Speelman's Agony: California dreamin'

by Jonathan Speelman
2/17/2020 – Two games with "considerable violence" quips GM JON SPEELMAN as he takes a look at his latest submission. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions 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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Agony & Ecstasy #116

This week's very interesting pair of games are by Erik Grubbs, a Californian who sent them after I requested material while streaming. For a while now, I've been considering expanding the column to include a recorded masterclass of the material alongside (obviously only if the player would like to). And when I've sorted out the technical details with ChessBase it's possible that Erik will very kindly initiate the process.

For the moment, here are the two games played on the internet. Both involve considerable violence, and we start with a queen sacrifice which didn't quite work out in the end.

 
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1.e4 c5 1...c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.c3 cxd4 N 8.cxd4 Nge7 9.Nc3 Nc8 10.Be3 Nb6 ½-½ (72) Anand,V (2670)-Speelman,J (2630) Linares 1992 Inf 54 [Speelman,J] 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 d5 8.h3 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.0-0 Be6 is the main line when 10.Na3 dxc3 11.Qe2 Bxb3 12.Nb5 Qb8 13.axb3 e6 14.bxc3 and White has very decent play for the pawn. 8...Bf5 9.cxd4 e6
At the top I inserted the opening of a game I had with Anand in Linares 1992. This was about the best you can get out of an Advance Caro Kann as Black, and I actually later got the advantage before we drew. The present position is several tempi ahead for Black as compared to that, and the bishop isn't great on b3, so the opening has gone very well for him 10.Nc3 h6 11.0-0 Be7 12.Ne2 Rc8 13.Ng3 Bg6 14.Bd2?! a5 14...Nc4 was very pleasant and if 15.Bc3 b5 15.Rc1 a4 This seems rather unnecessary. Winning the bishop for the knight is certainly a gain but perhaps not worth more than a pawn. 16.Bxa4 Nxa4 17.Qxa4 0-0 18.Qb5 Qd7 19.a4 Ra8 20.b4 Ra6 21.Ra1 Rfa8 22.Rfc1 Qd8
23.Qxb7!? An interesting queen sacrifice which destroys Black's remaining queenside. 23.a5 23...Rb6 24.Qxc6 Rxc6 25.Rxc6 Bd3 26.Rac1 Kh7 27.a5 Bb5 27...Bc4 28.Rb1 Qd7 29.Rxc4 dxc4 30.b5 28.Rb6 28.R6c2 was safer 28...Qd7 29.Be1 Bd8 30.Rxb5 Qxb5 31.Rc5 Qd3
The engine doesn't believe this at all for White but with a sound position and those two powerful pawns, Erik is certainly fighting. 32.Nf1 Rb8 33.Ne3 Be7 34.Rc7 Bxb4 35.Bxb4 Rxb4 36.Rxf7 Ra4 37.Re7 Qa6 37...Qe4! was winning because if 38.Rxe6 or 38.Rf7 Kg8 39.Rb7 Ra1+ 38...Ra1+ 39.Kh2 39.Nf1 Qe2 40.N3h2 Ra2 41.Ng4 h5 42.Nge3 Qxf2+ 39...Qf4+ 38.g4 Rxa5 38...Qe2 39.Nh2 Rxd4 39.g5 Rb5 40.h4 Rb7 41.Re8 Qc6 42.Rf8 h5 43.Ng2
By now it's rather unclear from a human perspective especially in time trouble. 43...Rb3 43...g6 prevents White from playing g6 but gives White a very good square on f6 for his rook and chances of at least threatening perpetual check e.g.: 44.Nf4 Rb2 45.Nh2 Rb1+ 46.Kg2 Qc1 47.Nxe6 Qg1+ 48.Kh3 Rb3+ 49.f3 Rb7 50.Rf6 and if White just sits here moving the rook on the f-file then perhaps he can hold. I wondered about Re7xe6 but then the e-pawn is a problem for Black: Re7 51.Nf8+ Kg8 52.Ne6 Rxe6 53.Rxe6 Kg7 54.Rf6 Qxd4 55.e6 Qe5 55...Qe3 56.Nf1 d4 57.Ng3 Qe1 58.Ne4 and Black should take the draw Qh1+ 59.Kg3 Qg1+ 60.Kh3 60.Kf4?? Qh2+ 44.Kh2 44.g6+! Kh6 44...Kxg6?? 45.Nf4+ Kh7 46.Ng5+ Kh6 47.Rh8# 45.Ng5 45.Nf4 Rb8! 46.Rxb8 Qc1+ 47.Kg2 Qxf4 45...Rb1+ 46.Kh2 Qc1 47.Nxe6 Qg1+ 48.Kh3 Rb3+ 49.f3 Qh1+ 50.Kg3 Qg1 51.Nef4 Rxf3+ 52.Kxf3 Qf2+ 53.Kxf2
Stalemate! 44...Qc2 45.Kg3 Qe4 46.Ne3 Rxe3 Although it's still not at all easy to convert this is a very sensible decision in a game since with just one knight White's mating threats disappear. 47.fxe3 Qxe3 48.Re8 Qe4 49.Kf2 Qg4 50.Ke3 Kg6 51.Re7 Qh3 52.Kf4 Qf5+ 53.Ke3 Qe4+ 54.Kf2 Kf5
55.g6? Now it falls apart 55.Rxg7 Kg4 56.Rf7 Qd3 57.Rf6 should apparently hold 55...Kg4 56.Ng5 Qxd4+ 57.Kf1 Kg3 58.Rf7 Qxe5 59.Rf3+ Kxh4 60.Rh3+ Kxg5 61.Rxh5+ Kxh5 A terrific battle in which the opening didn't go especially well for Erik but he fought back and tried a very imaginative queen sacrifice. Later on the queen and rook should really have been able to launch a devastating concerted attak but Black vacillated and near the end Erik missed a very good chance (Rxg7) which indeed engines say should draw before finally succumbing. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Erikido23-fialovydrak-0–12019B22
Erikido23-MasterofMayhem-1–02019D11

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Sergei Tiviakov started playing the line 1.e4 c5 2.c3 in the Sicilian Defence as White in 1988. Since then, he has employed it in more than 100 games, including a yearlong period when he I managed to win twelve 2.c3-games in a row. White tries to occupy the centre with a second pawn, and Black must know his stuff very well in order to be able to equalize. And this is only possible with 2...Nf6 – all other lines give the first player a small edge everywhere. Especially against stronger opponents, 2.c3 is an excellent weapon.

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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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