Readers Games

A Festive Selection for
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KI Norman (2160)
P V Byway (2172)

English
Seniors Championship, 2011

Modern, Averbakh A61

[Norman]

1 Nf3 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 d4 d6 4 e4 e5 5 d5 Nd7 6 Nc3
Ne7 7 Be2 0–0 8 0–0 h6 9 Rb1?!

Unnecessarily slow. I should have played b2-b4
immediately.

9…f5 10 b4 Nf6 11 Nd2 c6 12 Ba3 Kh7 13 f3 f4 14 Qb3
g5 15 Rfd1 Qb6+?

A blunder. I expected g5-g4, against which I
intended to play c4-c5; 15…g4 16 c5 dxc5 17 bxc5 cxd5 18 exd5 Nfxd5 19 Nxd5
Qxd5 20 Nc4 Qe6 21 Nd6 Qxb3 22 Rxb3 Rb8 23 Nxc8 Rfxc8 24 Rd7 is a typical
variation that could occur.

16 c5! dxc5 17 Nc4!! Qd8 18 dxc6 Qc7 19 cxb7 Bxb7
20 bxc5 Bc6 21 Nd6 Rab8 22 Qc4 Rxb1 23 Rxb1 Ng6 24 Qa6 Rd8 25 Ncb5 Bxb5 26 Rxb5
Rb8 27 Rxb8 Qxb8 28 Qb7 Qxb7 29 Nxb7 Bf8 The c-pawn now wins
the game.

30 Bb5 Ng8 31 Na5 N8e7 32 Nc4 Kg7 33 Bd7 Kf6 34 c6
Nxc6 35 Bxc6 Bxa3 36 Nxa3 Ke7 37 Nc4

Black resigned on move 56.

1–0

@@@

A game from the recent Australian Teams event, sent
in by our ‘Endings for Learners’ columnist.

M Rujevic

D Stojic

Victorian
Teams, 2011

Sicilian, Najdorf B94

[Gorka]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 Nbd7 7 Be2 h6

7…e6

8 Be3 b5? 9 a4!

Recent winner of the Oceania Senior’s Championship, IM Mirko Rujevic refutes Black’s
play over- the-board with this excellent novelty.

9…bxa4

9…b4
10 Nc6 Qc7 11 Nxb4 and Black has lost a pawn; 9…Bb7 10 axb5 axb5 11 Rxa8 Bxa8
12 Ndxb5 White is a pawn up for nothing.

10 Ne6!! Qa5

Not 10 fxe6 11 Bh5+ with mate to follow.

11 Rxa4 Qxa4

11…Qe5 12 Nc7+ Kd8 and White can choose between 13 Nxa8 (or 13 f4 ).

12 Nxa4

White is winning.

12…fxe6 13 Bh5+ Nxh5 14 Qxh5+ Kd8 15 Bb6+ Nxb6 16 Nxb6 Rb8 17 Qa5

1–0

E Sziva (2332)
I Lauterbach (2171)

Saint
Vincent Zonal, 1999

Pirc, Austrian Attack B09

[Lauterbach]

The following game was my last of the tournament. I
had played well, but had no chances anymore to qualify for the Interzonal. The
situation before the last round was that Jovanka Houska was leading with 6
points, half-a-point ahead of my opponent, Elvira Berend. Monica Calzetta was
also in contention. Two players would qualify for the Interzonal. Jovanka
played Monica but for my opponent it was not clear if half a point would be
sufficient to qualify. She had to wait and see.

1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 f4 Bg7 5 Nf3 c5

I know that 5…0–0 is a solid alternative, but I
have always preferred …c5. By the way,
even Bobby Fischer played …c5 against Spassky in Reykjavik, 1972.

6 dxc5 Qa5 7 Bd3 Qxc5 8 Qe2 0–0 9 Be3 Qa5 10 0–0
Bg4 11 Qe1

This was a small surprise for me. But the move is
perfectly reasonable. White unpins her knight and prepares Qh4.

11…Nc6

It was of course possible to solve the Bg4 problem
with 11…Bxf3. After 12 Rxf3 Nc6 Black is probably fine.

12 Nd2

From now on it is not easy to decide whether f4-f5
is a strong threat or a foolish pawn move.

12…Bd7

Now Black wants to play either Ng4 or Nb4.

