The First Triple Double in the Sport and Art of Chess
By Kerry A. Shirts
1979 Explorer Olympics Chess Champion (of Idaho Falls, Idaho population 50,000)
Playing a Chess Computer can be fun as well as aggravating. The beauty of Computer Chess is that computers don’t make blunder moves as a rule. They are programmed to make the most effective calculated move through sheer number crunching. I have been sparring with my chess program now for quite a while and have fallen in love with speed chess. There is something energizing and miraculous about playing super fast with an electronic opponent. No matter how fast the program plays you know it is far and away still better than you. Yes we’ve all lost myriads of games over and over again, and we have barely won a few. I found myself in this position until just the other day when I played the most fun, most astonishing game of chess of my life. I was playing a chess personality rated at 1600 in the fastest game I have ever played, a mere 58 seconds. Everything fell right into place and now, I myself own a triple double, though mine is different than the Basketball triple doubles of say Karl Malone or Michael Jordan. Mine was a triple double of three… that’s right, count em, three double checks right in a row with the third double check ending in check mate. There were no mistakes made by the computer nor myself in this one. I’ll go at it from here with the blow by blow commentary and what I was thinking as I whizzed through this game. On later analysis, I found even more to my astonishment that I could not have played any other variations than the one I did, as the game played out, and succeeded in scoring a triple double. I doubt I will ever play another game near like this one for the rest of my life, so enjoy playing through the first triple double of chess history, that is until someone shows me it has already been done. Come on guys, quit looking! I gotta have something to claim my fame in chess – GRIN!
White (1600 rated player) Black (Kerry A. Shirts) [played in 1999]
1. e4 d5
Immediately challenging the center as that is the key strategic area on the chess board, ala Nimzovitch.
2. d4 Nc6
It was later in reading through my chess library that I found Eric Schiller saying in his excellent text Gambit Opening Repertoire for Black (pp. 95fff showing variations) that this opening is called the Anti-Blackmar Diemer Gambit. Of this opening Schiller notes that a true gambiteer would opt for this line. However, sad to note on the professional level this is considered a joke. Perhaps now with the first triple double ever made in chess, and that in record time, this gambit can perhaps pick up a modicum of respect, though it is doubted. The opening lines is usually 1. e4, d5 2. d4, exd5…. My line was different bringing out the knight on c6, though I didn’t have all this intellectual prowess at my neuron tips whilst I played this. I. A. Horowitz in his mammoth encyclopedic work Chess Openings: Theory and Practice, pp. 534-535 shows two games playing the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, saying that a profound theoretical knowledge by Black is required for avoiding the pitfalls of the gambit. (Thank goodness I hadn’t read that before playing this game!) Eric Schiller in his Standard Chess Openings, discusses many variations of the Scandinavian Defense which is similar to the opening I used here, namely 1. e4, d5 2. exd5….. of which didn’t happen in my game. And again, the Czech Defense is somewhat similar with 1. e4, d6 2. d4 Nf6… the difference being of my playing out the other knight first as noted. And, on later analysis, of course, this is the incorrect knight to play as e4xd5 forces black to move the knight again with loss of tempo! That is until…….
3. e4xd5 Qxd5
And here I gain in development big time. Instead of moving the knight out of harms way (I can’t retake the pawn at d4 because of QxN at d4), I simply take the menacing pawn. Now I have 2 powers developed to none of white’s powers.
4. Nc3 Qe6+ This sign means "check")
The difficulty of moving a Queen early in the game. I am now forced to move the lady again, which I do directly in front of my e pawn, which is not a good thing as that hinders my development of my king’s bishop, as well as having less control of the center of the board. In any normal game of chess, I would not have made this move.
5. Qe2 Nxd4!
Here, instead of losing a tempo, or exchanging queens, I gain a valuable central pawn as well as threaten the fork by taking the c2 pawn with my knight after the exchange of the ladies.
6. QxQ at e6 BxQ at e6
Again, gaining tempo, as well as keeping ahead of my opponent in development. The problem is that I still block my own e-pawn for the moment.
7. Kd2 0-0-0
The only way to save the c-pawn is to lose the right to castle and protect it with the king, otherwise the rook is lost. In castling queen-side I gain the powerful d-file for my rook, a decisive measure in this game. I was beginning to get rather excited at this point as the center is wide open and his king cannot castle to safety and is in fact, rather in the open, which I exploit with speedy measure. The upcoming discovered check virtually forces his next move.
8. Bd3 g6
He stops the discovered check the only way there is. Moving the king would lose the c-pawn. By playing g6, I open the two diagonals for my king bishop, 1. The a1-h8 diagonal by moving my bishop to g7, or the c1-h6 diagonal, which incidentally the enemy king is sitting on…
9. b3 Nf6
My opponent wants to challenge the a1-h8 diagonal, hence my bringing out my other knight. Besides which, I threaten going to g4, and then gaining a rook, or at least messing up his kingside. It just gets worse for white.
10. Bb2 Bh6+!
I figured, let him have the long diagonal, the king is on the c1-h6 diagonal so that’s my lane of attack, especially considering the center is wide open, meaning there are no pawns on either d4,d5,e4,e5, hence his king is wide open for attack, which I carry out successfully and without letting him take a breath.
11. Kd1 Bg4+
12. f3 Bf5
Bd7 is a waste of time as it threatens nothing. If he takes my bishop at f5 with his bishop, the threat I have is Nxb3 discovered check, and winning the rook.
13. Ne2 Nxc2!!
And here I find the winning theme. Most players would have swapped knights at this point, but we must keep in mind that I have two very powerful diagonals with the bishops pointing straight at the king, and an open d-file to boot. I have lanes into the enemy king from every angle! I have his bishop at d3 pinned, and have been threatening discovered check for a few moves. By sacrificing the knight, I win, though I had no idea at the time that it would lead to such a fabulous triple double ending. Or as David Bronstein would put it, I wanted to find and did find a prettier ending than by simply exchanging pieces. I, like Bronstein, wanted to create a piece of art. I’ll let you, dear readers determine if I have succeeded.
14. Kxc2 RxB at d3!
BxB would be strong, as I would have gained a bishop and knight for a bishop, but the way I played it here, the discovered check leads to my triple double.
15. R(a1) – d1 Rd2 Double Check!!
Not RxR as that just leads to an exchange of rooks. This way, with both my rook and bishop checking the king, the king must move, and there is only one square he can go to. My rook is protected by first one bishop, and then the other, in a neat coordination of pieces that is truly enjoyable to play.
16. Kc1 Rc2 Double Check!!
Now his king is checked by my rook and my other bishop on h6! In the meantime, my other bishop at f5 protects my rook from being taken…
17. Kb1 Rc1 Double Check & Mate!!
And I didn’t have to exchange any powers in the process. My rook, unafraid of death, walks into the mouth of the lion with 3 powers which threaten but cannot take him! His rook cannot take my rook since the king is also in check from my bishop at f5. The bishop on h6 protects my rook. His bishop can’t take my rook, since the king is also in check from my bishop on f5. His knight cannot take my rook as the bishop on f5 is also delivering check! As I said, The first Triple Double in chess history…….