Speelman's Agony #72

by Jonathan Speelman
3/18/2018 – American Doug Schwtke is 65 years old, from Texas, and has two grandchildren. He plays chess "for the thrill of a good game", and sent GM Jon Speelman one tactical slugfest of a QGD exchange, and one nice positional game out of a Chigorin! 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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"Pretty good for an old fart..."

This weeks pair of games come from American Doug Schwtke, who is 65 and has been playing tournament chess since 1977.

He writes:

Doug SchwtkeI live in Fort. Worth, Texas and have three “kids" and two grandkids. All three of my kids have married someone I really like. I spent a long career in pharmaceutical manufacturing. And in my semi-retirement currently work with handicapped adults in a dayhab. The company is called Expanco. We provide the dignity of work to a group of people that want to participate in life. The clients have a safe place to work and be with others with disabilities. I play tournament chess on the weekends whenever possible. I play skittles with a group that meets in downtown Fort. Worth. Our weather is usually great so we play outside whenever possible. At my age, significant chess improvement probably isn't going to happen. I play for the thrill of a good game. My other hobby is reading. I read a diverse collection of books from religion to political theory to military history. I have five direct ancestors who participated in the American Revolution and am a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Doug sent two interesting battles from Open tournaments and annotated them quite extensively to which I've as usual added my own comments as JS. We start with the Agony, in which he built up a powerful attack with a piece sacrifice but then missed several opportunities to crown the attack with a mating finish, before finally losing.

