Cover Story / GM Robert Byrne
On the tennis court with GM Yasser Seirawan in Merano, Italy, 1981 during the Karpov/Korchnoi world championship match. Seirawan was Korchnoi’s second; Byrne was covering the event for the New York Times.
14. ... Qb4? The Cuban is looking for complications,
but his idea meets a direct refutation. A modern grandmaster would have tried to bail out with 14. ... Qxe5+ 15. fxe5 Nd5 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Bxd5 Rxc2 18. 0-0 Bc5 19. Bxc5 Rxc5 20. Bxf7+ Ke7 21. Bg6 Be6 hoping to survive a pawn down endgame.
15. a3 Qd6 It turns out White wins after 15. ...
Qxb2 16. Ra2 Qc1+ 17. Ke2 Bb5+ 18. Nxb5 Rxc2+ 19. Kf3!
16. Bxb7 Rb8 17. Bxa6 Bc6 18. 0-0 More precise, or perhaps, just greedier
would be to play 18. Rh2 when 18. ...
Rxb2 loses straightaway to 19. Nb5. 18. ... Qd8 Still, after 18. ... Rxb2 19. Nb5 Qxe5 20.
fxe5 Bxb5 21. exf6 gxf6 22. Bxb2 there won’t be much resistance left in Black’s position.
19. Bb5 Bxb5 20. Nxb5 Rc8 21. Rac1 Be7 22. Na7, Black resigned.
What a demolition! This game went near unnoticed back then, but some 30 years later Alexei Shirov and Viktor Bologan started scoring heavily with white in that h3 line, taking advantage of the ideas first discovered by Robert Byrne.
Byrne defeated Larsen in their heads up
encounter, disappointing young Yermolinsky as well as thousands of other European schoolboys.
King’s Indian Defense, Sämisch Variation (E81) GM Bent Larsen GM Robert Byrne Leningrad Interzonal (15), June 23, 1973
1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 a6 6. Be3 c6 7. c5 O-O 8. Nge2 Nbd7 9. Nc1 b5 10. Be2 dxc5 11. dxc5 Ne5 12. Qc2 Be6 13. O-O Bc4 14. Rd1 Qc7 15. b3 Bxe2 16. N1xe2 Rfd8 17. h3 Rxd1+ 18. Rxd1 Rd8 19. f4 Rxd1+ 20. Qxd1 Ned7 21. e5 Ne8 22. b4 Nb8 23. a4 Qd7 24. Nd4 Nc7 25. Qb3 g5 26. fxg5 Bxe5
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