English Chess Forum

An excelsior is a pawn that goes from its origin to promotion, preferably like in this example -

[Event "NY Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "1995.??.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Yee, P."] [Black "Hodgson, J."] [Result "*"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "q3r1k1/5pbp/p2pp1p1/np4B1/3PP1Q1/1P1R3P/1PrRNPP1/6K1 b - - 0 24"] [PlyCount "10"] 24... f5 25. Qh4 fxe4 26. Rxc2 exd3 27. Rc7 dxe2 28. Bf6 e1=Q+ 29. Kh2 *

Anyone had anything approaching an excelsior in their games? And, what was Julian's next (final) move?

I think there was an Excelsior in Jones v Chapman at this year's Gibraltar tournament.

My guess to John's other question is 29.....Qb7! 0-1

Is that correct?

My thanks to Jack and Matt for their answers. Matt is correct after 29... Qb7 white resigned. Sorry Jack, I cannot find Jones-Chapman 2013 Gibraltar.
PS For the origin of the term and puzzle see -
http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/puzz03a.htm

John McKenna wrote:Sorry Jack, I cannot find Jones-Chapman 2013 Gibraltar.

Maybe Jack meant this game instead?
[Event "11th Gibraltar Masters"] [Site "Caleta ENG"] [Date "2013.01.22"] [Round "1.17"] [White "Jones, Gawain C B"] [Black "Smith, Andrew Philip"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [WhiteElo "2632"] [BlackElo "2175"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "2013.01.22"] 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 Nc6 4. c3 e5 5. Nf3 exd4 6. O-O dxc3 7. Nxc3 d6 8. Nd5 Be7 9. Qc2 a6 10. b4 Nf6 11. b5 Nxd5 12. bxc6 Nb4 13. cxb7 Nxc2 14. bxa8=Q Qxa8 15. Bxc2 Qc6 16. Bb3 O-O 17. Bb2 Bf6 18. e5 dxe5 19. Nxe5 Qb7 20. Rfe1 Qc8 21. Nxf7 Rxf7 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Re7 1-0

I did indeed mean that, yes. For some reason I'd confused the two players.

[Date "2006.04.26"] [White "David Williams"] [Black "A Late Substitute"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C62"] [PlyCount "15"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 Bg4 5. d5 a6 6. dxc6 axb5 7. cxb7 Bxf3 8. bxa8=Q 1-0

Hard to believe this is unique.

Thanks to Paolo for searching out Gawain's excelsior that Jack recalled from Gib.
David's excelsior must be one of the quickest possible in a real game that follows opening theory. It may be unique because 7... Bxf3 was a blunder, alas (by A LAte Sub.) 7... Ra7 (just preventing an excelsior) was Burckhardt-Ecker 1991 Hauenstein RLPF Op. White won in 44 moves.

I love these oddball games. Thank you.

Not quite an Excelsior, a half Excelsior.
(these games are not blitz games - in this case the players had 14 days to move!)

hughes - xela01 RHP 2006 Features a half Excelsior d-pawn with a final twist.

1. Nc3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e4 dxe4 6. Bxf6 exf3 7. Bxe7 fxg2 8. Bxd8 gxh1=Q 9. Bxc7 {And after all that effort from the wee d-pawn to hack his way to eigth rank to get a new Queen. Black plays....} 9... Qc6 10. Bb5 {1-0}

Speaking of pawns.
Ever seen someone 8 pawns up (yes 8 passed pawns) lose?

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... postid=130

Taha, Geoff, a final twist, eh, after a double-back by the excelsior queen!? Reminds me of Olympic diving. And, as for ducking, someone should tell the Ducks of NY that prawns are the soul-food of chess so they should not be thrown away lightly or otherwise badly used. Red Hot Chili Prawns, indeed.

