Promotion before any captures

[Robert Pope]

I know it's theoretically possible, but are there any examples of actual games where one side promotes a pawn without having lost any pieces? I don't have a giant database of games to search against like some of you do.

[MrEdCollins]

In one of my databases I found 72 such games. Here's one of them:

[Event "6th Neckar Open"]
[Site "Tula RUS"]
[Date "2002.03.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Tokarev, I"]
[Black "Ovsiannikov, M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2240"]
[BlackElo "2129"]
[ECO "E72"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.e4 Na6 8.f4 Nc7 9.Nf3 b5 10.cxb5 a6 11.b6 Nb5 12.Nd2 Ng4 13.b7 Ne3 14.bxa8=Q Bd4 15.Nxb5 Nxg2+ 16.Ke2 axb5 17.Nf3 1-0

[carldaman]

In one of my databases I found 72 such games. Here's one of them:

[Event "6th Neckar Open"]
[Site "Tula RUS"]
[Date "2002.03.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Tokarev, I"]
[Black "Ovsiannikov, M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2240"]
[BlackElo "2129"]
[ECO "E72"]

[pgn]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.e4 Na6 8.f4 Nc7 9.Nf3 b5 10.cxb5 a6 11.b6 Nb5 12.Nd2 Ng4 13.b7 Ne3 14.bxa8=Q Bd4 15.Nxb5 Nxg2+ 16.Ke2 axb5 17.Nf3 1-0
[/pgn]

This game appears to be somewhat artificial, in that Black's play seems beyond bad.

[MrEdCollins]

As I play through some of the games, some seemed worse than that one.
This one is by two players who are also 2100+, apparently:

[pgn]
[Event "Suetin Memorial"]
[Site "Tula"]
[Date "2002.03.30"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Tokarev, Ilya"]
[Black "Ovsiannikov, Maxim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2240"]
[BlackElo "2129"]
[ECO "E72"]
[EventDate "2002.03.23"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2002.05.03"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.g3 Bg7 6.Bg2 O-O 7.e4 Na6 8.f4 Nc7 9.Nf3 b5 10.cxb5 a6 11.b6 Nb5 12.Nd2 Ng4 13.b7 Ne3 14.bxa8=Q Bd4 15.Nxb5 Nxg2+ 16.Ke2 axb5 17.Nf3 1-0
[/pgn]

[Sven]

This game appears to be somewhat artificial, in that Black's play seems beyond bad.

The one and only blunder was 12...Ng4. Bad enough, I agree, for a 2100+ player.

Sven

[Sven]

As I play through some of the games, some seemed worse than that one.
This one is by two players who are also 2100+, apparently:

Same game as above

[MrEdCollins]

LOL. Ah, so it is. I hadn't noticed. You've discovered a duplicate game in my database. (Notice the player names are listed differently, but it is indeed the same game.)

[MrEdCollins]

Okay, just for fun, here's one more game. (A different game this time.)

Surprisingly enough, 8...Qc8 which allows 9. cxb8=Q, and meeting the criteria (a promotion and no other pawns or piece captured) appears to be stronger for Black than 8...Qxc7.

[pgn]
[Event "Vienna op-B 14th"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "2003.08.21"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Heiny, Johannes"]
[Black "Strubreiter, Markus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1756"]
[BlackElo "1920"]
[ECO "A51"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.Qc2 d5 5.exd6 Bf5 6.Nc3 Ng3 7.Qa4+ Bd7 8.dxc7 Qc8 9.cxb8=Q Qxb8 10.Qc2 Nxh1 11.Qe4+ Be6 12.g3 Bb4 13.Bg2 O-O 14.Bf4 Qd8 15.Bxh1 Bxc3+ 16.bxc3 Qa5 17.Qc2 Rac8 18.Bd6 Rfd8 19.Bb4 Qh5 20.h4 Rxc4 21.Rd1 Rb8 22.Qd3 h6 23.Be4 Re8 24.Bxb7 Rc7 25.Bf3 Qe5 26.Qd6 Qxd6 27.Rxd6 a5 28.Bxa5 Ra7 29.Bb4 Rxa2 30.Rd2 Ra1+ 31.Rd1 Ra6 32.e3 Bb3 33.Rb1 Bc2 34.Rc1 Bd3 35.Ne2 g5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.Nd4 Ra2 38.Bd5 Rb2 39.Ra1 Re5 40.Bb3 g4 41.Ba3 Rb1+ 42.Rxb1 Bxb1 43.Bd6 Rh5 44.Ke2 Rh1 45.c4 Be4 46.c5 Rb1 47.Bc2 Rb2 48.Kd2 f6 49.Kc3 1-0
[/pgn][/code]

[Sven]

LOL. Ah, so it is. I hadn't noticed. You've discovered a duplicate game in my database. (Notice the player names are listed differently, but it is indeed the same game.)

Player names are once abbreviated, and once they are not, but the most obvious difference may be in the tournament names, where "Suetin Memorial" sounds more correct than "6th Neckar Open" in this case.

Sven

[Robert Pope]

Thanks for the examples!