1986-02-15 - Boyce, J 0-1 Burgess, Graham
A sharp c3 Sicilian where small mistakes count for a lot. Graham punches all across the board and the 1983 Bristol champion cracks in time pressure.
[Event "BRISTOL LEAGUE CONGRESS"] [Site "?"] [Date "1986.02.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Boyce, J"] [Black "Burgess, Graham"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B07"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "66"] {Original notes by Graham Burgess marked GKB in BCT, Issue 56, April 1986.} 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 {"This variation a) forces White to think, b) is reasonably sound and, c) deserves a lot more attention than it has received. [If] 4 dxc5 Nc6 5 cxd6 Nxe4 6 dxe7 Qxd1+ 7 Kxd1 Nxf2+ 8 Ke1 Nxh1 9 exf8=Q+ Kxf8 10 g3 h5! intending ...h5-h4 gives Black the advantage according to Plachetka, [or] 4 f3 dxc4 5 cxd4 g6 (or 5...e5) 6 Be3 Bg7 7 Nc3 0-0 8 Qd2 a6 9 Nge2 e5 10 0-0 Nc6 11 g4 b5 12 d5 Na5 13 Ng3 gives counterplay. Jim's choice is the most popular." GKB. A lot to consider for the first note! If this variation 'forces White to think' then it's a good choice against Jim Boyce who habitually gets into time-trouble. Now for the specific variations. Firstly in the line beginning 4 dxc5 Deep Rybka doesn't think much of Plachetka's 10...h5, evaluating the position as +0.22 to White. Instead it prefers the move found in the database, 10...Bf5, giving Black a plus of 1.56 although the only two games recorded ended in draws. Secondly, the line 4 f3 dxc4 5 cxd4 g6 doesn't score very well for Black on the database, although the variation 5...e5 despite being less frequent actually has a 50% score..} 4. Bd3 cxd4 {"[If] 4...Nc6 5 Nf3 (Boyce-Burgess [from the 1985] League Congress went 5 Ne2 e5 6 d5 Ne7 with Black eventually winning.) 5...Bg4 6 d5 Ne5 7 Nxe5 Bxd1 8 Bb5+!" GKB. In this line 7...Bxd1 just loses but 7...dxe5 has a poor record on the database also. Black does better to play 6...Bxf3 or 6...Nb8 although White does well on the database here too. The Boyce-Burgess 1985 line also scores well for White but as Jim Boyce was also a King's Indian player, and that's what we'll have after Black fianchettoes his King's Bishop, he would have been uncomfortable playing the White side.} 5. cxd4 e5 $5 {"A novelty as far as I know. Normal is 5...g6 leading to equality. The move played insists on a fair share of the centre. It's only drawback may be that it is too committal." GKB. It might have been a novelty at the time but it currently features in 66 games on the database.} 6. Nf3 Bg4 $5 7. Be3 {"7 Qb3 Bxf3 8 gxf3 exd4 9 Qxb7 Nbd7 10 Bb5? (My ? TM.) Rb8! 11 Bxd7+ Nxd7 12 Qxa7 gives Black excellent compensation, but after the text Black seizes the initiative." GKB. At the end of this line there is 12...Nc5! threatening 13...Ra8 trapping the Queen. If 13 Qa3 Ra8 14 Qb4 Nb4+ wins. All Deep Rybka can come up with is 13 Bg5 f6 14 Bd2 Ra8 15 Ba5 which loses a piece.} exd4 {In Polivoda-Savushkina, Belarus Women's Championship, Minsk 2004, Black continued less energetically with 7...Be7 8 Nbd2 0-0 9 Qb3 exd4 10 Nxd4 Nbd7 and was ground down in 52 moves.} 8. Bxd4 Nc6 9. Bc3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nbd2 $2 {"Leaving the Bishop on c3 with no squares, so 11 h3 or 11 Re1 would be preferable." GKB.} d5 $1 12. e5 d4 {"[Ironically] a similar tactical device was used by Boyce in his first round game." GKB.} 13. exf6 Bxf6 14. Qc2 g6 15. Nxd4 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 $2 {Deep Rybka prefers the passive 16 Qb1. One can speculate that if Boyce had seen Black's 18th move he probably would have chosen 16 Qb1.} Bxd4 {"16...Qxd4 is also very strong. The two Bishops run riot all over the board, especially after White's next move." GKB. To me 16...Qxd4 looks even better than the text.} 17. h3 $2 {Deep Rybka suggests 17 Ne4 or 17 Rae1.} Rc8 18. Qb3 Bxh3 $1 { With the simple point 19 gxh3 Qg5+ picking up the Knight on d2. As Black is threatening 19...Qg5 anyway White's next is forced.} 19. Nf3 Be6 20. Qd1 {"[If] 20 Qxb7? Bd5 followed by 21...Bxf3 and a King-hunt." GKB. After 20.Qxb7 Bd5 21.Qb4 Bxf3 22.gxf3 Qg5+ 23.Kh1 Qh4+ 24.Kg2 Rc5 seems to prove that one easily enough. Yet again opposite-coloured Bishops favour the attacker in the middle-game.} Bxb2 $2 {"20...Bg7 with ...Qb6 and ...Rfd8 is stronger. White's position would crack under the pressure. Now White has a little counterplay." GKB. After 20...Bg7 21 Re1 Qb6 Deep Rybka has Black at +2.2 proving the point. When winning don't allow any unnecessary counterplay.} 21. Rb1 Bg7 22. Rxb7 Qa5 23. Qe2 Rfe8 24. Rd1 {Better is 24 Bb5 Bd5 25 Bxe8 Bxb7 but not by much.} Bb3 25. Qd2 Bc3 26. Qf4 $1 Qxa2 {Obviously not 26...Bxd1?? 27 Qxf7+ and mates.} 27. Bb1 Qa4 28. Qxa4 Bxa4 29. Rc1 {"Jim had little more than a minute left to reach move 42, I had about twenty, most of which I used on my next move. {If 29...a5 30 Ba2 Rf8 31 Ng5 Be8? 32 Rb3 wins for White, so Black must go into an ending." GKB. Instead of 31...Be8? there is 31...Bd2! After 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33. Nxf7 Rc1+ 34.Kh2 the cool 34...Kf8 keeps a big advantage. The point is that White can play either 35 Ne5 or d6 or, after 35...Bc6, 36 Rc7 because of ... Be5+. White must also be careful about playing g2-g3 because ...Ba4-c6 attacks the Rook and threatens mate on h1. Nevertheless it looks like White is getting play here so one can understand Graham's choice.} Bc6 30. Rxa7 Bxf3 31. gxf3 Bd4 32. Rxc8 Rxc8 33. Ba2 $4 {"After 33 Rb7 Rc1+ 34 Kg2 f5 Black has excellent winning chances despite the opposite-coloured Bishopsdue to White's weak f-Pawns." GKB.} Bxa7 {A complete vindication of Graham's opening choice. It made Jim think and the final blunder is a direct result of the time-trouble that he got into.} 0-1
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