Ba3, and Nothing Takes It

The game, move by move

A Nimzo-Indian, and doubled pawns

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… Nf6 The knight out
3. 2. c4 c4
4. 2… e6 e6
5. 3. Nc3 The knight out
6. 3… Bb4 Bb4 — the Nimzo-Indian Black pins the knight instead of putting a pawn in the middle. It is the most respectable defence there is and Capablanca gets a perfectly good game out of it.
7. 4. e3 e3
8. 4… d5 d5
9. 5. a3 a3, at the bishop
10. 5… Bxc3+ The bishop takes the knight, with check
11. 6. bxc3 Recaptured — the pawns are doubled White accepts doubled c-pawns for the two bishops and the centre. The a3 square that the pawn has just left is where the bishop stands on move thirty.
12. 6… c5 c5, at the centre
13. 7. cxd5 The pawns come off on d5
14. 7… exd5 Recaptured
15. 8. Bd3 The bishop to d3
16. 8… O-O Black castles
17. 9. Ne2 The knight to e2
18. 9… b6 b6
19. 10. O-O White castles
20. 10… Ba6 Ba6, offering the trade
21. 11. Bxa6 The bishops come off
22. 11… Nxa6 The knight recaptures — onto the rim a6 is where Black’s knight spends the next six moves getting back from. It is the piece that is furthest from the kingside when the kingside decides the game.

Both queens on the wings

1. 12. Bb2 The bishop to b2 — the long diagonal It stands on b2 for sixteen moves doing nothing visible, and then goes to a3. That is the whole of its contribution and it is enough.
2. 12… Qd7 The queen to d7
3. 13. a4 a4
4. 13… Rfe8 The rook to e8
5. 14. Qd3 The queen to d3
6. 14… c4 c4, at her
7. 15. Qc2 The queen to c2
8. 15… Nb8 The knight back to b8
9. 16. Rae1 The rook to e1
10. 16… Nc6 The knight to c6
11. 17. Ng3 The knight to g3, going the other way Towards f5 and h5. On move thirty-one it checks from h5 and that check is the point of everything.
12. 17… Na5 The knight to a5
13. 18. f3 f3
14. 18… Nb3 The knight to b3 On b3 it is as far from its own king as any piece on the board. It never gets back.
15. 19. e4 e4 — the centre rolls
16. 19… Qxa4 The queen takes the pawn on a4 A pawn, on the far side of the board, on the move White opens the centre. Capablanca is a pawn up and about to be two pawns up and lost.
17. 20. e5 e5, past the knight
18. 20… Nd7 The knight back to d7

The pawns to e6 and f5

1. 21. Qf2 The queen to f2
2. 21… g6 g6, holding f5
3. 22. f4 f4
4. 22… f5 f5, blocking
5. 23. exf6 The pawn takes f6
6. 23… Nxf6 The knight recaptures Onto f6, which is the square the queen takes on with check at the end of the combination.
7. 24. f5 f5 — the second pawn Offered, and it has to be answered on the e-file. Six half-moves later there is a white pawn on e6 and it is two squares from promoting.
8. 24… Rxe1 The rooks come off on e1
9. 25. Rxe1 Recaptured
10. 25… Re8 The second rook to e8
11. 26. Re6 The rook to e6, offered
12. 26… Rxe6 Taken
13. 27. fxe6 And the pawn recaptures on e6 A white pawn on e6, past everything, with a black king on g7 and no piece able to get in front of it. It reaches e7 nine half-moves later.
14. 27… Kg7 Kg7
15. 28. Qf4 The queen to f4
16. 28… Qe8 The queen to e8, holding the pawn

Ba3, and eight checks

1. 29. Qe5 The queen to e5, offering the trade
2. 29… Qe7 The queen to e7 — she has to hold e7 And now she is doing two jobs: stopping the pawn and holding the diagonal. Ba3 takes one of them away.
3. 30. Ba3 Ba3 — the move The bishop steps from b2 to a3, onto the diagonal that ends at e7, where the black queen is standing. She has to take it — leaving e7 — and the knight check on h5 follows.
4. 30… Qxa3 Taken — there was nothing else
5. 31. Nh5+ The knight to h5, with check Given away for the g-pawn, so that taking it opens the g-file and the diagonal to the king at once.
6. 31… gxh5 The pawn takes it
7. 32. Qg5+ Check from g5
8. 32… Kf8 Kf8
9. 33. Qxf6+ The knight on f6, taken with check
10. 33… Kg8 Kg8
11. 34. e7 e7 — the pawn arrives One square from a queen, with the black king cut off from it and a white queen on f6 holding the square in front. This is what Ba3 was for.
12. 34… Qc1+ Check from c1 — the first of eight
13. 35. Kf2 Kf2
14. 35… Qc2+ Check from c2
15. 36. Kg3 Kg3
16. 36… Qd3+ Check from d3
17. 37. Kh4 Kh4 — up the board
18. 37… Qe4+ Check from e4
19. 38. Kxh5 The king takes the pawn on h5 The pawn Black used to take the knight. The white king walks into the open to get away from the checks, and that is the safest place on the board for him.
20. 38… Qe2+ Check from e2
21. 39. Kh4 Kh4
22. 39… Qe4+ Check from e4
23. 40. g4 g4, blocking at last
24. 40… Qe1+ Check from e1 — the last one
25. 41. Kh5 Kh5 — and Black resigned A king move. Capablanca has run out of checks, the pawn on e7 is one square from a queen, and there is nothing to be done about either. Fifty years old, and he took it to the last check there was.