One of my friends who follows chess told me that there was a player in the past whose defensive game was so good that he drew a game in which the opponent had three queens. I couldn't find a game like that. Has there ever been such a game like that?
3 Answers
Currently I still can't find a drawn game, but I found a game where white had 3 queens, black had 2 queens and other pieces, and black won. There was a game on chess.com where black had 0.1s left and promoted in time for checkmate (3 queens).
[FEN ""]
[StartPly "137"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. b4 Bg7 12. c5 f5 13. Nd2 Kh7 14. Rc1 Ng8 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. Nb5 Nf6 17. Nc7 Rb8 18. Bd3 f4 19. Qa4 a6 20. b5 Nh5 21. f3 Rf7 22. b6 Bf8 23. Qb3 Ng7 24. Rc2 Qf6 25. Rfc1 Bd7 26. Bxa6 bxa6 27. Nxa6 Rb7 28. Rc7 Qg5 29. h4 Rxc7 30. Nxc7 Qxh4 31. b7 Nh5 32. b8=Q Ng3 33. Qc4 Qh1+ 34. Kf2 Qh4 35. Kg1 Qh1+ 36. Kf2 Qh4 37. Kg1 Qh1+ 38. Kf2 Qh4 39. Qb6 Be7 40. Nf1 Qh1 41. Nd2 Qh4 42. Ke1 Qh1+ 43. Nf1 Bh4 44. Kd2 Qxg2+ 45. Kc3 Ne2+ 46. Kb2 Nxc1+ 47. Kxc1 Qxf3 48. Ne6 Qa3+ 49. Kd2 Be7 50. Qcb3 Qa8 51. Qc7 Be8 52. a3 Qa6 53. Qcc4 Qa7 54. Qf3 Bh4 55. Qh3 g5 56. Nd8 Bd7 57. Qhc3 Rg7 58. Nc6 Qg1 59. Kc2 g4 60. Nb8 Be8 61. Nd2 Bg6 62. Qc8 Qg2 63. Nd7 Be7 64. Nxe5 dxe5 65. Qxe5 Bxa3 66. Qcc3 Bf8 67. d6 f3 68. d7 f2 69. d8=Q f1=Q 70. Qde7 Qf7 71. Qxf7 Bxf7 72. Qf5+ Kg8 73. Qfc8 Qf2 74. Qb4 Bg6 75. Qbc4+ Kh7 76. Qxg4 Bd6 77. Qce6 Bb4 78. Qd5 Rc7+ 79. Kd1 Bxd2 80. Qxd2 Qf1+ 81. Qe1 Rc1+ 82. Kxc1 Qxe1+
(white had an advantage but didn't use it properly and hung too many pieces)
Krabbé's first example for "Most Queens: 6" is a game Szalanczy - Nguyen, Budapest 2009, where after 58 a8Q each side had K+QQQ+N+P. The game was drawn on move 75, after two pairs of Queens were traded on moves 65-66.
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1I had thought of the same (and 2 others: Barroso - Puertas,1992 [1/2-1/2, 6 queens, w/ none at the end]; and Ruecker - Schumacher, 2000 [1/2-1/2, w/ 6 queens still on board]), and even submitted the answer, but deleted it due to the question seeming to ask about cases wherein there's a 3-queen lead, rather than 3 queens per side. Jul 15, 2016 at 17:56
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2That's true: drawing vs. three Queens doesn't take as much defensive skill when you've got three Queens too. Jul 15, 2016 at 21:11
There is one case cited [ref. 1, re. ref. 2] (Emil Szalanczy vs. Nguyen Thi Mai (2009)) wherein "each side had three queens after 58th move until 65th move. The game ended in a draw with a single queen on each side.". That being said though, this example isn't one of a draw with six queens still on the board.
If interested, the game can be viewed with comments at ref. 3 (I copied their PGN code, but the comments aren't showing up in the preview below).
