No fooling — chessboard oddities in the spirit of April 1

With everything out there on the board for everyone to see, chess doesn’t really lend itself to quality April Fool’s tomfoolery.

There was that incident (probably apocryphal) when some joker glued the white d-pawn to the board before Polish GM Akiba Rubinstein — one of the greatest and most loyal champions of 1. d4 — sat down to play. There’s that story told by Soviet great Alex Kotov when he was a young candidate master of how his busted opponent wrote “Resigns” on his scorecard and was already putting on his coat, leading an overconfident Kotov to make a careless final move that allowed a winning tactical swindle. There’s the occasional fake news story about Garry Kasparov or Magnus Carlsen giving up chess to pursue a career in mixed martial arts or basket-weaving.

Again, not really great April 1 material. But that doesn’t mean some weird stuff doesn’t go down every once in a while at the chessboard.

Today’s first game, for example, between Hungarian master Endre Steiner and Belgian great Edgar Colle makes no sense by the traditional rules of chess. White launches a promising gambit in this Alekhine Defense, but things go screwy after 18. Rae1+ Be7 19. Rxf6??, as two fine players appear to miss elementary checkmates over and over again: 19…gxf6 20. Bxf6 0-0 21. Rxe7?? (the “point” of White’s nonsensical combination) Rxf6? (Qxe7 22. Bxe7 Rf1 is mate) 22. Rxd7?? Bxd7?? (again, 22…Rf1 is mate) 23. Ne4?? Rf7?? (ditto) 24. Qg3+, and Steiner is back on top with a winning attack.

To make sense of things, go back to the diagrammed position, where White has just played 14. c5. At that same moment, Steiner’s king on h1 was accidentally knocked off the board and mistakenly replaced on the g1-square, with neither player noticing. Play through the game with the king just one square over — all Black’s back-rank threats are disarmed and White’s combinations all work.

Realizing the error after the game, Colle protested, but arbiters ruled it was too late and the result should stand.

Even more in April Fool’s Day’s cheeky spirit is today’s famous second game, a win by the free-spirited British GM Tony Miles over an in-his-very-prime Soviet world champion Anatoly Karpov. The Brit opened as black with 1. e4 a6?!?!, found, joking later that he came up with the move while “looking for an improvement on 1…b6?!.”

Karpov kept a poker face and proceeded to build up a formidable center, but never really tries to “punish” his opponent for his impertinent opening choice.

The critical moment comes after 18. Be4 0-0, when White after a hefty think backed off from 19. Bh7+! Kh7 20. Ng5+, when things get hairy for both sides after 20…Kg6! (Kg8?? 21. Qh5; 20…Kh6 21. Rc4 g6 22. Qg4, hitting the bishop on b4) 21. Qg4 f6!?. Instead, things shift Black’s way after 19. Ng5?! h6 20. Bh7+?! Kh8 21. Bb1 Be7 22. Ne4 Rac8 23. Qd3? (Karpov badly overestimates the power of the queen-bishop battery) Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Qxb2!, showing White’s attack to be toothless.

After 27. Re3 Qd5 (Qb2! was even stronger, given White’s back-rank vulnerabilities; e.g. 28. Bd3 Bxe4 29. Rxe4 Bc5! 30. Be2 [Rf4 Qc1+ 31. Bf1 Qxf4] Qb1+ 31. Qd1 Qxe4) 28. Qxd5 Bxd5, and Black has two bishops, an extra pawn and a basically won position.
In the final position, Miles still has that a-pawn to go with two connected passers all set to roll. Karpov resigned.

Steiner-Colle, Budapest, July 1926

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. Bc4 Nb6 4. Be2 d6 5. f4 Nc6 6. Nf3 dxe5 7. fxe5 Nd4 8. O-O Nxf3+ 9. Bxf3 Qd4+ 10. Kh1 Qxe5 11. d4 Qd6 12. c4 Qd7 13. Nc3 c6 14. c5* Nd5 15. Qb3 e6 16. Bxd5 exd5 17. Bg5 f6 18. Rae1+ Be7 19. Rxf6 gxf6 20. Bxf6 O-O 21. Rxe7 Rxf6 22. Rxd7 Bxd7 23. Ne4 Rf7 24. Qg3+ Rg7 25. Nf6+ Kh8 26. Qe5 Bh3 27. Nh5 Black resigns.

Karpov-Miles, European Team Championships, Skara, Sweden, January 1980

1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. Qe2 e6 6. a4 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Nbd2 b4 9. e5 Nd5 10. Ne4 Be7 11. 0-0 Nc6 12. Bd2 Qc7 13. c4 bxc3 14. Nxc3 Nxc3 15. Bxc3 Nb4 16. Bxb4 Bxb4 17. Rac1 Qb6 18. Be4 0-0 19. Ng5 h6 20. Bh7+ Kh8 21. Bb1 Be7 22. Ne4 Rac8 23. Qd3 Rxc1 24. Rxc1 Qxb2 25. Re1 Qxe5 26. Qxd7 Bb4 27. Re3 Qd5 28. Qxd5 Bxd5 29. Nc3 Rc8 30. Ne2 g5 31. h4 Kg7 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Bd3 a5 34. Rg3 Kf6 35. Rg4 Bd6 36. Kf1 Be5 37. Ke1 Rh8 38. f4 gxf4 39. Nxf4 Bc6 40. Ne2 Rh1+ 41. Kd2 Rh2 42. g3 Bf3 43. Rg8 Rg2 44. Ke1 Bxe2 45. Bxe2 Rxg3 46. Ra8 Bc7 White resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.