Speelman's Agony #83

by Jonathan Speelman
9/2/2018 – From Bradford, England comes a pair of games by Kevin Winter (pictured with Nigel Short). 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! | Photos: Kevin Winter
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.

Double-dutch

This weeks pair of games are by Kevin Winter who is in his late fifties and lives in Bradford, England. He appeared here a couple of years ago and has now sent two nice Dutch defences against strong juniors: one in which his opponent escaped, the other in which he hammered his attack home.

Winter with Hikaru Nakamura

He has a predilection for attack and wrote two years ago about how he "loves to play in international tournaments and [has] played in masters' tournaments in Vienna, Riga, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Sicily amongst others". [Pictured with Hikaru Nakamura.]

These two games, though, are both form tournaments in the UK and we start with Agony ion which his opponent escaped. He's provided plenty of notes and I've added mine as JS.

 
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A84: Dutch Defence: 2 c4 Miscellaneous 1.d4 Another promising junior, coached by his father, GM Nigel Davies e6 2.c4 f5 Another fighting Dutch ! 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 This is my opponent's usual set up...quiet opening and hoping to positionally outplay the Black side b6 GM Simon Williams says play b6 if you can in the Dutch against anything other than the white fianchetto 5.Be2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 attempting to tempt White to put his bishop on an awkward square Be7 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Nc3 0-0 9.Rb1N 9.Ne5 d6 10.Nd3 d5 11.cxd5 exd5 12.b4 Ne4 13.Rb1 Bd6 14.f4 Nd7 15.b5 Rf6 16.Ne5 Rh6 17.Nxe4 fxe4 18.Ng4 Re6 19.Qb3 Qh4 20.Be1 Qe7 21.f5 Rf6 22.Nxf6+ Qxf6 23.Bb4 Bxb4 Kruppa,Y (2525) -Tchoubar,V (2325)/Kiev 2005/CBM 107 ext/1-0 (31) 9...d6? Prevents intrusion on e5 9...Ne4 10.Ne5= 10.b4 White's usual plan is to expand on the queenside and gain space, Black aims to checkmate on the kingside 10.d5!? exd5 11.cxd5± 10...Ne4= 11.Nxe4 Bxe4 11...fxe4!? 12.Ne1 Nd7= 12.Rc1 Nd7 13.Ne1 e5
13...Bb7 14.Bf3 14.d5!? JS Yes this is much more challenging. f4 15.exf4 exf4 16.Bd3 Bxd3 17.Nxd3± f3 JS is obvious but after 18.Nf4 fxg2 19.Kxg2 White is indeed better 14...Bxf3 15.Nxf3 e4 Black gains space 16.Ne1 Qe8 17.f4
JS This leaves Black very comfortable in the centre and with chances of launching a kingside attack but the whole position is very pleasant anyway, partly because the white knight is passive. Ideally it would like to be on c3 but that obviously takes too long and instead White finds another decent idea. 17...Rf6!? Rook swinger! 17...d5! Looks like an excellent idea to fight for the central light squares. 18.cxd5 Bd6 19.Qb3 Nf6 followed by Qf7 and either Q or Nxd5 with a fine position. Black has a space advantage, the better bishop and the e3 pawn could easily become weak. Basically, it's a French defence which has gone a bit wrong with colours reversed. If White tries to exchange bishops with 20.b5 then a6 21.bxa6 Rxa6 22.Bb4 Qa4 with a very nice advantage - now e3 really is weak. 18.Nc2 Rh6 19.d5! This push gains space. Bf6 20.Be1 Qg6 20...a5 21.bxa5 bxa5 22.Rb1= Nc5 23.Rb5 Nd3 24.Bxa5 21.Nd4 Bxd4 22.Qxd4 After getting rid of the knight, White has a decent position. Qh5
