23. ... Ng4 24. e4 Suddenly the quiet positional game
opens up and becomes very sharp and tactical.
24. ... dxe4 25. Rxc8 Rxc8 26. Bxe4
-vlr+-+-+ +-+q+pmk- p+-+p+p+ +p+-+n+p -vL-zPL+nzP zP-+-+-zP- NzP-+-zP-+ +-+RwQ-mK-
After 26. Bxe4
26. ... Ba7? Black should either take the pawn on d4
(why not?) or block it with 26. ... Ne7 and then 27. ... Nf6—eventually, with ... N (either) d5.
27. Bxf5 exf5
A big mistake, paving the way for a winning naval passed pawn. Correct. 27. ... gxf5 weakens the black
king’s guard—but White’s strong passer is a greater evil.
28. Bc5?! My opponent missed the opportunity to
take advantage of my mistake. The Sailor was short on time with less than five minutes left on his clock while I had 14 minutes. A better move for White would have been 28. Bc3, grabbing a tempo while solidifying the center. If 28. ... Qd5 then 29. Nb4 followed by f2-f3 and Kg2 with a comfortable position for the Navy.
28. ... Re8!
A fine move by this Soldier, forcing the Sailor’s queen to go to a passive square. The Soldier seized the initiative.
29. Qd2 Bb8
-vl-+r+-+ +-+q+pmk- p+-+-+p+ +pvL-+p+p -+-zP-+nzP zP-+-+-zP- NzP-wQ-zP-+ +-+R+-mK-
After 29. ... Bb8 30. Nc3
uschess.org
Too slow. White had to play 30. d5 and (if allowed) 31. d6.
30. ... f4! A key move. The Army intends to use
the light squares of the h3-c8 diagonal with the intended target on the g4-square for his powerful queen. Then the weak- ness on h4 and f4 will tell. The Navy will not be able to mount a counterattack with an extra pawn on d4 quickly enough to deflect the Army’s plan. (31. gxf4 Nf6, followed by ... Qg4+.)
31. Ne2 fxg3 32. Nxg3 Bxg3 33. fxg3 Re3
-+-+-+-+ +-+q+pmk- p+-+-+p+ +pvL-+-+p -+-zP-+nzP zP-+-tr-zP- -zP-wQ-+-+ +-+R+-mK-
After 33. ... Re3 34. d5
Other moves also lose, e.g. 34. Qg2 (or 34. Kg2) 34. ... Qc7.
34. ... Rxg3+ 35. Kh1 Qf5! With the threat to mate in three moves.
36. Qe2
-+-+-+-+ +-+-+pmk- p+-+-+p+ +pvLP+q+p -+-+-+nzP zP-+-+-tr- -zP-+Q+-+ +-+R+-+K
After 36. Qe2
36. ... Ne5?? White has 19 seconds left and I have
five minutes. I completely missed check- mating Black in three moves. 36. ... Nf2+ 37. Bxf2 Qh3 checkmate (37. Qxf2 Qe4+ 38. Kh2 Qxh4 checkmate). The last checkmate is tricky and difficult to see in time pressure.
37. Bd4 f6 38. Bxe5 fxe5 39. d6 Rh3+ 40. Kg2 Rxh4
At this time I offered a draw to my
friendly colleague in the U.S. Armed Forces despite my superior position, but he refused.
41. d7 Qh3+ 42. Kf2 Rf4+ 43. Ke1 Qh1+, Draw agreed.
-+-+-+-+ +-+P+-mk- p+-+-+p+ +p+-zp-+p -+-+-tr-+ zP-+-+-+- -zP-+Q+-+ +-+RmK-+q
Final position This is the first time in my life that I
played a game of chess for more than five hours. I never knew that chess con- centration could last this long. All I wanted was to rest my head and I offered him a draw for the second time despite my positional and material advantage and my friend gladly accepted it. The ending would have been 44. Kd2 Rd4+ 45. Kc2 Qc6+ and 46. ... Rxd7, winning. A good chessplayer, like a good Soldier,
should train himself to be able to play/fight reasonably well even when sick or tired. Kibitz ... (chess) History check! About twenty years ago British-American Grand- master Tony Miles played all his games in a super-strong Wijk aan Zee tournament lying on his stomach (due to a serious back injury)—and came in first! But, in fairness, both players can be
proud of this game—and learn a lot from it.
.
Send in your games! If you are unrated or were rated
1799 or be low on your Chess Life (CL) label, then GM Lev Alburt invites you to send your most instructive game with notes to:
Back to Basics, c/o Chess Life PO Box 3967 Crossville, TN 38557-3967
Or e-mail your material to
backtobasics@uschess.org
GM Alburt will select the “most
instructive” game and CL will award an autographed copy of Lev’s newest book, Chess Training Pocket Book II (by Lev Alburt and Al Lawrence) to the person submitting the most in - structive game and annotations. Do not send games with only a
few notes, as they are of little instruc- tive value and can’t be used. Writing skills are a plus, but instructiveness is a must! Make sure your game (or part of it) and your notes will be of interest to other readers.
Chess Life — February 2012 47
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