To specially reward those of you who really value my e4-e5 site by subscribing to it, I have introduced another new feature. Subscribers are hereby invited to send me at any time their own particular requests regarding opening lines (stemming from 1 e4 e5) which they would like to see analysed in extra detail on this site. From the subscribers' requests which come in by e-mail to MrMo@ChessPublishing.com, I'll choose (at least) one every month and do a special feature on it. That's what Y.E.S. P.L.E.A.S.E. is all about: Your Extra-Special Pet Lines Extensively Analysed. Super-Effective!!

For example, games G13.80 and G13.81 are dedicated to Jon Ostriker, who has expressed some interest in the Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez. Also, game G2.11 and its extra juicy contents should please Doug Schwetke, a big fan of the Urusoff Gambit. Another thought-provoking topic is a certain line that Jim Beatty encountered in the Petroff Defence, which is discussed in this month's Reflection Zone.

Clearly, I may not be able to answer all requests immediately, but I can promise you that none of them will be ignored. All subscriber requests will be answered as quickly as possible to the very best of my ability.

I look forward to receiving your topics by e-mail, and I thank you for your continued interest in this site.

With Very Best Wishes,

Paul Motwani.

Announcement

The e-pawn emperor's next e4-e5 'monthly update' will be posted on this Internet site towards the end of September, and in the meantime he will, as always, reply personally to as many e-mail messages as possible which come to MrMo@ChessPublishing.com.

Right now, though, there's a tasty new collection of fresh games, puzzles, and other treats to bring you endless hours of enjoyment in a juicy August update. So let's swiftly move up a gear or two to tackle the first challenge coming rapidly towards us...

Mr Mo's August 2001 Bonus Brainteaser

The opening of the game K.Arakhamia-P.Motwani at the 2001 Scottish Championship was a Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez beginning with the moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 0-0 Nxe4 5 d4 Nd6 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 dxe5 Nf5 8 Qxd8+ Kxd8 9 Nc3 h6 10 Rd1+, which produced this position:

Black's legal options then included the trio 10...Bd7, 10...Ke8, 10...Ke7, but two of those three moves actually lose by force. Can you discover why?

A solution will appear on this site around the end of September.

New Index of Openings

Solution to Mr Mo's July 2001 Bonus Brainteaser

The brainteaser was as follows:

The opening of the game R.Zelcic-V.Malaniuk at the 1992 Katowice Open tournament in Poland began as a Philidor Defence, which led to the following position after Black's 20th move:

Your challenge is to find GM Robert Zelcic's stunning 21st move which caused GM Vladimir Malaniuk to resign!

Solution:-

The finish was 21 Rxa7!! 1-0, with GM Vladimir Malaniuk resigning on account of 21...Rxa7 22 Qxc8+ or 21...Bxh3 22 Rxa8+ or 21...Rb8 22 Qxh7+ Kf8 23 Qh8#.

Revisiting Mr Mo's March 2001 Bonus Brainteaser

The brainteaser was introduced as follows.

The opening of the encounter P.Delekta-E.Geller in the 1992 Cappelle-la-Grande Open tournament was a Vienna Game with 3 Bc4 which led to the following position after White's 17th move:

You were then invited to find "the winning move which GM Efim Geller now played as Black", but a recent e-mail from Michael Callinan has shown that although Geller's 17...g6 won quickly after 18 Ng3? Qxg3!! 0-1 (with White resigning in view of 19 hxg3 g5 because there is then no decent answer to the threat of 20...Rh6#), White could actually have resisted much more tenaciously with a brilliant 18th move which just leaves the attacked knight at f5! Can you find the same very clever saving resource that Michael Callinan discovered? His idea will be revealed here around the end of September.

The Birthday Game

This regular feature puts the spotlight on a player of the past or present whose birthday was or still is a day in the current month. For example, Holland's GM Dimitri Reinderman (born on 12.8.1972) is a rapidly-rising 'August birthday' star, and for our game G13.81 I've chosen his classy 1999 win at Wijk aan Zee over fellow-countryman super-GM Jan Timman.

Would YOU like to star in The Birthday Game? If so, please send an e-mail to MrMo@ChessPublishing.com sometime between the 1st and 15th day of the month preceding your birthday month, and include the following information to be considered by Mr Mo: your name, date & place of birth, and one of your own games starting with 1 e4 e5 (or another acceptable move-order such as 1 e4 Nc6 2 Nf3 e5 or 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5). Although annotations are not strictly necessary (since Mr Mo will always analyse the game too), your own personal notes would certainly be most welcomed. Please do mention where and when the game was played, and also state the players' names (together with ratings, if applicable).

