the Bishop. The Knight has to be kept out of f3.} 23. Rc5 {White tries to harrass the Queen in order to somehow dig himself out of trouble, but something even more amazing is to come from Black.} Qg3 $3 {[#] This move causes White to resign. If the Rook was untouchable, the Queen, incredibly, is even moreso.} (23... Qg3 {[%CAl Rg3h2] # is being threatened with 24...Qh2# on the next move. Remarkably there is no good continuation for White, even though he can take the Queen in three different ways.} 24. Qxg3 {staves of defeat longer than the other options} (24. hxg3 Ne2#) (24. fxg3 Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Rxf1#) (24. Qe5 {attempting to cover h2 fails against} Nf3+ 25. Kh1 Rxh2#) {but after} 24... Ne2+ 25. Kh1 Nxg3+ 26. Kg1 (26. fxg3 Rxf1#) 26... Ne2+ 27. Kh1 Rc3 $19 {White is a Knight down and it's over.}) 0-1