1983-01-01 - Mordue, Tyson 1-0 Janes, J
Another correspondence game and another Ruy Lopez Moller. Black gets three Pawns for a piece early on in a sharp position. Then Tyson apparently leaves a Rook en prise. A classic example of line-opening tactics against an enemy King that has stayed in the centre too long.
[Event "SWPORA CORRES PRELIM"] [Site "?"] [Date "1983.01.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Mordue, Tyson"] [Black "Janes, J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C78"] [Annotator "Doe,John"] [PlyCount "47"] {An amusing and spectacular game against a not particularly strong opponent. However, there are lessons to be learned from this one, particularly if a strong player leaves a whole Rook en prise is he likely to be bluffing?} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bb5 $5 {The so-called Mordue Attack against the Petrov Defence. This occurs when Mordue misreads 2...N-KB3 as 2...N-QB3 and plays the Ruy Lopez. Apparently my opponent thought it was the latest thing in theory.} a6 4. Ba4 b5 5. Bb3 Nc6 {And now we are back to regular lines. I suppose 5... c5 might have caused me some embarrassment as I hadn't yet appreciated what Black had actually done on move 2! I suppose after 5...c5 6 d3 we would get back to something from the Tchigorin in due course but who knows?} 6. O-O Bc5 { And now we get to something I do know about - The Moller Variation - having seen Mike Wood play it several times, including a couple against me.} 7. c3 Nxe4 {An obvious but very rare move in master play. I could only find one example which was a disaster for Black. Matulovic-Feller, Seigen Olympiad 1970 went 8 Qe2 d5 9 d3 Nf6 10 d4 Be7 11 dxe5 Ne4 12 Rd1 Be6 13 c4 bxc4? (13...Bc5 - Deep Rybka )14 Ba4 1-0! If 14...Qd7 15 Nd4 wins and if 14...Bd7 15 Rxd5 and Black has c6, c4 and e4 all en prise.} 8. Qe2 {An alternative is a gambit line with 8.d4. Deep Rybka analyses 8...exd4 9.cxd4 Be7 10.d5 Na5 11.Re1 Nxb3 12. axb3 Nd6 and claims Black is slightly better. The text is something more direct that I had looked previously but never thought would happen over the board. One point is that 8...Nxf2? 9 d4 wins a piece for no compensation, and the other is that 8...d5 9 d3 forces Black into the same decision and is ultimately a transposition.} Bxf2+ $6 {One doesn't play the Moller to be safe so Black dives in. In fairness if 8...Nf6 9 d4 White recovers his Pawn with a clear advantage while 8...d5 9 d3 Nf6 10 d4 transposes to Matulovic-Feller above. However, Black has an extra tempo with ...d7-d5 so his disadvantage is reduced but he still needs to be careful.} (8... d5 9. d3 Nf6 10. d4 Be7 11. dxe5 Ne4 12. Rd1 Be6 13. c4 Bc5) 9. Kh1 $5 {There's nothing wrong with 9 Rxf2 Nxf2 10 Qxf2 but I was after the piece. I wanted to impress upon my unknown opponent that he had already made mistakes, and I ready to take risks to create a sharp position in which to exploit my extra piece.} d5 {The alternative 9...f5 is a mistake. After 10.d3 Ng3+ 11.hxg3 Bxg3 12.Bg5 Ne7 13 Nxe5 White is much better plus an extra piece.} 10. d3 Ng3+ 11. hxg3 {This way Black gets three Pawns for his piece and the apparent bonus of weakening the White King position. However, as is quickly demonstrated, this is an illusion. White has a considerable lead in development and a lot of open lines.} Bxg3 12. Bg5 {Ensuring that the Black Queen is denied access to the h4 square. Even if Black had managed to get ...Bc8-g4 in first there is little danger. The f3 Knight controls h4, is likely to be backed up by Nbd2, and even if Black forced ...Bxf3, gxf3 Qh4+ somehow after Kg1 the White Queen covers g2 and h2 so there's no mate. Black now has to choose between 12...f6 and 12...Qd6. Not an easy decision. Both have pluses and minuses. The main point of 12...Qd6 seems to be that White's intended 13 Bh4 loses 13...Qh6. Actually it doesn't after the interesting 14.Qd2 Bf4 15.Qe1 g5? 