Speelman's Agony #65

by Jonathan Speelman
11/26/2017 – Trefor relates a heart-felt love for our game, and does Jon a small Caïssaic mitzvah to boot! Fancy Jon taking a look at your games? Send them in! If you appear in the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
Fritz 16 is looking forward to playing with you, and you're certain to have a great deal of fun with him too. Tense games and even well-fought victories await you with "Easy play" and "Assisted analysis" modes.

Violently chaotic fun

This week's games are by Trefor Owens, a good club player from Kent who about a year and a half ago initially contacted me about a book. He writes:

I am a 58 year old Granddad of six and try to fit as much chess into my schedule as possible. My current chess diet consists of books, online videos and, best of all, watching live commentary of tournaments and matches. I also play over-the-board when I can, representing Rainham in various Kent leagues. I caught the chess bug as a sporty ten-year-old when my football/rugby career was sidelined by a fracture (which meant a year on crutches), a friend introduced me to the 64 squares and my love of chess was ignited.

I seem to be stuck around my current rating level of 173 ECF (approximately 2000 FIDE) and like most club players have won many games from losing positions and, frustratingly, vice versa. I consider myself to be an attacking, tactical player but also acknowledge that this is just a polite way of admitting that my opening and endgame play is, shall we say, rather dubious.

As I approach retirement my enjoyment of chess is as strong as ever, however these days I appreciate the art and beauty in our game as much as the sporting element. Chess really is an amazing game and one that should be on the national curriculum and despite the frustrations created by my own inadequacies I am still, at heart, that ten-year-old who learnt a new exciting game.

Trefor's original email referred to a volume I had (as it turned out, foolishly) leant years earlier to a well known chess publisher after which it promptly went missing. It was a volume I'd had since childhood and Trefor had been told on a facebook forum that "unless he has since acquired it, Jon Speelman will give a kidney for xxx.” 

As it turned out, an organ transplant was unnecessary as Trefor very kindly exchanged the said volume for a couple of signed books from me and he also mentioned that he might send in some games for this column at some stage. Now he's done so and I'm delighted to feature some of his efforts, which, if not always entirely sound (but that's far from the point) are splendidly chaotic and violent.

We start with some “Agony” before two instances of “Ecstasy”. All notes are mine.

