1984-01-21 - Mordue, Tyson 1-0 Osborne, David

Another Bristol League Congress game. Osborne plays too many Pawn moves in a Sicilian Defence. A Knight sac on f7 gives Tyson a huge initiative, and Black crumbles under a heavy onslaught.

[Event "LEAGUE CONGRESS SECTION 1"] [Site "?"] [Date "1984.01.21"] [Round "3"] [White "Mordue, Tyson"] [Black "Osborne, David"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B42"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "57"] {A violent game from the 1984 League Congress. Black keeps his King too long in the centre and an explosion on f7 takes advantage. Original notes by Jim Will (JW).} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 g6 {Neither rare nor unpopular with 970 games on the database. Black intends a sort of hedgehog formation but White has a combination harvester in the field.} 6. Be3 Bg7 7. O-O d6 8. Nd2 {A modest move but it gives some new options and avoids ... b7-b5-b4 kicking the Knight away from the defence of e4 amongst other things.} b6 {"What a lot of Pawn moves Black has made. There could hardly be two more contrasting set-ups on the same board." JW. Varying from Fercec- Justin, Ljubljana Open 1998 which went 8...Nf6 9 N4b3 Nbd7. White won in 30 moves after outcombining Black in the middle-game.} 9. f4 Bb7 10. Qe2 Nd7 11. f5 e5 { Given an ? by JW who wrote "Allowing the f-file to be opened. In the post-mortem Black said he had intended 11...gxf5 when White has nothing immediate." After 11...gxf5 12 exf5 e5? 13 Ne6! - a typical Sicilian sac - White is winning immediately. If 13...fxe6 14 Qh5+ Ke7 15 fxe6 and the threat of mate on f7 forces 15...d5 when Deep Rybka says White can play 16 Rf7+ Kxe6 17 Nc4 and mate in 11!! For those of you who can't see it immediately, including myself, I'd be quite happy winning the Black minor pieces that are sitting around waiting to be taken. Say 16 Qf7+ Kd6 17 Qxg7 Ne7 18 exd7. Other lines after 13 Ne6 are 13...Qf6 14 Bg5 trapping the Queen and 13...Qc7 14 Nxg7+ wins a piece with an exit on h5. The point is that after 11...gxf5 12 exf5 the only way to prevent e6 collapsing is the awful 12...Bxd4 (not 12... Nc5 13 fxe6 fxe6 [if 13...Nxe6 14 Nxe6 fxe6 15 Qh5+ comes to the same thing.] 14 Qh5+ Kd7 15 Rf7+ winning the g7 Bishop) 13 Bxd4 e5. This still leaves White with a big plus and makes one wonder what the point of Blacks' opening was. All this proves that 11...gxf5 is a very bad move and why not? Black is opening the centre with his King still there and little cohesive development. Unfortunately for him things don't improve in the next few moves, nor in the next note! Is there an alternative to 11...e5? 11...Nc5 looks plausible but after 12 fxe6 fxe6? 13 b4! Nxd3 14 Nxe6 Qe7 15 Nxg7+ Qxd7 16 cxd3 White has won a Pawn and still has a good position. After the improvement 12...Nxe6 there is 13 Nxe6 fxe6 and the Deep Rybka comes up with another typical Sicilian sacrifice 14 e5!?. If 14...dxe5? 15 Be4 and Black is looking positionally bust while 14...Bxe5 15 Nc4! hits b6 and e5 and Black's in trouble again. The only sensible move seems to be 14...d5 when the engine suggests 15 Qg4 hitting e6 and g6 with a plus of 2 or so. A few interesting side-lines here appear after 15...Qe7 16 Qa4+: a)16...Qd7? 17 Qxd7+ Kxd7 18 Rxf7+ and the g7 Bishop goes again. Also b)16...b5 17 Bxb5+ axb5 18 Qxb5+ Kd8 19 Ne4!! threatening 20 Bg5 is very strong. If 19...dxe4 20 Rad1+ and now b1) 20...Bd5 21 Rxd5+ and all the fun is White's, b2) 20...Kc7? 21 Rf7! Qxf7 22 Bb6+ Kb8 23 Rd8+ Bc8 24 Be7+! Ka7 25 Bc5 mate, b3) 20...Kc8 21 Bg5! is winning. In all these lines the Black Kingside pieces do nothing so it's clear that his lack of development is already a critical factor. If nothing else the advance ...e6-e5 concedes the d5 square and White, having chosen d2 for the Knight instead of c3, has the option of c2-c4 with a Maroczy bind.