Racing to victory

by Jonathan Speelman
6/16/2019 – In the 100th edition of his Agony column, grandmaster JON SPEELMAN takes a look at three games from Ph.D. in Computer Science and race car driver Guy Argo, a player who "is happiest at the chess board when hacking". | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for 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!
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Speelman's Agony #100

This column receives a telegram from the queen – or maybe Magnus Carlsen – today as it reaches its 100th edition. Many thanks to everybody who has sent games in and please do keep them coming as we move. If not to challenge Methuselah, at least onwards and upwards.

This week's games are by Guy Argo, a Glaswegian who now lives in the United States. I met Guy (through Skype) at the beginning of the year when a friend arranged for him to have some lessons with me as a Christmas present. We've continued since and I very much enjoy his fierce attacking style: a no-nonsense approach which syncs with one of his other hobbies, driving racing cars.

Guy, who is generally rated around the 1900 mark — though much stronger when he gets going — was weaning himself off the Latvian Gambit when I met him, and I've attempted to find some openings which are just as challenging for his opponents but not quite as suspect. He writes:

An undergraduate at St Andrews, I did a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Glasgow University and moved to the States in '92 after my post doc. I've now been in San Francisco for sixteen years and work as a software engineer/entrepreneur for multiple startups.

I'm Infamous for declining a draw in a simul against GM Tony Miles in an opposite-coloured bishops ending. He promptly thrashed me for my insolence. I had only been playing a year at the time.

I captained and drove both cars of The Flying Scotsmen racing team to a 1-2 finish in a 166-car 15-hour endurance race at Sears Point in '15. My other passions are pool, poker and playing board games with Gavin, my 15-year-old son.

Guy sent me a stand-out Agony game and four Ecstatic ones to choose from. 

We begin with the Agony, in which Guy had IM Elliot Winslow on the ropes but then sadly succumbed to a sucker punch. It was annotated by his opponent for the Mechanics Institute Newsletter — I've taken one beautiful variation from those notes, which I've marked as EW, and rejigged the rest myself. 