 
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1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 4.f3 Bf5 5.Bb5+ c6 6.dxc6 Nxc6 7.c4 e6 8.Ne2 Bd6 9.Nbc3 0-0 10.Bg5 Qc7
Black's compensation for the pawn is a bit nebulous but of course he can fight. 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Ne4 Bxe4 This helps White to support d4-d5 so perhaps 12...Bb4+ 13.N2c3 13.Kf2 Bxe4 14.fxe4 Nxd4! This nice line, which admittedly was suggested by an engine, highlights White's black square weaknesses since in the short term, the bishop on b5 is urterly useless. 15.Nxd4 Rad8 16.Qg4+ Kh8 17.Ne2 Bc5+ 18.Kf1 Qe5
It's obvious that Black has play for what is currently a whole piece but a bit surprsiing, at least to me, that it seems to be perfectly adequate. For instance, if 19.g3 Rd2 20.Rb1 20.Kg2? f5 20...a6 21.Ba4 Rfd8 22.Qf4 Qh5 23.Nc3 R8d3 24.Bd1 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Rf3+ 13...Rad8 13.fxe4 Rad8 13...Bb4+ 14.Kf1! would prevent Nxd4 and keep the advanatage, albeit in a very volatile position. 14.Bxc6 Qxc6 14...bxc6 15.Qd2 c5 16.d5 Be5 15.Qd3 Bb4+ 16.Kf2 Kh8 17.Rhd1 Rg8 18.Qf3 Be7 18...f5 19.exf5 Qxc4 was one way to fight. 19.Rac1 Qb6 20.Qb3 20.c5! Qxb2 21.Rb1 Qxa2 21...Qc2 22.Rdc1 Qd2 23.Rxb7 20...Qc7 21.Qf3
21...e5? Up to here, it's just been an unclear battle but this relinquishes the pressure on the centre after which White should be able to get control. 22.d5 Rg6 23.Kf1 Rdg8 24.g3 Qd7 25.c5 25.Kg2 Bc5 26.a3 a5 27.b4 axb4 28.axb4 Bxb4 29.c5 was a really simple way to play 25...f5 26.exf5 Rf6 27.c6 27.g4 Rxg4 28.Qxg4 Rxf5+ 29.Kg2 Rf2+ 30.Kxf2 Qxg4 27.Kg2 Rxf5 27...Rg5 28.c6 bxc6 29.dxc6 Qc8 30.c7 Rgxf5 31.Qe4 Rf2+ 32.Kh1 Kg7 33.Rc4 h5 34.Rg1 Qh3 35.Rg2 28.Qe4 Rg4 28...Rh5 29.Ng1 29.Qxg4 Rf2+ 30.Kxf2 Qxg4 31.c6 Black can't get the bishop into his attack and so should be losing. 27...Qc8 28.cxb7 There was no need to exchange off this potent passed pawn. 28.Kg2 Rxf5 29.Qe4 Rh5 30.Ng1 would have kept more or less total control. 28...Qxb7 29.g4 Qxb2 30.Rc6 Bd6 31.h3 Qxa2 32.Qc3 If White just arranges to get the knight to e4, then it should be more than enough. 32.Nc3 Qa3 33.Kg2 Rb8 34.Ne4 Rb2+ 35.Kg3 Rb3 36.Rc3 Rxc3 37.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 37...Qa4 38.Qf3 winning easily enough. 38.Nxf6 Qxd1 39.Qc8+ Kg7 40.Ne8+ Kh6 41.g5+! 41.Nxd6 actually forces mate but would be difficult to calculate with conficence. 38.Nxc3 e4+ 39.Kf2 32.Ng3 Be7 32...Rb8 33.g5 Rb3 34.Rc3 33.Rxf6 Bxf6 34.Ne4 Bd8 35.d6 Bb6 36.Qe2 Qa4 37.Kg2 This isn't at all trival (at least not for a human being presumably short of time) but it is very strong and pretty comfortable with the knight radiating such power. Bd4 38.Rc1 Rb8 39.f6 h6 40.Qd3 32...Qa4
33.Ra1? 33.Rd2 Qe4 34.Ng3 33...Qe4 with the queen in his guts, White is no longer better. 34.Rxa7? Bb4! 35.Qxb4 Rxf5+ 36.gxf5 Qxb4 37.Rxf7 Qb1+ 38.Rc1 Qd3 39.Rcc7 Qxh3+ 40.Kf2
40...Rd8 Engines give 40...Rg2+ as totally winning but it's very hard in practice when White has those rooks. 41.Ke1 Qh4+ 42.Kd1 Qa4+ 43.Ke1 Kg8 44.Rfd7 Qa1+ 45.Kd2 Qb2+ 41.Rxh7+?! 41.Ng3 Ra8 42.Rxh7+ Qxh7 43.Rxh7+ Kxh7 44.Ne4 should be okay. 41...Qxh7 42.Rxh7+ Kxh7 43.Nc3? In practice, White is very likely to lose this, though when I consulted the Lomonosov tablebase it told me that either Kf3 or Ke3 should draw. 43.Kf3 Kg7! 43...Rxd5 44.Ke4 Rc5 44...Rd2 45.Ng3 Kg7 44...Rd1 45.Ng3 Rg1 46.Nh5 Re1+ 47.Kd5 Kh6 48.Nf6 Kg5 49.Ke6 44...Ra5 45.Nc3 Kg7 46.Nd5 45.f6 Kg6 46.f7 Kxf7 47.Kf5 Ke7 48.Ng3 Ra5 49.Ne4 Rd5 50.Nc3 Kd6 51.Ne4+ 43...Kg7 44.Ke3 Kf6 45.Ke4 Rc8 46.Nb5 Rc4+ 47.Kd3 Rc5 48.Nc3 Kxf5 49.d6 Ke6 50.Ne4 Rd5+ 51.Ke3 Rd4 52.Kf3 Kd5
53.d7?! Rd3+! After finally achieving a winning position, Black showed good technique, but a pretty tragic end for Trefor, after he was winning in the middle. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Owens,T1990Chandler,C22810–12017B01
Mayhew,A2313Owens,T19900–12013A51Rochester
Owens,T1990Elliston,R20651–02013B07Sussex v Kent

Click or tap the subsequent game in the list above for the "ecstasy"!

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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