Don't be shy-let us celebrate YOUR birthday too!

By the way, since James Bond is about the same age as myself- we both 'arrived on the scene' in 1962, as my delivery doctor knows like 007's Dr No!- I'll conclude this section with 'Happy Birthday' in 007 different languages that I've had at least some exposure to:

Happy Birthday (English)

Shengri kuai le (Mandarin)

Heureux Anniversaire (French)

Gelukkig Verjaardag (Dutch)

Herzliche Wünsche zum Geburtstag (German)

Buon Compleanno (Italian)

Felicidades (Spanish)

Thanks

Extra-special thanks this month to GM Tony Kosten, who recently sent me a very attractive annotated game involving the Latvian Gambit. I encourage you to study game G5.7, which should suitably whet your appetite before you buy Tony's extremely meaty new 224-page Batsford book entitled The LATVIAN GAMBIT LIVES!.

Thanks also to Jim Beatty, IM Douglas Bryson, Michael Callinan, and Doug Schwetke, all of whom made helpful contributions which certainly enhance the quality of this e4-e5 Internet site.

Dedication

This twenty-third update (since the initial launch material in September 1999) is dedicated to GM Tony Kosten, who recently sent me a very attractive annotated game involving the Latvian Gambit. I encourage you to study game G5.7, which should suitably whet your appetite before you buy Tony's extremely meaty new 224-page Batsford book entitled The LATVIAN GAMBIT LIVES!.

New Highlights

Tons of fresh mouth-watering goodies await us, including a double helping of Ruy Lopez games in the powerful pair G13.80-G13.81, where you'll also find other handy supplementary bonuses such as how to beat a World Champion with Black in around 25 moves!! Can you imagine even tastier tactics!? All is revealed in G2.11, my chosen Game of the Month...

Another lively contribution to this month's menu is made by games G6.11 and G6.12, which show Philidor's Defence getting filled in twice.

Game G4.40 enhances the King's Gambit's reputation for providing thrills galore, but can you still take more!? OK, then see the Petroff Defence petrified in G7.17, and a former World Champion getting scorched by the Scotch Game in only 17 moves in G9.20.

Who or what could live through all that!? Answer: the Latvian Gambit! G5.7 is a very attractive annotated game from GM Tony Kosten, whose exciting ideas should suitably whet your appetite before you buy Tony's extremely meaty new 224-page Batsford book entitled The LATVIAN GAMBIT LIVES!.

Understandably, if you can't sleep after so much drama...then the Four Knights Game in G11.15 will keep you busy all (k)night!!

In general, the action-packed battles are made even more irresistible by the presence of related challenging puzzles, which can also be seen in the section called "Puzzle Paradise".

And the feast is still far from over yet...! Further courses include the very select stimulating material that appears in the Reflection Zone, but only subscribers can access that section and all the juicy annotated games too.

M.O. Moves

It's a personal choice, but for me two of the Most Outstanding Moves from the games within this month's update material are the queen-sacrifice 14 Qxf5! in game G2.11.1 and Skatschkov's scorching 6 Bxf7+! in game G6.12.

Rewind Reward

The key idea here is that (although in general we focus on fairly recent happenings) it still pays off to study some memorable older material. For instance, game G9.20 from 1979 shows a former World Champion getting scorched by the Scotch Game in only 17 moves. That encounter clearly happened many years ago, but the game being selected again now is still highly instructive (and entertaining too!).

Game of the Month

It's a personal choice, but for me the most exciting game in this month's update material is G2.11 with all its juicy extras in the notes, which provide several examples showing just how deadly the Urusoff Gambit can be.

Motto of the Month

The previous launch and update material laid the foundations for further enjoyable adventures with 1 e4 e5 as our chosen starting point. This month, the fresh games feature a feast of inspiring attacking play, in which most of the victors are rewarded very quickly for having the courage to venture with an ultra-bold uninhibited creative style. Still, we should also be ready to fight longer and harder when required. So, my chosen motto this time comes from the late great Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who stated "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler".

Codename Olivetto

The title sounds like a James Bond assignment, but it's actually much less dangerous! At the special request of subscriber Livio Olivetto, from July 2000 onwards all new main or complete games on this e4-e5 site have been labelled with an ECO code from the range C20-C99, to match the particular opening variations featured. The codes provide an extra means of identifying games containing one's own favourite opening lines, and so the codes are being given in the Index of New Games. Some people may like to construct, for their own personal use, a complete index of games according to ECO codes, but since I know that many readers would find its appearance to be rather abstract, I shall leave it as a project to be done at home only by people who are really big fans of ECO codes!