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 e5 4.Ngf3 Bd6 5.Be2 Nf6 6.a4 This looks early to me. White would like to have a4 in if dxe4 dxe4 happens in some circumstances, but there are other useful moves such as c3. 0-0 7.h3 Re8 8.c3 a5 9.Qc2 Na6
10.g4 Guy loves to attack and, against a stronger opponent, this is certainly normally the right thing to do in principle, though it's far from great here. Nc5 11.Nh2 Ne6 12.Bf3?! Now the knight gets in and with d3 loose White is in dire straits. Nf4 13.h4 b6 14.g5 Ba6! 15.c4 Nd7 With gaping wounds on the dark squares for the knight to aim for, Black should be winning. 16.Ng4 Nc5 17.Be2 17.Ra3 Nce6 is also dreadful. 17...dxc4 Very far from bad but Houdini perfers to re-route the bishop now that it has induced the horrible c4. One line goes: 17...Bc8 18.Ne3 Nce6 19.Nf5 Bb4 20.Kf1 Nxe2 21.Kxe2 Nf4+ 22.Kf1 dxe4 18.dxc4 Bc7 19.Ne3 Nce6 20.Nf5 g6?! Of course this should be good but it gives White hope and 20...Nd4 21.Nxd4 exd4 would have avoided even a hint of an attack by White. 21.Nh6+ Kg7 22.Nb3 Nxe2?! There's a great temptation as Black to cash in, but it was better to keep a knight on f4 to block any posisble attack by White, and 22...f6 23.Bd2 23.Bxf4 Nxf4 24.Rd1 Qe7 doesn't help White at all. 23.Qxe2 Nd4 24.Qd3 Nxb3? Now the white queen has a route to the kingside. 24...Qe7 was safer and better. 25.Qxb3 Qd4
26.Qf3 Qxc4 27.b3 Qe6 28.h5 Rad8 29.hxg6?! A mistake, when 29.Ng4 Rd3 30.Qf6+ Kg8 31.Qxe6 31.hxg6? Rd1+! 32.Kxd1 Qxb3+ 33.Ke1 Qc3+ 31...Rxe6 32.Nf6+ Rxf6 is probably what you'd play if you were trying to win, but 32...Kf8 33.hxg6 Bd6 34.Bd2 fxg6 35.Rxh7 33.gxf6 Bd6 34.Ba3 is okay for White. Or, indeed, "Startling Castling": 34.0-0 29...fxg6! 29...hxg6 30.Ng4 Rh8 31.Qf6+ Qxf6 32.gxf6+ Kg8 33.Rxh8+ Kxh8 34.Nh6 is quite nice for White. 30.Ng4 Rd3 31.Qf6+ Qxf6
32.Rxh7+ EW gives this beautiful variation: 32.gxf6+ Kh8! 33.Bh6 Kg8 34.Bg7 h5 35.Nh6+ Kh7 36.f7 Red8 37.f8Q and now the engine move Bd6‼ The line continues 37...Rxf8 38.Bxf8 Rd8 39.Be7 Kxh6 is clearly better for White. 38.Qxd6! R3xd6 39.Bxe5 39.Nf7 Kxg7 40.Nxd6 Rxd6 is better for Black. 39...Rd2 40.Nf7 Re2+ 41.Kf1 Rf8 42.Ng5+ Kh6 43.f4 Rxe4+ 44.Kg1 Rxe5 45.fxe5 Kxg5 32...Kxh7 33.Nxf6+ Kh8 34.Nxe8 Bd8 35.Bb2 Bxg5 36.Bxe5+ Kg8 37.Nc7 Bc8 38.Rd1 Rxb3 Of course, EW plays to win. Instead 38...Rxd1+ 39.Kxd1 should be an equal endgame. 39.Rd6 Kf7 40.Rxc6 Bg4?! 40...Bb7 41.Rc4 41.Rd6 Be7 42.Rd4 Bc6 41...Rb4 42.Rxb4 axb4 43.f3 Bf6 This presumably "should" be a draw, but the two bishops look nice. 41.f4 Be7 42.Nd5 Bc5 43.Rc7+
43...Ke8? Losing. 43...Kf8! defended, when if 44.Bg7+ Ke8 45.Nf6+ Kd8 46.Rxc5 bxc5 47.Nxg4 Rb4 48.Nf2 Rxa4 49.Ke2 Ra2+ 50.Kf3 a4 the a-pawn should (at least) save Black. 44.Nf6+ Kd8 45.Nxg4 Rb4 46.Nf6 Rxa4 47.Rg7 47.Rd7+ Kc8 48.Kd2 keeps more control. 47...Ra2 48.Rxg6 a4 After going through fire, Guy has won a piece, but the endgame remains extremely tense as Black tries to run his passers. 49.f5 b5 50.Nd5 b4 51.f6 b3 52.Rg8+ Kd7
This is a position which I would find extremely hard to play well with oodles of time on my clock, let alone in a scramble. Engines now tell us that f7 is a mistake, but it's very far from obvious. 53.f7?! 53.Rb8 Rf2 54.Rb7+! Kd8 54...Kc6? 55.Rc7+ Kb5 56.Rxc5+ 54...Ke6 55.Re7+! Bxe7 56.fxe7 54...Ke8 55.Nc7+ Kf7 56.Na6+ 55.Rb5 Ba7 56.Ra5 b2 57.Bxb2 Rxb2 58.Rxa7 wins. 53...Rf2 53...b2! 54.Bxb2 Rxb2 55.f8Q Bxf8 56.Rxf8 a3 57.Nc3 a2 58.Nxa2 Rxa2 54.Nf6+?! 54.Nf4! was apparently still winning. b2 54...a3 55.Nd3 b2 56.Nxc5+ Ke7 57.Kxf2 55.Rb8 a3 56.Rb7+! 56.f8Q? Bxf8 57.Kxf2 Bd6! 58.Bxd6 Kxd6 59.e5+ Kc7 60.e6 Kxb8 61.e7 b1Q 56...Kc6 57.Rc7+ Kb6 58.Nd5+ Ka6 59.Rc6+ Kb7 60.Rxc5 Rxf7 61.Bxb2 axb2 62.Rb5+ Kc6 63.Rxb2 54...Ke6
And here it happened. Guy picked up his pawn to promote it and, not seeing a queen to hand, did what everybody has done in blitz games since time immemorial: put it on f8, said "queen", and hit the clock. Unfortunately, this is not allowed under the rules (incidentally, if you turn a rook upside down and say "queen" then it is a rook, and when you attempt to move it as a queen you've made an illegial move). His opponent called over the tournament director - who ideally should have been there with a queen in his hand for Guy - and, in accordance with the FIDE rules, the TD awarded the IM, who at that stage had 12 seconds left, an extra two minutes. What Guy should have done is to stop the clock and go and find a queen or scream for one, but he didn't know thisb and I'm not a great fan of this rule anyway, since I feel that once you're effectively playing blitz there should be some latitude - maybe a warning rather than an actual penalty. I've also fallen foul of the rule myself at least once in a tournament blitz game (happily at a time when your opponent got an extra two minutes rather than winning instantly as under the previous rule). There have also been a few high profile games where somebody has queened illegally and their opponent has claimed a win. In any case, Guy was now fatally behind on the clock and his opponent, rated more than 350 points above him, gained a rather Pyrrhic victory. 55.f8Q Bxf8 56.Rxf8 b2? 56...Kxe5! 57.Ng4+ Ke6 58.Nxf2 b2 59.Rb8 a3 60.Nd3 a2 61.Rxb2 a1Q+ 62.Ke2 is drawn. 57.Rb8 57.Re8+! Kf7 58.Rb8 was winning. 57...Kxe5 58.Kxf2 a3 59.Nd5 a2 60.Rxb2
And in this drawn position Guy lost on time. What a shame, after he had fought his way back from an abysmal opening to reach a winning position and would presumably have at least drawn had it not been for a technicality. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Argo,G1940Winslow,E22990–12018B10San Francisco7.2

