1986-08-24 - Hebden, Mark ½-½ Burgess, Graham
A lively Caro-Kann with some theoretical interest. In a Queenless middle-game both sides avoid getting into trouble until Graham overlooks a simple loss of a Pawn when short of time. He holds on for a draw in instructive fashion. Five Pawns on one file is a curious side feature.
[Event "LLOYDS BANK MASTERS"] [Site "?"] [Date "1986.08.24"] [Round "5"] [White "Hebden, Mark"] [Black "Burgess, Graham"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B13"] [Annotator "Doe,John"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "1986.??.??"] {Original notes by Graham Burgess (GKB) in BCT Issue 60, October 1986.} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Be6 7. a3 $5 {"A highly original response to Black's curious, but fashionable, 6th move. Forcing continuations tend to justify Black's set-up: 7 Bxf6 gxf6! 8 Qd2 Qa5 9 c5 0-0-0 10 Bb5 Rg8 11 f4? Bh6 12 Qf2? Nb4 and Black was winning in Miles-Yusupov, Tunis Interzonal 1985; 7 Qd2 Qa5 8 c5 Ne4 9 Nxe4 dxe4 10 Qxa5 Nxa5 holds no terrors for Black; 7 Nge2 dxc4 8 Nf4 (8 Bxf6?! gxf6 9 d5 Na5 was a five minute game Hebden-Burgess, 1986; Black was soon much better) 8...Nxd4 9 Nxe6 Nxe6 10 Bxc4 gives White sufficient compensation for the Pawn. Hebden's idea cuts out . ..Qa5 since this is met by b4, and gives Black the move - since Black's position is basically a counterpunching one, this is not completely desirable, " GKB. According to the database and a comment by Yusupov the most straightforward way to play this position is 7 Bxf6 gxf6 8 c5. In his notes Yusupov refers to a game Botvinnik-Flohr 1965 but the last time Botvinnik ever had White against Flohr was in 1958. However, there is a game Nezhmetdinov-Flohr, Tchigorin Memorial, Sochi 1965 which has both 7 a3 and Hebden's Bishop manoeuvre but was drawn in a mere 15 moves. At the time of writing 7 a3 is the most popular move in the database!} g6 8. Be2 $1 {8 Bxf6 is again more popular now, but in 1986 this line with 6...Be6 was almost virgin territory. I remember being sceptical when Graham demonstrated it at club one evening although I only had a passing phase of playing the Panov-Botvinnik Attack. Hebden goes his own way but that seems effective to a degree. I can confirm from experience that in the Panov-Botvinnik Attack the formation of Bishop on f3 and Knight on f4 via e2 can be strong, particularly if defending an extra Pawn on d5.} Na5 $6 {"8...Bg7? 9 Bf3 wins material, since after 10 Bxf6 the d5 square will collapse." GKB. This note is the reason why Graham gave an ! to Hebden's 8th move. Graham's own move does not feature in the database and the reason why is that the note is not correct. After 8... Bg7 9.Bf3 one line is 9...dxc4 and if 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.d5 Qb6 12.dxe6 [if 12 Nge2 0-0-0! is good for Black) 12...Qxb2 13.Nd5 0-0-0! 14.Rb1 Qe5+ 15. Qe2 Rxd5 16.Bxd5 Qxd5 and Black has plenty of compensation for the Exchange. There is also after 9...dxc4 the line 10.d5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Nd4 12.Nc3 Qb6 and Deep Rybka says that for a piece Black has two Pawns and a lot of activity. Worth looking at and the sort of thing that would appeal to Graham. There is another line. After 8...Bg7 9.Bf3 there is simply 9...Qb6 because 10.cxd5 Bxd5 11.Bxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qa5+ 13.Nc3 Qxg5 is clearly better for Black. Sadly we have to conclude that 8...Na5 is an error because after the natural sequence in the game Black is forced to put the Knight back on c6 losing two tempi.