Chess: How does Black win? 08/06/2011

THE story goes that when longtime US champion Frank Marshall played one of the most famous moves in the history of the game, thrusting his queen into a "nest of pawns" to defeat Russian master Stefan Lewitzky in a 1912 game in Breslau, Poland, cheering spectators are said to have showered the board with gold coins.

But like so many tales told about the great masters of the past, it turns out not to be true. And even Marshall later claimed never to have seen a single one of those gold coins for playing 23 …Qg3!! in today's diagram. Despite this, he was always proud of the truly spectacular finish to the game – and indeed it went on to have polled the third most amazing move of the 20th century in a magazine survey.

Still, there's reward enough in playing that one spectacular move, the flashy sacrifice that sends an electronic thrill through the tournament hall and draws a crowd around the board – and even sometimes results in the victor winning not gold but a sizable cash prize.

You can therefore just imagine the palpable excitement of the crowd surrounding the board in today's game, taken from last month's Serbian Cup final in Valjevo, as a buzz went around the playing hall as to what was happening in a game that went on to win the best game prize for the former Bulgarian champion Aleksandar Delchev.

Delchev's imaginative sacrifice of his queen for three minor pieces was topped off with the brilliant touch of 16 Bh3!! that left Black paralysed. In the end, it is practically zugzwang with the Black king and rook marooned on their squares and White ready to play a4 and win.

A Delchev - V Kostic

Serbian Cup, (3)

Reti's Opening

1 c4 c6 2 Nf3 d5 3 g3 dxc4 4 Bg2 g6 5 Na3 Qd5 6 Qc2 Be6 7 Qc3 Nf6 8 0–0 Bg7 9 Nd4 Ne4 10 Nxe6 Nxc3 11 Nxg7+ Kf8 12 dxc3 Qe5 13 Bh6 Kg8 14 Rfd1 Na6 15 Nxc4 Qc7 16 Bh3 b5 17 Ne6 Qc8 18 Ne5 Nc5 19 Rd8+ Qxd8 20 Nxd8 Rxd8 21 Nxc6 Re8 22 b4 Ne6 23 Bxe6 fxe6 24 Ne5 1–0