4/20/2020 – Our columnist JON SPEELMAN looks at two fascinating games and shares two very nice problems from the pages of the wonderful Dutchman Tim Krabbe's Chess Curiosities | 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 #120
This week's material — a pair of fascinating games and two additional items — was sent by Tim Gluckman, who is in his early seventies and plays for Lewisham Chess Club in Southeast London. The additional items are two very nice problems from the pages of the wonderful Dutchman Tim Krabbe's Chess Curiosities.
As Tim explains:
In 2019 I gave two talks on endgame studies. One of them (11.2019) was at the ISIS prison (next to Belmarsh) in the Woolwich area. It was part of a 'Chess in the Community' project. Apparently, the seven prisoners present were genuinely interested in the positions: the first was a Shinkmann classic with six white pawns on the a-file; the second by Gurgenidse is one in which the rooks become pawns and seem to move backwards.
We start with the games which are both from the London League Division 3. All notes are by me, but when analysing the first I happened to start without an engine and decided to carry on in two phases: firstly seeing what I could glean about the extremely complicated positions on my own tod, and then adding the addictive comfort of the engine in a second pass.
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1.e4
1,166,623
54%
2421
---
1.d4
947,298
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
281,602
56%
2441
---
1.c4
182,102
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,702
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,265
54%
2427
---
1.f4
5,897
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,801
51%
2384
---
1.b4
1,756
48%
2380
---
1.a3
1,206
54%
2404
---
1.e3
1,068
48%
2408
---
1.d3
954
50%
2378
---
1.g4
664
46%
2360
---
1.h4
446
53%
2374
---
1.c3
433
51%
2426
---
1.h3
280
56%
2418
---
1.a4
110
60%
2466
---
1.f3
92
46%
2436
---
1.Nh3
89
66%
2508
---
1.Na3
42
62%
2482
---
Please, wait...
1.e4 Nowadays, I ususally analyse games with an engine
on but aim to I control it rather than follow its orders. But this time I
decided to analyse this very interesting game first by myself, without an
engine running, and then add in "the truth" after activating one. The second
trache of notes are marked H for Houdini. I would add that I was a bit lazy
analysing by myself since I knew that the heavy artillery would be following,
and during a real game I trust I would have done much better.g62.d4d63.Nc3Bg74.Bc4e65.Nf3Ne76.Be3d57.Bd3dxe48.Nxe4Nd78...Nf59.Bg5f610.Bc1and the d-pawn is taboo, so White is simply better.9.g4This is unnnecessary because White can meet Nf5 with Bg5.9.Qe2H prefers
simply Qe2. preparing to go long.Nf510.Neg59...e5!?I wondered about
9...Nd510.Bg5N5f611.Ne5h612.Bh4g513.Bg3and stopped here
feeling that White was probably better. But H didn't mind too much it for
Black pointing out h5 - which I hadn't considered (yet), though the lines
should be at least okay for White, even if he has to sacrificie some material.Nxe414.Bxe4h5!which I hadn't (yet) considered, so that if15.gxh5f516.Ng6fxe417.Nxh8Bxh818.Qg4is unclear, but certainly not bad for
White.10.dxe5Nxe511.Nxe5Bxe512.Bh612.c30-012...Bxg413.Qxg4Qxd314.Rd114.Nc5Qf515.Qxf5Nxf5and Black is better (H)14...f5
This is at least equal for Black and I was awake enough to notice it.15.Nf6+?Bxf616.Qa4+b512...Be6I started from the assumption
that White should be better here, but found it very confusing.12...Bxb2?13.c3!As H points out
13.Rb113...Nd514.Qe2Bxa115.Nf6#13.f4?!13.c3Nd5This is what I wanted, and it's perfectly playable for Black.13...Qd714.f4Bxg415.fxe5Bxd116.Nf6++-14.Qe213.Qe2!(H) is the
best move because it prevents Bxb2.Bxb2?13...Nd514.0-0-0HO now
followed H's main line:Qe714...Qd715.c415.Rhf10-0-016.f4Bxb2+17.Kxb2Qb4+18.Ka1Qd4+19.c3Nxc320.Nxc3Qxc3+21.Qb2Qxb2+21...Rxd3??22.Rxd3Qxd323.Qxh8+22.Kxb2Bxg423.Rd2Rxd3!?23...Rd524.Bg5
would need proper analysis. H gives White 2/3 of a pawn at first glance.24.Rxd3Be225.Rff3I'd rather be White here I think, though H doesn't mind
Black.14.c313...Bxb214.c314.Rb1Qd414...Ng815.Bg5f616.Rxb2fxg517.fxg5Looks nice for White.15.Rxb215.Bb5+?Nc6!15...c616.Nd6+Kd717.Rxb2Qxd1+18.Kxd115...Qxb216.Bb5+Nc616...c6??17.Nd6+17.c3Nd5and Black is winning.17...Kd718.Nc4+17.Bxc6+bxc614...Nd5!
Nothing now really works for White, as I realised as I
looked for ways to hack through on the black squares.15.Bg7Qh4+16.Kd2Rg817.Qa4+Bd718.Qd40-0-019.Qxa7Bc620.Bd420.Nc5Qf2+21.Be220...Nb6Perfectly good, though the he greedy engine just wnats to take on a1 - a
move I can hardly imagine a human playing, given that Nb6 is good.20...Bxa121.Rab1Rxd422.cxd4Bxd423.Kc2Ba4+23...Bxe424.Bxe4Qf2+25.Kd1!For some reason I stopped here butBc326.Qxb7+which I'd somehow missed
is totally winning for Black.Kd8!24.Rb3Rd825.Be2Qe726.Bf3
26...Qa3?Losing a crucial tempo.26...Qb4!(H) was winning.27.Rd127.Rc1Qc3+28.Kb1Qa1+29.Kc2Bxb3+30.Kxb3Qb2#27...Qc4+28.Kb1Bxb3-+27.Kb1Qe728.Rxb6Bxb6?!28...Bc6!was the only move (when I looked I
did find this easily enough, though I couldn't immediately evaluate it of
course).29.Qa8+Kd730.Nf6+!HQxf631.Bxc6+bxc632.Rb8Rxb8+33.Qxb8Qe6And Black has zillions of checks, but in theory White should hold.29.Qa8+Kd730.Qxa4+A very exciting game which swayed wildly. Tim was
worse, then much better, but unfortunately made the final blunders.1–0
How many times have you been caught off guard by a seemingly inferior and unusual opening system that later turns out to be an especially strong one? Unorthodox openings can be a real asset to anyone’s opening repertoire and they often do not contain much theory, making them easy to master for your next important tournament.
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Jonathan SpeelmanJonathan 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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