Correspondence Chess / 2009 Electronic Knights / 2011 Absolute
Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense (C65) Stephen McGregor (2167) Barry Endsley (2285) 2009 Electronic Knights Final
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. 0-0 Bc5 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 a6 7. Be2
7. Ba4 has fallen out of favor after
7. ... b5 8. Bb3 Bxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. c3 Bb7 when the position is unclear as in the game Epiney-Ottenweller, Corres. 2002.
7. ... Nxe4 8. dxc5 Nxc5 9. Qd4 d6 10. f4 Ng6 11. Qxg7 Bf5
Prudence would suggest 12. Re1. Aggression favors 12. g4!?.
12. g4!? Qe7 13. gxf5 Qxe2 14. fxg6 Qg4+ 15. Kh1 0-0-0 16. Qd4
GM Alexander Goloshchapov-Hans
Klip, Belgium 2003 continued 16. Nc3 Ne6 17. Qf6 hxg6 18. Be3 with rough equality.
16. ... hxg6 Black has only one pawn for his
piece and lots of material gone, but the exposed position of the white king guarantees him counterplay. Is it enough?
17. Qg1 Qf5 18. Nc3 Rh5 This is the best spot for the rook.
There has not been a lot of experience with this position but Bueno-Ledezma Alvarez, CADAP 2008 saw 18. ... Qxc2? when White missed 19. f5! gxf5 20. Qf2 and Kovicky-Leupold, ICCF 2012 witnessed 18. ... Rh3 when 19. Qg5! is strong.
19. Rf2 Re8 20. Rg2 From his cramped quarters White
A very unbalanced position has
arisen. Black has a lead in development and the better grip on the center; White has the two bishops and the safer king.
A colossal struggle!
Third place was held down by Leroy Gay of Chicago, Illinois. Leroy was born on June 1, 1955, in Baltimore, Maryland. He joined a chess club in junior high and played some team competition in high school. For a few years Leroy was a tourna ment director, but he turned to postal play for competition. He had to take long breaks from chess due to family and other full time commitments. In the nineties he earned a black belt in karate and taught for a few years while working full time.
Leroy’s path to third place was steady— 4½ points in the preliminary section: a loss to Harold Brown and a draw with John Badger. He had a strong semifinal section, ceding only a draw to William Young III, and he had an undefeated final, drawing masters Barry Endsley, Edwin Meiners, and Stephen McGregor.
The following game is annotated by Leroy. He notes he lost a lot of sleep over this game!
Sicilian Defense (B50) John Badger (1899) Leroy Gary (2092) 2009 Electronic Knights Semifinal Notes by Leroy Gary
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 At this point I ordered and had rush-
shipped a couple of anti-Sicilian books.
4. ... Nc6 5. c3 g6 6. 0-0 Bg7 7. Bb3 0-0 8. Nbd2 b6 The move 8. ... b5 is also played.
Black can also play 8. ... e5 convert ing the game to a Ruy Lopez type of position with options for queenside or kingside play was mentioned in one anti-Sicilian book.
9. Re1 e5? Not a total blunder. I didn’t realize
until my next move that I had incorrectly setup the board and was thinking I was still on move eight. Now I am a move/tempo down on the Ruy Lopez positions.
10. Nf1 h6 11. Ng3 The Ruy Lopez positions are
problem atic. Even though it will be my fourth pawn move in a row, I decided I should be able to equalize by pushing in the center. Also ... I made a notation error and sent John an illegal move (11. ... e5). I felt lucky that it was not a legal blunder. John’s reply was, “Hi, Leroy—Think you already did ... e5 on move nine. (It may be such a good move you wanted to play it twice.)”
11. ... d5 I thought that if White tries to win
the pawn that I would get it back in a better position.
12. Ba4 Bb7 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Nxe5 Bb7 15. Ng4
I didn’t see this move on move 11
nor understood that White is starting a king side attack.
15. ... Nxg4 16. Qxg4 Re8 It is interesting re-visiting the game
with a computer. It likes my position. Comput ers don’t lose sleep at night worrying about the pawn compensation evaporating.
17. e5
The computer likes the conservative 17. Qd1. White has other ideas! 17. ... h5 18. Nxh5
This positional knight sacrifice is
the soul of the game. It is possible that White has been looking at it since move 15. I have not used a computer to analyze the sacrifice. Most computers are weak in positional sacrifice evaluations.
18. ... gxh5 19. Qxh5
www.uschess.org 35
will be threatening of b2-b4 followed by Qa7 after his first rank is secured.
20. ... b6 21. Qf1 There seems to be nothing wrong
with 21. Be3 here, also. 21. ... b5 22. a3 Ne4 How is Black to continue? After 22.
... Reh8, Black releases the center pressure and White can play Be3 and later Bg1. After 22. ... d5 23. b4 Ne4 24. Bd2, White is OK.
23. Nxe4 Qxe4 24. c3 Rh3 25. Bd2 Rf3 26. Qg1 Qc4 27. Qd4 Qc6 28. Kg1 Re4 29. Qa7 Kd7 30. Rf1
Finally relieving some of the
pressure of the black rooks as 30. ... Rd3 fails to 31. Qf2! (not 31. f5? Rxd2!) and White’s rooks become active after f4-f5!
30. ... Rxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Qc4+ 32. Kg1 Qa2 33. h3
White constructs a hiding spot for his king.
33. ... Qxb2 34. Qxa6 Qb1+ 35. Kh2 Ra4 36. Qb7 Qd3 37. Rf2! White arranges for his queen to
come back into play after which the extra piece starts to gain new life.
37. ... f6 38. Qg2 Rxa3 39. Qg4+ f5 40. Qxg6 b4
Black’s ability to set new problems
for White is as impressive as White’s ability to solve them.
41. Qg7+ Kd8 42. Rg2 bxc3 43. Bc1 Ra6 44. h4 Kc8 45. h5 Qd1 46. h6 Qh5+ 47. Kg3 d5
All of a sudden White looks like he
is in trouble, but McGregor has seen deep er—The bishop is to be shucked and the black king has to face White’s queen and rook—very neat!
48. Qg8+ Kd7 49. Qxd5+ Rd6 50. Qf3 Qh1
White wins after 50. ... Qxh6 51.
Qxc3 Rg6+ 52. Kf2 Qh4+ 53. Kg1. 51. Kf2 Qxc1 52. Rg7+ Ke6 The black king must come up—52.
... Ke8 53. Qa8+ Rd8 54. Qc6+ leads to mate.
53. Qe2+ Kd5 54. Qd3+ Kc5 55. Rxc7+ Rc6 56. Qxf5+ Kb6 57. Rxc6+ Kxc6 58. h7 Qb2+ 59. Kg3 c2 60. Qc8+ Kd6 61. h8=Q Qxh8 62. Qxh8 c1=Q 63. Qe5+
And so it comes down to this—the
Nalimov tables declare this is a win for White in 47 moves.
63. ... Kd7 64. Kg4 Qg1+ 65. Kf5 Qf1 66. Kf6 Qf3 67. Qe6+ Kd8 68. f5 Qh3 69. Kg7 Qg3+ 70. Kf8 Qa3+ 71. Kf7 Qd3 72. Qe7+ Kc8 73. Qe5 Kd8 74. Kg7 Qd7+ 75. Kf8, Black resigned.
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