< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 1 OF 4 · Later Kibitzing> May-30-03

Infohunter : A Mr. Kester Svendsen wrote a short story entitled "Last Round" around this game, assigning the story's two principal characters the roles of the players of this game. This story was first published in 1947, during the period when there was no World Champion owing to the death of Alekhine, and depicts the final, deciding round of a hypothetical World Championship tournament. I have the story, which first appeared in <Chess World> , in my copy of Irving Chernev's <Chess Companion> (1968), which book is still in print. I highly recommend that this short story be read by all chess enthusiasts. May-30-03 PunchingWater : simply one of the most bizare endings ever in a chess game. instead of moving out of check, black decides to randomly move his knight. And then amazingly, white ignores checkmate and simply shoves his bishop off the board. Very educational. Seriously though, I think this game is a mistake and is supposed to be Wolner not Volner, which is already in this database. This game could safely be deleted without losing the actual game. Sep-05-03 Zukertort : black could have avoided mate by pulling back Q, but white was already winning. Sep-05-03 Zukertort : this nice story was read-on-demand by Riley Kellogg on www.chess.fm on Sept 2003, I heard it, playing online, exactly 110 Years after it was played on 5.9.2003 excellent to watch at. Sep-05-03 bunti : White makes an amazing win here!! Sep-13-03

kevin86 : I loved the story so much that I memorized the game many years ago.Notice how white gives up two queens in order to give a double check "with its divided elements:rook and bishop"(quoted from the story) Dec-09-03 quantumchess : Isn't 15. Qe8 better? Why prolong the game unnecessarily? Dec-09-03 JSYantiss : It would be better, except that 14...Ng4 was a discovered check for Black. White has to deal with the check first. Dec-09-03 hickchess99 : isn't that mate?

shouldn't there be a # Dec-09-03 Promoted pawn : The beauty of this game may lie in the humanness of it. The missed checkmate (Qe8 on move 15) and blacks hyper-aggressive responses beforehand. "The Last Round" story that includes this game is one that should be read by all. It emphasizes the human angst that can hit any player during any chess game, especially where much seems to be at stake. Dec-09-03 ughaibu : Promoted Pawn: There is no missed mate on move 15. Dec-09-03 mymt : Ive always wondered if this was a real game after reading Lastround years &years ago in I think an old chesslife .Great game.[ its Blacks move -no missed mate ] Dec-09-03 Qian : white didnt have the chance to play Qe8 because of the discovered check. Dec-09-03

kevin86 : I read the story several years ago,then I found the game in Chernov's collection of short games-he gives a reference to the story-but is the GAME genuine? Not sure. Dec-09-03

Eggman : First double Queen sacrifice I've ever seen. Wonderful! Dec-09-03

technical draw : <for both quantumchess and Promoted pawn> You must always look carefully at the position. White cannot play 15.Qe8 because he is in check. Dec-10-03 dr gogusetti n rao : <Infohunter> So much has been written by so many on Svendsen’s story ‘The Last Round’ that it has aroused my interest, and I’m sure the interest of many others, to read it. Many around the world like me live in parts of countries where good books on chess are not easily available even for reference. I’d request <chessgames.com> to post the story, if at all possible, on this website for the benefit of, maybe, thousands like me. Dec-10-03 ughaibu : Go to the Wollner page and do the Google search, you'll soon find the story. Dec-10-03 ughaibu : http://www.wtharvey.com/lastrd.html Dec-11-03 talchess2003 : It says at the bottom of ughaibu's article that this player died from tuberculosis. The chess world lost a great player that day... Jan-24-04

Benzol : Lasker thought that one day he would have to play World Championship match with Charousek. A great pity it never happened. Incidentally what ever happened to calling this opening 'The Danish Gambit'? <Technical Draw> asked about something similar earlier. Feb-03-04 m0rphy : Yes I too read Prof. Kester Svendsen's article "The Last Round" in "The "Treasury of Chess Lore" which I bought around 1970.It takes place at "Bitzer Lake".This game induced in me an interest in Rudolph Charousek and I bought his best games on the strength of it.Apparantly he was so poor he copied out Bilguer's "Handbuch" by hand once it was loaned to him!! What I noticed about Charousek was the number of aggressive King's Gambits he played, despite living and playing at a time when it was starting to be played out amongst the top tournament players because of all the effective defences for Black that had been recently found by the more scientifically oriented players. Nov-16-05 DeepBlade : In this game White technically sacrifices 2 Queens! Nov-25-05 Cogano : First, a bit about this from a book I have, "Winning Chess: Tactics & Strategies" by Ted Nottingham, Al Lawrence & Bob Wade: "When he was a student at the University of Prague, he very much wanted to own the great German chess classic, The Handbook of Chess Openings. [He] could not afford to buy it, so he borrowed a copy from a friend and copied it out by hand, page by page, until he had his own copy of the chess openings." "Charousek learned to play chess in 1889 when he was 16. Only four years later, he sat down to play a game, noted now for its famous finish, against an opponent, J. Wollner, in the northern Hungarian city of Kassa. Who J. Wollner was, even whether his name was John or Joe or Jason, we don't know, for there is no further mention of him in chess history. But though he has vanished into the mists of time, the game he played one spring evening in 1893 has not." What I find strange is that in another book I have, 100 Chess Gems by P. Wenman, no place or date are indicated and instead of J. Wollner, he is introduced as A. N. Other. Not only that, but, contrary to the other book, 100..., actually lists 7 other games for him besides this one. That's quite a few games for a player about whom so little is known and whom history has forgotten. What I wonder is why the difference in name? If anyone can shed light on this, I would appreciate it. Thank you. Jan-21-06 DeepBlade : Chessgames, I think 14. ...Ng4 should give check, it should be 14. ...Ng4+, because of discovered check. So should 12.exf7 give check, 12.exf7+. Jump to page # (enter # from 1 to 4)

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