Sometimes, brilliant combinations are very hidden; so much so that not even a very strong opponent, such as the Brazilian Alexander Fier – who we will see in El Rincón de los Inmortales as the winner in a couple of months – was able to foresee in this game the idea, as brilliant as it was malicious, conceived by the British Daniel Gormally. With hindsight, it is easy to deduce that the Latin American could have anticipated the spectacular sacrifice of a piece, but it would be unfair to criticize him for such an omission because it could have happened even to a world champion.
This masterful attack, whose variations are as beautiful as what happened in the game, also took place in one of the world’s cities with the greatest chess tradition, the English city of Hastings, on the south coast. Since the end of the 19th century, the squawking of Sussex’s seagulls has been the background music for many immortal games.