Captain Greenpawn and his Red Hot Pawn Crew.
Jump aboard and throw the compass out a porthole, we go where the tide takes us.
Look at this piece of treasure buried deep within the vaults of the RHP database.
Black to play.
Which Bishop is captured by a pawn. (the answer is both of them.)
darklore - eastern inferno RHP 2011
1. e4 Nf6 {White is not going to be tempted into advancing the pawn...} 2. Nc3 {...he protects it. Only one White piece is going into the Black half of the board in this game.} 2... c6 3. Nf3 Nh5 {Black fires a torpedo hoping it will hit something.} 4. d4 f6 5. Be2 g5 6. O-O Nf4 7. Bc4 {The Bishop takes up it classical post on c4.} 7... b5 8. Bxf4 {The position from the diagram.} 8... gxf4 {Black has taken one Bishop...} 9. Nd2 bxc4 {...Black has taken two Bishops...} 10. Qh5 {...Black has been checkmated.}
That White opening dream position...
...figures again in this next game.
connectedman - asc3new4 RHP 2014
1. e4 e6 2. Bc4 d6 {2...d5 was OK. Both sides now put up patterned wallpaper.} 3. Nf3 Ne7 4. Nc3 Nd7 5. d4 {All this is very pretty.} 5... Rb8 6. Bf4 Rg8 {Wonderful.} 7. O-O a6 8. e5 {Boo! White is starting to play Chess.} 8... h6 9. exd6 cxd6 {White could now go for Ne4 and Nxd6 mate.} 10. d5 b5 {White could now go for Ne4 and Nxd6 mate.} 11. Bd3 e5 {White could now go for Ne4 and Nxd6 mate.} 12. Be3 b4 {White has been forced to go for Ne4 and Nxd6 mate.} 13. Ne4 a5 14. Nxd6 {Déjà vu.}
and of course from the Black side of the dream opening position.
Nordpolen - robincoup RHP 2008
1. f3 {It's legal. Wait till you see what happens next.} 1... e5 2. Kf2 {The idea is to tempt Black into a Hara-Kari attack and make unsound sacs.} 2... Nc6 3. e3 d5 4. Ne2 Bc5 {Black is doing the correct thing. Ignoring the strange opening and just developing.} 5. b3 Nf6 6. Bb2 Bf5 {Simple development. I would have 0-0 and pushed d4 but this is OK.} 7. a3 a5 8. a4 {White insists on being attacked. Black obliges.} 8... d4 9. e4 d3+ {if 10.Ke1 Nb4 11.cxd3 Nxd3 checkmate.} 10. Kg3 {So White gets checkmated by the King’s Knight instead.} 10... Nh5
Nordpolen used that opening a few times, he actually won two with it but as
both games went over 40 moves it never had much to do with the 1.f3 opening.
Here is another Nordpolen loss (sorry mate but you do play some instructive chess)
I’m using this to highlight something I mentioned a few weeks back about taking Rooks.
Nordpolen - mattc RHP 2008
1. f3 e5 2. Kf2 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. b3 d4 {White is getting his wish and is being attacked.} 5. e4 d3 {If 6.c3 Nxe4+ 7.fxe4 Bc4+ 8.Ke1 Qh4+ White is getting hammered.} 6. Bxd3 Qd4+ 7. Kg3 {Remember, taking Rooks is not the object of the game...} 7... Nh5+ 8. Kh4 Qd8+ {Beautiful. Back to the original square to give a check saccing a piece.} 9. Kxh5 g6 {And mate with a pawn. Instead of taking the a1 Rook, all that was forced}
This next piece of treasure was given to us by Andre Cheron in 1964.
White to play wins.
All those pawns are on the 7th rank and each one promoters to a Knight.
[FEN "N7/PPPPPPPP/K1k3rB/b2nnb1p/8/1r6/pp3p2/7q w - - 0 1"]
1. b8=N+ Rxb8 2. axb8=N+ Kd6 3. c8=N+ Ke6 4. d8=N+ Bxd8 5. exd8=N+ Kf6 6. g8=N+ Rxg8 7. hxg8=N+ Kg6 8. f8=N {Checkmate. Incredible.}
And this next one was scratched on the wall in the crews quarters.
White to play and mate in 31 moves.
The crew of course are messing about. Here is what it should look like.
