One Square Too Slow

The game, move by move

A Ruy Lopez, and a rook given

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 The knight out
4. 2… Nc6 And Black’s
5. 3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez
6. 3… a6 a6 — the Morphy Defence His name is on it because he played it, and this is one of the games he played it in.
7. 4. Ba4 The bishop steps back
8. 4… Nf6 The knight out
9. 5. Nc3 The second knight
10. 5… Bb4 The bishop to b4
11. 6. Nd5 The knight to d5
12. 6… b5 b5, gaining space
13. 7. Bb3 The bishop to b3
14. 7… d6 d6, solid
15. 8. O-O White castles
16. 8… Bg4 The bishop to g4 Pointing at f3, which is the square everything on this side of the board happens on.
17. 9. c3 c3, at the bishop
18. 9… Ba5 Ba5
19. 10. d4 d4, the centre
20. 10… exd4 Taken
21. 11. Nxf6+ The knights come off with check
22. 11… Qxf6 The queen recaptures
23. 12. Bd5 The bishop to d5, at the rook
24. 12… Ne5 The knight to e5, ignoring it Morphy lets the rook go and puts a knight in the middle instead. This is the trade the whole game rests on.
25. 13. Bxa8 The rook, taken
26. 13… Nxf3+ The knight takes f3, with check A rook for a knight and a pawn, and the pawn is the one in front of White’s king.

A pawn to b2, and a queen on a1

1. 14. gxf3 Recaptured — the g-file is open
2. 14… Bxf3 The bishop takes on f3 And stands there for the rest of the game. At the end it is the piece covering g4 and h5.
3. 15. Qd2 The queen to d2
4. 15… dxc3 The pawn takes c3
5. 16. Qg5 The queen to g5
6. 16… cxb2 And on to b2 The pawn is two squares from a1 and there is nothing in front of it but a rook.
7. 17. Bc6+ Check from c6
8. 17… Ke7 Ke7
9. 18. Qxf6+ The queens come off with check
10. 18… gxf6 Recaptured with the g-pawn Which is what puts a black pawn on f6, and f4 and f5 are the squares it walks to.
11. 19. Bf4 The bishop to f4
12. 19… Rg8+ The rook to g8, with check
13. 20. Bg3 The bishop blocks on g3
14. 20… bxa1=Q The pawn promotes on a1 A queen, for one move. It is taken immediately and that is the point: the rook that takes her leaves the first rank for good.

The race up the a-file

1. 21. Rxa1 Taken at once
2. 21… f5 f5, the pawn setting off
3. 22. a4 a4 — White’s race begins
4. 22… Bb6 The bishop to b6
5. 23. axb5 The pawn takes b5
6. 23… f4 f4, at the bishop
7. 24. bxa6 And takes a6 — two squares to go White is one move from a7 and two from a queen. He does not get the second move.
8. 24… fxg3 The pawn takes the bishop on g3

Mated on h4

1. 25. hxg3 Recaptured with the h-pawn And that is the last pawn in front of the white king. From here he is in the open.
2. 25… Rxg3+ The rook takes g3, with check
3. 26. Kh2 The king to h2
4. 26… Rg6 The rook steps back to g6
5. 27. Rf1 The rook to f1
6. 27… Bd4 The bishop to d4, on the long diagonal
7. 28. Kh3 Kh3 — nowhere else
8. 28… Be5 The bishop to e5, still coming
9. 29. Kh4 Kh4 — up the board The white king is on the fourth rank with three black pieces around him and no pawn cover at all.
10. 29… Bf4 The bishop to f4, closing g3 and g5
11. 30. a7 a7 — one square from a queen White plays the move he has been playing for eighteen half-moves. It is one move short.
12. 30… Rh6# Checkmate, on h6 The rook comes down the file. g4 and h5 are covered by the bishop that has stood on f3 since move fourteen, h5 and h3 by the rook itself, g3 and g5 by the bishop on f4. And the white pawn on a7 is one square from a queen it never gets.