Chess (poem)
Encyclopedia
Chess is a poem written by Jan Kochanowski
, first published in 1564 or 1565. Inspired by Marco Girolamo Vida
's Scacchia Ludus, it is a narrative poetry
work that describes a game of chess
between two men, Fiedor and Borzuj, who fight for the right to marry Anna, princess of Denmark
. The poem anthropomorphises
the pieces
, presenting the game as a battle between two armies, in a style reminiscent of battle scenes in the works of Homer
and Virgil
.
In 1912, Alexander Wagner
reconstructed the game described in the poem, while Yuri Averbakh
found that it has three possible endings in 1967.
in 1558–59, Jan Kochanowski
encountered Scacchia Ludus, a poem by Marco Girolamo Vida
, which describes a game of chess
played on Mount Olympus
between Apollo
and Mercury
. It is possible that Kochanowski also met Vida himself. Inspired by Scacchia Ludus, Kochanowski decided to create his own poem with a chess game as the main topic.
Until the second half of the 19th century, Chess was often thought to be only a paraphrase
of Vida's poem, rather than an independent work. In his 1856 essay Chess in Poland , historian Maurycy Dzieduszycki proved that Kochanowski's poem, while inspired by Scacchia Ludus, is dependent on it only to a small extent and should be considered a fully separate work of art.
Chess is dedicated to "Jan Krzysztof
, count of Tarnów
, castellan
of Wojnicz
."
, Tarses proposes a game of chess instead. Fiedor and Borzuj learn the rules
and after spending some time training, meet in Tarses' palace for the game.
Borzuj is chosen to play white and Fiedor black. The game, described as a battle of anthropomorphised
pieces starts, compromising the biggest part of the poem. Kochanowski uses the names of the pieces (which are often different from their equivalents in modern Polish) in literal sense, describing the game as a war between infantry soldiers (pawns
), knights
, bow
-wielding priest
s (bishops
), war elephant
s (rooks
), queens
and kings
. The play is described metaphorically: Captures are referred to as killings, the pieces are said to have emotions. At one point, Borzuj attempts to "resurrect" a dead knight, i.e. illegally put a captured piece on the board. When both queens are killed, the kings are said to look for new wives among their servants – a metaphor of pawn promotion
.
The play advances into the endgame and Borzuj indeed promotes and gets a new queen. The match progresses to a position which seems to end with white inevitably mating in its next move (see the diagram). Fiedor sees no way to evade his loss and makes no move, despite urging comments from Borzuj and advice to resign from members of Tarses' court who watch the game. The sun sets with black still not making any move and it is decided that the players will stop the game for the night, to resume on the following day.
Later Anna, who would rather marry Fiedor, visits the room with the chessboard, guarded for the night. She also initially believes that there is no way to evade white's mate, but subsequently notices a chance for black. Anna loudly expresses an enigmatic opinion: That knights know how to fight, priests are good at giving advice, infantry doesn't hesitate to walk forward and that it's no loss to change a dear thing for someone beloved. Before leaving, the princess turns the black rook to the side.
The following day, hopeless Fiedor and content Borzuj meet to finish their game. Fiedor asks the guards about the turned rook and learns about Anna's visit and her words. Borzuj pays no attention, believing she was referring to the real-life knights and priests. Fiedor starts to think deeply and understands that the princess' words are a message with a hidden hint for him: that he should not use the knight and the bishop, but sacrifice
the most valuable piece his still has, the rook; before ending the game using the pawns. To get the attention of his spectators, Fiedor proclaims that he will admit loss if he won't be able to mate his opponent in the next three moves. To Borzuj's surprise, black sacrifices the rook and mates with two pawns. Fiedor marries Anna, while Borzuj leaves, declining an invitation to the wedding.
and epigram
s in Latin. According to prof. Edmund Kotarski of the Gdańsk University
, Chess resembles a short story
in the parts dealing with the human characters, while the battle of the chess pieces is a parody of heroic epos
of Homer
and Virgil
, "following its style while presenting a plot which clearly was not monumental or grand", so that the "clash between seriousness and humour" results in humorous effects. The poem was described as more humane that Scacchia Ludus which inspired it, as instead of mythological gods, Kochanowski tells a story of two young men fighting for their future.
The ending combination is a variation of the well-known Dilaram problem. Anna's advice was most likely easily understood by the contemporary readers.
, who was one of the magazine's employees. Wagner submitted his reconstruction under the pseudonym of "Wanda Reger Nelska" (an anagram
of his name), so that his colleagues wouldn't be biased in judging the entries. Most of the commentary in Wagner's work are simply quotations from the poem.
