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, game G13.85 in the Ruy Lopez is a sparkling encounter dedicated to my friend and neighbour John McConnell, who got me interested in the history of the Soviet Championships of the former USSR.

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 by the end of December, 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 November update. So let's swiftly move up a gear or two to tackle the first challenge coming rapidly towards us...

Mr Mo's November 2001 Bonus Brainteaser

The position after Black's 16th move in the super-GM clash I.Smirin-A.Grischuk at this year's European Club Cup in Crete was as follows:

Can you recognise exactly which opening led to this position arising, and why was it a mistake for White to now play 17 Re6?

A solution will appear on this site by the end of December.

New Index of Openings

Solution to Mr Mo's October 2001 Bonus Brainteaser

The brainteaser was as follows:

The position after Black's 15th move in the 2001 game I.Andres-S.Castelao at Aviles in Spain was as follows:

Can you recognise exactly which opening led to this position arising, and how did White now crisply win the game?

Solution:-

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 Nf6 5 d4 exd4 6 cxd4 Bb4+ 7 Nc3 Nxe4 8 0-0 Bxc3 9 d5 Bf6 10 Re1 Ne7 11 Rxe4 0-0 ("Theory" recommends 11...d6, preventing the move that White plays next) 12 d6 cxd6 13 Qxd6 Qb6?! (13...Nf5 is a better way to challenge White's queen) 14 Bf4! Nf5 (14...Qxd6 15 Bxd6 puts the e7-knight in a fatal pin, while 14...Qxb2 15 Rae1 is also terrible for Black, and one would be tempted to end the suffering immediately with 15...Nf5, allowing 16 Qxf8+! Kxf8 17 Re8#) 15 Qd5 d6?? brings us to the puzzle position, after which the crisp finish was 16 Qxf7+! Black resigned, in view of 16...Rxf7 17 Re8#.

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, the late great Ukrainian GM Leonid Zakharovich Stein (12.11.1934-4.7.1973) was a truly world-class 'November birthday' player, and for our game G7.20 in the Petroff Defence I've chosen Stein's sparkling 26-move win at Kiev 1960 as White against fellow-countryman Yuri Sakharov.

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

Special thanks to my friend and neighbour John McConnell, who got me interested in the history of the Soviet Championships of the former USSR, from which games G13.85 -G13.86 are a dazzling dynamic duo.

Dedication

This twenty-sixth update (since the initial launch material in September 1999) is dedicated to my friend and neighbour John McConnell, who got me interested in the history of the Soviet Championships of the former USSR, from which games G13.85 -G13.86 are a dazzling dynamic duo.

New Highlights

Tons of fresh mouth-watering goodies await us, including a sizzling new sextet of Ruy Lopez games G13.85 , G13.86 , G13.87 , G13.88 , G13.89 and G13.90 , and the first one is my chosen Game of the Month. Also featuring is the vivacious Vienna and the scorching Scotch of games G3.21 and G9.23 respectively, plus the Petroff Defence which gets petrified in G7.20 !.

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, firstly, 19...Rxg2+!! in game G13.85 by the late great GM Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (1889-1961), and also 18 Nxf6!! in game G13.89 by Cecil Valentine De Vere (1845-1875), whom Wilhelm Steinitz referred to as "A Young Morphy" because De Vere's dashing style of play greatly resembled that of America's Paul Charles Morphy.

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, games G13.86 , G13.85 and G7.20 respectively feature three late great giants of the Royal Game: Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (1892-1946), Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (1889-1961), Leonid Zakharovich Stein (1934-1973). Their games clearly happened many years ago, but the material 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 absorbing game in this month's update material is G13.85 , in which the late great GM Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (1889-1961) is on his best attacking form.

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. So, an appropriate motto now is provided by the following thought-provoking words from the late great Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948): "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever".

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!