1983-01-15 - Mordue, Tyson 1-0 Henley, Ron
At 69 moves easily the longest game on this page! Tyson's first win against a brand-new GM. A blocked French Defence leads to a long war of attrition. White is holding his own when Black suddenly blunders a piece. After a bit of regrouping the White Knights ride together through Black's position.
[Event "CARDIFF OPEN"] [Site "?"] [Date "1983.01.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Mordue, Tysnn."] [Black "Henley, Ron"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C06"] [BlackElo "2520"] [Annotator "Doe,John"] [PlyCount "137"] {Ron Henley is an American Grandmaster. He achieved the GM title by finishing first equal with well-known compatriot and six-times US Champion Walter Browne in a 26 all-play-all(!) event in Indonesia in 1982. Here he beat our Tony Miles in the last round. Henley's top FIDE Elo rating was 2525. At the time of the game below he was 2520. Among various other laudable achievements Henley was the trainer to Anatoly Karpov in the 1990s. He published several chess books and DVDs. Henley also had a successful career as a financial market trader. My only previous experience of playing a titled player had been against Tony Miles at the Manor Tyres Open in Bristol, also in 1982. I was thrashed on the Black side of a poorly played King's Indian Defence. I thought that with the White pieces against Henley I might last a bit longer. Indeed I did. The game is fairly dull and uneventful for 46 moves before Henley blunders a Knight in weird fashion. After that it was a question of keeping my nerve. The original notes were a blend of Versus Editor Chris Simmons' remarks and my comments.} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Be7 {"The Kellner-Romanishin variation of the French Tarrasch. It can also be played against 3 Nc3. The entire variation was analysed in Chess magazine, October 1978." Today I'm not so sure about the use of the word 'entire'.} 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bd3 c5 7. c3 Nc6 8. O-O cxd4 {"Henley was crushed by Murray Chandler after 8...Qb6 9 dxc5 Qc7 10 Nb3 Ncxe5 11 Bf4 Nxf3+12 Qxf3 so he improves." This was a game played in the Indonesian event referred to in the introduction.} 9. cxd4 Qb6 {We have transposed to a line given in Lev Psakhis's 2003 book 'French Defence 3 Nd2'. There is a recommendation of a gambit line with 10 Re1 which is fair enough, but I had no experience with gambiting the d4 Pawn in any variation of the French so I was keeping mine! Hence the text.} 10. Nb3 {"Moles [who has written an excellent book on the French] suggests 10 Re1 cxd4 11 cxd4 Qxd4 12 Nb3 Qb6 (12...Qa4 - Harding 13 Bc2 Psakhis) 13 Qg4 with unpleasant pressure." was my original note. 12 Nf3 has been more common in practice.} a5 11. a4 Nf8 {11...Nb4 12 Bb5 0-0 was played in Rachels-Short, Manila Interzonal 1990.} 12. Be3 Nb4 13. Be2 $1 {"The best square for the Bishop." A move not even considered by Deep Rybka yet to my mind it is clearly the most flexible.} Bd7 14. Nfd2 $1 {"The start of an excellent defensive plan by White. The Knights will defend the Queenside whilst the f-Pawn is free to advance and defend e5." This remark doesn't need the word 'defensive'. There is no good offensive plan here. I'm merely rearranging the Knights. However, when you're playing a brand-new 2520-rated GM it might feel defensive! I'd actually targeted the b5 square but it took a long time to get there. However, occupying the c3 square reduces Black's play and regrouping the Knights in particular is crucial in a closed position like this. Indeed the White Knights run riot at the end of the game but for most of it things happen very slowly, if at all!} Ng6 15. Nb1 O-O 16. Nc3 f6 17. Qd2 $1 {"17 f4? allows 17...fxe5 18 fxe5 Nxe5 as the d-Pawn is pinned." This may seem like too many exclamation marks but at least White isn't making mistakes. He's hanging in there!