02 September 2002

One of my new roomates plays chess and so we've been playing quite a bit. I just found myself in the following position playing black and played one of the coolest combinations i've played in many a year:
White: Pawns on h4 and f6, knight on e4, king on e6
Black(to move): Pawns on h6, d5, and b4, Bishop on f7, king on b3.

(The king on b3 has just eaten up whites queenside pawns, while white has been counterattacking with the knight attacking f7.)
The obvious attempt to simply queen the b-pawn results in both pawns queening and a likely draw. However, I played:
1. Be8
2.f7 Bxf7
3.Nxf7 Kc6
4.Ne5 b3
5.Nd3 d4+!
6.Ke4 h5!

Now white cannot move anywhere. If the knight moves, then the pawn easily queens (for example, 7. Nc1 b2 8. Nd2+ Kd2 and the pawn will queen). If the king moves then the knight falls. This was the first time I played a zugzwang in a game where pieces are still on the board...

Of course its nothing to compare with the greatest zugzwang ever in Samisch-Nimzowitsch (Copenhagen, 1923).

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