 
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I had 2½ out of 4 going into the fifth round of a three-day seven-round tournament. I was pleased. I was paired with one of the highest rated players in the Reserve (U2000). She is currently one of the top junior girls players in the US. This game was true agony. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 I have noticed young players localy have used this move order to the QGD. 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.cxd5 exd5 Now we have a standard QGD exchange position. I normally play the Nge2 variation, but was move ordered into the Nf3 variation via the Slav. 7.e3 Be7 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3 Re8 10.h3 This is Karpov's move. GM Larry Kaufman, in Chess in Black & White, pg 121, notes the idea of 10.h3 rather than castling is to prevent the dark-squared bishop from being exchanged for a knight. Also White keeps open the choice of which side on which to castle. Nf8 10...Ne4 Krasenkow - A pawn sacrifice for the bishop pair is quite popular in modern chess - maybe the influence of Rybka? But this one is too odd. White gets a strong centre and a solid position. 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12.Nxe4 Qa5+ 13.Kf1 Bf8 14.Bf4N 0-1 (40) Van Wely,L (2641)-Carlsen,M (2810) Wijk aan Zee NED 2010 If 10...g6 then 11.0-0-0 looks pretty good. Ne4 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Bxe4 dxe4 14.Nd2 1-0 (84) Corrales Jimenez,F (2501)-Soppe,G (2453) Santa Clara 2005 11.Bf4 In order to preserve the bishop after ...Ng6 and ...h6. My opponent goes after the bishop the other way. Nh5 11...Nh5 was not in my book but is a standard idea. 12.Bh2 Bd6 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 Now Black has exchanged a pair of minor pieces but the knight is temporarily out of play. 14.0-0-0 Nf4 was a threat. Nf6 15.Ne5 15.g4 playing this now is one of the machines top choice. Stockfish 8 POPCNT 15...a6 16.g4 b5 17.Kb1 Bb7?! I would have put the bishop on e6 where it has more influence on bothsides of the board. 17...Be6 JS just puts the bishop on a square where it will be hit by f5 with tempo. But 17...c5 should be alright for instance if 18.g5 Nh5 19.Nxd5? which White wants to play fails to Bb7 18.g5 N6d7 19.f4 At this point I thought my attack would come first. JS Yes this is very dangerous for Black. c5 20.Rdg1 b4 Here I went into a long think and came up with a piece sac that the machine gives = (0.00) 21.Bxh7+ Nxh7 22.g6 fxg6 23.Rxg6
I had calculated this far on move 21 and had calculated 23.Ndf6 loses and spent most of my time calculating other lines. 23...Ndf6?? I was startled as I was not really considering this move and forgot my earlier calculations. Being old has its limitations. 23...Qe7 24.Rhg1 Nxe5 25.dxe5 JS It's very far from obvious that this is better than fxe5. When analysing games, I of course use engines but try to guide them rather than be guided and here went along some lines to see why this was preferred. 25.fxe5 bxc3 26.Qg2 Qh4 27.Rxg7+ Kh8 28.Rxb7 Rg8 29.Rg7 Rgb8 29...Qe4+? 30.Qxe4 dxe4 31.Rxg8+ Rxg8 32.Rxg8+ Kxg8 33.dxc5+- 30.Qxd5 cxd4 Engines tell us that this is "equal" but in a game I wouldn't really have a clue. 25...bxc3 26.Qg2 Kh8 27.Rxg7 d4= 27...Qh4 28.Rxb7 Qh6 28...Rg8 29.Rg7 Rgb8 30.Qxd5
I think that this is why 25.dxe5 is better than 25.fxe5 since with a pawn on f4 rather han d4, White's centre is stable. 29.Qxd5 23...Re6?? 24.Rxg7+ with mate to follow. 23...Qxg6 24.Qxg6 Nxe5 24...bxc3? 25.Qf7+ Kh8 26.Ng6# 25.dxe5 bxc3 26.Rg1 24.Rhg1 This should still win but I missed the mate. 24.Rxg7+ This mates. Kxg7 24...Kh8 25.Rxh7+ Nxh7 26.Nf7+ 24...Kf8 25.Rf7+ Kg8 26.Qg6+ Kh8 27.Qg7# 25.Qg6+ Kh8 26.Nf7# 24...Re7
25.Na4? I still can't find the right moves. Saving the knight but..... 25.Rxg7+ Rxg7 26.Rxg7+ Kh8 26...Kxg7 27.Qg6+ Kh8 28.Nf7# 27.Rxb7+- 25...cxd4??+- Now I am winning big again. 25...Nf8 26.Qg2?? Now I am losing and this is the end. 26.Rxg7+ Rxg7 27.Rxg7+ Kxg7 27...Kh8 28.Rxh7+ Nxh7 29.Nf7+ 28.Qg6+ Kh8 29.Nf7# 26...Qc7 27.Rc1
JS Not what you want to play but niehter Nb6 nor Nc5 achieved anything much. 27...Qd8 28.Rg1 Qf8 29.Rh6 Rc7 30.exd4 Bc8!
Once the bishop gets to f5, it's over. 31.Nb6 31.Qg6 Qe8 JS doesn't help 31...Bf5+ 32.Ka1 Be4 33.Nxa8 Bxg2 34.Nxc7 Qc8 35.Ne6 Qxe6 36.Rxg2 Qf5 37.Rhg6 Ne8 38.Rc6 Qxh3 39.Rgc2 Qf1+ 40.Rc1 Qxf4 41.Rc8 Nhf6 42.Ng6 Qxd4 43.Ne7+ Kf7 44.Nf5 Qf4 No excuses I had sufficient time, but I panicked and lost my way. I played a speculative piece sacrifice and had a winning game. JS The piece sacrifice was logical and certainly not unsound. Indeed, Doug should really have seen the mates with Rxg7+ but the mind plays tricks when under pressure and this applies to players of all strengths as we've been seeing in the Berlin Candidates tournament. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Schwetke,D1581Nguyen,E19950–12013D36Southwest Open5
Schwetke,D1574Fukuchi,C20031–02016D07Arlington Two Day1

Click or tap on the second game in the game list below the board to switch

Opening with the Chigorin shows your intention to play for a win right from the outset. After 2...Nc6 Black's pieces fly into the game putting pressure on White's position from a very early stage. This opening is ideal for the type of player who strives for an unconvential yet attacking game right from the start.

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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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