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Great excitement in the late 15th century,  when it was realised that the new rules of chess (with the massively expanded powers of the Queen) meant that a player could deliver checkmate in

just four moves. This catastrophe is known as Scholar’s Mate. It has snared innumerable victims over the past 550 years, ever since the introduction of the new chess, or chess  _ alla

rabiosa,  _ as it was swiftly dubbed. This name doubtless caught on because of the cataclysmic damage which the newly empowered Queen could inflict on an unsuspecting victim.  Scholar’s mate

comes about after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5 Nf6 4. Qxf7 mate. This brutally cruel dénouement reveals, in naive form, a profound truth about chess, namely that the respective squares, f2

and f7, are genuinely vulnerable areas in the opposing camps. Even the strong East German Grandmaster Wolfgang Uhlmann (once an official world championship Candidate) lost on no fewer than

three occasions to the great Vassily Smyslov (World Champion 1957-1958) by falling foul of an incursion on that notoriously weak spot.  WOLFGANG UHLMANN VS. VASILY SMYSLOV Alekhine Memorial,

Moscow, 1956, rd. 3 position after 15… Nc2 White to play Smyslov has just launched the thunderbolt incursion 15…Nc2, forking White’s rooks. Should White now be careless enough to capture

with 16. Qxc2, there could have followed 16… Bxf2+ 17. Kxf2 (discretion is the better part of valour, Kh1 is best) 17… Ng4+ with one possible spectacular conclusion being 18. Kg1 Qe3+ 19.

Kh1 Nf2+ 20. Kg1 Nh3 ++ 21. Kh1 Qg1+ 22. Rxg1 Nf2 with a stunning smothered mate.    WOLFGANG UHLMANN VS. VASILY SMYSLOV Moscow International tournament, 1971, rd. 13 Black to play White had

just played 20. Qe2, and there now followed: 20… NXF2! 21. QXF2 BXF3 22. BH3 RXE5 23. BXC8 BC6 24. BH3 QE8 25. BG2 RXE3 26. KH1 NXG2+ 27. KXG2 QE4+ 28. KH3 QE6+ 29. KG2 QD5+ 30. KH3 RE6

White resigns 0-1 VASILY SMYSLOV VS. WOLFGANG UHLMANN Capablanca memorial, Cienfuegos, 1973 White to play Black had just played 17… Nxc5, and there now followed: 18.BXF7+! KXF7 19. BXC5 B5

20. BXE7 RXE7 21. QD3 RD7 22. QF5 RAD8 23. RC1 QB6 24. RHE1 RD5 25. QC2 QD6 26. NC5 RE8 27. RXE8 KXE8 28. NE4 QD7 29. QB3 A5 30. QE3 KF7 31. A3 RD3 32. NXF6 GXF6 33. QH6 QF5 34. KA1 RD7 35.

RG1 A4 36. QG7+ KE6 37. QG8+ KD6 38. RD1+ KC7 39. RC1+ KB7 40. QC8+ KA7 41. RC7+ Blacks resigns 1-0 A most remarkable trio of themed victories by Smyslov against the same opponent. The

remainder of this week’s  column focuses on two more games featuring Bxf7 +, one a glorious victory for White, the other less so …. WILLIAM HARTSTON VS. MICHAEL BASMAN Slater Young Masters,

Southend, 1968 1.E4 E5 2. NF3 D6 3. D4 ND7 4. BC4 C6 5. O-O H6 A grotesque error which leads to immediate defeat. Basman was presumably unaware of the prehistoric sacrificial possibility at

White’s disposal. As we shall see, removing protection from the g6-square, proves a fatal oversight within a couple of moves. 6.DXE5 DXE5 7. BXF7 +  Of course! 7… KXF7 8. NXE5+ KF6  Hoping

to prevent Ng6, but … 9.QD4! After which Black’s position is hopeless. Basman now consumed an hour in an attempt to discover a loophole, but to no avail! 9… KE6 10. NG6 RH7 11. QC4+ KF6 12.

NF4  If now 12… Ne7 13. Qe6+ forces mate. 12… G5 13. QXG8 GXF4 14. QXH7 BG7  White could now escape with his queen by means of Qf5+, but he prefers to “fall into” Black’s last ditch trap.

