English Chess Forum

From what I can gather, GM Miles appears to have had the misfortune of being defeated by queen sacrifices more than any other English GM. I thought it was only GM Plaskett who pulled that off against him but I was wrong, Kasparov and Georgiev also did. Did anyone else defeat him with a queen sacrifice and is this a record for an English GM in terms of such defeats?

GM Plaskett

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1097818

GM Kasparov

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070182

GM Georgiev

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1098271

This is likely a function of how frequently they play, yesno? The record holder's probably Arkell or Hebden or someone like that.

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Sun May 25, 2025 6:48 am

This is likely a function of how frequently they play, yesno? The record holder's probably Arkell or Hebden or someone like that.

Are such games recorded or noteable even? I can't find any involving either of them.

Here's one: [Event "Uxbridge op"] [Site "London"] [Date "2010.10.26"] [Round "4"] [White "Rudd, Jack"] [Black "Arkell, Keith C"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2251"] [BlackElo "2439"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2010.10.24"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2010.11.26"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. c4 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 b5 6. cxb5 Bxb5 7. Nc3 Ba6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. e4 c6 10. Bg5 O-O 11. O-O-O d5 12. e5 Nfd7 13. h4 Re8 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Ng5 Nf8 16. f4 Nbd7 17. f5 h6 18. fxe6 fxe6 19. Nh3 c5 20. Nxd5 exd5 21. Bxd5+ Ne6 22. Nf4 Ndf8 23. dxc5 Rad8 24. Bb3 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Bc8 26. Rd6 Qf7 27. h5 Kh8 28. c6 Qc7 29. Qc4 Qa5 30. Qc3 Qb6 31. Ng6+ Nxg6 32. hxg6 Qc7 33. a4 Qe7 34. Kb1 Ng5 35. Bd5 Bf5+ 36. Ka1 Ne4 37. Bxe4 Bxe4 38. c7 Bf5 39. Qc5 Be6 40. Qc6 Bc8 41. Qxe8+ Qxe8 42. Rd8 Qg8 43. b4 a6 44. b5 axb5 45. axb5 h5 46. b6 h4 47. gxh4 1-0

Well played

Although I was on the receiving end,I always felt this was a great game by Jon:


https://zh.chesstempo.com/game-database ... in/2750211

Andrew Martin wrote: ↑

Wed May 28, 2025 7:40 pm

Although I was on the receiving end,I always felt this was a great game by Jon:


https://zh.chesstempo.com/game-database ... in/2750211

That is very impressive, and a genuine long-term queen sacrifice. Why the Chinese-language (zh) domain of chesstempo though?

Jon S Speelman (2575) - Andrew D Martin (2300) 1-0
BCF-ch (Torquay) [6] 1982.8.??

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d6 5.O-O O-O 6.b3 e5 7.Bb2 c5 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.d3 h6 10.e3 Bf5 11.h3 Qd7 12.Kh2 Rab8 13.Qd2 g5 14.Rad1 a6 15.d4 cxd4 16.exd4 exd4 17.Nxd4 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 Ng4+ 19.hxg4 Bxd4 20.Rxd4 Bg6 21.c5 Rbe8 22.Nd5 f6 23.Ne3 Qb5 24.cxd6 Qe2 25.Bc3 Qxa2 26.d7 Rd8 27.Rd6 Kh7 28.Nd5 Qa3 29.b4 Qa4 30.Ra1 Qb5 31.Rd1 Qe2 32.Nxf6+ Kh8 33.Re1 Qc4 34.Ba1 Qa2 35.Kg1 Qc4 36.Bf3 Qb3 37.Kg2 Qc4 38.Ne4+ Kh7 39.Nxg5+ hxg5 40.Rh1+ Kg8 41.Rxg6+ Kf7 42.Rg7+ 1-0

Over twenty moves heavily down on material, no wonder he went on to become 3rd in the world.

Jack posted; 'The record holder's probably Arkell or Hebden or someone like that.'
MJMcCready replied; 'I can't find any involving either of them.'

