WesChess: There Is a Magic Number

As our first puzzle of the semester, we will be looking at one of the most famous moves in chess history. This position is taken from a game played between Russian master Stepan Levitsky and American master Frank Marshall in 1912, perhaps best known as the “Gold Coins Game.” Legend has it that after Marshall played this stunning move, spectators began throwing gold coins onto the board. Can you find the move Marshall played that caused spectators to empty their pockets?

Collin Holson can be reached at cholson@wesleyan.edu.