Borzuj touches his e4 pawn, thinking about 28. exf5?. Fiedor immediately captures the white queen with 28. ... Bxd4. Borzuj protests, as he is not aware of the touch-move rule. They eventually agree to cancel the move.
28. Qc4 Nf6 29. Ne5 Qb6 30. Rh2 h5 31. f3 Rd8 32. Bg3 f4
White contemplates whether he would rather want to lose a knight or a bishop and decides to keep the former.
33. Nf5 fxg3 34. Nxg3 Rh8 35. Nd7+ Bd7 36. cxd7 Rd7 37. Qc1 Qxd6 38. Qxg5 h4 39. Nf5 Qb6 40. Qg5 Rh5 41. Qc1 c5 42. Ne3 Bh6 43. Kg1 Qd8 44. Kf1 Rd2 45. Kf2 Nd5 46. Qc4 Rxe2+ 47. Qxe2 Nxe3 48. Qe1 Qg5 49. Kg1 c4 50. Qf2 c3 51. Rh1 b6
Borzuj attempts to illegally put his captured knight again on the board, which Wagner renders as 52. Na1–b3?
52. Kh2 Qg3+ 53. Qxg3+ hxg3+ 54. Kxg3 Ra5 55. Kf2 Ra8 56. Ke2 Nc2 57. Kd1 Ne3+ 58. Kc1 Nxg2+ 59. Kb1 b5 60. h4 b4 61. h5 b3 62. e5 Bg5 63. h6 Nh4 64. e6 Bf6 65. h7 Nxf3 66. e7 Bxe7 67. h8=Q+ Kb7 68. Qh3 Ne5 69. Qh5 Nd3 70. Qh3 Nb4 71. Qf3+ Kb8 72. Qe2 Bf6 73. Qe6 Bg7 74. Qd7 Bd4 75. Rh7!
The play is suspended for the night after this move.
75. ... Ra1+ 76. Kxa1 b2+ 77. Kb1 c2#
also reconstructed the game. At the point when the play is stopped for the night, it is a "mirror reflection" of Wagner's work (with the black king on g8, black rook on h8 etc.). However, Averbakh proposed three alternative ways for black to mate. The first one is the same as Wagner's.
The two new variants are (starting from Wagner's reconstruction after 75. Rh7):
75. ... c2+ 76. Kc1 Ra1+ 77. Kd2 c1=Q+ 78. Ke2 Qd1# (or Qd3#) and
75. ... Ra1+ 76. Kxa1 c2+ 77 Qxd4 c1=Q#
Note that the first variant would exceed Fiedor's claim that he'll mate within three moves.
Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language.He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz, and the greatest Slavic poet, prior to the 19th century.-Life:Kochanowski was born at...
, first published in 1564 or 1565. Inspired by Marco Girolamo Vida
Marco Girolamo Vida
Marco Girolamo Vida or Marcus Hieronymus Vida was an Italian humanist, bishop and poet. Born at Cremona, Vida joined the court of Pope Leo X and was given a prior at Frascati. He became bishop of Alba in 1532....
's Scacchia Ludus, it is a narrative poetry
Narrative poetry
Narrative poetry is poetry that has a plot. The poems that make up this genre may be short or long, and the story it relates to may be simple or complex. It is usually nondramatic, with objective regular scheme and meter. Narrative poems include epics, ballads, idylls and lays.Some narrative...
work that describes a game of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
between two men, Fiedor and Borzuj, who fight for the right to marry Anna, princess of Denmark
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway is the historiographical name for a former political entity consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the originally Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands...
. The poem anthropomorphises
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
the pieces
Chess piece
Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...
, presenting the game as a battle between two armies, in a style reminiscent of battle scenes in the works of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
.
In 1912, Alexander Wagner
Alexander Wagner
Alexander Wagner was a Polish chess correspondence master and theoretician.He studied law in Lemberg , playing chess in the Lvov Chess Club...
reconstructed the game described in the poem, while Yuri Averbakh
Yuri Averbakh
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author. He is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster.-Life and career:...
found that it has three possible endings in 1967.
Background
During his visit to the Italian landsItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1558–59, Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski
Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance poet who established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language.He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz, and the greatest Slavic poet, prior to the 19th century.-Life:Kochanowski was born at...
encountered Scacchia Ludus, a poem by Marco Girolamo Vida
Marco Girolamo Vida
Marco Girolamo Vida or Marcus Hieronymus Vida was an Italian humanist, bishop and poet. Born at Cremona, Vida joined the court of Pope Leo X and was given a prior at Frascati. He became bishop of Alba in 1532....
, which describes a game of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
played on Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
between Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
and Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
. It is possible that Kochanowski also met Vida himself. Inspired by Scacchia Ludus, Kochanowski decided to create his own poem with a chess game as the main topic.
