Last week finished writing three books. In my humble opinion, they are well researched and annotated and have wonderful, colorful covers.
This past Monday I finally got the proofs, and approved the books for publication.
The books are 2000 Sozin Miniatures (3rd Edition), 2000 Dragon Miniatures (1st), and 1000 Albin Miniatures (3rd).
Despite all three books having many more games than their titles suggest, there were games which were overlooked, unknown, or played too late to make it to publication.
Here are some of those missing games.
“masoodch”-“backrankbrawler”
15 minute game
chess.com, Aug. 30 2020
[“backrankbrawler”, https://www.chess.com/blog/backrankbrawler/a-najdorf-sicilian-miniature%5D
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.Re1 O-O 9.f4 [This is the first position where I wasn’t sure what to do. My main candidates here were …e5, …b5, and …Nbd7. I chose …b5 because I thought …e5 might have been premature (or wasn’t ready to open up the diagonal for the bishop).] 9…b5! (9…Nbd7 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Nxe6 seemed unpleasant to me during the game. However, 11…Qb6+ 12.Be3 Qc6 13.Nxf8 Bxf8 = seems fine. 9…e5 10.Nf5 Bxf5 11.exf5 +/= seemed a little too loose for my liking, especially with White’s light-square bishop enjoying the a2-g8 diagonal.) 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.Nf3 Nbd7 12.e5 dxe5 13.fxe5 Ng4 14.Kf1 (If White is careless, things can go downhill quickly.14.h3? Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Nf2+ -+ ; 14.Rf1 Ndxe5 -+ winning a pawn with a continuing attack. ; 14.Qe2 Bc5+ 15.Kf1 Ndxe5 -+ with similar threats to what happened in the game.) 14…Qb6 15.Qe2 Ndxe5 16.Nxe5? (16.h3 Nxd3 17.cxd3 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Nf6 -+ with a very comfortable position. White’s kingside is in shambles.; 16.Be3 Nxe3+ 17.Qxe3 Qxe3 18.Rxe3 Nxd3 19.Rxd3 Rfd8 Black’s extra pawn and two bishops should be decisive here.) 16…Nxh2mate 0-1
Escalante-“bongdigibonbons”
Blitz Game
chess.com, Oct. 15 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 g6 7.O-O Bg7 8.Bg5 b5
[Not 8…Nc6?! because of 9.Nxc6!. Dragoljub Čirić-GM Aleksandar Matanović, Yugoslavia Ch., Sarajevo 1958 continued with 9…bxc6 10.e5! dxe5 11.Qxd8+ Kxd8 12.Bxf7 Kc7 13.Rae1 e6 14.Rxe5 Nd5 15.Re2 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Nxc3 17.Re3 Nd5 18.Rf3 e5 19.c4 e4 20.Rb3 Rf8 21.Bxd5 cxd5 22.cxd5 Rf5 23.Rc1+ Kd6 24.Rb6+ Kd7 25.h4 Rxd5 26.Rb4 Kd6 27.Rxe4 Rc5 28.Bf4+ (28.Be7+? Kd5) 28…Kc6 29.Rd1 Rd5 30.Rde1 Bf5 31.Re7 h5 32.Rc1+ Kb6 33.Rec7 Rad8 34.R1c6+ Kb5 35.a4+ Kxa4 36.Rxa6+ Kb5 37.Rcc6 R8d7 38.Rab6+ Ka5 39.Rb2 Ka4 40.Ra6+ 1-0. More common is 8.O-O.]
9.Bb3 O-O 10.Re1 b4 11.Nd5! a5?! (> 11.e6) 12.a4 (To stop Black’s queenside expansion with his pawns. But that’s all this move does. More aggressive is 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Bxf6 exf6 14.Bd5.) 11…Nbd7?
13.Nc6! Qe8 14.Nc7 1-0
Lutz Espig-Domingo Merino Mejuto
Kapfenberg, Austria, 1970
[Uhlmann, I 8/383]
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Na5 10.Qd2 a6 11.h4 h5 12.O-O-O Bd7 13.g4!? hxg4 14.h5! Nxh5 (14…gxf3 15.h6 Bh8 16.h7+ Nxh7 17.Qh2 +-) 15.Bh6 Nxb3+ (15…e5 16.Nf5! +- ; 15…gxf3? 16.Rxh5 gxh5 17.Qg5 +-) 16.Nxb3 f6 (16…f5 17.fxg4 fxg4 18.Rxh5! gxh5 19.Bxg7 +-) 17.fxg4 Bxg4 18.Rdg1 Qd7 19.Rh4! g5 (19…f5 20.exf5 gxf5 21.Rxh5 +-) 20.Rhxg4 Bxh6 21.Qh2 Qe8 22.Rh4! Bg7 23.Rxh5 Kf7 24.Nd4 Rh8 25.Rh1 1-0
Alexandru Manea-Josef Gheng
Juventus Cup
Bucharest, 2002
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.f3 Bg7 7.Be3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3 a6 11.h4 h5 12.O-O-O Na5 13.g4 e5 14.Nde2 Nxb3+ 15.axb3 hxg4 16.Bg5 gxf3 17.Ng3 Qa5 18.Kb1 Be6?! (> 18…Bg4) 19.h5 Rfe8 20.h6 Bh8 21.h7+ Nxh7 22.Rxh7 Bg7 23.Rdh1 f6? (23…f5) 24.Bxf6! 1-0
A. Cacas-R. Woodfield
CCLA
C92009, 2019?-2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.O-O-O Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.h4 h5 (The Soltis Variation.) 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.g4 hxg4 15.h5 Nxh5 16.Nd5 Re8 17.f4?! (> 17.Qg2) 17…Nc4 18.Qf2 Qa5 19.Bxe7? (19.Nxe7+ gives White the check and the tempo he needs to get back into an equal position.) 19…Bc6 20.Bh4 Bxd5 21.exd5 Re4 22.c3 Nxb2! 0-1
If you wish to order any of these books, please click on the links below.
2000 Sozin Miniatures:
2000 Sicilian Dragon Miniatures:
1000 Albin Miniatures:
The Gambit Chess Player 