Jon Speelman's Agony Column #13: 0x0D

by Jonathan Speelman
8/4/2016 – This week marks three months of this column as we hit the controversial number 13. Effectively naked when we play and responsible only to ourselves, chess players, like competitors in other fields, tend to have at least a tinge of superstition. Garry Kasparov, who was born on April 13th 1963, thinks of 13 as a lucky number but any triskaidekaphobes are invited instead to view this column in hex as number 0x0D. This week you will also be tested on some of the positions.

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Garry Kasparov, chosen by TIME as Person of the Year in 2003, was certainly not shy about his feelings on anything, including his penchant for the number 13

On to business and a pair of games sent by Steven Winer a FIDE Master  from a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. Steven, who is 35, learned chess at the age of five and enjoys a number of non chess strategy games. He and his wife Lisa are expecting a daughter in about a month.

Steven Winer generously sent a game of his own for the 'Agony' and one of a young pupil for the 'ecstasy' Steven teaches young players and says how impressed he is by the large number of very strong kids in the area. He very selflessly sent me "Agony"  for himself and "Ecstasy" for one of his pupils Bernie Xu, who is now eleven and has been co-champion twice in the Spiegel Cup (The Massachusets State Scholastic Chess Championship). Both games are violent Semi-Slavs.

In this fascinating but ultimately disappointing battle, Steven sacrificed very heavily to institute a violent attack. In his original email, he asked me: "I would be curious how you would approach something where you feel like you should sacrifice, but are not completely sure if it will work."

The answer has to be that you must trust your intuition, but also when necessary calculate as accurately as possible. In the heat of battle it's all too easy to get things wrong, but even if you lose sometimes as a result you have to stay true to yourself. Without your intuition - which after all is the conscious manifestation of a vast amount of internal processing using pattern recognition - you're fighting in the dark.

Steven Winer - Varun Krishnan

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4!? The most principled move but normally the precursor to a controversial gambit. Bb4 4...dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd4 is of course the main line 5.Bd2 dxc4 5...dxe4 6.Nxe4 Qxd4 would return to the main line 6.Bxc4 Nf6 6...Qxd4 is more common immediately 7.e5 Qxd4 8.Qe2 Nd5 9.Nf3 Qb6 10.0-0 Nxc3 I don't much like this since the knight was an excellent defender. 11.bxc3 Be7 12.Qe4 h6 13.Qg4 Kf8 14.Be3 Qc7
White has a dangerous initiative but still needs to get to grips with the enemy. His next move is appealing because it prepares f4-f5 but I would have been at least a little concerned about Black taking the e5 pawn because even though this costs tempi it's a crucial attacking unit which in particular prevents the black knight from defending on f6. 15.Nd4!? a6 However if 15...Qxe5 16.Qe2 among others is pretty scary 16.Qf3 is in the way of the f pawn - Black replies Kg8 16...Qc7 or perhaps 16...Qf6 You can analyse this for miles with an engine but really ought to stop about here. White will play f4 and perhaps Rae1 and then try to blast through with f5 even if Black's played ...g6. In practice it would be tremendously dangerous and that should be enough for White when going into it. 16.f4 c5 17.f5 cxd4 18.fxe6 Qxc4 19.Rxf7+ Ke8
20.Rxe7+ 20.Qxg7! was my instinctive reaction when I looked at this game before turning an engine (Houdini) on. In fact it is very strong and simpler than the game. Qxe6 21.Qxh8+! Kd7 21...Kxf7 22.Rf1+ Qf5 23.Qxc8 22.Qg7 dxe3
22...Nc6 23.Bxd4 Kc7 24.Bc5+- 23.Rxe7+! is most sensible in practice 23.Rd1+ Kc6 24.Rxe7 Qxa2 25.Rc7+ Kb6 26.Rxc8 is winning (about +8 according to Houdini) but if you went into this line you'd have to see the refutation of 26. ..Nc6 Nc6 26...Qf2+ 27.Kh1 e2 28.Rb1+ Ka5 29.Qc7+ b6 30.Ra1+ Kb5 31.Qc4# 26...Ka7 27.Qg3! 27.Qxh6? Qf2+ 28.Kh1 e2 27.Rxa8 Qf2+ 28.Kh1 e2 29.Rb1+ Ka5
and it's crucial that White can force mate by sacrificing either on a6 or even c6 29...Kc5 30.Qf8+ 30.Rxa6+! 30.Qc7+ Ka4 31.Qxc6+ is even prettier 23...Qxe7 24.Rd1+ Ke6 25.Rd6+ Qxd6 26.Qf6+ Kd7 27.Qxd6+ Ke8 28.Qg6+ Kd7 and the queen and e pawn will rout Black for example after 29.Qf7+ Kd8 30.Qf8+ Kd7 31.e6+ 20...Kxe7 21.Qxg7+ Kxe6 22.Qxh8 Qxc3 Positions in which the king is running are always difficult to calculate and Steven now made the wrong choice. Analysing with an engine, this was obvious immediately but without it, it would have taken ages to be sure.
Attack and defense are among the least forgiving moments in a chess game. How should White proceed here?
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Winer,S2380Krishnan,V22760–12014D3124th North American Open7.22

The following game is so complicated that there would surely have been serious mistakes even if it had been between two strong grandmasters. Given that it was contested by two ten-year-olds, it's tremendous by both.

