The Other London Game

The game, move by move

A quiet Sicilian

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… c5 The Sicilian Not what either of these two is remembered for. Both of them play the opening properly for fifteen moves.
3. 2. b3 Preparing the long diagonal
4. 2… Nc6 A knight out
5. 3. Bb2 The bishop on b2
6. 3… a6 Taking b5 away
7. 4. a4 Answering on the wing
8. 4… e6 e6, solid
9. 5. Nf3 Developing
10. 5… d6 The small centre
11. 6. Nc3 The second knight
12. 6… Nf6 And Black’s
13. 7. Be2 The bishop to e2
14. 7… Be7 Facing it
15. 8. O-O White castles
16. 8… O-O And Black Both kings tucked away by move eight, which is the last thing anybody expects of these two.

The centre traded

1. 9. d4 The centre, at last
2. 9… cxd4 Taken
3. 10. Nxd4 Recaptured with the knight
4. 10… Qb6 The queen comes out b6 hits the knight on d4 and looks down the diagonal at g1. That diagonal is the whole game.
5. 11. Nxc6 The knights come off
6. 11… bxc6 Taken towards the centre Black accepts doubled pawns to open the b-file and keep the centre from being pushed at him.
7. 12. a5 The pawn to a5 It shuts the queen out of b6 — and the square she goes to instead is the one she mates from.
8. 12… Qc7 To c7

White goes at the king

1. 13. f4 White starts the attack f4, and then the bishop and queen swing over. It is the standard plan and it is played a move too early.
2. 13… Ne8 The knight steps back
3. 14. Bd3 Onto the b1–h7 diagonal
4. 14… f5 f5, blocking it A pawn thrown in front of the bishop before the attack arrives. It also opens the f-file for a rook that is going to lift along it.
5. 15. exf5 Taken
6. 15… exf5 Taken back
7. 16. Qh5 The queen to h5 The attacking move, and there is nothing on h5 for her to do: g7 is defended and h7 has a pawn on it.
8. 16… Nf6 The knight comes back
9. 17. Qh3 Retreating to h3 The queen has been to h5 and back to h3 and achieved nothing, and Black’s knight has arrived.
10. 17… Ng4 The knight to g4 It cannot be taken and it cannot be driven away. From g4 it covers f2 — which is where this ends.

And it comes back

1. 18. Rf3 The rook lifts Rf3 is meant to be an attacking move. It is really a defensive one: it stops Qf2 by standing in the way.
2. 18… Qa7+ Check, from a7 The queen finds the long diagonal at last — c7 to a7 to g1 — and the check drags the king off the square his rook was covering.
3. 19. Kf1 The king to f1
4. 19… Rf6 The second rook comes up Rf6 threatens to swing to g6, and White has to answer it with the rook that is guarding f2.
5. 20. Rg3 Rg3, and the file is gone The rook steps across to hold g2, which is the last moment f2 is defended by anything.
6. 20… Qf2# Checkmate, on f2 The queen lands on f2 held by the knight on g4. She covers e1, g1 and e2 herself; f2 is the knight’s; and g2 is White’s own pawn, which cannot take her because the rook that was defending it has been driven onto g3.