16.Bxd5! gxh4 17.Bxc6+ Qxc6 18. Nxe5 and now 18...Bxe5 19 Qxe5+ wins the h8 Rook with check - 19...Kd7 20 Rxf7+ and mates - while other moves allow 19 Rxf4 or nasty discoveries. The point is that tactics usually rebound on the lesser-developed player. Bear this in mind.} f6 $5 {This appears to give the e5 Pawn more solid protection. Seeing that in the game this Pawn remains pinned this could be viewed as more apparent than real. What's more Black never gets to move his Queen in the game so 12...Qd6 looks like the indicated move in hindsight. Ah, hindsight. Put it together with foresight and you become unbeatable!} 13. Bh4 Bf4 $2 {Deep Rybka judges the position after 13...Bxh4 14 Nxh4 0-0 as approximately level but White looks better to the naked eye. 15 Nd2 is the slow way while 15 Nf5 is more direct and will probably result in more pieces being exchanged. The text is an obvious attempt to avoid the Bishop swap but the prelate feels exposed here. It's defending Pawn is pinned and the Pawn that defends that Pawn is pinned.} 14. a4 {The obvious continuation. Deep Rybka says this is the second-best continuation in the position and, positionally, it is thematic . White intends to swap on b5, and then play d3-d4 attacking e5 and b5. Some details such as the vis-a-vis of Rooks on the a-file have yet to be worked out. Deep Rybka says White can strike immediately in this position with 14.Nxe5! Naturally this had occurred to me. First of all Black only has one sensible recapture because 14...Nxe5? 15 Rxf4 g5? 16 Bxg5! is a total collapse. So 14... Bxe5 15 d4 0-0 16 dxe5 Nxe5 and the engine judges White is better by 0.45 or so. I was looking for more so I chose the text. However after 14 Nxe5 Bxe5 Deep Rybka suggests 15.Qh5+! apparently foregoing recovering the piece. Some sample lines: a) 15...Kf8 16.d4 Bd6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Bxd5; b) 15...Ke7 16.d4 Qe8 17.Qe2 Kf8 18.Bxd5; c) 15...Kd7 16.d4 Bd6 17.Bxd5 Qe8 and now not 18. Bxc6+ Kxc6 19.Qf3+ Kb6 20.Qxa8 Qh5 21.Qe4 Re8 winning but the simpler 18.Qg4+ Kd8 19.Qxg7; d) 15...g6 - the best move - 16.Qh6 Bf5 17.d4 Bd6 18.Qg7 Rf8 19. Bxd5 Ne7 20.Re1 with enormous pressure for, now, a mere Pawn. The last line is not completely forced but, in conjunction with the other variations, we can see that White gets into the Kingside with his Queen, d5 is vulnerable with tempo gain because of the loose Knight on c6, and f6 is vulnerable because White has d3-d4 attacking the e5 Bishop which has become the main defender of f6 after ...g7-g6. Bear in mind that White had a piece start, albeit for three Pawns, and with Black's general undeveloped state then it is no surprise that variations like this can happen. Regardless, the above is a lot to calculate, even in a correspondence game, and White does have an extra piece so there is no need to go into such a committal line ... yet! Anyway Deep Rybka says White is +0.63 after the text.} Na5 15. Bc2 {Deep Rybka had two alternative suggestions here . One was 15 Bd1 with no explanation although when pressed it produced 15...Bg4 16 b4 Nc6 17 Qa2. White threatens 18 axb5 I suppose. The other move had far more relevance: 15.Nxe5! with the line 15.. . Bxe5 16.Ba2 - very cool and the obvious threat of 17 d4 so Black gets it in first - d4 17.Re1! - threatening 18 Qxe5+! fxe5 19 Rxe5+ Kf8 20 Bxd8. Note now the Lopez Bishop controls f7 here - 17...Qd6 18.Qh5+ g6 19.Qf3 and f6 collapses again. Some lovely tactical points but again difficult to commit to in the current circumstances. I was happy enough with the text. The b5 Pawn is now likely to be en prise with check after d3-d4 is played.} Bg4 {The best move in the circumstances. Pinning the Knight reduces the pressure on the Black centre but the Bishop is not as safe here as it looks. Black would like to castle but after 15...0-0 16 axb5 he can't recapture with 16...axb5 because 17 b4 wins the pinned Knight. Now the a8 Rook is defended by the Queen} 16. axb5 {Deep Rybka suggests to first play 16.d4 giving 16...e4 17.axb5 axb5 18.Bxe4 0-0 19.Bd3 with a plus of 0.35 to White. As White has a piece for two Pawns this evaluation is a bit difficult to understand. I simply reversed the move order because I wanted to have the option of Qxb5+ immediately after playing d3-d4.