1984-01-01 - New, Chris 0-1 Miller, George
wonderful and original game by previous chairman Chris New. Chris establishes two advanced passed Pawns very early on. He then consistently plays for the endgame and his King walks right into the heart of the Black position.
[Event "BRISTOL LEAGUE DIV 2"] [Site "?"] [Date "1984.01.01"] [Round "?"] [White "New, Chris."] [Black "Miller, George"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B13"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "62"] {Chris New is a former Chairman of D&F. He was the prime mover of the Manor Tyres Chess congress which took place in Bristol in 1980, 1981 and 1982. George Miller has played for several Bristol clubs and is also a senior British draughts expert amongst other games.} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. c5 {This is the aggressive Gunderam Attack in the Panov-Botvinnik variation of the Caro-Kann Defence. White simply intends to storm the Queenside with his Pawn majority.} b6 6. b4 a5 7. b5 bxc5 8. dxc5 e6 {A new move. Soelter vs. Gudath, Steinheim 1969 continued 8...e5 9 c6 Bc5 but Black got routed in 20 moves. 8...Qc7 is also a known line but the position is very rare in master chess. There doesn't seem to be a particular reason for preferring ...e6 over ...e5. Yes, d5 is more solidly defended but then it was already by Queen and Knight, while ...e6 restricts the Queen's Bishop.} 9. c6 { With Black having chosen 8...e6 over 8...e5 there is case for 9 Qd4.} Qb6 { "Interesting stuff!" goes the comment but we've already established that.} 10. Nf3 {Deep Rybka doesn't like this preferring 10 a3 - to stop 10...Bb4+ - and 10 Nc3. I wondered why the engine didn't consider the obvious 10.Be3 and it came up with the remarkable 10...Bb4+ 11.Nd2 d4 12.Bf4 d3 13.a3 Bc3 14.Bxd3 Qd4 15.Ne2 Qxd3 16.Nxc3 Qxc3 17.0-0 claiming that White had an advantage of 0. 3. Clearly this is due to the advanced Queenside Pawns. The reason why Deep Rybka doesn't like the text is that it can gang up on and win the f2 Pawn. Chris is happy to allow this because he hopes to exchange off both the dark-squared Bishops and Queens, and ultimately take control of the dark squares on the Queenside. That is exactly what happens and we've already seen one line where White sacrifices material because of those advanced Pawns.} Bc5 11. Be3 $5 Bxe3 12. fxe3 Qxe3+ 13. Qe2 Qc5 $1 {"Better is 14...Qc1+ 15 Qd1 Qxd1+ 16 Kxd1 Ne4. Black runs grave risks in attacking [in] the centre while his Queenside remains undeveloped." Contrary to my original comment I agree with George's choice and so does Deep Rybka. After 14...Qc1+ 15 Qd1 Qxd1+ 16 Kxd1 Ne4 the engine and I are quite happy after 17 Ke2 and indeed after 14... Qc1+ 15 Qd1 the engine prefers 15...Qe3+ with a repetition. The point is that White wants pieces off for the ending therefore Black should strive to keep them on.} 14. Nbd2 O-O $2 {Deep Rybka has two different approaches to this position. One is acknowledge that the b8 Knight is never getting out 'for free' so it sacs it on c6 to destroy the pawns and get ...Bc8-a6 in. The material imbalance is three Pawns for a piece but White only has three Pawns left, so Black, with a solid and active position, isn't risking very much. Alternatively there is the more complicated 14...Ne4 trying to exploit the central position of the White King in a different way. If 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Nd2 (not 16.Qxe4?? Qc3+ winning the Rook) e3 17.Nc4 Qb4+ 18.Kd1 0-0 is good for Black but there are other moves for both sides. The drawback to the text is that the Black King is no longer near to the Queenside and can't help in a blockade there.} 15. Nb3 Qb6 $2 {It was important to stay active with 15... Qc3+ or 15...Qb4+.} 16. Qf2 $1 Qxf2+ {If 16...Qc7 then 17.Rc1 threatening 18 b6 and 19 b7 looks good, while if 16...Qd8 17.Be2 Ne4 18.Qe3 Qd6 19.0-0 (19. Rc1 is possibly even better) 19...Nxc6 20.bxc6 Qxc6 but White is now well-developed and can claim an advantage.} 17. Kxf2 Ne4+ 18. Ke3 a4 19. Nbd2 f5 $2 {"Compromising the dark squares. Better is 19...Nd6 and 20...f6." Deep Rybka agrees but says White is at +0.81 and, once again, considers 20...Nxc6 in an attempt to break up the Pawns.} 20. Nxe4 dxe4 {Deep Rybka has no preference for either recapture but after 21 Ne5 says White is better by over 2.4! Of course the counter-sacrifice on c6 is no longer viable with the White Knight supporting it.} 21. Ne5 g5 22. Rd1 Ra7 23. Rd6 $1 {"Refusing to give up two magnificent Pawns for an undeveloped piece." Chris is looking to extract the maximum benefit when he advances the Pawns.} Kg7 24. Bc4 Kf6 25. Kd4 Ke7 26. Kc5 Kf6 27. Kb6 $4 {"Also playable is 27 Ng4+ fxg4 28 Rf1+ Kg7 29 Rxf8 Kxf8 30 Rd8+ winning." Deep Rybka agrees, preferring to retreat the King after the Knight check, but after 27...Ke7 it plays the ironic 28 Rf1 and Black is very short of moves. With the text Chris underestimates how quickly the Black Pawns are running.} Kxe5 28. Kxa7 Kxd6 29. Kxb8 Kc5 {The engine prefers 29... f4.} 30. Rc1 {"30 Kc7 wins regardless of the [White] Bishop being en prise." Unfortunately that's not true. George points out that "30.Kc7 still loses as Black can give up Rook and Bishop for the White passed Pawns if necessary, with the Black King and Kingside pawn mass being unstoppable." Some analysis to support this: 30.Kc7 Kxc4 31.b6 (or 31.Rd1 e3 32.Rd8 Rxd8 33.Kxd8 Kxb5 is winning easily) 31...e3 32.Re1 Kd3 33.b7 Bxb7 34.cxb7 e2 and White emerges two Pawns down in the Pawn ending.} Kb6 31. c7 Ba6+ {"What a pity!" The White King's Odyssey becomes a tragedy.} 0-1
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