1971-01-01 - Jarrett, D 1-0 Binks, Mike
A game from a well-respected player who was not a D&F member. Dave Jarrett proves that if you lose a Pawn in the opening then you must get an open file for it. The former BCF president plays down that file in some style!
[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "1971.01.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Jarrett, D"] [Black "Binks, Mike"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B21"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "87"] {In 1985 David Jarrett, a well-known player, organiser and arbiter, but not a member of D&F (!) was elected of the British Chess Federation (BCF). Ken Cleak honoured him in his Archives section of Versus, Issue 11, featuring an unannotated win over one of our own in 1971. The event is not known but I thought the game was worthy of annotation. Dave still plays in the League, living in and representing Keynsham.} 1. e4 d5 2. e5 {Neither of these players was big on theory. I've never seen Mike Binks play a Centre-Counter ever, but its reputation in 1971 wasn't great. Hence I assume 2 e5 to avoid any preparation.} Bf5 3. f4 c5 4. d3 h5 {To prevent a space-gaining ...g2-g4 after Black plays ...e7-e6, although the immediate 4...e6 is playable because 5 g4? is met by the ruinous 5...Qh4+. The text is still theory, three games out of 409 with 2 e5 have gone this way but Dave's next move leaves 'theory' altogether.} 5. Be2 e6 6. c3 {This weakening move has unintended consequences rather shortly. The immediate 6 Nf3 may be better. Incidentally not 6 Bxh5?? Qh4+ winning the Bishop, a tactic that persists for a move or so.} Nc6 7. Be3 { After 7 d4 we effectively get an Advance French where White has taken two tempi to play d4 and Black extra move is the luxury ...Bf5! Deep Rybka puts Black at +0.7 after 7...Qb6 which is really no surprise. However, not 7...cxd4 8 cxd4 Nb4? as 9 Bb5+ is inconvenient. I stick with my suggestion of 7 Nf3 as the text gives Black yet another useful tempo.} d4 8. Bf2 Qa5 $5 {A ticklish move that quickly pushes White into an error. Deep Rybka prefers 8...Qb6 (again) and 8...Nge7. It speaks volumes that Black doesn't develop his King's Knight until move 18 where it stays with no influence until the penultimate move of the game.} 9. Qb3 {Once again 9 Nf3 was to be preferred. Deep Rybka took a while before it found that the refutation to 9 Bxh5? was 9...Qb6. The text has good intentions but they are undone by a tactical oversight.} O-O-O 10. Nd2 {It could be that now Dave may have realised what he had missed but there's no better move anyway.} Bxd3 {It is of course entirely possible to play 10...dxc3 first because 11 Nc4?? is met by 11...cxb2+ winning at least a Rook. It's simply more dramatic to reverse the move order!} 11. Nc4 {Resigning himself to the loss of a Pawn but Black hasn't finished with his tactics yet.} Bxc4 12. Bxc4 dxc3 $6 {Black has envisioned the forthcoming sequence which leads to the swap of Queens in a position where is a Pawn up. However, Mike is guilty of a misjudgement. To achive this swap he gives up his nice Pawn wedge, opens up the position for the White Bishop pair and activates the White a1 Rook and presents a target on b7 into the bargain. In the current position Deep Rybka says 12...a6 intending 13 ...b5 maintains Black's +1 advantage and his initiative.} 13. bxc3 Nd4 14. Qb2 Qa3 $5 {Startling but in reality it only leads to the afore-mentioned swap of Queens and a tempi-losing Knight retreat for Black.} 15. Rb1 Qxb2 16. Rxb2 Nc6 {Deep Rybka says that Black is now only 0.4 better compared to the +1 of a few moves ago. Dave now produces a fine example of how to play actively when a Pawn down. Meanwhile Mike should play .. .b7-b6 to minimise Dave's play down the b-file and to protect c5 allowing his Knight to develop via e7. He doesn't and this proves to be eventually fatal.} 17. Nf3 Na5 18. Be2 Nh6 $2 {Two Knight moves to the rim and Deep Rybka says that all Black's plus has evaporated. It says that 18...Be7 stopping Ng5 was a must but I should add that after 18...Be7 it plays the Knight to e4 via d2 rather than g5 as in the game. I'm okay with 17...Na5 but I do think Black should play 18...b6 and then sort out the Kingside.} 19. Ng5 g6 {A move that costs Black a lot of flexibility but h5 was genuinely attacked this time.