Gioachino Greco vs. an unknown player in 1919. At this time, Greco was touring Europe, testing himself against players in London in Paris. Greco considered this to be one of his best and favorite games. |
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1. e4
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The King's Pawn Opening. |
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1... b6
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The rarely seen Owen Defence. Black prepares to fianchetto his bishop onto the powerful a8-h1 diagonal. On the downside, white is allowed to build a large pawn center. |
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2. d4
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Greco claims more center space. |
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2... Bb7
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Black fianchettos his bishop, while attacking Greco's e-pawn. |
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3. Bd3
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?! - Greco, who was always fond of developing his bishops to the third-rank, ignores modern opening theory to develop knights first. Although not considered to be a strong move, this bishop plays a vital role in the game. |
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3... f5
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?! - The Matovinsky Gambit. Black greatly weakens his king-side in order to loosen up the a8-h1 diagonal. Today, this gambit is today considered completely unsound - 400 years ago? Maybe not... |
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4. exf5
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Greco accepts the Matovinsky Gambit. This move allows black to take White's rook, however, white gets compensation through a strong king-side attack. |
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4... Bxg2
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Black takes a pawn and attacks Greco's unprotected rook. It seems that Greco has made a bad mistake. |
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5. Qh5+
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Black's f5 advance is now proving to be a huge king-side weakness. |
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5... g6
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Black's only move. This pawn is all that is stopping Greco from checkmating. |
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6. fxg6
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Greco makes the obvious move. If he can remove the pawn from the queen's way, it's checkmate! |
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6... Nf6
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?? - Black understands that 7. g7# and 7. gxh7# will both end the game. Therefore he readies to remove Greco's queen. However, he's not looking beyond one move ahead... |
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7. gxh7+
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! - In Greco's position, many beginners would have played the obvious 7. g7 , in order to even up the exchange after 7...Nxh5 8. gxh8=Q bxh1. Apparently, Greco sees something better! |
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7... Nxh5
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Black happily gobbles up Greco's queen (not that he had a choice). |
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8. Bg6#
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! - Greco's bishop checkmates his opponent. Seven points up and nowhere to go. Now the purpose of Greco's seventh move becomes clear(7. gxh7 ), by taking Black's h-pawn, Greco's bishop can checkmate on the undefended g6.
Many of you may (or may not) have noticed that Black's 6...Nf6 was a game-ending blunder. In fact, the main line of the Matovinsky Gambit Accepted continues with 6...Bg7 to give the king an escape route. Interestingly enough, in the late 1950's, white began to answer to 6...Bg7 with 7. Qf5!!, an extremely powerful move that led to the disappearance of the Matovinsky Gambit. |
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