} Qd8 {Henley judges that 17...fxe5 18 dxe5 Qc7 or d8 19 f4 is good for White. That agrees with my own judgement and that of Deep Rybka. Despite White playing defensively the engine says that White has had a small plus so far of about 0.1 to 0.2, but opening the position up increases it to 0. 4 to 0.5. This is perfectly sound. White has the b5 and d4 squares and the Pawn break with f4-f5. Black has no reason to take risks yet.} 18. f4 b6 19. Kh1 Rc8 20. Rac1 Bc6 $6 {"The idea is to play ...Bc6-b7-a6 to exchange light-squared Bishops. However, Black must is forced into blocking the centre (with ...f6-f5) when he would prefer to maintain tension." Maybe Black would have done better to play 19...Bc8 and 20 ...Ba6.} 21. Bg4 f5 {Not only is 21... Bd7 a loss of tempi but after 22 Nb5 White is steadily improving his position.} 22. Bh5 $6 {"e2 is still the best square for the Bishop." Naively assuming that Black would do something about the 'threat' of Bxg6 before I realised that after ...h6xg5 I'd just given Black more options, i.e. two possible breaks with ...g5.. The immediate 22 Be2 saves a tempo or so.} Qd7 {The threat of 23...Bxa4 is easily met but White has to lose time with his Rook, whereas after 22 Be2 he had a choice of pieces to put on b5 instead. Deep Rybka now says the position is roughly level.} 23. Ra1 Bb7 24. Be2 Ba6 25. Bxa6 Nxa6 26. Qe2 Nb4 27. Nd2 $1 {"The Knight manoeuvres are most instructive. This one is heading for b5 where, together with its partner on c3, it will make the Queenside secure." Obviously White has no concerns about 27...Nc2 and 28... Nxe3 because the Bishop is White's worst piece. Deep Rybka has no opinion to offer on 27 Nd2 because it doesn't understand subtle positional chess.} Rc7 28. Rac1 Rfc8 29. Ndb1 Nh8 {"Black must open a new front - in this case by ... g7-g5." Understandable with the Queenside now effectively sealed. Nimzovitch once got an exclamation mark for playing Knight to Rook one, yet Henley's move we now regard as routine. Time marches on. Chess evolves.} 30. Na3 Nf7 31. Nab5 Rc4 32. Na3 R4c6 33. Nab5 Kh8 34. Rg1 Rg8 35. Rcd1 Rcc8 36. Rd2 g5 {Deep Rybka changes its evaluation of the position from equal to about 0.15 in White's favour. I don't see why it should make any difference. What was definitely NOT going to happen was an exchange of Bishops and Pawns on g5 followed by a recapture with a Black knight which then hops into e4. Black is looking for asymmetry in the position and I wasn't going to give it to him.} 37. g3 Rg6 38. Qf1 Rcg8 39. Rdg2 Nh6 40. Bd2 {"40 h3 would simply weaken White's Pawn structure." This is a fact but Deep Rybka has no opinion one way or the other. The text move was originally given an ! but I really don't think it's worth one.} Nf7 41. Qf3 gxf4 $6 {"41...g4 intending ...h7-h5-h4 is more promising." As a practical try it would have been. I was concerned about getting squashed into the corner. However, once I actually look at it with Deep Rybka and get to 42 Qe2 h5 43 h3! gxh3 44 Rh2 we both think White is slightly better. Whether I would have had the nerve to play 43 h3 is another matter. Henley probably thought, and in the light of the above remark quite rightly, that he was reducing his options, hence he opens the g-file rather than close it. After the text the engine says 42 Bxf4 is 0.25 better for White, although I wasn't going to play that for reasons given previously - the asymmetry. After my actual choice Deep Rybka says that it is dead level.} 42. gxf4 Qc6 {"Now clocks go back. Tyson had 30 minutes and Henley 27 for the rest of the game."