Speelman's Agony: An early g-pawn push

by Jonathan Speelman
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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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,186,70654%2421---
1.d4960,56055%2434---
1.Nf3286,91356%2440---
1.c4185,11556%2442---
1.g319,90256%2427---
1.b314,60954%2428---
1.f45,95948%2376---
1.Nc33,91950%2383---
1.b41,79148%2379---
1.a31,25254%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
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. g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Bc4 e6 5.Nf3 Ne7 6.Be3 d5 7.Bd3 dxe4 8.Nxe4 Nd7 8...Nf5 9.Bg5 f6 10.Bc1 and the d-pawn is taboo, so White is simply better. 9.g4 This is unnnecessary because White can meet Nf5 with Bg5. 9.Qe2 H prefers simply Qe2. preparing to go long. Nf5 10.Neg5 9...e5!? I wondered about 9...Nd5 10.Bg5 N5f6 11.Ne5 h6 12.Bh4 g5 13.Bg3 and 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. Nxe4 14.Bxe4 h5! which I hadn't (yet) considered, so that if 15.gxh5 f5 16.Ng6 fxe4 17.Nxh8 Bxh8 18.Qg4 is unclear, but certainly not bad for White. 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.Bh6 12.c3 0-0 12...Bxg4 13.Qxg4 Qxd3 14.Rd1 14.Nc5 Qf5 15.Qxf5 Nxf5 and Black is better (H) 14...f5 This is at least equal for Black and I was awake enough to notice it. 15.Nf6+? Bxf6 16.Qa4+ b5 12...Be6 I started from the assumption that White should be better here, but found it very confusing. 12...Bxb2? 13.c3! As H points out 13.Rb1 13...Nd5 14.Qe2 Bxa1 15.Nf6# 13.f4?! 13.c3 Nd5 This is what I wanted, and it's perfectly playable for Black. 13...Qd7 14.f4 Bxg4 15.fxe5 Bxd1 16.Nf6++- 14.Qe2 13.Qe2! (H) is the best move because it prevents Bxb2. Bxb2? 13...Nd5 14.0-0-0 HO now followed H's main line: Qe7 14...Qd7 15.c4 15.Rhf1 0-0-0 16.f4 Bxb2+ 17.Kxb2 Qb4+ 18.Ka1 Qd4+ 19.c3 Nxc3 20.Nxc3 Qxc3+ 21.Qb2 Qxb2+ 21...Rxd3?? 22.Rxd3 Qxd3 23.Qxh8+ 22.Kxb2 Bxg4 23.Rd2 Rxd3!? 23...Rd5 24.Bg5 would need proper analysis. H gives White 2/3 of a pawn at first glance. 24.Rxd3 Be2 25.Rff3 I'd rather be White here I think, though H doesn't mind Black. 14.c3 13...Bxb2 14.c3 14.Rb1 Qd4 14...Ng8 15.Bg5 f6 16.Rxb2 fxg5 17.fxg5 Looks nice for White. 15.Rxb2 15.Bb5+? Nc6! 15...c6 16.Nd6+ Kd7 17.Rxb2 Qxd1+ 18.Kxd1 15...Qxb2 16.Bb5+ Nc6 16...c6?? 17.Nd6+ 17.c3 Nd5 and Black is winning. 17...Kd7 18.Nc4+ 17.Bxc6+ bxc6 14...Nd5!
Nothing now really works for White, as I realised as I looked for ways to hack through on the black squares. 15.Bg7 Qh4+ 16.Kd2 Rg8 17.Qa4+ Bd7 18.Qd4 0-0-0 19.Qxa7 Bc6 20.Bd4 20.Nc5 Qf2+ 21.Be2 20...Nb6 Perfectly 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...Bxa1 21.Rab1 Rxd4 22.cxd4 Bxd4 23.Kc2 Ba4+ 23...Bxe4 24.Bxe4 Qf2+ 25.Kd1! For some reason I stopped here but Bc3 26.Qxb7+ which I'd somehow missed is totally winning for Black. Kd8! 24.Rb3 Rd8 25.Be2 Qe7 26.Bf3
26...Qa3? Losing a crucial tempo. 26...Qb4! (H) was winning. 27.Rd1 27.Rc1 Qc3+ 28.Kb1 Qa1+ 29.Kc2 Bxb3+ 30.Kxb3 Qb2# 27...Qc4+ 28.Kb1 Bxb3-+ 27.Kb1 Qe7 28.Rxb6 Bxb6?! 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+ Kd7 30.Nf6+! H Qxf6 31.Bxc6+ bxc6 32.Rb8 Rxb8+ 33.Qxb8 Qe6 And Black has zillions of checks, but in theory White should hold. 29.Qa8+ Kd7 30.Qxa4+ A very exciting game which swayed wildly. Tim was worse, then much better, but unfortunately made the final blunders. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Sadmuratov,S-Gluckman,T-1–02020B06London League Div 3
Balaji,A-Gluckman,T-0–12018A04London League Div 3
Gurgenidze,D--1–01975
Shinkman,W--1975Mate in 8

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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 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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