} axb5 17. d4 Nc4 {This is a position to be studied very carefully.} 18. dxe5 $3 {This is a positional move that is backed up by tactical factors. First of all the positional point is that White wants to break up the Black d5/e5 centre. After the text Black can't recapture 18... f6xe5 because that Pawn is pinned against the Black Queen by the h4 Bishop. Also the c4 Knight is semi-pinned to the Pawn on b5 so it can't take back either so Black is reduced to the recapture 18...Bxe5. Except there's a pair of Rooks staring at each other down the open a-file and the White one isn't defended! I chose not to play 18 Rxa8 Qxa8 because after 19 dxe5 the h4-d8 no longer applies so Black has 19...fxe5. Deep Rybka says this position is equal but I'm not prepared to argue. We'll look at the reply 18...Bxe5 in the next note. The big question is what happens after 18...Rxa1.} Rxa1 $2 {It must be said that Deep Rybka didn't even look at this seriously but, of course, any human must. I met my opponent a few months later and upon being asked why he took the Rook he replied that he thought that I had simply left it en prise. With the obvious explosion that now occurs in the centre and Kingside this is a naive approach, particularly as my grade was close to 190 at this point in my career, so the chances of me simply overlooking an en prise Rook like that are very small, although I will concede that accidents do happen in correspondence play when things get set up incorrectly. Some analysis of the alternatives: a)18...Nxe5? 19.Rxa8 Qxa8 20.Qxb5+ Kf7 (if 20...c6 21.Qb4! laterally hitting the Bishops is very strong) 21.Nxe5+ Bxe5 22.Na3 and Deep Rybka has White at +2 or so. No surprise there. b)18...Bxe5 19.Nbd2 b1) 19.. .0-0 - an obvious try - 20.Qd3 g6 21.Nxe5 Nxe5 22.Rxa8 Qxa8 23.Qd4 (Also possible is 23.Qxb5 .Rb8 24.Qc5 but Deep Rybka claims that 23 Qd4 is better) 23...Qd8 24.Bb3 c6 25.Ne4 with an extra piece and a great position. Note how 20 Qd3 forcing ...g6 has produced a weakness on f6 again. b2) 19...Nxd2 b2i) 20.Qxd2 Bxf3 21.gxf3 Rxa1 22.Rxa1 Qc8 23.f4 Qh3+ 24.Kg1 Qxh4 25.Ra8+ Ke7 26. Rxh8 and White is winning. I give this line to illustrate that Black's lack of development does not help him in getting counterplay against White's King. Of course being a piece down Black is not best advised to swap all these pieces and there probably are sensible alternatives for both sides , such as b2ii) 20 Qxb5+ Bd7 21 Qxd5 Rxa1 22 Rxa1 Nxf3 23 Bb3! - stopping Black castling after Qxf3 - 23...Rf8 24 Qxf3 - major threat of 25 Ra8 Bc8 26 Be6 - 24...c6 25 Qh5+ g6 26 Qxh7 breaking through. A small sample of a lot of lines which Black didn't even examine!} 19. exf6+ {Time to pause for thought again because Black has a lot of alternatives here. White's next move will probably be 20 fxg7 whereupon he will have recovered all three Pawns that Black had had for his piece. That will leave the material difference as exactly an Exchange in the latter's favour. Bear in mind that this extra Exchange are the passive units on b1 and a1. I know the Black Rook seems to be on a good square but it doesn't contribute to the defence and the c2 Bishop's guard of the Knight can't be undermined. Even in those lines below where this Bishop gets taken it has a guardian angel! On the Kingside and in the centre White has a local superiority and it's a question of picking one's way through the minefield. I wonder at what point Black regretted taking the Rook?} Kf7 {The alternatives are: a) 19...Kd7 20.fxg7 Qe8 (if 20...Qxh4+ 21.Nxh4 Bxe2 22.gxh8Q Bxf1 23.Qf8 skewering the Bishops vertically, a nice contrast to a previous note where they got skewered horizontally! or 20...Re8 21 Bxd8 Rxe2 22 g8=Q Rxc2 23 Qxh7+ and 24 Qxc2 - the guardian angel appears!) 