Ten-year-old Bernie Xu came out the victor in this very complicated game

Berni Xu - Eddie Yi Ming Wei

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Be7 10...Nbd7 11.g3 Bb7 12.Bg2 Qb6 13.exf6 is the old main line 11.exf6 Bxf6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.g3
13...Bb7 When I looked for a top game I found this one. Although Nakamura won quite quickly, Aronian would have been fine after 25...a5! 13...Na6 14.Bg2 Bb7 15.Ne4 Qe7 16.0-0 0-0-0 17.a4 f5 18.axb5 cxb5 19.Rxa6 Bxa6 20.Nc5 Qxc5 21.dxc5 Rxd1 22.Rxd1 b4 23.Ra1 Rd8 24.Bf1 Bb5 25.b3 c3 25...a5! 26.Bxb5 c2 27.Be2 a5 28.Rc1 Rd2 29.Kf1 1-0 (29) Nakamura,H (2767)-Aronian,L (2797) Saint Louis USA 2014 14.Bg2 a6 15.0-0 Nd7 16.a4 Houdini quite likes 16.Ne4 Qe7 17.Qg4 0-0-0 18.Qf4 Nb6 19.Nc5 though after Nd7 Black is fighting hard. 16...0-0-0 17.Ne4 Qe7 18.Qc2 Rdg8 19.b3!? f5
20.Nc3 I would have been very loath to allow a pawn on c3 since this is such a powerful unit that Black will often be okay even if he loses a limited amount of material but can stabilise matters. 20.Nd2 Qh7 21.h4 c5 22.Bxb7+ Kxb7 23.Nf3 f4 24.Qxh7 Rxh7 with a total mess in which in fact White seems to be perfectly alright. 20.Nc5?! Nxc5 21.dxc5 Qxc5 22.bxc4 b4! and White doesn't really have time for 23.a5 in view of f4! 20...b4 21.Ne2 c3 22.Nf4 Nf6 23.Rfe1 Qh7 24.h3 24.h4! was better because with the pawn can become vulnerable on h3 24...c5 24...Ne4 was possible with a completely different mess. 25.Bxb7+ Kxb7
26.dxc5? In a position as tense as this a single move can change the evaluation by 180 degrees. This is wrong because after Black's next move he seizes the intiaitive and instead 26.Rxe6 Nd5 27.Qe2! Nc7 28.Qf3+ Ka7 29.Rc6 cxd4 30.Rd1 Rd8 31.Rc4 would have left White in control. 26...Nd5! 27.Qe2 Nxf4 28.Qf3+ Nd5 29.Rxe6 Rd8 30.Rd1 30.h4 was necessary to prevent Qxh3 but Black should be better (though anything could happen in practice) after Qc7 30...f4 31.Rd1 Qf5! is actually even better 31.Qe2 31.c6+ Kb8 32.Rd1 Nb6 31...Qxc5 32.Qxa6+ Kc7!
Black had his chance to walk away the victor and this was it. Black to play and win.
Show Solution
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Xu,B-Yi Ming Wei,E-1–02016D44Boylston Chess Foundation Quads3

Many thanks for your continuing emails, which are the life blood of this column. Please do send games - preferably a pair of "Agony" and "Ecstasy" but a single good game is also fine . The best format is either ChessBase .cbv or  .pgn as an attachment . I can also lift games in text format from the body of an email and paste them into the growing database.

About the author

Jon was born in 1956 and became a professional player in 1977 after graduating from Worcester College Oxford where he read mathematics. He became an IM in 1977 a GM in 1980 and was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980-2006.

Three times British Champion he played twice in the Candidates reaching the semi-final  (of what was then a knockout series of matches) in 1989 when he lost 4.5 - 3.5 to Jan Timman. He's twice been a second at the world championship for Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

He's written for the Observer (weekly) since 1993 and The Independent since 1998. With its closure (going online but without Jon on board) he's expanding online activity and is also now offering online tuition.

He likes puzzles especially (cryptic) crosswords and killer sudokus.

If you'd like to lambast Jon or otherwise he can be contacted via his email

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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