[Event "FSIMB October"]
[Site "Budapest HUN"]
[Date "2009.10.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Szalanczy, Emil"]
[Black "Nguyen, Thi Mai Hung"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2354"]
[BlackElo "2213"]
[Plycount "150"]
[Eventdate "2009.??.??"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f3 { The most common opening at master level in chess! Najdorf
variation, English Attack. } 9...Be7 10.g4 O-O 11.g5 Nh5 12.O-O-O Nb6 13.Kb1 Rc8 14.Rg1 g6 15.Qf2 { From this point on the game is on its own path. So much
for chess being worked out to a dead end... } 15...Nc4 16.Bxc4 Rxc4 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.Rxd5 b5 19.Qd2 Qc7 20.Rd1 { It looks like white has a nice position due to
his well placed minor pieces, but still black has a very resiliant position
with counterplay. } 20...Rc8 21.c3 Rb8 22.Bc5 { A tactic. White is aiming for the
7th rank. } 22...Nf4 23.Bxd6 Bxd6 24.Rxd6 b4 25.cxb4 Rcxb4 { Black still has
chances with well placed pieces. } 26.Rd8+ Kg7 27.Rxb8 Qxb8 28.Nc5 Rd4 29.Qc2 Rxd1+ 30.Qxd1 Qb5 { Active defense has allowed black to equalize. } 31.Na4 Nh3 32.Nc3 Qc4 33.Qd6 Qf1+ 34.Kc2 Qxf3 35.Qxe5+ Kg8 36.b4 Qg2+ 37.Kb3 Nxg5 38.Ka4 Nf3 39.Qf6 h5 { You can see the shaping up of a phase four and
even phase five count down as both players begin to mobilize their pawns. } 40.Ka5 Nxh2 41.a4 Ng4 42.Qd8+ Kh7 43.Kxa6 Qg3 44.Nd5 h4 45.Qf8 Qf2 46.b5 h3 47.b6 h2 48.b7 h1=Q 49.b8=Q { Game on! It is hard to say whose king is in
more trouble. } 49...Qa1 50.Qbe8 Qg7 51.Qfe7 g5 { Say it is not so...Black wants to
get another Queen! } 52.a5! { LOL } 52...Nh6 53.Qc6 Ng8 54.Qec7 g4 55.Kb7 g3 56.a6 { A really unreal game. } 56...g2 57.a7 g1=Q 58.a8=Q { The only game in chess
history that I have found where six queens are on the board. } 58...Qb1+ 59.Nb6 { The white king has a strong fortress indeed. } 59...Nf6 60.e5 { It strikes me
humorus that this last remaining pawns feels the call to also move forward. } 60...Ng4 61.Qae8 Qff5 62.Qce7 Nh6 63.Kc7 Qbe4 { Like magnets the Queens are
attracted to the center of the board so as to maximize their radiation. } 64.Nd5 Qfxe5+ { All things shall pass. Here comes the mass exchanges. } 65.Qxe5 Qgxe5+ 66.Qxe5 Qxe5+ 67.Kd8 { Black has little chance of getting a fourth
queen. } 67...Kg7 68.Ne7 Qb8+ 69.Kd7 Qa7+ 70.Kd6 Qa3+ 71.Kd7 Qd3+ 72.Ke8 Qh3 73.Qd5 Qg4 74.Qe5+ f6 75.Qd5 Qa4+
1/2-1/2
There are also two further curious cases [ref. 4]:
"Barroso, Ernesto (2440) - Puertas, Diego (2230) [A00] Valladolid ch Ascenso a Primera/Valladolid (3) 1992", as cited at ref. 4. It ends on ply 1 of move 62, 1/2-1/2, though all six queens were captured during moves 57 onward.
"Ruecker, Benjamin (2403) - Schumacher, Dennis (2062) [A15] Hessen-ch U18/Marburg (9) 2000"; in this instance all six queens remain on the board at the end of the game (which was a draw).
References
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotion_(chess)#Promotion_to_various_pieces
- Boris Schipkov; "17 Astonishing Chess Games with 5 and 6 Queens on the Board". Chess Siberia. Retrieved 24 Nov 2014
- https://www.chess.com/blog/Boorchess/the-outer-limits-phase-5-multiple-queens
- http://www.chessib.com/five-six-queens-chess-games.html
EDIT: undeleted answer after reconsidering the relevance. This answer doesn't address games with a 3 queen lead by the opponent, but in light of other somewhat tangential answers, this one might be in keeping.