21.gxh8=Q Qxe2 22.Qd8+ Kc6 (22... Ke6 23.Qe7 mate) 23.Nd4+ is the most convincing although Deep Rybka claims there is a forced mate, or: b) 19...Ne3 20.fxg7 Qxh4+ (or 20...Qd6 21. gxh8Q+ Kd7 22.Qxb5+ Qc6 23.Qd8+ Ke6 24.Qe7 mate is no surprise with two Queens on the board) 21.Nxh4 Bxe2 (if 21...Rg8 22.Qxb5+ Ke7 23.Rxf4 is easy) 22. gxh8Q+ Kd7 23.Rxf4 Nxc2 24.Qxh7+ Kc8 25.Qxc2 just to reinforce a point made earlier, or: c) 19...Kf8?? 20.fxg7+ Kxg7 21.Bxd8 is really simple, or d) 19...Ne5 20.fxg7 Qxh4+ 21.Nxh4 Bxe2 22.gxh8=Q+and White has an extra Queen here. Of these Deep Rybka claims a) is the best. After the text the Black King walks the gauntlet of the f and g-files and, unsurprisingly, doesn't make it. However, the point of the move is understandable. The King wants to be able to capture on g7 if it gets the chance.} 20. fxg7 Re8 {Obviously both 20.. .Qxh4+ 21 Nxf3 Bxe2 22 gxh8=Q and 20...Kxg7 both leave Black a Queen down so he tries this intermediate move which gets his Rook off prise and counterattacks the White Queen. If now 21.Bxd8 Rxe2 22.Nd4 Kxg7 23.Rxf4 Rxc2 24.Rxg4+ Kf7 25.Nxc2 Rxb1+ 26.Kh2 Black will be a piece down, but due to the reduced number of White Pawns he has some small chances of a draw. However, after the text White gets the chance to break the pin on his Knight by force.} 21. Ng5+ $1 {Deep Rybka says that this is mate in ten! I must admit I didn't work that out. What I did spot back on move 18 was that if now Black sacrifices his Queen with 21...Qxg5 then I had the neat counter-sacrifice 22 Qxe8+! Kxe8 23 Bxg5, and because of the threat of promotion on g8 White is winning a piece. In fact Deep Rybka proves the promotion can be forced: a) 23...Kf7 24.Bh6! - neatly exploiting the pin on the f4 Bishop - 24...Be6 25.Rxf4+ Ke7 26.Bg5+ Kd7 27.Bf5 Ra8 28.Bxe6+ Kxe6 29. Rf8 is a ironic line where the return of the Black Rook enables it to capture White's other Rook at the cost of a new Queen! Or, b) 23...Be6 24.Rxf4 Nd2? 25.Rf8+ Kd7 26.Bxd2 and White is two pieces up and we'll get to play Bf5 in a moment. However, the engine has a surprising and very pretty improvement on 22 Qxe8+ that I hadn't spotted. It suggests 22.g8Q+!! I suppose this doesn't qualify as an Excelsior (See Sam Loyd's famous problem) because the Pawn began its run in d3, rather than the home square of d2, and we've had a Knight move in-between. The variations are nice though. a) 22...Kxg8 23.Qxe8+ Kg7 24.Bxg5 wins easily; b 22...Rxg8 23.Rxf4+! Kg7 (if 23...Qxf4 24.Qe7 mate. The Lopez Bishop gets into a mating line at last with its control of g6.) 24. Rxg4 is crushing; c) 22...Qxg8 and Deep Rybka calls mate in five with 23. Rxf4+ Bf5 24.Rxf5+ Kg7 25.Qg4+ Kh8 26.Bf6+ Qg7 27.Qxg7 mate; d) 22...Kf6(!) 23 Bxg5 mate. Janes avoided all this by taking the g7 Pawn, the intention of his 19th move.} Kxg7 (21... Qxg5 22. g8=Q+ Kf6 23. Bxg5#) 22. Qxg4 {Now White has two pieces for a Rook - the one on a1? - and a Pawn, and has an overwhelming attack. A piquant line is 22...Qa8 23 Nxh7+ Kh8 24 Bf6 mate! There are many more. Janes played the single sensible move but it only holds the end up momentarily.} Bxg5 23. Bxg5 Ne5 24. Bf6+ {Just in time for a miniature - 25 moves or less. The double check is the quickest. Checkmate follows after 24...Kf7 25 Bxd8+Nf3 26 Rxf3 mate or 24...Kh6 25 Bg7 mate. For those who still want to involve the Lopez Bishop there is another pretty, but longer, finish with 24 Bh6+Kxh6 (if 24...Kh8 25 Qg7 mate) 25 Qh3+Kg5 (if 26... Kg7 27 Qxh7 mate Lopez Bishop fans get their wish) 26 Qf5+ Kh6 27 Qxh7+ (The Bishop again) 27...Kg5 28 Rf5+ Kg4 29 Qh3 mate or 29 Bd1+ Nf3 30 gxf3+ Kg3 - threatening 31...Re1 mate! - 31 Qh2 is another nice mate also involving the White King! But this is just for (more) fun!} 1-0
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