Until the second half of the 19th century, Chess was often thought to be only a paraphrase
Paraphrase
Paraphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...
of Vida's poem, rather than an independent work. In his 1856 essay Chess in Poland , historian Maurycy Dzieduszycki proved that Kochanowski's poem, while inspired by Scacchia Ludus, is dependent on it only to a small extent and should be considered a fully separate work of art.
Chess is dedicated to "Jan Krzysztof
Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski
Count Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski was a Polish noble . Son of Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski and Zofia Szydłowiecka. He was married to Zofia Odrowąż since 1555.He was owner of Tarnów, Wiewiórka, Przeworsk, Rożnów and Stare Sioło...
, count of Tarnów
Tarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
of Wojnicz
Wojnicz
Wojnicz is a town in Tarnów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship.The Battle of Wojnicz took place here on September 23, 1655, against Sweden.- People :* Sebastian Lubomirski* Jan Wielopolski the elder* Jan Krzysztof Tarnowski* Chaim Kreiswirth, rabbi...
."
Plot
Tarses, the king of Denmark, has a daughter named Anna. Of the many foreigners who wanted to marry her, two men, Fiedor and Borzuj, stood out as the most interested. After the two men proclaim that they want to have a duelDuel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
, Tarses proposes a game of chess instead. Fiedor and Borzuj learn the rules
Rules of chess
The rules of chess are rules governing the play of the game of chess. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The...
and after spending some time training, meet in Tarses' palace for the game.
Borzuj is chosen to play white and Fiedor black. The game, described as a battle of anthropomorphised
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
pieces starts, compromising the biggest part of the poem. Kochanowski uses the names of the pieces (which are often different from their equivalents in modern Polish) in literal sense, describing the game as a war between infantry soldiers (pawns
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
), knights
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
, bow
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
-wielding priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s (bishops
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
), war elephant
War elephant
A war elephant was an elephant trained and guided by humans for combat. Their main use was to charge the enemy, trampling them and breaking their ranks. A division of war elephants is known as elephantry....
s (rooks
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
), queens
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
and kings
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
. The play is described metaphorically: Captures are referred to as killings, the pieces are said to have emotions. At one point, Borzuj attempts to "resurrect" a dead knight, i.e. illegally put a captured piece on the board. When both queens are killed, the kings are said to look for new wives among their servants – a metaphor of pawn promotion
Promotion (chess)
Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...
.
The play advances into the endgame and Borzuj indeed promotes and gets a new queen. The match progresses to a position which seems to end with white inevitably mating in its next move (see the diagram). Fiedor sees no way to evade his loss and makes no move, despite urging comments from Borzuj and advice to resign from members of Tarses' court who watch the game. The sun sets with black still not making any move and it is decided that the players will stop the game for the night, to resume on the following day.
Later Anna, who would rather marry Fiedor, visits the room with the chessboard, guarded for the night. She also initially believes that there is no way to evade white's mate, but subsequently notices a chance for black. Anna loudly expresses an enigmatic opinion: That knights know how to fight, priests are good at giving advice, infantry doesn't hesitate to walk forward and that it's no loss to change a dear thing for someone beloved. Before leaving, the princess turns the black rook to the side.
The following day, hopeless Fiedor and content Borzuj meet to finish their game. Fiedor asks the guards about the turned rook and learns about Anna's visit and her words. Borzuj pays no attention, believing she was referring to the real-life knights and priests. Fiedor starts to think deeply and understands that the princess' words are a message with a hidden hint for him: that he should not use the knight and the bishop, but sacrifice
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
the most valuable piece his still has, the rook; before ending the game using the pawns. To get the attention of his spectators, Fiedor proclaims that he will admit loss if he won't be able to mate his opponent in the next three moves. To Borzuj's surprise, black sacrifices the rook and mates with two pawns. Fiedor marries Anna, while Borzuj leaves, declining an invitation to the wedding.
Artistic
Chess is written in eleven-syllable verse. It was one of the first Polish language works created by Kochanowski, who was earlier mostly writing elegiesElegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
and epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
s in Latin. According to prof. Edmund Kotarski of the Gdańsk University
Gdansk University
- History :The University of Gdańsk was established in 1970 by the amalgamation of the Higher School of Economics in Sopot and Gdańsk College of Education .- School Authorities :* Rector: Prof. dr hab. Bernard Lammek...
, Chess resembles a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
in the parts dealing with the human characters, while the battle of the chess pieces is a parody of heroic epos
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, "following its style while presenting a plot which clearly was not monumental or grand", so that the "clash between seriousness and humour" results in humorous effects. The poem was described as more humane that Scacchia Ludus which inspired it, as instead of mythological gods, Kochanowski tells a story of two young men fighting for their future.
