Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Decoy

Anatol Gerschenkron developed his short chess career in Austria. Gerschenkron was born in 1911 and died at the age of 27. In route from Vienna to Paris he caught a chill that developed into pleuresy.

Despite his short career, Gerschenkron was able to create miniatures like today’s game.

The game features a trap based on the technique called ‘decoy’. That technique consists in luring a piece (the king in this case) onto a particular square through the means of a sacrifice. The opponent’s piece in the new placement can be exploited to obtain an advantage (checkmate in today’s game)

Most probably Gerschenkron’s opponent was worried about his queen’s bishop and didn’t guess his opponent’s malicious plan.

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