13 Kh1

13 a3?! to prevent Nb4 is not dangerous. After 13…Ng4
14 Nb3 Qh5 Black is suddenly threatening mate. So I will exchange her important
bishop for my knight. After 13 Nb3 Black
would have had a difficult choice. My engine likes 13…Qh5, but I intended the
more solid 13…Qd8.

13…Nb4

Not a bad move, but 13…Ng4 was even stronger After 14 Nb3 Qh5 15 Bg1 Nb4 Black is doing
well.

14 h3 Nxd3 15 cxd3 Bc6?!

The bishop is badly placed there, but I wanted to
make sure that e5 does not work.

16 f5

Now White wants to play Qh4 and Bh6. Of course, I did not want to allow this. My
best piece is the bishop on g7.

16…e6 17 Qh4 exf5 18 exf5

Mixed messages: my Bc6 is now active but White’s
attack is becoming dangerous.

18…Nh5!? 19 f6 Rfe8

My engine wants to play 19…Bh8 instead of this, but
I did not want to bury my bishop.

20 Nde4

Brave! With 20 fxg7 Rxe3 21 Nc4 she could win the
exchange. After 21…Qc5 22 Nxe3 Qxe3 Black is threatening Ng3 and has some
compensation.

20…d5?!

It is well known that the threat is stronger than
the execution. Black should have played the sensible 20…Bf8! after 21 Bd4 b5!?
Black is in the driving seat.

21 Rf5!!

I had not seen this coming, but I understood
immediately that I have not much to lose from now on. So I played my next moves
quickly.

21…Qd8

Of course the piece cannot be taken, after 21…gxf5??
22 Qxh5 Bf8 23 Ng5 Black cannot prevent mate.

22 Rxh5 dxe4 23 Rxh7?

Too optimistic. There is no mate! She could and
should have developed her last piece with 23 Rf1! Black is lost after this!

23…Bxf6?!

Played too quickly as we were both in serious time trouble. After
23…Qxf6! 24 dxe4 Qxh4 25 Rxh4 b5! Black has more than enough compensation for
the pawn.

24 Bg5!

24 Qh6? is no improvement at all. After 24…Re5! suddenly,
Black is winning.

24…Bxg5

There is no choice. Black has to take the piece and
hope for the best.

25 Rh8+ Kg7 26 Qh7+ [26 Rh7+
Kg8 27 Rh8+ was the safest way to make a draw.

26…Kf6 27 Rf1+ Ke5 28 d4+?! Kd6 29 Rxf7 Rg8

Playing such a passive move is never easy but I
wanted to protect g6. 29…Rxh8 was also possible and could have led to a draw
after 30 Qxg6+ Bf6 31 Nxe4+ Bxe4 32 Rxf6+ Kd5 33 Qg5+ Kxd4 34 Qd2+ Kc5 35 Qc3+
Kd5 36 Qd2+ Kc5 37 Qc3+ with a perpetual.

30 d5 Bxd5 31 Nxd5?

31 Rxg8 was more or less forced. After 31…Qxg8 32 Rd7+
Kc6 33 Rc7+ Kb6 34 Na4+ Ka6 35 Nc5+ Kb6 36 Na4+ White has a perpetual but not
more.

31…Rxh8 32 Qxg6+ Kxd5 33 Rf5+ Kd4

Black is now winning. White has not enough pieces
to mate my “centralised” king.

34 Qg7+ Ke3 35 Rxg5 Rc8 36 Rg3+ Kf2 37 Qg4 Rh4 38 Qg6
Qd1+

White resigned.

Head of our English delegation was Bob Wade. He had
many interesting stories about chess in Europe after World War II. After my
game he told me that he was really sorry, that he did not feel fit enough to
join the spectators around my board and support me. I answered: that this was
no problem, because I felt throughout the critical phase supported by the crowd
around our table. Bob than pointed out that most of them were Dutch. This
proves it is more important to believe in support, than to actually have it. And
it turned out that the result of this game was not unimportant for Jovanka. She
had lost in the last round, but because Erika and Elvira had also failed to
score, she (Jovanka) was tied 2nd and had to go into a tiebreak with Maria
Nepaina-Leconte. She won and qualified for the Interzonal.

Thanks to all contributors, Ken, Carl and Ingrid!