1984-05-17 - Beaumont, Chris 0-1 Mordue, Tyson
Our best game from the 1984 Cup Final and another miniature. In a King's Indian Samisch Beaumont thinks that he making progress on the Kingside. Instead Tyson shows that White has actually hemmed his own Queen in by playing the very move that Beaumont thought he had just prevented!
[Event "BRISTOL TEAM KO CUP FINAL"] [Site "?"] [Date "1984.05.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Beaumont, Chris"] [Black "Mordue, Tyson"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E89"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "50"] {This game was featured in Issue 7 of versus under the heading "ANATOMY OF A MORDUE"! Chris Simmons wrote "ATM feels that someone else might as well do some analysing, so the Editor, assisted by MCO [Modern Chess Openings] and T [Terry] Marke steps (gingerly) into the breach with, he hopes, pertinent comment." They didn't do badly. The original notes are marked with a CPAS. As for myself this is the first time I've ever annotated this game against a now well-known Bristol player who has gone on to become an IM.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O {"We are in the Samisch variation of the King's Indian Defence. Black's cool castling offers White many plausible continuations: Nge2, Bg5, or Bd3 all look good. His choice is fashionable nowadays." CPAS.} 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Qd2 c6 9. d5 cxd5 10. cxd5 {"Here he departs from the game Van Scheltinga-Reshevsky, Helsinki Olympiad 1952 which went 10 Nxd5 Nxd5 11 cxd5 Nf6 12 Nc3 Nf6 =. The reply, and the situation in the next eight moves, are very striking." CPAS. Actually 10 Nxd5 is a very rare move. It makes no sense to ease Black's cramped position by swapping a pair of Knights. Indeed Reshevsky drew the above game easily in 31 moves. However, amongst the few games which feature 10 Nxd5 Nxd5 11 Qxd5 is Fuster-Fischer, Portoroz Interzonal 1958. That continued 11...Nc5 12 0-0-0 Qa5 13 Qxd6 Ne6 14 a3 b5 15 Bd2 Qa4 16 Qb4 Rb8 17 Qxa4 with a clear advantage for White who still lost in 36 moves.} Nh5 11. O-O-O {11 g4 Nf4!? is a well-known Pawn sacrifice for open lines. Few players take the Pawn.} f5 12. exf5 gxf5 {"Very cool." CPAS. Actually Chris Simmons put !s after my last three moves, undeservedly as this is a thematic system. Indeed it is probably better to play 10...a6 and 11...b5. The recapture ...g6xf5 is necessary to avoid giving White an outpost on e4. To the best of my memory the only game I've lost playing this line was the other half of the postal-pairing I had with GM Keith Richardson. I lost that one. Another game I had in this line is Gibson-Mordue, 2008-9 with exactly the same Pawn structure. The following day I bumped into Chris Beaumont who asked how I had got on the day before. I replied "I won a King's Indian where my last move was ...e4 discovered check." To which he replied "Serves him right for not keeping the e4 square under control!"} 13. Ng3 Ndf6 {Black does not want to swap Knights and give White an open h-file with a Rook aimed straight at his King position.} 14. Bh6 $2 {This leads to the White Queen merely being offside. Better is 14 Bg5 threatening simply 15 Nxh5. After 14...Qe8 15 Nb5 is awkward. Black doesn't want to swap Knights for the reason given in the last note but may be forced to as the alternatives of 14...Nf4 and 14...Qa5 don't seem to be sufficient. After 14 Bg5 Deep Rybka says White is better to the tune of +0.65, whereas after Black's 16th move it says the position is equal.} Bxh6 15. Qxh6 Nf4 16. Nge2 { "The f4 Knight is quite a nuisance." True but now the White Bishop is sealed in by a Knight going backwards! Deep Rybka says 16 Bd3 is a worse move but I'd have played it. Note that the d5 Pawn is never en prise while Bc4 pins are viable.} Ng6 {"Should the Queen retreat? NO! says White." CPAS. The problem with retreating, say 16 Qd2, is that Black can simply get on with his Queenside attack by 16...Bd7, 17...Rc8 and 18...b5.} 17. h4 Kh8 18. h5 {I prefer the immediate 18 Kb1 and Deep Rybka agrees.} Ne7 $1 {The right way around to have the Knights. Deep Rybka again agrees with me that after 18... Ng8 19 Qd2 N6e7 White is better. Nevertheless he should now probably play 19 Qd2 anyway and even 19 Qg5 is possible.} 19. Kb1 $2 {This actually helps Black because of the forthcoming check on f5.} f4 {"The gate's locked now." CPAS. Usually this move in this sort of structure is poor because it apparently cedes control of e4. The very fact that I was playing it should have warned Beaumont that something was up.} 20. g4 $2 {"What else?" CPAS. Beaumont was clearly under the impression that he'd stopped ...Nf5 because of the line 20... fxg3 21 Nxg3 with control of f5 and e4 and space for the Queen. Other moves that don't work are 20.Qg5 Nf5 21.Ne4 h6 22.Qg6 Nxe4 23.fxe4 Rf6 24.exf5 Bxf5+! and 20.Ne4? Nxe4 21.fxe4 Ng8. Deep Rybka is already suggesting a bail-out with 20 Nxf4.} Nf5 $1 {"This seals her fate, for if 21 gxf5 Bxf5+ 22 any Ng8 and that's that." CPAS. I will always remember Beaumont's reaction to this move. There wasn't one! He remained completely poker-faced. To be fair 20...Nxg4 also wins. If 21 fxg4 Ng8 does the job, but it's much better to put a piece on the very square that your opponent thinks he has just taken control of. Indeed, 20...Nxg4 doesn't trap the Queen although after 21 Qg5 Bf5+ 22 Ka1 there is 22...Ne3 followed by 23...Nc2+ with mayhem to follow. Not as good is 22...Nf2 23 Rg1 Rf7 and White has a move to save his Rook although 24 Re1/c1 Nd3 25 Rd1 Qb6 is very good for Black.} 21. Qg5 {"Note how the pestilent pony covers h4." CPAS.} Rg8 22. Qxg8+ Qxg8 23. gxf5 Bxf5+ 24. Ka1 h6 {"Locking another gate." CPAS. Simply not giving White the chance for swindles based on mating mates involving his Pawn on h6.} 25. Nb5 Nxd5 {Seeing that 26...Nb4 is coming Beaumont decided he wanted no more horseplay.} 0-1
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