Julian Assange – Tweet 8:34 PM 12 Jan 2018
published on Julian Assange’s twitter feed click here
bz: hint- look at time stamp when tweeted- look at pawn groupings- look at move-…
Julian Assange – Tweet 8:34 PM 12 Jan 2018
published on Julian Assange’s twitter feed click here
bz: hint- look at time stamp when tweeted- look at pawn groupings- look at move-…
Checkmate? Lots of question arise! End game is very close it seems.
Julian (8) is castled and there is nothing that the Queen, Bishop/Pope (3), nor their Pawns (4) can do about it…
Maybe I am blind, but what move is being referred to? I see no indication of whose turn it is, or what move was either just made or comes next.
@M. Battiglia feel free to have a look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaUHECHqcWs&feature=youtu.be&t=440
As most serious chess players will know, this position is from a fairly well know game played in New York between a Cuban player Jose Raul Capablanca and an American Frank Marshall. At the time Marshall was the reigning US champion. Capablanca was a very strong player who went on to become World Champion a few years later. The opening played in the game is known as the Spanish Opening or the Ruy Lopez opening. The game is well known because of what Marshall played as Black on move 8. Up to that point, the game went as follows:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 Be7
6. Re1 b5
7. Bb3 0-0
8. c3 …
This is all pretty standard closed Ruy Lopez play and any serious chess player has almost certainly had a position like this in many games. However Marshall’s next move was a novelty that has become known as the Marshall Gambit or the Marshall Attack. A gambit is a line of play where one side gives up a pawn in return for compensation usually in the form of activity or an attack. In the position after White’s 8th move Marshall played
8. … d5
As you can see, after the obvious exchanges
9. exd5 Nxd5
10. Nxe5 Nxe5
11. Rxe5 …
Black is indeed a pawn down so this can be considered a true gambit line. This line is one of Black’s more aggressive tries in the Spanish and this game is well known because it introduced the line into top level play.
Unfortunately for Marshall, in this particular game the gambit did not work out all that well for him, and he went on to lose (helped of course by the fact that Capablanca was a very strong player indeed).
What is a bit puzzling about the position that Mr. Assange has chosen to show here is that it is not really one of the more interesting or critical positions in the game. In the position shown in the diagram, the attack that Black got from his gambit play has started to stall a bit, but in return White’s King is somewhat exposed and the White pieces on the Queenside (the left side of the board from White’s point of view) need to be brought into play. I think most chess players would think that White is a little better in this position, but the game is still far from won and there is a lot of play left.
Exactly why Mr. Assange posted a less than critical position from a century old game (it was played in 1918) where neither side is winning yet is a bit puzzling to me.
I meant to add in response to the person who asked what the last move was and whose turn it is to play in the diagram, the diagrammed position arose after Black’s 24th move which was to move the bishop from h4 to f2 and it is White’s turn to move:
24. … Bf2
25. …
Also, in response to the person above who commented that White has castled and his King is safe, I should add that White did indeed castle, but as is fairly standard in the Spanish, he castled on the Kingside (the right side of the board from White’s point of view) on move 5 (see the moves in my post above) and then had to move his King across the board to the other side to seek safety. White’s King is where it is not because he castled into safety but because he had to scurry away from where he had originally castled on the other side of the board.
Yes, Julian castled from one place to another so he has indeed moved living quarters…