A Knight on d6

The game, move by move

A King’s Gambit in 1960

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. f4 The King’s Gambit — in 1960 Eleven of the games in this library open with it and nine of them are from the nineteenth century. This one is from a Soviet championship.
4. 2… exf4 Accepted
5. 3. Nf3 The knight out
6. 3… d5 d5 — the Modern Defence Black gives the pawn straight back to open the middle, which is the sound answer and the one Bronstein would pick.
7. 4. exd5 Taken
8. 4… Bd6 Bd6
9. 5. Nc3 The knight out
10. 5… Ne7 Ne7
11. 6. d4 d4
12. 6… O-O Black castles
13. 7. Bd3 The bishop to d3
14. 7… Nd7 Nd7
15. 8. O-O White castles
16. 8… h6 h6

A black pawn on e3

1. 9. Ne4 The knight to e4
2. 9… Nxd5 The knight takes d5
3. 10. c4 c4, at the knight
4. 10… Ne3 The knight to e3 — into the position It cannot stay and Black knows it. What it buys is a pawn on e3 after the bishop takes it, and that pawn walks to e2 and promotes.
5. 11. Bxe3 The bishop takes it
6. 11… fxe3 The pawn recaptures — on e3 A black pawn on e3, two squares from White’s first rank, with a rook on f1 in its way and nothing else.
7. 12. c5 c5, at the bishop
8. 12… Be7 Be7
9. 13. Bc2 The bishop to c2
10. 13… Re8 The rook to e8
11. 14. Qd3 The queen to d3
12. 14… e2 e2 — one square from a queen And Spassky lets it come. He has counted that a new queen on f1 can be taken with the rook, and that the tempo it costs Black is worth more than the queen.

The knight to d6

1. 15. Nd6 Nd6 — the move A knight on d6 where the bishop on e7 and the rook on e8 can both take it, and it is not a threat to either. What it does is stand between Black’s queen and his king, and cover f7 and f5 at the same time.
2. 15… Nf8 Nf8, holding f7
3. 16. Nxf7 The knight takes f7 anyway
4. 16… exf1=Q+ The pawn promotes on f1, with check A brand-new black queen, on move sixteen, and she lives for one move. This is what Spassky allowed the pawn through for.
5. 17. Rxf1 The rook takes her
6. 17… Bf5 The bishop to f5, trying to hold it together

Both knights on e5 and f7

1. 18. Qxf5 The queen takes it
2. 18… Qd7 The queen to d7
3. 19. Qf4 The queen to f4
4. 19… Bf6 The bishop to f6
5. 20. N3e5 The second knight to e5 Two white knights on e5 and f7 with a queen on f4 behind them, against a king on g8 and a knight on f8.
6. 20… Qe7 The queen to e7
7. 21. Bb3 The bishop to b3, joining in
8. 21… Bxe5 The bishop takes the knight on e5
9. 22. Nxe5+ And the other knight takes back, with check
10. 22… Kh7 Kh7 — the only square
11. 23. Qe4+ Qe4+ — and Black resigned The queen steps to e4 with check on the diagonal to h7. There are three legal moves; all of them lose the queen or the king. Bronstein stopped, and this is the position that is on screen in the film.