Caption Competition #25: Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdance

Offramp

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Feb 11, 2012, 12:42:46 AM2/11/12

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Here is an unusual one:
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/pics/cn7507_caesar.jpg
Usual rules!!

Guest judge is Herschel Krustovsky.

Taylor Kingston

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Feb 11, 2012, 12:31:07 PM2/11/12

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I don't have a funny caption to give here, but I do have the 1948
issue of Chess Review with this photo on its cover. Their caption was
"If looks could kill ..." It appears that Sid Caesar is about to give
a Philidor's Legacy mate: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nc3 Bg4?
5.Nxe5! Bxd1 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 and now the move Sid is making: 7.Nd5 mate.

Ken Blake

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Feb 11, 2012, 1:25:18 PM2/11/12

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On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:31:07 -0800 (PST), Taylor Kingston
<ttk...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Feb 10, 9:42 pm, Offramp <alaneobr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Here is an unusual one:http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/pics/cn7507_caesar.jpg
> > Usual rules!!
> >
> > Guest judge is Herschel Krustovsky.
>
> I don't have a funny caption to give here, but I do have the 1948
> issue of Chess Review with this photo on its cover. Their caption was
> "If looks could kill ..." It appears that Sid Caesar is about to give
> a Philidor's Legacy mate: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nc3 Bg4?
> 5.Nxe5! Bxd1

And what would White do after 5. ... Nxe5?

> 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 and now the move Sid is making: 7.Nd5 mate.

--
Ken Blake

Taylor Kingston

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Feb 11, 2012, 2:07:05 PM2/11/12

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On Feb 11, 10:25 am, Ken Blake <kbl...@kb.invalid> wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:31:07 -0800 (PST), Taylor Kingston
>

> <ttk5...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Feb 10, 9:42 pm, Offramp <alaneobr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Here is an unusual one:http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/pics/cn7507_caesar.jpg
> > > Usual rules!!
>
> > > Guest judge is Herschel Krustovsky.
>
> > I don't have a funny caption to give here, but I do have the 1948
> > issue of Chess Review with this photo on its cover. Their caption was
> > "If looks could kill ..." It appears that Sid Caesar is about to give
> > a Philidor's Legacy mate: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nc3 Bg4?
> > 5.Nxe5! Bxd1
>
> And what would White do after 5. ... Nxe5?

Good point, Ken. That's what I get for composing the game in my head
rather than on a board (Koltanowski I am not). However, based on the
position in the photo, the moves I gave do indeed appear to be the
ones that created it. But I was wrong in the "?" and "!" I gave.
I made another mistake: this is a Legall's Mate, not a Philidor's
Legacy. The latter is a form of smothered mate. An example of the
former in the Oxford Companion goes 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 d6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Nc3
g6? 5.Nxe5 Bxd1 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5#. The same theme is also seen in the
Sea Cadet Mate.

Ken Blake

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Feb 11, 2012, 7:11:31 PM2/11/12

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On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:07:05 -0800 (PST), Taylor Kingston
<ttk...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Feb 11, 10:25 am, Ken Blake <kbl...@kb.invalid> wrote:
> > On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:31:07 -0800 (PST), Taylor Kingston
> >
> > <ttk5...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On Feb 10, 9:42 pm, Offramp <alaneobr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Here is an unusual one:http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/pics/cn7507_caesar.jpg
> > > > Usual rules!!
> >
> > > > Guest judge is Herschel Krustovsky.
> >
> > > I don't have a funny caption to give here, but I do have the 1948
> > > issue of Chess Review with this photo on its cover. Their caption was
> > > "If looks could kill ..." It appears that Sid Caesar is about to give
> > > a Philidor's Legacy mate: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nc3 Bg4?
> > > 5.Nxe5! Bxd1
> >
> > And what would White do after 5. ... Nxe5?
>
> Good point, Ken. That's what I get for composing the game in my head
> rather than on a board (Koltanowski I am not).

My ability to play moves in my head (blindfolded, as it were) is
greatly inferior to what it used to be, back in the days when I was an
active tournament player (55 years or so ago), but I can still handle
it from move 1 to 5. <g>

I once played three blindfolded games simultaneously, and won all
three, but if my opponents had been better and I hadn't won them all
quickly, I would have had a very hard time.

> However, based on the
> position in the photo, the moves I gave do indeed appear to be the
> ones that created it. But I was wrong in the "?" and "!" I gave.

Not a big problem. I didn't mind the error, and I wasn't trying to
give you a hard time. Just pointing it out.

--
Ken Blake

Taylor Kingston

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Feb 11, 2012, 11:16:11 PM2/11/12

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No umbrage taken at all, Ken. :-)

Offramp

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Feb 12, 2012, 2:14:03 PM2/12/12

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> No umbrage taken at all, Ken.

This is definitely the winner, say Herschel!