[Event "Kidlington U225"] [Site "?"] [Date "1995.02.04"] [Round "3"] [White "Dickinson, Timothy R"] [Black "Cooper, Lawrence"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C92"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "1995.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. c3 Na5 11. Bc2 c5 12. Nbd2 Re8 13. Nf1 h6 14. Ng3 Bf8 15. d4 cxd4 16. cxd4 exd4 17. b3 Nc6 18. Nxd4 Nxd4 19. Qxd4 g6 20. Bb2 Bg7 21. Qd2 h5 22. h4 Rc8 23. Rad1 Ng4 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Bb1 Qxh4 26. Qf4 Re6 27. Rxd6 Rxd6 28. Qxd6 Qh2+ 29. Kf1 h4 30. Qd4+ Kg8 31. Qd7 h3 32. Ke2 hxg2 33. Qxb7 g1=N+ 34. Kd3 Rd8+ 0-1

I'm not sure if this counts though as it took the h pawn an age to complete its journey

Hi Lawrence, interesting game (it followed Psakhis-Pavlovic 1988 Erevan until white's 17.b3 instead of Nxd4 Rc8 18.b3 and Psakhis won in 30 moves) and I'd call your h-pawn a delayed excelsior. Not because it did not start its journey until move 21 but because it did not manage to complete its march in 5 consecutive moves.
I'd also call this a delayed excelsior -
[Event "Montivideo"] [Site ""] [Date "1954"] [Round "14"] [White "Cantero,R"] [Black "Munoz Izcua"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO ""] [Plycount "15"] [EventDate "1954.??.??"] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f5 3.Bd3 Nc6 4.exf5 Nxd4 5.Qh5+ g6 6.fxg6 Nf6 7.g7+ Nxh5 8.gxh8Q {White checkmated black on move 12.}

Off topic but here's what happened to Cantero in the next round -
[Event "Montivideo"] [Site ""] [Date "1954"] [Round "15"] [White "Trompowsky,O"] [Black "Cantero,R"] [Result "1-0"] [Plycount "33"] [ECO ""] [EventDate "1954.??.??"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bh4 g5 4.f3 gxh4 5.fxe4 Bh6 6.Nf3 e6 7.Nc3 b6 8.e5 Rg8 9.Ne4 Bg7 10.e3 Bb7 11.Bd3 Nc6 12.O-O Nb4 13.Nfg5 h6 14.Qh5 Rf8 15.Rxf7 Qxg5 16.Rxf8+ Kxf8 17.Nxg5

John McKenna wrote: [White "Trompowsky,O"]

Nice to see the man himself playing in the Julian Hodgson style.

I've always liked this one from 1939 for the opening. How far are you prepared to go to control the white squares?

[Event "Olympiad"] [Site "Buenos Aires (Argentina)"] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "7"] [White "Trompowsky Octavio"] [Black "Alexander Conel H O'D (ENG)"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D00"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.c4 Bxb1 6.Qxb1 Bb4+ 7.Kd1 c5 8.a3 Ba5 9.b4 cxb4 10.axb4 Bc7 11.Qb3 O-O 12.Nf3 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc6 14.Ke2 Bd6 15.Ra4 a6 16.Rha1 Rc8 17.b5 axb5 18.Qxb5 Qe7 19.Rb1 Rc7 20.Bd3 g6 21.h4 Re8 22.h5 f5 23.hxg6 fxg6 24.Rh1 Rcc8 25.g4 Bf4 26.gxf5 Bxe3 27.Bc4+ Kg7 28.Be6 gxf5 29.d5 Bg5 30.Nxg5 Qxg5 31.Qb2+ Kg6 32.Kf1 Nd4 33.Bxc8 Rxc8 34.Rg1 Rc1+ 35.Qxc1 Qxg1+ 36.Kxg1 Ne2+ 37.Kf1 Nxc1 38.d6 Kf7 39.Rc4 Nb3 40.Rc7+ Ke6 41.Rxb7 1/2-1/2

Surely it might be worthwhile White playing on in the final position there!?