Chess
Chess theoretician Władysław Litmanowicz considers Borzuj and Fiedor's playing skills as not extraordinary, but notices that the game's theory was much less advanced in Kochanowski's times compared to the modern day.The ending combination is a variation of the well-known Dilaram problem. Anna's advice was most likely easily understood by the contemporary readers.
Background
In 1912, the Szachista Polski magazine announced a contest to reconstruct the game described in Kochanowski's poem. It ended with only one entry send – created by Alexander WagnerAlexander Wagner
Alexander Wagner was a Polish chess correspondence master and theoretician.He studied law in Lemberg , playing chess in the Lvov Chess Club...
, who was one of the magazine's employees. Wagner submitted his reconstruction under the pseudonym of "Wanda Reger Nelska" (an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of his name), so that his colleagues wouldn't be biased in judging the entries. Most of the commentary in Wagner's work are simply quotations from the poem.
Wagner's reconstruction
1. d4 d5 2. c3 e5 3. e3 a5 4. b3 h6 5. a3 Na6 6. h3 Bf5 7. Be2 Qd6 8. c4 g6 9. b4 axb4 10. axb4 O-O-O 11. Nf3 Kb8 12. Nb1 Rh7 13. Nxd5 Nxb4 14. Nxe5 Nc2+ 15. Kf1 Nxa1 16. Bd2 g5 17. Qxa1 Be6 18. e4 Bg7 19. Ne3 f6 20. Nf3 Qa6 21. Qb2 Qd6 22. d5 Bd7 23. Qd4 Qb6 24. c5 Qb1+ 25. Be1 Be8 26. c6 Rc8 27. d6 f5Borzuj touches his e4 pawn, thinking about 28. exf5?. Fiedor immediately captures the white queen with 28. ... Bxd4. Borzuj protests, as he is not aware of the touch-move rule. They eventually agree to cancel the move.
28. Qc4 Nf6 29. Ne5 Qb6 30. Rh2 h5 31. f3 Rd8 32. Bg3 f4
White contemplates whether he would rather want to lose a knight or a bishop and decides to keep the former.
33. Nf5 fxg3 34. Nxg3 Rh8 35. Nd7+ Bd7 36. cxd7 Rd7 37. Qc1 Qxd6 38. Qxg5 h4 39. Nf5 Qb6 40. Qg5 Rh5 41. Qc1 c5 42. Ne3 Bh6 43. Kg1 Qd8 44. Kf1 Rd2 45. Kf2 Nd5 46. Qc4 Rxe2+ 47. Qxe2 Nxe3 48. Qe1 Qg5 49. Kg1 c4 50. Qf2 c3 51. Rh1 b6
Borzuj attempts to illegally put his captured knight again on the board, which Wagner renders as 52. Na1–b3?
52. Kh2 Qg3+ 53. Qxg3+ hxg3+ 54. Kxg3 Ra5 55. Kf2 Ra8 56. Ke2 Nc2 57. Kd1 Ne3+ 58. Kc1 Nxg2+ 59. Kb1 b5 60. h4 b4 61. h5 b3 62. e5 Bg5 63. h6 Nh4 64. e6 Bf6 65. h7 Nxf3 66. e7 Bxe7 67. h8=Q+ Kb7 68. Qh3 Ne5 69. Qh5 Nd3 70. Qh3 Nb4 71. Qf3+ Kb8 72. Qe2 Bf6 73. Qe6 Bg7 74. Qd7 Bd4 75. Rh7!
The play is suspended for the night after this move.
75. ... Ra1+ 76. Kxa1 b2+ 77. Kb1 c2#
Alternative endings
In his book В поисках истины , Grandmaster Yuri AverbakhYuri Averbakh
Yuri Lvovich Averbakh is a Soviet and Russian chess player and author. He is currently the oldest living chess grandmaster.-Life and career:...
also reconstructed the game. At the point when the play is stopped for the night, it is a "mirror reflection" of Wagner's work (with the black king on g8, black rook on h8 etc.). However, Averbakh proposed three alternative ways for black to mate. The first one is the same as Wagner's.
The two new variants are (starting from Wagner's reconstruction after 75. Rh7):
75. ... c2+ 76. Kc1 Ra1+ 77. Kd2 c1=Q+ 78. Ke2 Qd1# (or Qd3#) and
75. ... Ra1+ 76. Kxa1 c2+ 77 Qxd4 c1=Q#
Note that the first variant would exceed Fiedor's claim that he'll mate within three moves.
External links
- Review of Kochanowski's works, including Chess