} 20. O-O Be7 21. Rfb1 $6 {An automatic move but an error. I want to play 21 Ne4 but Deep Rybka says that even better is 21 h3 intending 22 g2-g4 keeping the Black Knight out of f5. Should Black take on g5 now or next move then he leaves both the c5 Pawn and the h6 Knight en prise so doesn't have enough time to sort himself out.} Rd7 $2 {Mike's continual refusal to play ...b7-b6 now compromises his position in other directions.} 22. Ne4 Rc7 $2 {Ironically 22... b6 is still the best move although it no longer serves its main purpose for tactical reasons. That purpose is, of course, defending the c5 Pawn but after 22...b6 23 Nxc5 Bxc5 24 Bxc5 Black can't play 24...bxc5?? because of 25 Rb8+ winning the now undefended h8 Rook. Instead Black should play 24...Nf5 but after White retreats with 25 Bf2 the engine says White is slightly better. I can think of lots of people, including myself, who would love to have the White side and would think it was much better than the meagre +0.11 evaluation given by the machine! After the text White has significant attacking options on the Queenside while two Black pieces sit doing nothing on the Kingside.} 23. Nd6+ $1 Bxd6 {The alternatives are simply no good. If: A)23...Kd7 24.Bb5+ Nc6 (or 24...Kd8 25.Rd1 Bxd6 26.exd6 Rc8 27.Bh4+! and in straining to avoid material loss Black has lost his King because it's mate in two!) 25.Nxb7! is very strong because if 25... Rxb7 26.Bxc6+ Kxc6 27.Rxb7 costs Black an Exchange. Or: B) 23...Kd8 24.Nxb7+ (Also good is 24.Rb5 b6 [if 24...Nc6 25. Rxb7 is strong] 25.Rxa5 Bxd6 26.exd6 bxa5 27.Bh4+! getting the Bishop to f6 after winning a piece by taking on c7) 24...Nxb7 25.Rxb7 Rxb7 26.Rxb7 Rh7 - to avoid 27 Rb8+ skewering the Rook again - 27.Rxa7 and White is a Pawn up with a dominant position. Or: C) 23...Kb8 24.Bxc5 Rxc5 25.Nxb7 Nc4 26.Bxc4 Rxc4 27. Nd6+is just one line. Mike correctly judges the Knight to be too strong but the cost is that White now has two active Bishops in a wide-open position and he quickly recovers his Pawn minus.} 24. exd6 Rc6 {If 24...Rd7 25 Rb5 Nc6 and now White has a pleasant choice between 26 Bxc5 or 26 Bf3 forcing a breakthrough. Once again if after 24...Rd7 25 Rb5 Black plays 25...b6?? then we have 26 Rxa5 because of 26...bxa5 27 Ba6+ Kd8 28 Rb8 mate.} 25. Bf3 Rxd6 { Once more the attempt 25...b6 fails. After 26 Bxc6 Nxc6 27 Bxc5! works because if 27...bxc5 28 Rb7 - threat 29 Rc7+ winning the Knight and the only defence 28...Kd8 allows 29 Rb8+ and White emerges an Exchange up in an open position again. Also 29 Rc7 is good. There is also 25...Rb6 but after 26 Rxb6 axb6 27 Rxb6 Nc4 - going before it gets pushed anyway by 28 Rb5 - 28 Rxb7 Nxd6 29 Ra6 Deep Rybka has White at +2.} 26. Bxc5 Rd7 27. Bxa7 {It's highly likely that one if not both players were in time-trouble here because of the forthcoming repetitions. If this was a Bristol League match then the time controls were either 36 moves in one and a half hours or 35 in one and a quarter with, in both cases, further controls of six moves per quarter hour. With the text White regains his Pawn and it looks like the threat of 28 Rb5 ensures that b7 collapses. Note that 28 Rb5 Nc6 29 Bxc6 bxc6 30 Rb8+ wins the h8 Rook again! However, the passive 27...Rg8 deals with that one but who's going to both find and play that in a time-scramble? White still has a clear advantage of course.} Nc4 $2 28. Rxb7 Rhd8 {Once again 28...Rg8 is a better alternative but Black probably had no time to calculate this, let alone the inclination!} 29. Rb8+ Kc7 30. R1b7+ {Both 30 Rb7-b4 or 30 Rb7-b5 win an Exchange.} Kd6 {Such has been White's domination of the Queenside I spent a minute wondering why 31 Bc5 wasn't mate on the move! It's about the only square in the top corner he doesn't control twice.} 31. Rxd8 Rxd8 32. Bb8+ Kc5 33. Ba7+ Kd6 34. a4 {This Pawn is going to win the game for White whether Black survives the time-control or not. That's probably somewhere in the following sequence. Black's King lives through it but just gets further and further from the focal point of the position which is now a8.} Nd2 35. Bb8+ Kc5 36. Rb5+ Kc4 37. Be2+ Kxc3 38. Be5+ Kc2 39. a5 Nb3 {If 39...Ra8 40 a6 Rxa6 41 Rc5+ wins the Rook.} 40. a6 Ra8 41. Rb8 {An efficient finish.} Ra7 42. Rb7 Ra8 43. a7 Nf5 {Welcome to the party! You're just in time to see the finale.} 44. Bf3 {45 Rc7+ is the biggest threat.} 1-0
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