Speelman's Agony #96
GM Dejan Bojkov from Bulgaria gives you an insight into the properties of those pieces which move in straight lines, and tips of how to best exploit the open diagonals, ranks and files to get the maximum out of each piece.This week's games are by Manuel Infante, an American in his mid-sixties who featured here a couple of years ago. He wrote then:
I was born on 18 March 1954 at Vance Air Force Base in Enid Oklahoma and grew up as an Air Force brat. I survived cancer when I was 12 years old. God gave me a second chance and I decided to dedicate myself to helping others and became a Mathematics school teacher and coach. I taught 26 years, the last 20 where at the school I graduated from, Western Heights public schools in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
While there, I was the chess club sponsor, and my kids won back to back state chess championships in 1996 and 1997. I took early retirement from teaching in 2002 and currently work at Tinker Air Force Base. I enjoy listening to classic rock music and reading books on military history. I started playing chess in high school and was so terrible my opponents would give me queen odds. I played over the board and postal chess in the 80s and started to show improvement but had to put my chess studies and tournaments temporarily on hold as being a parent was more important After retirement from teaching and no young ones at home I was able to renew my chess studies and began once again to participate in chess tournaments.
His two games today feature an “Agonising” loss which he really should have won and a nice win, somewhat spoilt at the end by a huge double blunder. Manny was a little embarrassed by this but I assured him that grandmasters can make enormous blunders too and I'm appending my own rather extraordinary game against Daniel Campora, in which after a huge time scramble my 40th move put a whole queen en prise but so shattered was he too, that he failed to take her!
| Replay and check the LiveBook here |
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 Nf6 6.Be2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Re1 d5 10.d4 Re8 11.a3 a6 12.Rb1 Bg4 13.Ne5 Bxe2 14.Rxe2 Bd6 15.f4 Nd7 16.Nxd5? 16...Nxd4! 17.Rd2 17.Rf2 17...Nxe5 18.fxe5 Rxe5 19.Nc3 19.Rxd4 Bc5 20.Be3 Bxd4 19...Bc5 20.Kf1 20...Qf6+ 20...Rf5+ 21.Rf2 Rxf2+ 22.Kxf2 Qh4+ 23.Kf1 Re8 21.Rf2 Rf5 22.Be3 Nxc2? 22...Re8 23.Nd5 Qe5 24.c3 24.c4 Qxh2 25.Rxf5 Nxf5 26.Bxc5 Ng3+ 27.Kf2 Ne4+ 28.Kf1 Nxc5 24...Nb3 25.Bxc5 Qxd5 26.Qxd5 Rxd5 27.Bd4 c5 23.Qxc2 Rxf2+ 24.Bxf2 Rd8? 25.Ne4 Qh6 26.Qxc5 Qxh2 27.Qe7 Rf8 28.Rd1 h6 29.Rd8 Rxd8 30.Qxd8+ Kh7 31.Qh4 Qe5 32.Nc3 Qd6 33.Qe4+ Qg6 34.Qxg6+ Kxg6 35.Ke2 Kf5 36.Nd5 c6 37.Ne7+ Ke6 38.Nc8 f5 39.Kf3 g5 40.Be3 f4 41.Bd2 Kd5 42.Kg4 Kd4 43.Kh5 Kd3 44.Bc3 44.Kxh6 Kxd2 45.Kxg5 Ke3 46.Kg4 44...Ke2 45.Kxh6 g4 46.Kg5 f3 47.gxf3 gxf3 48.Bd4 Kd3 48...f2 49.Bxf2 Kxf2 50.Nd6 b6 51.Kf4 Ke2 52.Ke5 Kd3 53.Nc8 Kc2 54.Nxb6 Kxb2 55.a4 49.Bb6 Ke2 50.Kf4 f2 51.Bxf2 Kxf2 52.Ke4 Ke2 53.Kd4 Kd2 54.Kc4 Kc2 55.b4 Kb2 56.a4 b5+ 57.axb5 axb5+ 57...cxb5+ 58.Kc5 Kb3 59.Na7 Ka4 60.Nc6 Kb3 58.Kc5 Kb3 59.Nd6 Kc3 60.Nxb5+ Kb3 61.Nc7 Ka3 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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| Harris,J | - | Infante,M | - | 1–0 | 1994 | C42 | Oklahoma City Winter Open | |
| Infante,M | - | Cha,M | - | 1–0 | 1983 | B19 | Oklahoma City Winter Open | |
| Campora,D | 2455 | Speelman,J | 2535 | ½–½ | 1981 | B18 | Dortmund | |
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Meanwhile, 1.b3 has also found its way into the practice of today's world elite, and now finally a modern top ten player has taken on the subject for ChessBase: none other than Grandmaster Wesley So!
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