Speelman's Agony #71

by Jonathan Speelman
3/4/2018 – This week's games are from David Lovejoy who lives in Mullumbimby, in northern New South Wales, Australia. 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.

A finger slip and a pleasing finish 

David Lovejoy writes:

David LovejoyI have been playing chess all my life, but several long absences from club and tournament play have left me a fairly weak player, though a dedicated one (current Elo 1775). I managed to win the Queensland championship in 1981, but these days I only do well in events restricted by age or rating. Now retired from running Byron Bay’s local newspaper, I can indulge my passion for serious long games, although Australia does not have enough tournaments for my taste. Retirement has also allowed me the time to write a fictional account of Savielly Tartakower’s life: Moral Victories (Echo Publishing). As a widower I live alone, but I keep a few cats around the house to maintain healthy blood pressure and a positive outlook.

In the ‘agony’ game I felt I was doing quite well against an IM until a blunder ruined my position. The curious thing is I had decided to move 21.g4 but I reached out and played 21.f4 instead. I actually wrote 21.g4 on my scoresheet and only realised what I had done when I looked at the board again! This is the first, and I hope only, time I have made a ‘fingerfehler’. It was probably horror at my hand’s treachery that prevented me from pulling myself together and making a fight of it.

Before the advent of computers I enjoyed playing correspondence chess, and my ‘ecstasy’ game is from the Australian Correspondence Championship of 1983. The game stuck in my memory because of White’s final pair of bishop moves on opposite sides of the board.

We start with that agony and the horror of a finger fehler. David sent blank game scores which is absolutely fine so all notes are by me.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 This perhaps preserves the tension more than the alternative 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 when White has tried many different moves with the main lines developing the c1 bishop on d2, f4 or g5. The former (10.Bd2) was developed by Gena Sosonko in a number of games in the late 1970s and 1980s. Baffling at the time it prepares Ba5 in some cases. The crucial point of these positions is that Black must prepare ...c5 and counterintuitively this means that advancing minor pieces is often wrong. For instance 10.Bd2 10.Bf4 10.Bg5 10...Nc6 11.e3 Nb4 12.Bxb4 Bxb4 13.a3 Bd6 14.Nbd2 is rather dubious. 8...Bd7
9.Ne5 Quite appealing but dissipating rather a lot of energy. 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bg5 is the main line 9...Bc6 10.Nxc6 Nxc6 11.Bxc6 11.e3 Na5 12.Nd2 is what White wants to play but after the obvious c5 the tactics turn out fine for Black: 13.dxc5 Rc8 14.b4 14.Nxc4 Rxc5 15.b3 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.Rd1 Qc7 18.Ba3 bxc4 19.b4 Rb5 20.bxa5 Bxa3 21.Rxa3 Rxa5 22.Rxa5 Qxa5= 14...cxb3 15.Nxb3 Nxb3 16.Qxb3 Nd7! 17.c6 bxc6 18.Rd1 Qb6 19.Qc2 Rfd8 11...bxc6 12.Rd1 Qd5 13.Nc3 13.f3 13...Qh5
With the white squares weak and no way to regain the sacrificed pawn at least in the short term, White is certainly not better here. 14.e4 Ng4?! This loses time, allowing White to get organised, though Black is still absolutely fine. 14...c5! was strong and if 15.d5 simply 15.Kg2 cxd4 16.Rxd4 Ng4 17.h3 Ne5 15...Rad8 15.f3 Nh6 16.Kg2 f5 17.e5 17.Bxh6 Qxh6 17...fxe4 18.Qxe4! 18.Bf4 exf3+ 19.Kh1 Bd6 may well be good for White but is very messy. I'd much rather not be a piece up but have a really nice intact position with lots of enemy pawns to pluck. 18...Qxh6 19.Qxc6 18.Qe2 Rab8 19.Rab1 fxe4 20.Nxe4 Rb4 21.Nd2 Qf6 22.Rdc1 and White is in at least some danger of reaching a slightly better endgame. 22.Nxc4? Rxc4 23.Qxc4 Qxf3+ 24.Kg1 Qe3+ 25.Kh1 Qe4+ 26.Kg1 Bg5 17...g5 17...f4 was much better now since 18.Bxf4? is impossible due to 18.g4 Qh4 and White has to play a defensive move like 19.Rf1 when 19.Bd2 threatens to get organised with Be1-f2 but allows at least perpetual check after Nxg4 20.fxg4 Qxg4+ 21.Kh1 Qf3+ 22.Kg1 and in fact engines point out that Qh3 is good for Black for example if 23.Be1 23.Kh1 c5 24.d5? Qf3+ 25.Kg1 Rf5 26.Ne4 exd5 23...f3 24.Ne4 Rf4 25.Ng3 h5 19...c5 20.d5 Rad8 21.dxe6 Rd3 is unclear. 18...g5 19.g4 Qf7 18.Qe2 Kh8 19.Bd2 Rab8 20.Rab1 Rb4 21.Be1
21...f4? As David explained, he intended g4 but picked up the wrong pawn. 21...g4 22.f4 Rfb8 23.Qc2 Qe8 24.Ne2 is quite reasonable for White anyway though since the knight on h6 is too far from its ideal square on d5 and lots will happen before it gets anywhere near there. 22.g4 Qg6 23.h3 preventing Nxg4 before going on the offensive. Rfb8 24.Ne4 Rxa4 25.Ra1 Rxa1 26.Rxa1 Nf7 26...Ng8 27.Rxa6 Qe8 28.Qxc4 Rxb2+ 29.Bf2 and White should win. 27.Rxa6 c5? 28.d5 Nxe5 29.Rxe6 Qg7 30.Rxe5 A shame for David that it all went wrong so quickly. Finger slips are an occasional part of chess but most upsetting all the same. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
IM Leonid Sandler2274David Lovejoy17751–02018E05Gold Coast Open5
David Lovejoy-Simon Jenkinson-1–01983A60Australian Corr Ch 1983

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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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