Games & PGN by Jan van Reek
The match after two years
Umansky won the match with 3½-2½. He won the Accepted King's Gambit by a rook sacrifice. Timmerman experienced great difficulties in the Evans Gambit after his sacrifice of two exchanges. The gift of a queen might have been wiser. A miraculous escape happened in the endgame. Comments have been added to the five games.
Game 1 - King's Gambit Accepted: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4.
Timmerman chose to play the Bishop's Gambit. Thus, he avoided the quick advance of black pawns on the kingside in the Knight's Gambit. White's sixth move led to a sharp position, only known from the eleventh game De Rivière - Morphy, Paris 1863. The Gambit Match had made a worthy start!
Game 2 - King's Gambit Declined: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 - not exf4.
The rare moves 2. .. Nc6!? 3. Nf3 f5 led to an opening, I would like to call the King's Counter-Gambit. Play quieted down in the continuation.
Game 3 - Two Knights Defence: 3. Lc4 Pf6 4. Ng5
The players have chosen the well-known classical variation of the Two Knights Defence. Adolf Anderssen used to play these moves as White in the nineteenth century. Black has the initiative for the sacrificed pawn. The theoretical discussion begins by the rare move 10. .. Bc5.
Game 4 - Two Knights Defence: 3. Lc4 Pf6 4. d4
Play went similar to the Max Lange Attack in the fourth game. But a less spectacular road was taken. A positional fight for the centre has started.
Game 5 - Scotch Game: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4.
The Scotch Game used to be a sharp opening. This time a strategic plan from the last decade has been applied. White strives for a positional plus on the kingside.
Game 6 - Evans Gambit: 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4.
Timmerman accepted the Evans Gambit. Another pawn sacrifice was accepted as well. Umansky has started an attack in the centre. The cutthroat moves bring the days of Captain Evans into memory. They follow the game Anderssen - De Rivière, Paris 1859.