The Greek Gift That Was Not Sound, and Won Anyway

Good day, chess world!

This is game 14 of Capablanca's My Chess Career, an exhibition game in Buenos Aires in 1911.

This is a wonderful example of the Greek gift sacrifice. This game shows the true intention of the sacrifice, which is to expose the enemy king like an open wound to be attacked. Once the black king is drawn out into the open it is a permanent target and black has the hardest challenge of being perfect with every move. Capa just had to keep up the threats but his opponent had to be perfect.
In this game you will learn about the active king and the passive king in the Greek gift pattern.

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Four exercises from the game

Try to solve each before you watch. Capablanca is White here and he wins, so every exercise asks for White's move. I have deliberately not made the sacrifice itself an exercise, because the engine does not rate it as the best move. These four are the follow up, where his play really is faultless. The answers are in the full game at the bottom, in the video, and in the website lesson linked below.

Exercise 1. White to play (move 14). The bishop is gone, the knight has checked on g5 and the black king has walked out to g6. Which queen move keeps him there and brings the last attacker in?

Exercise 2. White to play (move 16). Black has just played the king to h6, which is the losing move. Which check punishes it?

Exercise 3. White to play (move 25). Queens have just come off on g3 and you are a piece down for the moment. Which check wins it all back with the king still stranded?

Exercise 4. White to play (move 27). The black king sits on f7 and your knight is on h7. Which check closes the net for good?

Play through the full game with my notes here:

Questions, or a move you would have played differently? Tell me in the comments. Good day, chess world.

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Watch the video and go deeper

Youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fiiVf5wcXc

The full chess lesson on my website. https://chessexcellence.com/f/greek-gift-sacrifice-capablanca-vs-molina.html

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