The game and annotations from the novel, complete with illustrative diagrams
The following is the chess game featured in Samuel Beckett's first published novel,
Murphy. All notes and annotations may be found in the novel, but I have added diagrams of the annotated positions:
The game, an Endon's Affence, or Zweispringerspott, was as follows:
White (Murphy) Black (Mr. Endon)(a)
(a) Mr. Endon always played Black. If presented with White he would fade, without the least trace of annoyance, away into a light stupor.
(b) The primary cause of all White's subsequent difficulties.
1. P-K4 (b) 1. Kt-KR3
2. Kt-KR3 2. R-KKt1
3. RKKt1 3. Kt-QB3
4. Kt-QB3 4. Kt-K4
(c) Apparently nothing better, bad as this is.
5. Kt-Q5 (c) 5. R-KR1
6. R-KR1 6. Kt-QB3
7. Kt-QB3 7. Kt-KKt1
(d) An ingenious and beautiful début, sometimes called the Pipe-opener.
8. Kt-QKt1 8. Kt-QKt1 (d)
9. Kt-KKt1 9. P-K3
(e) Ill-judged.
10. P-KKt3 (e) 10. Kt-K2
11. Kt-K2 11. Kt-KKt3
12. P-KKt4 12. B-K2
13. Kt-KKt3 13. P-Q3
14. B-K2 14. Q-Q2
(f) Never seen in the Café de la Régence, seldom in Simpson's Divan.
15. P-Q3 15. K-Q1 (f)
16. Q-Q2 16. Q-K1
17. K-Q1 17. Kt-Q2
(g) The flag of distress.
18. 18. Kt-QB3 (g) 18. R-QKt1
19. R-QKt1 19. Kt-QKt3
20. Kt-QR4 20. B-Q2
21. P-QKt3 21. R-KKt1
(h) Exquisitely played.
22. R-KKt1 22. K-QB1 (h)
23. B-QKt2 23. Q-KB1
24. K-QB1 24 B-K1
(i) It is difficult to imagine a more deplorable situation than poor White's at this point.
25. B-QB3 (i) 25. Kt-KR1
26. P-QKt4 26. B-Q1
(j) The ingenuity of despair.
27. Q-KR6 (j) 27. ...
(k) Black now has an irresistible game.
27. ... 27. Kt-QR1 (k)
28. Q-KB6 28. Kt-KKt3
29. B-K5 29. B-K2
(l) High praise is due for White for the pertinacity with which he struggles to lose a piece.
30. Kt-QB5 (l) 30. ...
(m) At this point, Mr. Endon, wthout as much as "j'adoube," turned his King and Queen's Rook upside-down, in which position they remained for the rest of the game.
30. ... 30. K-Q1 (m)
(n) A coup de repos long overdue.
31. Kt-KR1 (n) 31. B-Q2
32. K-QKt2!! 32. R-KR1
33. K-QKt3 33. B-QB1
(o) Mr. Endon not crying "Check!," not otherwise giving the slightest indication that he was alive to having attacked the King of his opponent, or rather vis-à-vis, Murphy was absolved, in accordance with Law 18, from attending to it. But this would have been to admit that the salute was adventitious.
34. K-QR4 34. Q-K1 (o)
35. K-R5 35. Kt-QKt3
36. B-KB4 36. Kt-Q2
37. Q-QB3 37. R-QR1
(p) No words can express the torment of mind that goaded White to this abject offensive.
38. Kt-QR6 (p) 38. B-KB1
39. K-QKt5 39. Kt-K2
40. K-KR5 40. Kt-QKt1
41. Q-QB6 41. Kt-KKt1
(q) The termination of this solitaire is beautifully played by Mr. Endon.
42. K-QKt5 42. K-K2 (q)
(r) Further solicitation would be frivolous and vexatious, and Murphy, with fool's mate in his soul, retires.
43. K-R5 43. Q-Q1 (r)
5 Comments:
that was oddly entertainly, thanks Rhys.
wow...this is amazing...robotdoctor
This helps..it really does...thanks
Thanks for this useful tool. I'd like to offer three important corrections to this post for subsequent users (based on the Grove edition of the text & playing it out myself).
Error 1 is at Move 18 — the note there is meant for White, not Black, and Black's move at that point is different. You have:
18. Kt-QB3 18. Kt-QB3 (g)
I believe it should read:
18. Kt-QB3 (g) 18. R-QKt1
The second error is pictoral and affects all subsequent images from Move 25. White's move at 25 is B-QB3. This is the bishop on the left (Queen's side, in spite of the reversal of the King and Queen). Your image moves the other bishop, to KB3 instead of QB3. All subsequent images are therefore inaccurate; White's bishop stays at K2 from move 14 till the end of the game.
Finally, the third error is a minor one, at Move 40. You list K-KR5 for White. This is on the other side of the board. The move should read K-QR5 (and does in the Grove edition). (It may be worth noting that there is an inconsistency in the notation in the text, which uses K-R5 in both Move 35 and Move 43 - as the only accessible R space to the king, this is unambiguous - but then Beckett uses K-QR5 in Move 40. This seems to me like a proofing/editing mistake in the original.)
Please forgive the impression of pedantic precision in this post. I trust you'll agree it's worth this level of obsession to get it right.
No problem. Thanks for getting in touch. I had noticed one of the errors myself, but haven't had time to correct it. For now, I think your comment will offer a useful footnote.
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