} 9. Bxf6 exf6 10. cxd5 Bxd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 12. Bf3 {More accurate seems to be 12 Qa4+ Nc6 13 Bf3 - 13...Qxd4?? 14 Bxc6+ wins the Queen - although after 13...Qd7 14 Rc1 transposes to the game. 14 Ne2 is an alternative for White and for Black he could instead venture 13...Qa5+ although White has a small plus in the ending.} Qd7 13. Rc1 {"Threatening 14 d5 leaving Black's Knight with no squares, so ...." GKB.} Nc6 14. Qa4 Bh6 {Given an !? by Graham but with no comment. It looks like a sensible move to me.} 15. Bxc6 {"15.Rxc6 0-0 16.Rc4 b5 is good for Black." GKB} bxc6 16. Qxc6 Rd8 {"16...Rb8 was tempting but in time-trouble (25 moves in twenty minutes) I could not assess all the possibilities. 17 Qxd7+ Kxd7 18 Rb1 Rb3 is good for Black - he will win back at least his Pawn with some advantage. White can try 17 Rc2 Qxc6 18 Rxc6 Kd7 19 Ra6. One possibility then is 19...Rxb2 20 Rxa7+ Ke6 21 g3 - to give the King a home on g2 - when White is tied up but has an extra Pawn. The move I chose forces a roughly level ending." GKB. Deep Rybka says that 16... Rb8 is a small plus for Black. However, in Graham's line 17 Rc2 Qxc6 18 Rxc6 Kd7 19 Ra6 19...Rxb2 20 Rxa7+ Ke6 21 g3 the engine continues 21...Rc8 22 Kf1 Rcc2 23 Nh3 Be3! - 24 fxe3?? Rb1 or c1 mate - and says Black is nearly +2. Maybe the best line for White is 17.Qxd7+ Kxd7 18.Rc2 Rhe8+ 19.Ne2 but after the smart 19... Bc1! 20.Rxc1 Rxb2 21.0-0 Rexe2 I think Deep Rybka underestimates Black's advantage here, giving it as a mere +0.36 to Black. The engine confirms that the text should be good enough for equality.} 17. Qxd7+ {"[If] 17 Qxf6 0-0 [or] 17 Rc2 Qxc6 18 Rxc6 Rxd4." GKB. In the first line Deep Rybka gives Black +2.65. Not surprising as White is way behind in development, has his c1 Rook en prise and Black has 18...Rfe8+ coming. In the second line the engine says that it's complete equality and gives the calm 19 Ne2 Rd8 - before White forces it with 20 Rc8+ - 20 0-0 0-0 just to tidy things up. White may lay claim to a small advantage here because of the Pawn structure though.} Kxd7 18. Rc5 Rc8 19. Kd1 Rxc5 20. dxc5 Kc6 21. Nf3 $1 {"[If] 21 b4 Rd8+ and White is in deep trouble." GKB. White's priority here is finishing development, not hanging on to useless extra Pawns. Deep Rybka analyses 22 Kc2 Rd2+ 23 Kb3 Bf4 24 Nf3 Rxf2 25 Nd4+ with an advantage to White, but then switches to the stronger 23...Rd1! keeping White tied up. That certainly qualifies as deep trouble as White may never be able to free himself from this pin. He may ultimately have to move the f2 Pawn permitting ...Be3 or d4 and if White is lucky he might have Nf3 losing just an Exchange. Black has various ideas to combat that and would ideally be looking to win a whole piece, regardless of anything he can achieve against the White King on the other side of the board.} Kxc5 22. Re1 Rd8+ 23. Kc2 Rd7 {"White has chances of an outside passed Pawn; Black has a more active King and long range Bishop as compensation, but the most relevant factor was the clock." GKB.} 24. Re4 a5 $2 {Missing White's next move and dropping a Pawn. } 25. Rh4 Bg5 26. Rxh7 Re7 27. Kb1 Kc4 28. h4 {White declines to trade Bishop for Knight because if the Black King gets into b3 he intends to flush it out with Nd4+ or Nd2+ as appropriate. Instead Hebden tries to devalue Black's Kingside Pawns even further.} Bf4 29. h5 g5 $1 {Keeping White's Rook restricted at the cost of giving him an outside passed Pawn. However, White's own Rook is currently in the way and lacking scope. After 29...gxh5? 30 Rxh5 the a5 Pawn is en prise and White also threatens the awkward fork 31 Rf5.} 30. Rh8 g4 31. Rc8+ $2 {According to Deep Rybka the immediate 31 g3 is more accurate. The check seems to push the Black King to where it wants to go. However, possibly Hebden was hoping for 31... Kb3?? 32 Nd4+ Ka4 33 Rc4 mate!} Kd3 32. g3 {"After twenty minutes' thought, so I smelt a rat - this move invites 32...Bxg3 which fails to 33 h6 [the point of 32 g3 being that the Bishop has been deflected from control of this square - TM] 33...gxf3 34 Rd8+! [pushing the Black King a file further away from f3, because if it now goes to the e-file then it blocks the Rook from going to e1. TM] 34...Kc4 35 h7 Re1+ 36 Kc2 Rh1 37 h8=Q Rxh8 38 Rxh8 Bxf2 39 Rh3 with a won ending. Both players were now in time trouble which explains some of the following moves." GKB. There's an amusing sideline here. After 32...Bxg3 33. h6 gxf3 34.Rd8+ Black can try the intriguing 34...Bd6. However it still loses after 35.Rxd6+ Ke2 36. Rd8! Kxf2 37.h7 Re1+ 38.Kc2 Rh1 39.h8=Q Rxh8 40.Rxh8 Kg3 41.Rg8+! Kf2 - moving to the h-file just leaves the King cut off and White brings his own across to win the triplets. - 42.Kd2 a4 43.Rg4 and White mops up.} gxf3 33. gxf4 {"Five Pawns on one file! A record?" GKB. It might have been then. The record is currently Sevcikova - Blichova, Girls U12 championship, Slovakia, 1999 with six at move 21! That went 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. a3 Bxc3 6. dxc3 Nxe4 7. Bxc6 dxc6 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nxe5 Rf8 10. O-O Bf5 11. Be3 Nd6 12. Rac1 Re8 13. Rfe1 f6 14. Nd3 Nc4 15. Rcd1 Ke7 16. Bxa7+ Kf7 17. Bc5 Rxe1+ 18. Rxe1 Re8 19. Rxe8 Kxe8 20. b3 b6 21. bxc4 bxc5 22. a4 Bxd3 23. cxd3 Kd7 24. a5 Kc8 25. f4 Kb7 26. g4 Ka6 27. Kf2 g5 28. fxg5 fxg5 29. Kf3 Kxa5 30. d4 Kb6 31. d5 cxd5 32. cxd5 c6 33. d6 Kb7 34. Ke4 Kc8 35. Kf5 Kd7 36. Kxg5 Kxd6 37. Kh6 Kd5 38. Kxh7 Kc4 39. g5 Kxc3 40. g6 c4 41. g7 Kb2 42. g8=Q c3 43. Qb8+ Kc2 44. Kg6 Kd2 45. Qd6+ Kc2 46. Qxc6 Kd2 47. Qd5+ Kc2 48. h4 Kb2 49. Qb5+ Ka1 50. h5 c2 51. Qc5 Kb1 52. h6 c1=Q 53. Qxc1+ 1-0 Having established that, and being unable to find anything relating to five Pawns on one file whatever the colour, I did find a forum where there was discussion that the maximum number possible was seven. Given the structure in Sevcikova - Blichova for example, the theory is that with another White or Black Pawn respectively capturing on c8 or c1 then just for a moment (half a move was the term used) a seventh Pawn appears on the file. I grant the premise but practically that seventh Pawn is, in effect, coming from two files away so this involves a lot of capturing by Pawns. Being a fan of retrograde analysis I know that this is possible, but exceedingly unlikely to happen in a real competitive game. Going back to the game Deep Rybka now evaluates the position as completely level. Still several more moves to the time-control though!} Re1+ 34. Ka2 Rh1 $2 {"34...Ke2!" GKB.} 35. Re8 $1 Rxh5 36. Re3+ Kd2 37. Rxf3 Ke2 38. Rc3 Kxf2 39. b4 $2 {"39 a4 intending b4 to obtain a more distant passed Pawn gave real winning chances." GKB. Practical winning chances, yes, but the engine says it doesn't really matter. Deep Rybka holds the draw with 39.a4 Ke2 40.b4 axb4 41.Rc4 Kd3 42.Kb3 Rh1 43.Kxb4 f5 44.Kc5 Rh8 45.Rd4+ Ke3 46.Rb4 Ra8 47.Kd6 Kd3 giving White a small plus of 0.41.} axb4 40. axb4 Rf5 {"Time control reached. The ending is a simple draw." GKB.} 41. Rc4 Ke3 42. Kb3 Rxf4 43. b5 Rf1 44. Rc2 Rd1 45. Rc5 Ke4 46. Rc7 f5 47. Re7+ Kf3 48. Kc4 f4 49. Rxf7 Kg3 50. Rg7+ Kf2 1/2-1/2
The games viewer used here was developed by
http://chesstempo.com
and is licensed under
CC BY 2.0.
