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The Kennedy Kids: Mary Elizabeth & Jon
Swindle If there is one thing I like even better than winning a chess game, it has to be escaping from a bad, bad position -- by using a swindle. "Somehow, that doesn't seem fair," my mom likes to say. She doesn't play chess, so she's never had to get out of the messes I can find myself in. Besides, she is always taking up for my sister, Mary Elizabeth, and that doesn't seem fair to me, either. "I thought chess was a gentleman's game," is what my dad says. I am sure he would have been happy to meet Frank Marshall, American chess champion between the two World Wars. He even played in a match for the World Chess Championship. Marshall was a fine gentleman. He also loved to swindle. Marshall loved to attack. This sometimes got him in trouble. Then, he had to work hard and use his imagination to find some kind of amazing resource, which would give him a saving draw, or even a surprising win. "Swindle!" his opponents would grumble. Marshall even named one of his books, a collection of his games, Marshall's Chess Swindles. That shows how upset he got at being yelled at. The other day I accidentally got into a worse position in a game with Mary Elizabeth, and only my deep understanding of the position - and a handy swindle helped me escape.
It was my move with white, but my passed pawn was going to be no match for her three passers. Maybe I could hold out and find a draw, but I wanted to win! So, I startled her with 1.e8=R!! Without any appreciation, she then played the obvious, but now futile 1...h1=Q. I then reminded her about the rules of castling -- the King hasn't moved, the rook hasn't moved, the King isn't in check and doesn't move into check. The king moves two steps towards the rook, and the rook placed on the opposite side. She was bored. I could tell. She thought she had me. I then proceeded to castle in the most novel fashion, placing my King two squares forward, and locating the e8 rook one square beyond the King, at e2. I guess you would write the move 2.O-O-O-O-O-O.
"Checkmate," I smiled. Mary Elizabeth looked hard at the board, then knocked it over and stormed out of the living room. I figure Marshall would have understood perfectly. Index of Fiction at Chessville
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