Speelman's Agony #82

by Jonathan Speelman
8/19/2018 – A "moment of madness" and a "snappy win" from an English chess coach. Want to join in the fun? Jon can always use more material 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!
Fritz 16 is looking forward to playing with you, and you're certain to have a great deal of fun with him too. Tense games and even well-fought victories await you with "Easy play" and "Assisted analysis" modes.

The once was a chess coach from Coventry...

This week's pair of games are by Paul Lam who writes:

Paul LamI am a chess coach from Coventry. I started playing chess in secondary school and made good progress, being selected to play for the England Junior Squad on several occasions, before school and then university studies kicked in.

I started playing chess again when I returned home to work at the University of Warwick and set up a children’s chess club, the Coventry Chess Academy, which boasts a large number of very talented junior players. Last year I decided to take the plunge, leaving the University to teach chess full-time and haven’t looked back since.

My opening taste is offbeat, my time management is appalling and an extremely busy schedule makes finding the time to work on my own game very difficult. It’s not all bad though as I find coaching to be far more enjoyable than playing these days!

Both of my games come from the 4NCL. My agony game was a loss in which I was winning but blundered horrifically in a moment of madness, costing my team the match and consigning us to relegation from division 1. The ecstasy game was a snappy win played in our return to division 1 two seasons later.

Paul then very generously went on to say that were his games selected, he wanted to use the free three-month Chessbase Premium Account not for himself but as a prize at one of the tournaments he runs and we're of course delighted to comply.

He wrote just a couple of notes for each game which I've marked as PL while all the rest is mine.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 Just the sort of provocative stuff that I (JS) sometimes play myself. 3.c4 Nd7 4.Qb3 Rb8 5.Be3 A rather odd move. I imagine he intended d5 next but then changed his mind, Ngf6 6.Nc3 6.d5 c5 is perfectly okay. 6...c6 7.h3 Bxf3 8.exf3 g6 9.Be2 Bg7 10.f4 Qa5 11.Bf3 0-0 12.0-0 b5
13.c5!? This institutes a complex change in the central structure. 13.cxb5 cxb5 14.Rfc1 looks about equal. My first thought was that if Black could get in ...e6 and ...d5 then he might claim that he had the better pawn structure but White would normally answer ...e6 with d5 himself. So perhaps White could play a3 first when e6 really would be met by d5. 14.a3 e6 15.d5 14...e6 However, you can play e6 immediately and if 15.d5 b4 16.Ne2 Nxd5 13...b4 13...dxc5 14.dxc5 b4 15.Na4 Qc7 was an interesting idea flagged up by my engine which wouldn't have been the first thing I'd have considered in a game. 14.Na4 d5 15.Qd1 15.a3 looks like a good idea to detonate the queenside. bxa3 16.Qxa3 Qc7 17.Nc3 15...Ne8
16.Bg4? This wastes time since Black is more than happy to play e6 and the bishop is no better on g4 than f3. Something like 16.Re1 Nc7 17.b3 Nb5 18.Be2 looks normal 16...e6 17.b3 Nc7 18.h4 Nb5 19.h5 Qd8 An excellent move rerouting the queen towards f6. With plenty of defenders on hand, Black isn't at all concerned about White's "attack" but the d4 pawn is a serious issue for White. 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.Be2 If 21.Qd3 f5 22.Bf3?! This looks most natural but other squares are better. g5 is a nice way to avtivate the position. 23.fxg5 e5! and it turns out that White's pieces are all on terrible squares. 23...f4 24.Bg4 21...Qf6 22.Bxb5 cxb5 23.Nb2 Nxc5 24.dxc5!? After this Black has a clear advantrage though it's still very complicated. 24.f3 Nd7 25.Nd3 may be better since White's knight has decent prospects while Black's is at least a couple of moves away from a really good square. 24...Qxb2 25.Rc1
25...Qxa2 Taking another pawn but losing control though that's very hard to assert in any case. I looked at several lines such as Rbc8 and d4 before trying Qf6 to prepare ...d4 safely, in some cases and otherwise just consolidate. 25...Rfc8 26.c6 Qf6 26...a6 26...d4 27.Rc2 Qxc2 28.Qxc2 dxe3 29.fxe3 Rb6 30.c7 Rb7 27.Bxa7 Ra8 28.Be3 Rxa2 25...Qf6 26.c6 Rfc8 27.Rc2 Rc7 27...a5 28.Qf3 Rc7 29.Rfc1 is very difficult. Engines like Qh4 since for instance if Qd8 30.f5 gxf5 31.Qg3 e5 32.Ba7‼ and White is better. 28.Qf3 Rbc8 29.Rfc1 Qe7 now 30.f5 gxf5 doesn't really work so Black has managed by playing very accurately to get decent control. 26.Qd3 26.Bd4 Bxd4 27.Qxd4 Qxb3 28.Rfe1 gives a dangerous initiative. Qa3 29.g3 Qf3 30.Re3 Qh5 31.Kg2 Qh8 32.Qxb4 a5 33.Qxa5 Qd4 26...Rfc8 26...d4 27.Ra1 27.g4 This weakens White at least as much as it attempts to prise Black open. 27.Bd4 Bxd4 28.Qxd4 Qxb3 was still interesting though less appealing than with the rook still on f8. 27...d4! This excellent move regains the initiaitive. 27...Qb2 was also strong and if 28.g5 or 28.f5 Qf6 28...Bc3 28.Rc2 Qa5 29.Bd2 Qc7 30.Re1 a5 31.f5 exf5 32.gxf5 Qc6 33.Bf4
33...Re8! An excellent intermezzo which cements the advantage. 34.Rce2 Rxe2 35.Qxe2 35.Rxe2 was less bad 35...Rc8 36.Bd6 gxf5 37.Kh2 Qe4 38.Qd2 Qh4+ 39.Kg2 Qg4+ 40.Kh2
PL At this point I had about a minute left on my clock to reach the time control with the option of checking the White king without fear of repetition. Inexplicably I fell in a daze and then, with ten seconds left on my clock, touched my bishop with the intention of playing ...Bh6 before realising to my horror and that of my onlooking teammates that my queen was on g4, not h4. With just seconds left on my clock, I played it anyway. 40...Bh6 PL Here, I got off my chair to bash my head against the nearest wall. 40...Qh4+ 41.Qxh6 JS A tragi-comic end to a fascinating battle in which Paul coped very well with extremely complex decisons until the horrible final twist. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Samuel G Williams2253Paul Lam21231–02013A414NCL Division 1d, Puma Hotel, Hinckley
Arne Hagesaether2103Paul Lam21220–12014B004NCL 2014-15, Hinckley Island ENG

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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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