The Long Diagonal

The game, move by move

The Budapest

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… Nf6 The knight out
3. 2. c4 The second pawn
4. 2… e5 e5, offered
5. 3. dxe5 Taken
6. 3… Ng4 The knight goes after it
7. 4. Bf4 The bishop defends
8. 4… Bb4+ Check, from b4
9. 5. Nd2 Blocked with the knight
10. 5… Nc6 Developing
11. 6. Nf3 The second knight
12. 6… f6 f6, at the pawn
13. 7. exf6 Taken
14. 7… Qxf6 Recaptured with the queen

The pawn on b2

1. 8. g3 g3, for the fianchetto It leaves b2 hanging on purpose. The pawn is worth a tempo and a diagonal, and Rubinstein spends the next twenty moves collecting the diagonal.
2. 8… Qxb2 The pawn on b2, taken A free pawn, and the queen has to come back afterwards. It also opens the b-file and, more to the point, the a1–h8 diagonal.
3. 9. Bg2 The bishop to g2
4. 9… d6 d6, solid
5. 10. O-O White castles
6. 10… O-O And Black
7. 11. Nb3 The knight to b3
8. 11… Qf6 The queen comes back
9. 12. Ng5 The knight to g5
10. 12… h6 h6, asking
11. 13. Ne4 The knight to e4
12. 13… Qf7 The queen to f7

A knight for the h-file

1. 14. a3 a3, hitting the bishop
2. 14… Ba5 The bishop to a5
3. 15. Nxa5 Traded
4. 15… Nxa5 Recaptured
5. 16. h3 h3, a hole for later It looks like a waiting move. Twenty half-moves from now the black queen takes this pawn on the move before mate.
6. 16… Ne5 The knight to e5
7. 17. c5 c5, on the queenside
8. 17… g5 g5 — the pawn advances Black takes space in front of his own king. It is the last move of the game that is not forced by something.
9. 18. Bd2 The bishop steps back to d2 On its way to c3 and the diagonal the b-pawn left open on move eight.
10. 18… d5 d5, in the centre
11. 19. Nxg5 The knight, given on g5 A piece for a pawn, to open the h-file and to strip the squares in front of Black’s king.
12. 19… hxg5 Taken
13. 20. Bxa5 The bishop takes the knight
14. 20… Be6 The bishop out at last

The diagonal collected

1. 21. Bc3 The bishop to c3 There it is: the diagonal from c3 to h8, opened by the queen taking on b2 twenty-six half-moves ago.
2. 21… Nc6 The knight comes back
3. 22. Qd2 The queen to d2
4. 22… Qf5 The queen to f5
5. 23. g4 g4, hitting her
6. 23… Qf4 The queen to f4
7. 24. Bxd5 The bishop takes d5
8. 24… Bxd5 Traded
9. 25. Qxd5+ The queen recaptures, with check
10. 25… Kh7 Kh7
11. 26. e3 e3, quietly It stops the black queen coming to e3 and it does nothing else. White is in no hurry: the diagonal is not going anywhere.
12. 26… Qf3 The queen to f3
13. 27. Qxg5 The pawn on g5, taken
14. 27… Qxh3 And the queen takes h3 Black is a pawn ahead with a queen deep in White’s position, and there is no defence to the next move.
15. 28. Qg7# Checkmate, on g7 The queen steps beside the king, held by the bishop on c3 all the way down the long diagonal. She covers h8, h6, g6 and g8 herself, and the bishop covers g7 — so she cannot be taken.