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I can't remember whether White won or Black won, but I've been wondering for years where I saw this game. I remember toward the end, only heavy pieces and pawns were left, and the winner sacrificed two rooks so that only his queen faced his opponent's queen and rooks. I think resignation occurred before the checkmate, but the checkmate that was imminent was delivered by the queen supported by pawns.

Does anyone know this game or at least one like it? For a while I thought it was a Capablanca game, but I perused my book of his games and couldn't find it.

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3 Answers 3

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Could it be this game?

[FEN ""]
[Event "Living Chess Exhibition"]
[Site "Los Angeles, CA USA"]
[Date "1933"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Herman Steiner"]

1. e4 {From "Viaje al Reino del Ajedrez " de Y. Averbach et
al} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6
7. Bg5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Ne7 9. Nh4 c6 10. Bc4 Be6 11. Bxf6 gxf6
12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. Qg4+ Kf7 14. f4 Rg8 15. Qh5 Kg7 16. fxe5
dxe5 17. Rxf6 Kxf6 18. Rf1+ Nf5 19. Nxf5 exf5 20. Rxf5+ Ke7
21. Qf7+ Kd6 22. Rf6+ Kc5 23. Qb7 Qb6 24. Rxc6+ Qxc6 25. Qb4#
1-0

According to the comments on chessgames.com, this might have been a prearranged game.

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  • Typical limpid Capablanca crystal-clear play, as Golombek used to say. Looks simple and yet, arranged or not, it's a game illustrating many basic themes. Worth studying. May 11, 2016 at 11:39
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There is a book on such sacrifices of two rooks by Minev and Seirawan http://www.amazon.com/Take-My-Rooks-Nikolay-Minev/dp/187947901X

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Famous and old suggest the Mate of Dilaram as an answer to me, see, e.g., this German Wikipedia page. Note that this problem is about Chatranj, an older chess variant with different movements of the pieces (making the two rook sacrifice even more spectacular because the rooks were the strongest pieces in Shatranj).

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