If the banner had been 'Queen Sacrifices Against English Players' we could include Keith Arkell vs Susan Caldwell https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2281564 and Sheila Jackson vs Keith Arkell https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1538664

Back to Englishmen and this is a good one. Gary Lane vs Keith Arkell, Paignton Open, 1988.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Ngf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. Qe2 Nb6 8. Bb3 h6 9. N5f3 a5 10. a4 c5 11. Bf4 Bd6 12. Ne5 Nbd5 13. Qb5+ Ke7 14. dxc5 Nxf4 15. O-O-O Bxe5 16. Rxd8 Rxd8 17. c6 N4d5 18. cxb7 Rb8 19. bxc8=Q Rdxc8 20. Qd3 Nb4 21. Qe2 Nxc2 22. Bxc2 Bxb2+ 23. Kd2 Nd5 24. Nh3 Bc3+ 25. Kd3 Rb4 26. Qf1 Rd4+ 27. Ke2 Rd2+ 28. Kf3 Rxc2 29. g3 Bd4 30. Qa6 R8c3+ 31. Ke4 Bxf2 32. Nxf2 Re3+ 33. Kd4 Rxf2 34. Qxa5 Ree2 35. Qa7+ Kf6 36. a5 Rc2 37. Qb8 Rfd2+ 38. Ke4 Rc4+ 39. Kf3 Rc3+ 40. Kg4 Rd4+ 41. Kh5 Ne3 0-1

Fair point. I took an interest because I assumed that Queen sacrifices are the least commonly played sacrifices although having said that you don't see rook sacrifices very often either.

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Thu May 29, 2025 2:57 am

Jack posted; 'The record holder's probably Arkell or Hebden or someone like that.'
MJMcCready replied; 'I can't find any involving either of them.'

If the banner had been 'Queen Sacrifices Against English Players' we could include Keith Arkell vs Susan Caldwell https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2281564 and Sheila Jackson vs Keith Arkell https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1538664

Back to Englishmen and this is a good one. Gary Lane vs Keith Arkell, Paignton Open, 1988.

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Ngf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. Qe2 Nb6 8. Bb3 h6 9. N5f3 a5 10. a4 c5 11. Bf4 Bd6 12. Ne5 Nbd5 13. Qb5+ Ke7 14. dxc5 Nxf4 15. O-O-O Bxe5 16. Rxd8 Rxd8 17. c6 N4d5 18. cxb7 Rb8 19. bxc8=Q Rdxc8 20. Qd3 Nb4 21. Qe2 Nxc2 22. Bxc2 Bxb2+ 23. Kd2 Nd5 24. Nh3 Bc3+ 25. Kd3 Rb4 26. Qf1 Rd4+ 27. Ke2 Rd2+ 28. Kf3 Rxc2 29. g3 Bd4 30. Qa6 R8c3+ 31. Ke4 Bxf2 32. Nxf2 Re3+ 33. Kd4 Rxf2 34. Qxa5 Ree2 35. Qa7+ Kf6 36. a5 Rc2 37. Qb8 Rfd2+ 38. Ke4 Rc4+ 39. Kf3 Rc3+ 40. Kg4 Rd4+ 41. Kh5 Ne3 0-1

I'd forgotten I'd played Susan Caldwell before. We played once again in February this year, at the Cheadle Open. It can't be very often that 44 years go by between the first and second encounter between 2 players.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 04, 2025 3:28 pm

It can't be very often that 44 years go by between the first and second encounter between 2 players.

Nick Faulks and I can beat that by four years: our first encounter was in 1975 and our second in 2023. Neither game involved a queen sacrifice, though.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 04, 2025 3:28 pm

I'd forgotten I'd played Susan Caldwell before. We played once again in February this year, at the Cheadle Open. It can't be very often that 44 years go by between the first and second encounter between 2 players.

Probably not, but it's not a record. I played Dave Hackett for the first time on 16 December 1978, at the Islington Intermediate, and for the second time on the 22 February 2025 in the Chiltern League - 46 years, 83 days later. That beat my previous record of playing Neil Bradbury for the first time on 27 April 1979, at the SCCU U18 championship, and for the second time on 7 May 2023 at the English O50 championship - 44 years, 10 days later.

I'm sure even 46 years is quite beatable.....

Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 04, 2025 4:08 pm

I'm sure even 46 years is quite beatable.....

48 years by Nick Faulks and myself: see my post above.