} 12. fxg6 {A little intermezzo that, as Jim pointed out, opens the f-file for White. Clearly Black must recapture and it mustn't be 12...hxg6 because of 13 Ne6 winning material again. Deep Rybka points out an interesting alternative which yet again highlights Black's soft spots. 12.Nc4 exd4 (if 12...Qc7 then again 13.Ne6! fxe6 14.fxe6 Ndf6 15.Bxb6 the engine rates as about +0.6 for White) 13.Nxd6+ Ke7 (if 13...Kf8 14.fxg6 threatening 15 Rxf7 mate is even stronger) 14.Bg5+ Bf6 15.Nxb7 Qc7 16.fxg6! Bxg5 (16...hxg6 17.Bxf6+ Ngxf6 18. e5) 17.Rxf7+ Ke8 18.g7 and White gets a second Queen. After 12 Nc4 Qe7 the retreats 13 N4b3 or 14 N4f3 mean White is attacking the b6 Pawn, so value for money here.} hxg6 13. N4f3 {This first skirmish has left White with a nice plus of 0.6 and Black with several holes. Clearly White now intends Ng5 and Bc4 laying siege to f7.} Qc7 {"I have a feeling that 13...Bh6 might have been better." JW. The text is Deep Rybka's choice and it also looks at 13...Ngf6 although White still continues with Ng5 and Bc4 and there's always the doubling of Rooks on the f-file to consider as well. The point of Jim's suggestion 13...Bh6 is to stop 14 Ng5. However, if White first plays 14 Nc4 attacking d6 then Black has a problem. If 14...Qc7 then White now plays 15 Ng5 as the Queen has been deflected, while if 14...Qe7 then it's overloaded and White puts things on g5 anyway, replying on the Knight forks on d6 and f7 to win material. Deep Rybka says that the straightforward 14 Bxh6 also gives White a positional plus of 0.65. From Black's perspective, I would hesitate to suggest anything that moves a piece twice in the opening and weakens the dark squares. With Black's position so fragile so I wouldn't be advocating 13...Bh6 in the first place.} 14. Ng5 Nh6 {Deep Rybka suggests 14...Ngf6 15 Qf2 0-0 which is highly risky with the h-Pawn gone. There's no ...h7-h6 to push pieces on g5 away or ...h7-h5 in emergencies. After 16 Qh4 there is Rf3-h3 and a subsequent Ng5-h7 should upset the apple cart. This is typically a position where the engine can't see accumulating threats because they are beyond its horizon. Beside what is Black's counterplay? As remarked earlier c2-c4 puts ... d6-d5 out of commission and otherwise there are no targets on the Queenside to aim at, one of the points of White's Nd2 as opposed to Nc3. The engine's other suggestion of 14...Bf6 transposes back into the game after 15 Bc4 Nh6.} 15. Bc4 {I definitely looked at 15.Rxf7 Nxf7 16.Ne6 Qc6 17.Nxg7+ but I probably thought that after 17...Ke7 18.Qg4 Rag8 19.Qxg6 Kf8 20.Ne6+ Ke7 that despite the nominal material equality and Black's apparently displaced King he stood better. Knock out the e4 Pawn and White's Kingside is under heavy fire. Maybe we could draw by repetition with 21 Ng7 Kf8 22 Ne6+ etc but that's not what I intended after 15 Rxf7.} Bf6 {"Hoping that the following combination is unsound, but it isn't." JW. Deep Rybka wants to play 15...0-0 although it concedes that White still has a plus. Possible is 16 Bxf7+swapping two minor pieces for Rook and Pawn (if 16...Nxf7 17 Ne6), but I still think Black is vulnerable to the switch of the White Queen to h4 and the plan outlined in a previous note. After the text I was very happy to sac on f7 with the Knight. I quickly get a second Pawn for it, all White's pieces bar the Queen's Rook are involved in the attack, there is no defensive cohesion and attacking was what I did best then. It was also what my opponent did best so I was sure he would be unsettled trying to defend this sort of position.} 16. Nxf7 $1 { Note that this was Black's only Pawn remaining on his second rank. This means that there are no permanently supported posts for his pieces on his third rank so effectively everything along it is a target.