My fascination with Josef Holumbirek’s chess puzzles lead me to a splendid little chess game he played using the white pieces and the Danish Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3). For many in Northern California, the Danish Gambit brings to mind its greatest advocate, Richard Shorman. Richard taught hundreds of children about this swashbuckling opening as a means toward improving their understanding of imbalances and the power of the initiative. It’s too bad that I discovered the game below after Richard’s passing as I would have loved to share it with Mr. Shorman and hear his thoughts on Josef Holumbirek’s play using the Danish Gambit.
[Event “?”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1908.04.??”]
[EventDate “?”]
[Round “-“]
[Result “1-0”]
[White “Josef Halumbirek”]
[Black “NN”]
[ECO “C21”]
[WhiteElo “?”]
[BlackElo “?”]
[PlyCount “49”]
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 Nf6 6.Nf3 Nxe4
7.O-O c6 8.Re1 d5 9.Ne5 Bf5 10.Nd2 Qb6 11.Nxe4 Bxe4 12.Rxe4
dxe4 13.Bxf7+ Ke7 14.Ba3+ c5 15.Rc1 Kf6 16.Qd5 h5 17.g4 g6
18.g5+ Kg7 19.Nxg6 Nc6 20.Nxh8 Kxh8 21.g6 Bh6 22.Bxc5 Qb2
23.Ba3 Qxa3 24.Rxc6 Qf8 25.Rc7 1-0
To view more on the Danish Gambit please check my sticker entitled: