1986-04-26 - Burgess, Graham 1-0 Smith, A
An Old Indian where Black gets into serious difficulty very quickly. Graham is allowed a classic buil-up on both sides of the board. When Smith plays ...h7-h6 followed by ...g7-g5 Graham crashes through with wonderful efficiency.
[Event "COUNTY Q/F GLOS V LANCS"] [Site "?"] [Date "1986.04.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Burgess, Graham"] [Black "Smith, A"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A54"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "1986.??.??"] {Original notes by Graham Burgess (GKB) in BCT Issue 63, February 1987.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bg5 {"Also good is 5 e4. The move played intends keeping open the b1-h7 diagonal for direct action against Black's King. " GKB.} c6 {"A postal game GKB v AJ Savage 1984-6 took an intriguing course: [5...Be7 6.e3 c6 7.Qc2 0-0 8.Bd3 h6 9.h4 Re8 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.0-0-0 Qa5 12.g4 exd4 13.exd4 Nf8 14.Rhg1!? Bxh4 15.Ne4 (15.Nxh4 Qg5+ TM) 15...d5 16.Nd6 dxc4 17.Bf5 Bxf5 18.gxf5 Qd5 19.Nxe8 Qxf3 20.Rxg7+ Kh8 21.Rdg1 Bg5+ 22.R7xg5 hxg5 23.Nd6 Qf4+ 24.Qd2 Qxd2+ (24...Qxd6 25.Qxg5 Ng6 26.fxg6 and White is winning. TM) 25.Kxd2 f6 26.Re1 b5 27.Re7 a5 28.Rc7 Ra6 29.Ne8 Nh7 30.Rc8 Rb6 31.Kc3! Kg8 32.Nxf6+ Kg7 33.Ng4 Ra6 34.Rc7+ 1-0." GKB. Very nice indeed.} 6. e3 Qa5 { "An idea reminiscent of the Cambridge Springs (1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Nbd7 5 e3 c6 6 Nf3 Qa5) but this seems less logical because Black does not have the resources ...Nd4, ...Bb4 and ...dxc4 at his disposal." GKB.} 7. Qd2 Be7 8. Bd3 O-O {"If 8...Nf8 9 0-0 Ng6 10 Rfe1 intending 11 c5 with an edge." GKB.} 9. O-O Qc7 {"The threat was 10 Nd5 e.g. 9...exd4 10 Nd5 Qd8 [10...Qxd2? 11 Nxe7+ wins a piece. TM} 11 Nxe7+ Qxe7 12 exd4 h6 13 Rae1 Qd8 14 Bxh6 gxh6 15 Qxh6 with a winning attack." GKB. Deep Rybka confirms this line and its conclusion. Of course Black doesn't have to play either 9...exd4 or 12...h6. However, the point is that 6...Qa5 does seem to have been a loss of time even though it was a recognised theoretical move, albeit with a poor percentage score.} 10. Rab1 {[%emt 0:00:00] "The immediate 10 b4 allows 10...d5! with very messy complications." GKB. 10 b4 was played in Polugayevsky vs. Boleslavsky, Moscow 1964. The game continued 10...Re8 11.Qc2 exd4 12.exd4 Nf8 13.h3 Ne6 14.Be3 g6 15.Rfe1 d5 16.c5 Nh5 and Black had stabilised the position. A sharp game was drawn in 37 moves. After 10 b4 d5? just looks like it is losing a Pawn. Deep Rybka analyses the following line: 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.cxd5 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qxe5 15.f4 Qd6 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.Qc2 Qxb4 18.Bxh7+ Kh8 19.Be4 with an advantage for White.} a5 11. Qc2 Re8 12. a3 Bf8 13. b4 axb4 14. axb4 h6 {I have my suspicions about this move. With the benefit of seeing Black's next two moves I prefer 14...g6 a la Boleslavsky and 15...Bg7.} 15. Bh4 exd4 {Graham gives this an ? and comments "Black's pieces now find themselves permanently tangled." Deep Rybka has this as second choice after 15...Ra3, and I'm not sure what that's about either! The text may not necessarily be a mistake but the move after definitely is.} 16. Nxd4 Qd8 $2 {The ? is mine. Having gone to a5 on move six the Queen has already retreated once to c7. Now there is a further withdrawal to its home square so that is effectively a loss of three tempi. We can confirm that by noting that White's Queen, Queen's Bishop and Queen's Rook have all moved to effective squares. What's more the text is a self-pin! However, Deep Rybka shows that it doesn't understand this position too well because its suggestions are 16...g5 and 16...Nh5. I can't find anything constructive here. What I'd like to play is 16...g6 and 17. ..Bg7 but with ...h7-h6 having been played Black may be vulnerable to Bxg6. When I put this to Deep Rybka it doesn't want to sac on g6, tempting though it may be to a human, but chooses the prosaic 17 Ra1 instead, taking control of the a-file. The evaluation after the text is +0.56 to White, although taking into account White's superior development and space advantage it feels like much more. Of course cramped, compact positions are usually difficult to break down, but Graham has already targeted the soft spot on d6.} 17. Ne4 { "Black can't move the d7 Knight without his Kingside being shattered, and the c8 Bishop is thus blocked in. Black is playing without two pieces. It is fitting that White ends up sacrificing two pieces!" GKB. Deep Rybka prefers 17 Ra1 again. The engine says the text is not so good because Black can play 17...g5 18 Bg3 Ne5. After 19 Be2 I feel Black has simply set himself up for f2-f4.} Kh8 $2 {"Black has no useful moves but this just weakens f7." GKB.} 18. Nf5 Re6 19. c5 $1 {"To win d6 for a Knight." GKB. It's a sign of White's superiority that in the game he never uses the d6 square, although clearly it's a great square to control and occupy.} g5 $2 {"If 19...dxc5 20. bxc5 Nxc5 21.Nxc5 Bxc5 22.Qxc5 Qxd3 23.Qf8+ forces mate." GKB A neat line that shows up a lot of the drawbacks to Black's position. The text is not only desperation, but a clear invitation for a sacrifice, and as we've learnt Graham is not one to turn a sac down! However, Deep Rybka couldn't find another move either.} 20. Bxg5 $1 hxg5 {Deep Rybka prefers 20...dxc5 which is just a sign that it's given upon Black's position already.} 21. Nxg5 Qe8 {The threat of 22 Nxf7+ means White can regain his material if he wishes, but Graham is happy just picking up another tempo for the attack.} 22. f4 $1 { "Keeps Black's Knight out of e5 and brings the f1 Rook into the attack. The rest is easy." GKB.} d5 {"Accompanied by a draw offer. My reply 'I think I'll play on for a few more moves.' was more than a little ironic!" GKB. If 23... Rxe3 24 Nxe3 Qxe3+ 25 Kh1 and Rf1-f3-h3 follows.} 23. Qf2 Ra3 24. Qh4+ Kg8 25. Rf3 Rxd3 26. Rg3 Rexe3 27. Nf3+ 1-0
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