} 43. b3 {Oddly enough this apparently insignificant Pawn move helps me win the game. The simple point was that with an imminent exchange of all the Rooks pending there was likely to be more space around the back of White's position and I didn't want an inconvenient ...Qc4. The apparent weakening of c3 doesn't matter. The White Bishop supports the c3 steed and it's difficult for Black to bring other pieces to bear on this square. However, what caught Henley's eye was the new position of the Pawn - a target!} Rxg2 44. Rxg2 Rg6 {Will I please take on g6 and break the symmetry?} 45. Be1 {No! Deep Rybka agrees that Black is a tiny bit better after 45 Rxg6 hxg6.} Rxg2 46. Kxg2 Nc2 47. Bf2 {I think that White's disadvantage of a worse Bishop, which can always be improved by a prepared Bh4, is compensated for by his central space advantage. Indeed this has been the case for most of the game but now that the Rooks have gone Black's winning chances have reduced considerably as well. I was wondering whether I could summon up the courage to offer a draw here.} Na1 $4 {"A remarkable mistake for a Grandmaster to make." Chris Simmons. I'd worked out that this wasn't playable when I went 43 b3. It was just a minor sideline amongst dozens of other details. Yet when the horse finally settled on a1 my first thought was "Hang on! Qd1 traps the Knight! WHERE'S THE MATE??" Of course there isn't one. Black doesn't have a piece nearer than four squares to my King.} 48. Qd1 Nh6 {Shocked by his error Henley doesn't even take the Pawn he went to attack. His own b-Pawn will never get beyond the b5 square anyway. However his other Knight won't do anything without support and it only takes the White Queen a tempo to come back to a good defensive square. Hence the GM tries to do something with that spare tempo.} 49. Qxa1 Ng4 {"As the 'better' player Henley refuses to resign - ahem!" Chris Simmons again.} 50. h3 Nh6 {After 50...Nxf2 51.Kxf2 Bh4+ 52.Ke3 Qe8 53.Nd6 Qh5 54.Qg1 Black has no play and no defence to Nc3-b5-c7xe6. A subsequent...Qh6 is met by Nf7 mate!} 51. Qd1 Qe8 52. Nc7 Qf7 53. N3b5 {There is nothing wrong with any of this but, with my heart pounding away, I had overlooked the next move. Somewhere around here Tony Miles, having already won his game on the adjacent board two hours previously, peered discreetly over Henley's right shoulder to see how his main rival was doing. He did a double take when he realised I was a piece up, and walked off smiling.} Bd8 54. Qc2 {I was relieved to have this simple protection but I could have gone ahead with my original idea: 54 Na8 Qb7 55 Qh5 Ng8 56 Qe8 Qxa8 57 Bh4 or 57 Nd6 intending Nf7+xd8xe6 win.} Qd7 55. Be1 { Deep Rybka points out that 55 Na6 intending 56 Nb8 and 57 Qc6 also wins. My original note said that here the Bishop was coming to help the cavalry, not the other way around.} Ng8 {I was very happy to see this going backwards. If 55...Be7 then 56 Na8 Qb7 57 Qc7 is good enough.} 56. b4 axb4 {There's no point in letting White take on a5.} 57. Bxb4 Qg7+ 58. Kh2 Qh6 59. Qf2 Ne7 $6 {I was expecting 59...Bh4 or 59...Qg6. Naturally after the text I was quite happy to swap pieces knowing my Knights were now safe.} 60. Bxe7 Bxe7 61. Nd6 Kg7 62. Na8 Qh5 63. Nxb6 {Ensuring a won game on the Queenside.} Bh4 64. Qg2+ Kh6 65. Nd7 {Looking at 66 Nf6 and 67 Ng8 mate. There's only one better attacking force than a Queen and a Knight: A Queen and two Knights!} Qd1 66. Nf7+ $1 {I hadn't spotted the specific line 66 Nf6 Bg3+ 67 Qxg3?? (67 Kxg3 wins) Qh1+! 68 Kxh1 stalemate but I was aware of the possibility. Hence the two checks that make sure Black has an e-Pawn to move.} Kh5 67. Nf6+ $1 Bxf6 68. exf6 h6 69. Nxh6 $1 {An elegant finish. Checkmate on g7 or g5 is forced. Black resigned. So Miles beats Mordue in June 1982, Henley beats Miles later that year. Mordue beats Henley in early 1983 and later that year Miles beat Karpov in the World Cup event in Bath. This just proves that everyone is better than everyone else! } 1-0
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