cool game. reminds me of this one:

What a fantastic game! Congratualations! I enjoyed every minute of it. Would you consider this as one of your best?

What an exciting game! Congratulations on the result, and thanks for sharing this before April 1st!

At the end, instead of Qxg5+ or Qe3+, I suggest the thematic d2. However, promoting so many pawns may set a bad example for students! :-)

In one of the variations (with c3 fxe4 b4! c6) you comment "there's a lot of cds and eds"; is there a reason for White to prefer cxd6 over Qxd4?

Thanks for sharing the games you played. I truly enjoy analyzing them while watching!

lol, "I know where all the dead bodies are buried" ... I play some lines where that applies. Probably a subtle hint for us to give up those lines!?

katar: Yes, that's the most famous passed pawn forerunner to my game, and it has the aesthetic advantage that White resigned at exactly the right moment. On the other hand, I have the back-up pawn on d3! Amazingly, this was trumped by a single game with four adjacent pawns on the 7th/2nd rank. I think I saw it in Tim Krabbé's Open Chess Diary (http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/chess.html), but trying just now I was unable to find it.

brucewallace2: One of my most memorable games, surely, but definitely not one of my best!

D**3: Your suggestions are fine too - six of one, half-dozen of the other.

Zibbit: If you like playing for a draw with no prospect of winning against a well-prepared player, than you should by all means play the Schliemann. :) White has several loss-proof variations, but the good thing is that most people don't prepare or don't expect this opening, so I think it's viable as on occasional surprise weapon. Or if you're playing in a super-GM tournament and don't mind suffering for 50 moves to get a draw, a la Radjabov.

Very good game!
I hope Mr. Monokroussos can upload more games played in Schliemann-Janisch gambit!

Hello Dennis

On your website you analyse the following game:

Ganguly,S (2631) - Khachiyan,M (2504) [C63]
World Open Philadelphia USA (2), 03.07.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d3 fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.0-0 Bc5 7.Qd3 d6 8.Qc4 Qe7 9.b4 Be6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Qa6 Bxb4 12.Qxc6+ Kf7 13.Ng5+ Kg6 14.Nxe6 Qxe6 15.Nd2 Bc5 16.Nb3 Qd7 17.Qa6 Nxe4 18.Qe2 d5 19.Nxc5 Nxc5 20.Qxe5 Rhe8 21.Qd4 Ne4 22.c4 Nf6 23.cxd5 Qxd5 24.Qc3 Re4 25.Qxc7 Rc4 26.Qg3+ Rg4 27.Qh3 Rb8 28.f3 Qc5+ 29.Kh1 Qb5 30.Bb2 Rb4 31.Bxf6 gxf6 32.Rac1 Qf5 33.g4 Qg5 34.Rc7 Qh6 35.Qxh6+ Kxh6 36.Kg2 Rb2+ 37.Kg3 R8b7 38.Rc6 R7b6 39.Rc7 Rb7 40.Rxb7 Rxb7 41.Rc1 Rb6 42.h4 Ra6 43.Kf4 Rxa2 44.Rc6 Kg7 45.Rc7+ Kg8 46.Kf5 Ra3 47.f4 Ra5+ 48.Kxf6 Ra6+ 49.Kg5 1-0

Clearly White won in the end, but why doesn't the obvious 12.Qb7 simply win on the spot, and even more surprisingly why did you fail to consider this possibility in your analysis.

Regards,

Toppy

Since all I was doing on my blog - where the point should have been made (the comment period for that post has expired, but I do have a Contact link there) - was cutting and pasting that game as a note into the main game (Hossain-Ganguly), it's not that surprising that I didn't cover it. (I rarely offer any comments about previous, parenthetically covered games.) What <i>is</i> surprising is that Ganguly (a 2600 player) didn't play 12.Qb7 (and, for that matter, that his 2500 opponent allowed it); it looks every bit as good as you suggest. (Maybe there's a problem with the scoresheet, or the players had jet lag?)

Good comment, but let's not use ChessVideos to discuss my blog.

Or perhaps the game result was prearranged. I did consider a typo possibility, but nothing else fits based on the subsequent moves.

I agree with you that the Schliemann is a truly horrible opening, but on the other hand it seems good enough as a drawing weapon by strong players. Incidentally you might be interested to known that Andrew Greet abandoned his 4.d3 reccomendation recently with good effect, and also that he doesn't seem to play the Worrall System which he so enthusiastically endorsed in his Play The Ruy Lopez book.

I also noticed that despite your condemnation of The Schliemann, you still continue to use it. A case of old habbits die hard perhaps?

Toppy

Prearranged? Not likely that the players would prearrange a 1-0 game. You're right, though, that a typo explanation would be preferable but doesn't fit with the subsequent moves. As for me, I very rarely play the Schliemann, and the game covered in this video was played in 2002.