1982-08-01 - Shaw, R 0-1 Mordue, Tyson
The game starts as a Veresov. Very early on Tyson spots what the difference is from the main line of a critical Sicilian variation. The result is another King walk!
[Event "TYNE & WEAR OPEN"] [Site "?"] [Date "1982.08.01"] [Round "1"] [White "Shaw, R"] [Black "Mordue, Tyson"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A45"] [Annotator "Doe,John"] [PlyCount "44"] {An amusing miniature from the Tyne & Wear Congress, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The opening starts as a Queen's Pawn, Veresov Attack but transposes to a sharp variation of the Sicilian Defence with the difference that a pair of Knight moves are missing. I knew the line and the importance of said difference, my opponent didn't and he got routed. The finish is very ironic.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 {"I was feeling aggressive."} 3. dxc5 $6 {This is not the best way to meet 2...c5. There are certain similarities to the Sicilian Defence and I wouldn't expect Veresov advocates to be Sicilian exponents as well. 3 d5 with a space advantage is a better way to play.} e6 {I praxis the best scorer against 3 dxc5 is 3...Na6. Also 3...e5, with the point of stopping White's 5 e5 as in this game is a good scorer, but much less frequently played.} 4. e4 Bxc5 5. e5 Nd5 $5 {A theoretical innovation or TN. Clearly this is a gambit and the inspiration for this move is the main line of the Nimzovitch variation of the Sicilian Defence. That is a rare enough bird in the first place, and even this early I'd worked out that there was an important difference between this position and said main line. I only found three other games with the position after 5 e5. One of them continued 5...Ng8 which is a wimp's move. The other two games featured two Yugoslav Grandmasters, Knezevic and Velimirovic. Both continued 5...Qb6 and won messy games.} 6. Nxd5 exd5 7. Qxd5 Qb6 {"And Black has a won position! This should be compared with the Nimzovitch variation of the Sicilian Defence - 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 Nc3 e6 5 Nxd5 exd6 6 d4 Nc6 7 dxc5 Bxc5 8 Qxd5 Qb6 9 Bc4 - where White has a good position. [In this position] the non-development of the Knights changes this assessment completely." Clearly it's an exaggeration to say that Black has a won position, but Deep Rybka evaluates this as almost equal so clearly he has good compensation for his Pawn. The two main moves considered by the engine are 8 Bc4 and 8 Nh3.} 8. Bc4 {So what of other moves, specifically those that defend f2? a) 8.Qd2 looks clumsy as it blocks in the Queen's Bishop. After 8...0-0 9. Nf3 d6 10.exd6? Re8+ White loses castling rights. Of course he shouldn't be opening the centre with his King still there.; b) 8.Qf3 Nc6 9.Qg3 - that's three Queen moves now - 9...0-0 10.Bh6? Bxf2+ 11.Qxf2 Qxb2 and Black is winning material safely. c) 8 Nh3 is best met by 8...d6 threatening to take on h3 and then on f2. It is most likely to transpose into the game.} O-O 9. Nh3 {The major alternative here is 9 Nf3. After 9...Bxf2+ 10 Ke2 - keeping the f1 square for the Rook - then if 10...Nc6? the game will have transposed back into main line theory. After 11 Rf1 Bc5 12 Ng5 Nd4+ 13 Kd1 Ne6 14 Ne4! was an effective TN in Unzicker-Sarapu, Seigen Olympiad 1970. That game ended 14...d6 15 exd6 Bxd6 16 Nxd6 Rd8 17 Bf4 Nxf4 18 Qxf7+ Kh8 19 Qg8+! 1-0. Later on at Banjaluka 1985 Minic improved with 15...Rd8 in his game against Short. The game was drawn at move 47 after both Kings came under pressure. However, with 10...d6! Black has a major improvement. If now 11.Ng5? Bg4+ 12.Kf1 Bh4! 13 Ne4 Be6 Black stands much better. The defensive resource ...Be6 is vital here and in the game.} d6 10. Ng5 $2 {White should simply castle here. After 10 0-0 Bxh3 11 gxh3 dxe5 Deep Rybka judges this position to be equal which I heartily disagree with. However, it is better than what he gets in the game.} Bxf2+ 11. Kf1 {There's no good alternative. If 11 Ke2 Bg4+ 12 Kf1 Bh4 transposes into the line above. If instead 12 Kd1 Bg4+ 13 Kd2?? (13 Nf3 loses two tempi) Qe3 mate or 12 Kd2 is best met by 12...Be3+ according to Deep Rybka. In all cases Black defuses the threat to f7 and White's King is under fire in the centre.} Be6 $1 12. Nxe6 $2 {White should decline this fresh gambit. Of course after 12 Qd3 or e4 Bxc4 13 Qxc4 dxe5 Black is a Pawn up with a fine position. In the game it's White who is a Pawn up but with a wretched position! } fxe6 13. Qxe6+ Kh8 14. g3 {"There is little better." White took a lot of time here but to no avail. Most sensible continuations are met by 14...Nc6 and 15...dxe5, developing the Bishop is impossible due to discoveries and the Rooks can't get into play. 14 Qxd6?? is an immediate loss after 14...Bc5+ whilst 14 cxd6 Nc6 just puts White further behind in development as well as opening the e-file. Deep Rybka looks at 14 Qd5 and 14 Ke2 and it's evaluation goes down to about -2 very quickly. The alternative on move 12 of just going a Pawn down was a mere point or so. After the text it puts Black at +9!} Bxg3+ 15. Kg2 Qf2+ 16. Kh3 Bxe5 {Now it's Black who is a Pawn up.} 17. Bd5 {"To prevent 17...Rf3+ but ..."} Rf3+ $1 18. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 19. Kh4 Bf6+ 20. Bg5 Bxg5+ 21. Kxg5 h6+ 22. Kg6 {Obviously 22 Kh4 g5 mate. But now White threatens mate in two! Can Black find a defence?} Nd7 $1 {The threat is 23...Nf8 mate, and it's mate in three anyway after 23 Qxd6, 23 Qe7 or 23 Qf7 Nf8+ 24 Qxf8 Rxf8 and 25...Rf6. Obviously if 23 Qxd7 Qf6+ 24 Kh5 Qg5 mate. Black's main innovation in this game was the substitution of ...d6 for ...Nc6 so it's appropriate that this Knight gets the final move, especially as a sacrifice.} 0-1
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