1986-01-01 - Palmer, Richard 1-0 White, J
et another Richard Palmer win from the National Club Competition. It's a King's Knight Opening but it pays to develop your other pieces too. Black fails to do so, Richard makes a nice piece sac and then his g-Pawn almost single-handedly munches its way through Black's depleted defences
[Event "NATIONAL CLUB CHAMP"] [Site "?"] [Date "1986.01.01 [Round "?"] [White "Palmer, Richard"] [Black "White, J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C53"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "59"] {Original notes by Richard Palmer (RP) in BCT 56, April 1986.} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 Nc6 4. Nf3 h6 $6 {This wastes time, costs time, and that's enough to explain why it doesn't appear on the database!} 5. O-O d6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb6 8. h3 $6 {Don't move the Pawns in front of your castled King when your opponent hasn't castled on the same side of the board! This is designed to stop ...Bg4 pressuring d4 but White should develop pieces with Nc3 and/or Be3.} Nf6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. a3 $2 {Richard clearly intends lining up Queen and Bishop on the b1-h7 diagonal then playing e4-e5. However, two Pawn to Rook Threes is a luxury and Black should reply with the classic counter in the centre: 10... Nxe4! 11 Nxe4 d5.} Na5 $2 {Putting the Knight offside as well as pushing the Bishop to where it wants to go.} 11. Ba2 Re8 12. Qc2 {Now that Black has kindly lifted the pressure from d4 Richard can place the Queen on c2 so that after e4-e5 there is no swap of Queens available to Black after an exchange of Pawns on e5.} Nc6 {So a loss of two tempi is conceded. "Knights on the rim look dim."} 13. Be3 Qe7 14. Rfe1 Qf8 {Admitting that after 14...Nxe4? 15 Bxh6 is good for White. Deep Rybka points out that 15 Nd5 Qf8 16 Nxb6 cxb6 - to avoid c7 being en prise at move 18 - 17 d5 Nb8 18 Bxh6 is even better.} 15. Rad1 Re7 16. Bb1 g6 17. Qd2 {With the b1-g8 diagonal blocked Richard switches to a different diagonal.} Kh7 18. Nd5 $1 {"Forcing the exchange of Black's best defensive piece." RP. It takes Black seven moves to replace the f6 Knight by which time his position is shattered.} Nxd5 19. exd5 Nb8 $2 {"On d8 the Knight would defend f7 and e6. However, after 20 Kh2 threatening Bxh6 White is palpably winning." RP. A handy use of 8 h3. After this Deep Rybka suggests the awful 20...Rd7 when 21 Nh4 f5 22 Nxf5! gxf5 23 Bxh6 Qxh6 24 Bxf5+ Kg7 25 Bxd7 Qxd2 26 Rxd2 Bxd7 27 Re7+ and 28 Rxd7 when Black will get steamrollered in the ending by the White Kingside Pawns.} 20. Bxh6 $1 Rxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Qxh6 22. Ng5+ Kg7 23. Qf4 {The difference becomes apparent. With the Knight on d8 the f7 Pawn would be defended.} Bf5 {Both 23...f6 and 23...f5 are met by 24 Re7+ and Black is overrun.} 24. g4 {25 Bxf5 is even better according to Deep Rybka but it's a matter of taste. This Pawn doesn't stop taking things until it gets to f7 so Black's position must have appealed to its palate! The late arrival of the Black Knight to a relevant sector of the board doesn't make any difference as two other Black pieces are out of play, and the Black Queen could wish to be on a better square.} Nd7 25. gxf5 Nf6 26. fxg6 Rf8 27. gxf7 Kh8 28. Re8 $1 {"Quicker than the prosaic 28 Re6." RP.} Nxd5 {If 28... Nxe8 29 fxe8=Q Rxe8 30 Nf7+ wins.} 29. Rxf8+ Qxf8 30. Qh4+ {After 30...Kg7 31 Qh7+ Kf6 32 Qg6+ Ke7 33 Qe6+ Kd8 34 Bf5 Nf6 35 Qxf6+ Qe7 36 f8=Q mate is the overwhelming finish.} 1-0
The games viewer used here was developed by
http://chesstempo.com
and is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.