Guy is happiest at the chess board when hacking (to be fair, so am I). And of the three games he selected as a short list, three are hacks and one more positional. Here are one of the three and the calmer effort.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.f4 It shouldn't come as a great surprise that a man who upheld the Lativan Gambit for years aslo likes to play the King's Gambit as White. exf4 3.Bc4 h6?! This prepares ...g5, but that is much more effective when White is committed to Nf3 so that g4 will hit it. Instead, Black has tried numerous other moves, incuding 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 which is most common 3...Qh4+ 4.Kf1 d6 5.Nf3 Qf6 has also been played a bit and is liked by Houdini at least initially. 4.d4 g5? 5.h4 Bg7 6.hxg5
6...Qxg5 Positionally horrible and tactically bad as well. However, if 6...hxg5 7.Rxh8 Bxh8 8.Qh5 Qf6 9.Nc3 White is simply too quick. For instance, if c6 10.e5 Qg7 11.Ne4 d5 12.Nd6+ Kf8 13.Bd3 Na6 14.Bd2 Be6 15.Nf3 Qh6 16.Qxh6+ Nxh6 17.Nxg5 with a totally crushing position. 7.Nf3 Qg3+ 8.Kf1 d5?! Trying to get some activity, but it doesn't really help. 9.Bxd5 Nf6 9...c6 should have been played now, but after 10.Bb3 White has an overwhelming position and isn't even a pawn down. 10.Nc3 c6?
Losing at once 11.Bxf7+! Kxf7 If 11...Kd8 or elsewhere 12.Ne2 Qg4 13.Ne5 Qg5 14.Bxf4 still traps the queen. 12.Ne2! And the queen is trapped of course - if she retreats to g4 or g6 she'll get forked. Nxe4 12...Qg4 13.Ne5+ 12...Qg6 13.Ne5+ 13.Nxg3 Nxg3+ 14.Kg1 Nxh1 15.Bxf4 Nd7?! 16.Qd3! Quite rightly leaving the (apparently) moribund horse on h1 for the moment. Rf8?! 17.Bd6 Ng3?! 18.Qc4+ Kg6 19.Nh4+ Kh7 Or 19...Kg5 20.Bxg3 20.Bxf8 Nxf8 21.Qd3+ Kh8 22.Re1!? Nh5 23.Re8
23...Nf6? 23...Bf5! 24.Rxf8+ Rxf8 25.Nxf5 is quite lost, but was the least bad option. 24.Ng6+ Kg8 25.Qc4+ Nd5 26.Ne7+ Kf7 27.Rxc8 ->
And Black resigned. A very nice attacking game by Guy in which his opponent was totally bamboozled by the ancient King's Gambit. Bxf7+ was nice, and I particularly like how Guy ignored the far-flung knight on h1 and even let it escape as he persued the main aim of attacking. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Argo,G-Maser,T-1–02017C33Mechanics' Winter TNM; G/21.17
Argo,G1974Tracy,J21631–02017C02Mechanics' Winter TNM; G/25.7

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This DVD concentrates on the King's Gambit accepted with 3.Bc4. Williams has included a lot of novelties and interesting attacking variations that should wet the lips of any attacking player, looking for an interesting way of meeting 1...e5!

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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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