} Nxf7 17. Qg4 d5 {"If at once 17...Kf8 18 Qxg6 wins." JW. After 17...Kf8 18 Qxg6 it seems the only move is 18...d5 so we would have a transposition. White was threatening 18 Qe6+ winning the f7 Knight and obviously any move of the d7 Knight drops the f6 Bishop. The f7 Knight hasn't any sensible squares anyway and the f6 Bishop is effectively pinned against that Knight because of the potential combined attack of Bishop and Rook on f7. The only other move than the text is 17...Qd8 18 Qxg6 Qe7 but then White has options such as doubling Rooks on the f-file, 19 Nc4 and the amusing and highly effective 19 Bxb6! If 19...Nxb6 20 Rxf6 and the pressure on f7 and d6 will be too much. After 19 Bxb6 White garners a third Pawn for his piece, prevents Queenside castling and Black looks very short of moves, let alone constructive defensive ones. Black decides his only chance is to momentarily block the c4 Bishop and somehow get unpinned.} 18. exd5 Kf8 {Observe that 18...0-0-0? simply loses to 19 Rxf6 because the d7 Knight is now pinned! See the note to White's 16th about looseness on the Black third rank. Also there is the counter-attacking try 18...e4 but that gets treated very roughly by 19.Qe6+ Kd8 (if 19...Kf8? 20.d6! Nxd6 [obviously if 20...Qxd6 21 Qxf7 mate.] 21.Rxf6+ Nxf6 22.Qxf6+ Ke8 23.Qxh8+ is slaughter.) 20.Rxf6 Qxh2+ (if 20...Nxf6 21.Bxb6 - more third-rank looseness. 20...Qxh2+ is merely a spite check as White can cover up if necessary with Bg1.) 21.Kf1 and if 21...Nxf6 22.Bxb6+ wins the Queen again.} 19. Qxg6 Rg8 20. Bh6+ $2 { Remarkably Deep Rybka claims that White can also play 20.Rxf6!! - one exclamation mark for a good move and another for astonishment. After 20...Rxg6 (if 20...Nxf6 21 Qxf6 is crushing. White has three Pawns for the Exchange, b6 is en prise and d6 and Rf1 are coming.) 21.Rxg6 White has Rook and three Pawns for the Queen and a huge initiative which the gives as +3. The main line for anyone who wants to analyse this is 21...Ke8 22.Rf1 Nf8 23.Rgf6 b5 24.Bb3 Nd6 25.Rxf8+ Ke7 26.Bg5+ Kd7 27.R1f7+ Nxf7 28.Rxf7+ Kc8 29.Rxc7+ Kxc7 and White has two minor pieces and three Pawns for a Rook. This line is not forced but the main idea, doubling Rooks on the f-file, is clear. Deep Rybka thinks that White's initiative is so strong it gives the Queen back immediately with 21... Qd6. I thought the text was winning easily but apparently it's not.} Ke7 $2 {"Or 20...Nxh6 21 Qxh6+ Rg7? 22 Rxf6+ etc. 21 Rxf6+ Nxf6 22 Qxf6+ Qf7! 23 Qxh6+ Qg7 24 Rf1+ and White is winning." JW. A confusing note. After 20... Nxh6 21 Rxf6+? Nxf6 22 Qxf6+ Black has 22...Nf7 and he's a Rook up, although White has three Pawns and an initiative. Instead 20...Nxh6 21 Qxh6+ Rg7? 22 Rxf6+and instead of being a Rook down White is only an Exchange down, plus three or four Pawns and the initiative etc. Black's correct continuation is 20. ..Nxh6 21 Qxh6+ and now 21...Ke7 when 22 d6+?! Qxd6 23 Bxg8 Rxg8 leaves White struggling to continue the attack while dealing with the counterplay against g2. Instead the engine suggests 22 Ne4 with an 'equal' position. After the immediate 20...Ke7 White has a simple winning blow because his Queen remains in contact with g8.} 21. d6+ $1 Qxd6 {After 21...Kxd6 Deep Rybka gives both 22 Ne4+ and 22 Rxf6+ as winning. The latter is far more fun and easily calculable: 22.Rxf6+ Nxf6 23.Qxf6+ Kc5 24.Be3+ Kb4 25.c3+ Ka5 26.b4+ Ka4 27.Bb3+ Ka3 28. Nc4+ Qxc4 29.Bc1 is a very quaint mate!} 22. Qxf7+ Kd8 23. Qxg8+ {Suddenly White is a Rook and two Pawns up! Black could resign here but carries on in hope of a miracle.} Kc7 24. Qe6 Qd4+ 25. Kh1 Rh8 26. Rxf6 {More third-rank vulnerability.} Nxf6 27. Qxf6 Bxg2+ {Total desperation with no time left on the clock. However, the White pieces cover all the necessary squares and they also defend each other in a tidy sequence. Start with the Queen on f6.} 28. Kxg2 Qg4+ 29. Kh1 1-0

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