Black threatens to win material: Qh5xh2 23.Bg3? But this is not at all a nice square for the bishop. Instead 23.h3! a5 23...Rg6 24.Kh2 a5 25.bxa5 bxa5 26.Qd1 24.bxa5 bxa5 25.Qd1 Qe8 23...Rg6 23...a5 24.a3 Rg6 25.Be1 axb4 26.axb4 Nf6 27.Rc2 24.Qd1 Qh6 25.Qa4 White threatens to win material: Qa4xd7 JS but abandons the kingside. He should have repositioned the bishop with 25.Rc3!?= looks like a viable alternative 25.Be1 25...Nf6 26.Kf2? 26.Rc3 Rxg3! Black moves ahead of the opponent 27.hxg3 Ng4 28.Re1 Qh2+ 29.Kf1 Qxg3 30.Ke2 and the strongest line of all is g5 31.fxg5 f4 26...Ng4+-+ Boom, Black must be winning 27.Ke2 27.Kg1 Nxe3 28.Rfe1 Rxg3 29.hxg3-+ 27...Nxh2 28.Qc6
28...Qh5+? going all in but Rf8 gives no risk and will still have a great position but Dutch players often jettison a rook on a8 JS Yes it's nice to sacrifice a rook but here it's utterly unnecessary. After Rf8 White is without any counterplay whatsoever and totally busted. 28...Rf8 29.Bxh2 Rxg2+ 30.Rf2 Qh5+ 31.Kf1 Rxf2+ 32.Kxf2 Qf3+ 33.Ke1 Qxe3+ 34.Kd1 Qd3+ 35.Ke1-+ e3 29.Ke1 29.Kf2 Rf8 30.Bxh2 Qh4+! JS an engine move even better than the simple recapture 30...Qxh2 31.Rg1 Qg3+ 32.Ke2 h5 31.Kg1-+ Rh6 32.Qa4 g5 33.fxg5 Qxh2+ 34.Kf2 Rh3 35.Qc2 Rg3 36.Rg1 f4 29...Rxg3 30.Qxa8+ Kf7 31.Rf2 Rxe3+ 31...Nf1‼ and Black takes home the point JS Yes but it's an extremely easy move to miss. 32.Re2 Qh4 33.Qc8 33.Qxa7 Rxg2+ 34.Kd1 Qg4 35.Qxc7+ Kg6 33...Rxg2+ 34.Kd1 Nxe3+ 35.Kd2 Nxc4+ 36.Kc2 Rxe2+ 37.Kb3 Nd2+ 38.Ka4-+ Qf6 39.Qd7+ Kg6 40.Rg1+ Kh5 41.Qe8+ Kh4 42.Qh8 h5 43.Rxg7 Nf3 44.Rg4+ Kxg4 45.Qxf6 Rxa2+ 46.Kb5 Kxf4 JS This is all very splendid and indeed certainly winning for Black but nevertheless unnecessary. 32.Kd2 Ra3 ...Qh4 wins the house 32...Qh4 33.Kxe3 Ng4+ 34.Kd2 e3+ 34...Nxf2?! is a bad alternative 35.Qc8 Kg6 36.Qe6+ Qf6 37.Qxf6+ Kxf6 38.Rf1= ≤34...Qxf2+ 35.Kc3 Qxa2 36.Qc8 Qa3+ 37.Kc2 JS Of course this should be winning but it has got messy and my first thought Kg6 simply gets mated! Qa4+ 37...Kg6?? 38.Qe8+ Kh6 39.Rh1+ 38.Kb2 Qxb4+ 39.Ka2-+ 35.Kc3 exf2-+ 35...Qxf2?! 36.Qc8 Nf6 37.Qe6+ 37.Qxc7+?? White will choke on that pawn Kg6 38.Kb3 e2-+ 37...Kg6 38.Rc2 Qxf4 39.Re2-+ 35...Nxf2?! 36.Qc8 Ne4+ 37.Kd3 Qxf4 38.Qe6+ Kf8 39.Qc8+ Ke7 40.Qe6+ Kd8 41.Qg8+ Kd7 42.Qe6+ Kd8 43.Qg8+ Kd7 44.Qe6+ Kd8= 36.Qc8 Qg3+ 37.Kb2 Nf6 Ths black king is quite safe and the f-pawn will do the rest 38.Qe6+ Kg6 39.Qe2 Ne4 say 33.Qc8= e3+ White has to watch this pawn 34.Kc2 exf2 34...Rxa2+ 35.Kb3 Rxf2 36.Qxc7+ Kf8 37.Qxd6+ Kf7 38.Qe6+ Kf8 39.Qd6+ 35.Qxc7+
Black deserved to win this game...the one that got away!! JS Yes of course Kevin outplayed his young opponent and did deserve to win the game up to the point when he didn't play Rf8. But you have to do your best not to get overexcited even or rather especially when you're close to finishing the game off and it did give White fresh hope when he was allowed to take that rook and hope that he could set up a perpetual. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Davies S1731Winter K1789½–½2017A84Leyland Major5
Somton A1753Winter K18180–12016A9610th 4NCL Congress, Wakefield

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

You exchange the bishop on f4 to open the g-file (gxf4) and double rooks there. Black will protect his weakness on this file with all his forces. You transfer your pieces to the other side, create a new weakness there, and the opponent will be helpless

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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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