1985-01-01 - Elliott, Sean 1-0 Gutteridge, T
In a slow manoeuvring Ruy Lopez Sean wins material with a neat tactic. Just as Black has a fleeting chance to set up what looks like a fortress he steps into a mate instead. Tyson's 35 moves worth of analysis proves Sean was winning anyway!
[Event "EAST GLAMORGAN OPEN"] [Site "?"] [Date "1985.01.01"] [Round "?"] [White "E, Sean"] [Black "Gutteridge, T"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C88"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "89"] {Finally a win by Sean Elliott on this page. Original notes by Graham Burgess marked GKB.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 {"The Anti-Marshall." GKB.} Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. Nc3 Na5 11. Ba2 b4 12. Ne2 c5 13. Ng3 Nc6 14. Nd2 {"A idea taken from Chandler-Ornstein, Thessaloniki Olympiad 1984." GKB. That game actually went 14 h3 Rb8 - both moves eventually look like wasted tempi - 15 Nd2 Be6 16 Nd2 Qc7 17 f4 exf4 18 Bxf4 Rb7 19 Kh1 d5 20 Ne5 with a slight plus for White, 1-0 in 35 moves after some Black tactics backfired.} Bc8 15. h3 Be6 16. Nc4 Qc7 17. f4 exf4 18. Bxf4 Ne5 19. Bxe5 dxe5 {"Black has a few problems now. There are quite a few holes, his Bishops have little scope and the White Knights can go where they like." GKB.} 20. a5 Rad8 21. Qf3 Nd7 22. Nf5 Bf6 23. Nfe3 Rde8 {Up to this point the play on both sides has been okay. It's a typical manouevring Ruy Lopez with nothing specific going on but White has gained a little ground. The text is not a mistake as such but in view of Black's next move a better try is 23... Bg5 with an eye to swapping this ineffective Bishop for the e3 Knight.} 24. Rf1 Bxc4 $2 {"Black gets impatient." GKB. I couldn't agree more as I can't see any sensible reason for this move whatsoever. Only White's prospects are improved by this exchange. His small advantage becomes a clear one and come moves 31 and 32 Black must have been regretting this swap! Improvements are so easy here that I'm not even going to try listing them.} 25. Bxc4 Qc6 26. Qg4 { White's advantage keeps growing, Deep Rybka assessing this position as +1.23. Now Black makes a couple of consecutive errors that lose material. Deep Rybka suggests 26...Rb8 just to give the Rooks some space. The point will become clear shortly.} Bd8 $2 27. Bd5 Qd6 $4 {A dreadful move that loses material in two different ways. The blunt one is the simple reverse move order 28 Qxg7+! Kxg7 29 Nf5+ winning a Pawn. Sean's more subtle approach wins an Exchange.} 28. Nf5 Qg6 29. Qxg6 {The immediate 29 Bc6 also wins material. Black can't take because of the mate on g7 and must have now been regretting the swap of his light-squared Bishop.} hxg6 30. Nd6 Re7 31. Nc8 Ree8 32. Bc6 {"Very nice!" GKB. This shows up Black's error on move 26.} Bg5 33. Bxd7 Rxc8 34. Bxc8 Be3+ 35. Kh1 Rxc8 36. Rf3 {I wonder about playing 36 c3 or hereabouts keeping the White Pawn structure flexible, even at the cost of some temporary Black activity. With the method chosen in the game Sean is putting all his eggs in one basket.} Bd4 37. Raf1 f6 38. b3 Rb8 39. h4 $1 {White needs open lines for his Rooks in order to win this ending. The transfer of the Black Bishop to d4 makes it a good piece but the one square it really needs to support is f6 and it's no longer doing that. Sean's accurate move order rules out ...the blockading ... g6-g5 which would have been the reply to 39 g4?} Rb5 {There's every chance that this happened in a time-scramble. Instead of snatching a Pawn Black can do better by putting his King on e6 and his Rook on f8 and try holding the position together.} 40. g4 Rxa5 41. g5 {Now the pressure on f6 forces the opening of the f-file.} fxg5 42. hxg5 Ra2 $2 {"This just loses, but what happens after 42...Ra1? I cannot see how White can make progress." GKB. Presumably an oversight cause by time shortage. White can still win but he must make inroads with his King. This means a Pawn sacrifice or two with some permutation of c2-c3 followed by b3-b4 or d3-d4. I offer the following line which, although 35(!) moves deep, shows the passivity of the Black King, the activity of the White Rook and the inability of the Black Bishop to straddle the board effectively at critical moves. The line goes 42...Ra1 43.Rf8+ Kh7 44.Rxa1 Bxa1 45.Kg2 (45.Ra8 may allow Black to go after the g5 Pawn so White anticipates this.) 45...Bd4 46.Kf3 Bc3 47.Ra8 Bd4 48.Rxa6 Kg8 49.Ra7 Kf8 50.Rd7 Bc3 51.Ke3 Bd4+ 52.Ke2 Kg8 53.Kd1 Kf8 (if 53...Bc3 54.d4! creates space for the White King. Returning the Exchange by taking on b4 should create a winning King and Pawn ending. ) 54.c3 bxc3 55.Kc2 Kg8 56.Rc7 Kf8 (if 56...Be3 57.Kxc3 Bxg5 58.Rxc5 and the b-Pawn is too quick.) 57.Rb7 Be3 58.Rb5 Bd4 59.b4 cxb4 60.Rxb4 Ke7 (if 60...Be3 61.Kxc3 Bxg5 62.d4 is a winning ending.) 61.Rb7+ Kf8 62.Kb3 Kg8 63.Rc7 Kf8 64.Kc4 Be3 65.Kd5 Bxg5 66.Ke6 Kg8 67.Rxc3 Bf4 68. Rc8+ Kh7 69.Kf7 g5 70.Rg8 Bc1 71.Rxg7+ Kh6 72.Rg8 Kh5 73.Kf6 Bf4 74.Kf5 Kh4 75. Rd8 Kg3 76.d4 exd4 77.e5 and White is now clearly winning. A long line with many possible variations but the winning theme is clearly demonstrated. In the game Black simply gets mated down the cul-de-sac that is the h-file.} 43. Rf8+ Kh7 44. R1f3 Ra1+ 45. Kh2 1-0
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