White playing up the board mates in 15 moves. (composer unknown to me)
[FEN "7k/4B1np/3N4/5p2/8/8/K4P2/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Nf7+ Kg8 2. Nh6+ Kh8 {Only move.} 3. Bf6 f4 {Only move.} 4. Ba1 f3 {Only move.} 5. Kb2 {This gives Black a move and you now have the main idea.} 5... Nf5 6. Kb3+ Ng7 7. Kc3 Ne6 8. Kc4+ {The King snakes his way up the board giving discovered checks all the way.} 8... Ng7 9. Kd4 Nf5+ 10. Kd5+ Ng7 11. Ke5 Ne8 12. Ke6+ Ng7+ 13. Kf6 Ne8+ 14. Kf7+ Ng7 15. Bxg7 {Checkmate.}
First we look at what happened in V. Ivanchuk - Y. Hou, Shenzhen 2017
[FEN "rnbq1rk1/p4ppp/4p3/1p1nP1N1/1bpP4/6P1/1P1N1PBP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 13"]
13. Nxh7 Kxh7 14. Qh5+ Kg8 15. Ne4 f6 16. Nxf6+ gxf6 17. Qg6+ Kh8 {White has no more than a draw with Qh6+ and Qg6+} 18. Qh5+ {It is still a draw, Ivanchuk is trying to tempt Black to Kg7.} 18... Kg8 {Kg7 would have lost to Bh6+ here a draw was agreed.}
Now, as you no doubt guessed, a couple of RHP games where this Qh5+ idea worked.
tombrasil - RookYou RHP 2011
[FEN "r4rk1/ppp2q2/3p3Q/2bPp3/3n3B/3P4/PPP2PPP/R3K2R w KQ - 0 15"]
15. O-O-O {Black can now take the Queens off with Qf4+} 15... Ne2+ 16. Kb1 Qf4 {Too late now for this move, it's not a check.} 17. Qg6+ Kh8 18. Bg5 Qxf2 19. Qh6+ Kg8 20. Qg6+ Kh8 {This is a draw. White tries the Qh5+ idea.} 21. Qh5+ Kg7 {It worked. Kg8 and White has no more than a draw.} 22. Bh6+ {Black played Kg8 and was mated with Qg6+ and Qg7. but it is lost.} 22... Kf6 {White can win the Queen with Rf1 but winning Rooks and Queens is not the object of the game,} 23. Qg4 {This move threatens Qe6 mate. or Qg7+ and Qg5 mate.} 23... Ke7 {Sometimes you just have to take the Queen and Rook.} 24. Qe6+ Kd8 25. Bg5+ Rf6 26. Bxf6+ Qxf6 27. Qxf6+ {That's enough.}
Same idea. It’s strange how one unexpected move often invites disaster.
This game also features both sides playing two needless f-pawn blunders.
eeze - Staf Wuille RHP 2017
[FEN "r1b2rk1/2p2p2/p2b1q1p/1pNP2pQ/4Pp2/3B3P/PP3PP1/2R2RK1 w - - 0 20"]
20. f3 {Opens up the King to a check and White drops a piece.} 20... Bxc5+ 21. Rxc5 Qd4+ 22. Kh1 Qxc5 23. Qxh6 f6 {White blundered with f3. Black blunders with f6.} 24. Qg6+ Kh8 {The game is a draw with pep-check but White wants more.} 25. e5 Qe7 {The Black Queen defends h7 and g7, now White is lost.} 26. Qh5+ {Kg8 answering Qg6 with Qg7 and it is 0-1} 26... Kg7 {That will be an OOPS!} 27. Qh7 {Checkmate.}
To add to the jollity member Venda sent me a game that ends with a suicidal King march.
FvG1 - venda RHP 2019
[FEN "4r3/1p2rk2/2p3p1/p1PpR1Pp/P2P1P1P/1KP5/8/4R3 w - - 0 38"]
38. c4 dxc4+ 39. Kxc4 {The White King sets off on it’s path to it's doom.} 39... Re6 40. d5 cxd5+ 41. Kxd5 R6e7 {Now swap all the Rooks on e7 and Ke5. The White King gets in via d6 or f6 and it's 1-0.} 42. Kd6 {Expecting Rxe5 etc.. certainly not expecting....} 42... Rd8 {Checkmate!}
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 181308 
