Blackburne’s Corner

The game, move by move

The Giuoco Piano

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. Bc4 The bishop at f7
6. 3… Bc5 Facing it
7. 4. c3 c3, preparing d4
8. 4… Nf6 Developing
9. 5. d4 The centre
10. 5… exd4 Taken
11. 6. cxd4 Recaptured
12. 6… Bb4+ Check, from b4
13. 7. Bd2 Blocked
14. 7… Bxd2+ The bishops come off
15. 8. Nfxd2 Taken with the knight
16. 8… Nxd4 And the pawn on d4 Black is a pawn up with everything traded in the centre, and White has a knight on d2 that has to be untangled.

Knights traded, files opened

1. 9. O-O White castles
2. 9… d6 d6, holding
3. 10. Nb3 The knight to b3
4. 10… Nxb3 Traded off
5. 11. Qxb3 Recaptured with the queen
6. 11… O-O Black castles at last
7. 12. Re1 The rook to the open file
8. 12… Nh5 The knight to h5 On its way to f4, which is on its way to h3.
9. 13. e5 e5, breaking through
10. 13… Qg5 The queen to g5

The knight to h3

1. 14. exd6 The pawn takes on d6
2. 14… Nf4 The knight to f4 It attacks nothing that matters and cannot be driven away by a pawn without opening a file.
3. 15. Bxf7+ The bishop takes f7, with check White wins a pawn and drives the king into the corner, which is where the king wants to be anyway.
4. 15… Kh8 Kh8
5. 16. g3 g3, asking about the knight The pawn attacks it, and the knight simply steps to the square behind it.
6. 16… cxd6 The pawn taken back
7. 17. Nc3 The last piece out
8. 17… Nh3+ The knight to h3, with check Where it stays until the last move but one. The king has to step to g2 to answer it, and from g2 he never gets away.
9. 18. Kg2 Kg2
10. 18… Qf6 The queen to f6 Onto the diagonal, aimed at f2 with nothing but a pawn in the way.

The queen for the corner

1. 19. Bd5 The bishop retreats to d5
2. 19… Qxf2+ The pawn on f2, with check She takes the pawn in front of the king and stands beside her own knight.
3. 20. Kh1 Kh1 — the corner
4. 20… Qg1+ The queen, on g1 Offered to the rook, which is the only piece that can take her, and which must.
5. 21. Rxg1 Taken
6. 21… Nf2+ The knight comes to f2, with check From h3, where it has been standing for five moves. The rook that took the queen is now on g1, and it is in its own king’s way.
7. 22. Kg2 Kg2 — back out
8. 22… Bh3# Checkmate The bishop on c8 makes its first move of the game and lands on the square the knight came from. It covers f1; the knight covers h1 and h3; the rook on f8 covers f2 and f3; h2 and g3 are White’s own pawns, and g1 is his own rook.