1985-08-01 - Burgess, Graham 1-0 Anderson, J
Another Burgess Bashes the Benoni game. Opening analysis can take you far, both career-wise and into the game. Black has one chance to steady his ship and is then sunk without trace.
[Event "LLOYDS BANK MASTERS"] [Site "?"] [Date "1985.08.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Burgess, Graham"] [Black "Anderson, J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A67"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "1985.??.??"] {Another spectacular Graham Burgess game. Ironically an easy one for the annotator as some of the theoretical work has already been done in James-Elliott elsewhere on this page. Original notes by Graham marked GKB.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Bb5+ { "This unpleasant line has caused many people to give up the Benoni." GKB.} Nbd7 9. e5 dxe5 10. fxe5 Nh5 11. e6 Qh4+ {"David Norwood's line. The alternative 11. ..fxe6 12 dxe6 0-0 13 Nf3 Bd4 doesn't quite work." GKB. Graham doesn't explain why this "doesn't quite work" but there are only eight games on the database and White has won seven of them. Two continued 14 exd7 Bxd7 15 Qb3+ (after Deep Rybka's suggestion of 15 Be2 evaluating White as 1.5 better Black has 15...Rxf3 16 Bxf3 Qh4+ 17 g3 Nxg3 18 hxg3+ Qxg3+ 19 Kd2 Qf4+ 20.Kc2 Bf5+ 21.Kb3 c4+ 22.Kxc4 Qc7+ 23.Kxd4 Qb6+ 24.Ke5 Re8+ 25.Kf4 Qc7+ 26.Kg5 Qe7+ 27. Kh6 Qf8+ 28.Kg5 Qe7+ with a draw by repetition!) and after 15...Kh8 16 Bg5 17 Kd1 in Landgren-Evertsson, Ronneby 1998, White went on to win after 42 moves without any particular problem.} 12. g3 Nxg3 13. hxg3 Qxh1 14. exd7+ {"The line 14 Be3 has been more popular. After 14...0-0 15 exd7 Bxd7 16 Bxd7 Rae8 17 Bxe8 Rxe8 18 Kd2 Bxc3+ 19 bxc3 Qxd5+ 20 Kc1! Qxd1+ 21 Kxd1 Rxe3 22 Ne2 an endgame arises which was drawn in James- Elliott, Newport 1985 but which Keene assesses as a win for White. If 18 Qe2 Bd4 19 0-0-0 Rxe3 20 Qc4 (P Littlewood v Norwood, Commonwealth Championship, London 1985) Black has a lot of play. The move played has the idea of keeping Black's King in the centre and has great surprise value." GKB. In Littlewood-Norwood White went on to lose as his extra Knight had no impact on a game that was almost exclusively played on the Queenside. Later analysis gave 20 Qd2 or 20 Qc2 as better lines for White. In the current game it's amusing to note Graham saying the text has surprise value as it's clearly an obvious candidate move! However, I believe the move did become more fashionable than 14 Be3 partly as a result of this game!} Bxd7 15. Bxd7+ Kxd7 {I recall Graham and Sean Elliott analysing this at the club. There seemed to be little difference between this move and 16 Qa4+ but after a lot of analysis they decided that 16 Qg4+ f5 17 Qa4+ was the right sequence. It wasn't clear that ...f7-f5 improved Black's position in any way whereas the White Queen has more options playing on the opposite wing to the Black Queen.} 16. Qg4+ f5 17. Qa4+ Kc8 18. Be3 Bh6 {"The best chance." GKB. The usual move in six other games was 18...Bxc3+ which finished 3-3 with a win for both colours. 18...Bh6 was played in the game D MacFarlane-Bellin from the same event as the current game.} 19. Bxc5 Qg2 20. Qc4 $2 {In a very sharp position White is the first to blink. Instead Deep Rybka suggests 20 Nge2 because if 20. ..Qh1+ 21 Bg1 Be3 22 Kd1 Bxg1 23 Kc2 is rates White as better by +1.5 and, compared to the game, he still has his g3 Pawn.} Re8+ $2 {Deep Rybka says that Black ought to try 20...Qxg3+ 21 Bf2+ Qc7 and after 22 Qe2 says the position is equal. Mosat annotators would simply say unclear but the machine, bless it, has to put a number on it due to its programming.} 21. Nge2 Qxg3+ 22. Kd1 Qg4 { The difference between the two lines given in the notes given in the previous two notes is that here 22...Qc7 is met by 23 Nb5 and a discovered check by the Bishop is going to be nasty - 23...Qg7 (if 23...Qf7 24 Nd6+ wins the Queen.) 24 Bd4+ or 23...Qd7 24 Be3+ Kd8 25 Bxh6 threatening 26 Bg5+ and 25...Qe7 26 Bg5 Qxg5 - note the value of having forced ...f7-f5 - 27 Qc7 mate. Even better is 24 Be7+ Kb8 25 Bd6+ winning the Queen while Deep Rybka said 24 Bb6+ was mate in six. So strong is 23 Nb5 that Deep Rybka gaves up an Exchange with 23.. Re4 24 Ned4 Rxd4+ but now White is winning on material.} 23. Bd4+ Kd7 24. d6 $1 {"Initiating a King hunt." GKB.} Rac8 25. Qf7+ Kxd6 26. Nb5+ Kc6 {"I now missed the forced mate but gave a few checks which thankfully do not throw it away." GKB.} 27. Nxa7+ Kd6 28. Nb5+ Kc6 29. Qf6+ Kd5 30. Qf7+ Kc6 {Not a three-times repetition as Black's a7 Pawn was on the board the first time. If 30...Re6 31 Qd7+ wins a lot of material. "Now I see it. A forced mate in six. " GKB.} 31. Rc1+ $3 Bxc1 {If 31...Kxb5 32 Qb3+ Ka5 33 Qb6+ Ka4 34 b3+ Ka3 35 Qa5 mate.} 32. Qc4+ Kd7 33. Qd5+ Ke7 34. Qd6+ {"If 34...Kf7 35 Qf6+ Kg8 36 Qg7 mate - the reason for 31 Rc1+ was decoying the Bishop from g7."} 1-0
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