Surbiton Chess Club

Never Give Up!

I suspect that you are thinking that there must have been some irregularity by White, possibly associated with the process of move sealing, that got Black out of jail. Lets be clear, White does have a rather strong move here: Rxg7 mate!

However you would be wrong, there was no irregularity!

What makes this game special is that our player (Black) had insisted on making his opponent seal a move. After his opponent had sealed his move he then remarked to our captain that he thought he had the better of it! Hmmmmm!

Upon resumption the sealed move was revealed. It was not the checkmate although White still had a won position! The game was played on and eventually drawn by repetition!

The moral of the story is Never Give Up!

Incidentally FIDE obviously feel that the possibility of a sealed move being checkmate is a credible one as their Appendices to the Laws of Chess "Guidelines in case a game needs to be adjourned" clause 10 (a) notes that, if the player who has sealed the move turns up more than one hour late for the resumption he forfeits the game UNLESS he has won the game by virtue of the sealed move being checkmate!!