Speelman's Agony #70

by Jonathan Speelman
2/11/2018 – Fancy Jon taking a look at your games? Send them in! If you appear in 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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A helping hand for Hobart 

This week's pair of games come from Lee Phillips, who is from Hobart, in Tasmania. He writes:

Lee PhillipsI've been playing chess for over ten years, but only started studying the game seriously over the past couple of years. I like technology, photography and gardening but if I had a time machine, I'd like to go back and start playing chess from an earlier age so I'd be a lot better today. I like to play games that are 15min with a 5 second increment. Even though we can't change our past, we can shape our future with the decisions we make now, and at the age of 43, I've decided to work harder at the game of chess so I can improve and become a better player. Obviously, on the way to improving we learn a few hard lessons, but it's all because we love the game of chess and that's why we're here.

As you'd expect, his two fifteen minute online games include a number of mistakes. But the thing that shines through both is the necessity of fighting to the very end and that is crucial to all chess playing.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.f3 a6 8.Be3 Be6 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Nc6 11.g4 b5 12.h4
12...Bxg4? Sacrificing a piece for two pawns to defuse an enemy attack is often a reasonable option but here White can retain the attack and no less important will have total control of the d5 square where he can place his knight, radiating power. 13.fxg4 Nxg4 14.h5?? 14.Kb1 Bxh4 15.Bg1 should be winning. 14...Nxe3 15.Re1 Nxf1 16.Qf2! recovering to at least make a fight of it. Bg5+ 17.Kb1 Ne3 18.Rxe3 Bxe3 19.Qxe3
Of course this should be a winning postion for Black but at the moment his rooks don't have files and the knights have decent squares to go to. 19...b4 Since the knight wants to go to d5, this only makes sense if Black has a follow up in mind. 19...h6 20.Rg1 Kh8 21.Nd5 20.Nd5 Rb8 20...Ne7! would have been that follow up. 21.Nxb4 21.h6 Nxd5 22.exd5 g6 21...a5 22.Nd3 22.h6 g6 23.Nd3 f5 22...f5 generates activity while kepeing the king perfectly safe. 21.Qd3 21.h6 g6 22.Qd3 Ne7 23.Nf6+ Kh8 24.Qxa6 Ng8 25.Nd5 Nf6 If he's careful, Black can easily avoid an accident on the dark squares and should win easily. 21...a5 21...h6 would have been sensible to avoid h6. 22.h6 gxh6? Now White gets real play. 22...g6 23.Rf1 Kh8 24.Qc4 24.Nf6 a4 25.Nd2 Nd4 24...Rc8 23.Rxh6 f5 24.exf5 Qg5 25.Rh1 Qg2
26.Rf1 26.Qd1 was better though in fact by leaving the queen on d3, White provokes a weakening response. With Black's kingside seriously compromised this is already a fight and if the b3 knight were anywhere decent then it would be really dangerous. 26...e4 A mistake, at least in practical terms because now that knight has an easy route into the fray. 27.Qd1 Kh8 28.Nd4! Ne5 29.Rg1 Qf2 30.Rf1 Black was was still better in theory but had to arrange to play Qh3 so that if Rh1 Qg4 defends. Qh2?? 30...Qg2 31.Rg1 Qh3 32.Rh1 Qg4 and now White's combination doesn't work but he would play 33.Qd2 and fight on with good practical chances, whatever the engines say. 31.Rh1 Qg3 32.Rxh7+! Kxh7 33.Qh5+ Kg8 34.Ne7+ Kg7 35.Ne6+ Kf6 36.Nd5#
"indeedion" won by checkmate. A very pretty finish. Lee's Bxg4 sacrifice was a bad idea. He got lucky when his opponent immediately blundered but the resultant position with exchange and pawns up, while theoretically winning, wasn't trivial at rapidplay and he began to go wrong. ...e4 was a mistake, at least in practical terms, since it allowed the previously somnolent knight on b3 straight back into the game and when Lee blundered with 30...Qh2?, it was anybody's game in practice, even if our silicon lords and masters tell us that Black is still clearly winning. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
indeedion2011morphic_616691–02017B90International B Tournament - Round 3
morphic_61669j34nbm0000h1016781–02017D20Live Chess

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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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