15.BXF4 NF8 16. BE5+ KXE5 17. QXG7+ QF6 18. F4+ KE6 19. F5+ Black resigns 1-0 R.STARLEY VS. R.EALES Sandwich v Bridge, 2024  1. E4 D6 2. D4 NF6 3. NC3 NBD7 4. NF3 More independent minded

alternatives include 4. f4 or even 4. g4. White, however prefers to navigate back into the paths of the defence ascribed to the 18th French chess genius, André Danican Philidor. 4… E5 5. BC4

BE7  Now white launches into an adventure , upon which established theory frowns with extremely furrowed brow. The Black player was aware of the defects of this overambitious attempt to

blast the opponent off the board, but he could not recall the precise intricacies and had to work out the refutation during play.  6.BXF7+ KXF7 7. NG5+ KG8 8. NE6 QE8 9. NXC7 QG6 10. NXA8

QXG2  Nominally White has gained material, but at the cost of activating the black Queen and allowing his own king side pawn structure to be compromised. And with this compromise, comes the

additional burden of facing the disruption of his king’s security.  11.RF1 EXD4 12. QXD4 NE5 13. F4 This leads to disaster. Relatively best is  13. f3 but after the most accurate riposte ,

Black retains a substantial advantage:  13… Nh5! 14. Rf2 Bh4 15. Ke2 Qg6. 13… NFG4  Now things are worse.  14.QD5+ NF7 15. QC4 BH4+ 16. KD1 BE6 17. QE2  NF2+ 18. RXF2 BXF2 19. F5 NE5! There

is a tempting alternative 19… Qg1+ 20. Kd2 Ne5 which once led to a drastic finish: 21. Nd1 Be1+ 22. Qxe1 Qd4+ 23. Ke2 Bc4#; _HEIDENFELD-WOLPERT,_ _JOHANNESBERG 1955   _ In this line White

should have tried 21.  fxe6 _   _ but according to computer analysis best play for Black still leaves White wrecked :  21… Bh4! 22. Nd1 Qd4+ 23. Qd3 Nxd3 24. cxd3 d5 25. Nc3 dxe4 26. Nxe4 h5

27.Nc7 Qe5 28. Ne8 Rh6. ( -5.7: Stockfish 17 ) A computer evaluation of -5.7 indicates an overwhelming advantage for Black. 20.ND5 White now effectively surrendered, rather like Heidenfeld.

The strain of defending against Black’s multifarious threats has proved too much of a strain.  20… BXD5 21. EXD5 QH1+       (Or 21 … Qg1+ 22 Kd2 Be1+)  22.KD2 QXD5+ 23. KC3 BD4+       ( Or

23 … Be1+)  24.KD2 BXB2+ 25. KE1 BXA1  and wins.  So: a very brief variation on a theme of ancient theory, and proof that allowing White to invade via the perennially vulnerable f7 square,

does not necessarily need to be fatal. My thanks to the victor for demonstrating this dramatic encounter to me — thus reviving my interest in historical examples of a key strategic theme,

one which has impressed and snared devotees of our game for the past five and a half centuries. Indeed, ever since the sudden and alarming rule advances, predicated largely on the vastly

increased powers of the Queen.  We have been introduced above to Scholar’s mate, but there is an even more dramatic two move checkmate (known as Fool’s mate) which, however, requires

considerable cooperation on the part of the victim: 1. f3 e6 2. g4 Qh4 checkmate. And as a coda to the topic of amazingly quick wins, my good friend Stewart Reuben, impresario extraordinaire

and arbiter de luxe, has discovered an astonishingly quick win for Black. It works even in the ancient Arabic version of chess, the otherwise notoriously slow Shatranj. The moves are as

follows: 1. e3 Nc6 2. Ne2 Ne5 3. g3 Nf3 checkmate. The grandmasters of the antique Baghdad of the Caliphs would be turning in their graves had this monstrosity ever crossed their fertile

minds! RAY’S 206TH BOOK, “  CHESS IN THE YEAR OF THE KING  ”, WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH ADAM BLACK, AND HIS 207TH, “  NAPOLEON AND GOETHE: THE TOUCHSTONE OF GENIUS  ” (WHICH DISCUSSES

THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHESS) ARE AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON AND BLACKWELLS.  . A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering every angle. We have an

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