A holiday sampler of the inexhaustible joys of chess

​In this season of gift-giving, it’s good to reflect on the inexhaustible generosity of the game we love.

Yes, the losses can be painful, the pressure intense, and the strain of trying to hold a pawn-down queen-and-knight ending can seem like pure drudgery.

But chess can be rewarding in so many ways — when the pieces cooperate like a mighty orchestra under your baton, when you solve your first mate-in-three, when you stumble upon a winning motif that you’re pretty sure never occurred before in the vast history of the game.

I imagine that’s how Francis William Viney felt in his game against one Herbert Gook, played 98 years ago this month in a team match between the British postal service and its customs department. Smothered mates, of course, are nothing new; Philidor got one named after him nearly 300 years ago, and the idea is still catching out unwary players today.

But finding a smothered mate in the middle of the board doesn’t happen very often. Here, the final position itself actually resembles a Christmas present, with Gook’s pieces forming a perfect box around their unfortunate king.

(We should say here that both of Tuesday’s selections draw from Christian Hesse’s wonderful 2011 anthology “The Joys of Chess” from New In Chess, itself an inexhaustible resource for a columnist looking for fresh holiday material. If it’s not in your chess library, put it right now on your holiday shopping list for 2025.)

From the look of it, both Viney and Gook were talented amateurs, and White shows his taste for the unorthodox right from the start with his Bird’s Opening. White retains a pull out of the opening after 7. 0-0 a6?! (using a tempo to nudge White into an exchange he was already planning) 8. Bxc6 bxc6?! (making life more difficult for his light-squared bishop) 9. d3 Bd6 10. Nbd2 Qc7 11. Ne5 0-0 12. Qf3, and Viney already has a clear plan of using his fianchettoed bishop and kingside buildup to go after the Black castled king.

Gook’s last practical hope may have been 15. Ng4 Qa5!, diverting the White attack in lines such as 16. c3 e5 17. fxe5 Bxg4 18. Qxg4 Bxe5 19. Qe6+ Rf7 (and not 19…Kh8?? 20. Qxe5!) 20. Nf3 Qc7 21. Rae1, and Black is still in the game.

Instead, White has all the play after 15…Be7? 16. Rf3 Rf7 17. Rh3 h6 18. Qh5 (even better was 18. Rg3! Kf8 19. Nxh6 gxh6 20. Qxh6+ Rg7 21. Nf3, winning, but that would have deprived us all of the magnificent finish), and soon a string of mate threats drives Black’s king to the fatal square, surrounded — and betrayed — by his own forces.

Thus: 21. Qh7 (threatening mate in one) Bd6 22. Nh4 (threatening another mate in one, and forcing the king to flee) Ke7 23. Ng6+ Kd7 24. Qg8 Re7 (see diagram; Black could have prolonged his agony with 24…Rf8 25. Nxf8+ Bxf8 26. Qxf8 Qd6 27. Qxd6+ Kxd6, losing forgettably, but instead falls on his sword and creates an immortal tableau) 25. Nf8!! mate — Black’s two rooks, two bishops, queen, knight and two pawns create a perfect box to prevent their own king’s escape.

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As has often been noted, some of the greatest moves ever made never actually make it to the chessboard, locked up in analytical variations while players win or lose in a far more prosaic fashion.

“In chess,” Hesse writes, “it is the players who at each fork in the path make decisions as to what course their journey will take.”

Consider the position in today’s second diagram, taken from a 1944 game by two players whose names are lost to history. It’s Black to move and while both kings are very precariously placed, the second player faces a nasty mate-in-one threat, his rook is hanging and all his potential checks are covered by White pieces. What followed was a remarkable sequence of what Hesse called “refuting the refutation,” which should have led to a generous splitting of the point.

There followed 1…Rc7!!, and White reportedly resigned in the face of such brilliance; the mate threat is rudely disrupted, and both 2. Qxc7 Qf3+ 3. Kg1 Qg2 mate and 2. Rxc7 Qd1 mate lose on the spot. Black also wins on 2. Qe4 Rxd7 3. Qxe3 Qd1+ 4. Kg2 (Qg1 Qf3+ 5. Qg2 Rd1 mate) Rd2+ 5. Kg3 Rd3, but actually the fun is just beginning.

White overlooks the fact that he had 2. b5!!, reversing the assessment, as now taking the White queen or rook allows the bishop to check and win on f8. But Black need not capture, instead setting the table again with 2…Qe2!!, when 3. Bf8+? no longer works in light of 3…Kh5 4. Rxh7+ Kg4 5. h3+ Kg3 and the White king will be mated.

But now White need not play the bishop check, but instead counters with 3. Rxh7+!!, when 3…Rxh7? loses to 4. Bf8+ Kh5 5. Qxh7+ Kg4 6. Qxg6+ Kf3 7. Qh5+ Ng4 8. Qd5+ Kxf4 9. Qd6+ Ke3 10. Qe6+ Kd2 11. Qxe2+ Kxe2 12. h4.

But  Black still has 3…Kxh7! 4. Qxc7+ Kg8! (Black’s king dare not go forward, as White again would simplify to a won ending after 4…Kh6? 5. Bf8+ Kh5 7. Qh7+ Kg4 7. Qxg6+ Kf3 8. Qh5+ Ng4 9. Qd5+ Qe4 10 Qxe4+ Kxe4 11. Bd6), and now White has to keep checking ad infinitum to keep from getting mated himself. Brilliancies from both sides and a pacific ending — very much in the spirit of the times.

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Thanks once again to all our faithful readers. May your rating thrive in 2025!

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Viney-Gook, British General Post Office vs. Customs Match, December 1926

1. f4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 c5 4. b3 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bb2 Nf6 7. O-O a6 8. Bxc6 bxc6 9. d3 Bd6 10. Nbd2 Qc7 11. Ne5 O-O 12. Qf3 Rad8 13. Qg3 Ne8 14. Qh4 f6 15. Ng4 Be7 16. Rf3 Rf7  17. Rh3 h6 18. Qh5 Bc8 19. Qg6 Kf8 20. Nf3 d4 21. Qh7 Bd6 22. Nh4 Ke7 23. Ng6+ Kd7 24. Qg8 Re7 25. Nf8 mate.

Viney-Gook after 24…Re7.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.