Chess
Balance of power
Raymond Keene
Abook with an unusual slant which has so far eluded commentary in this col- umn is the late Wolfgang Heidenfeld's Draw! (Allen and Unwin, £8.95). This is a collection of around 70 fully annotated games, all brilliantly contested, but ending with honours even. I have only one com- plaint: the moves of the games chosen should have been differentiated from the notes either by bold print, or columnar display. As given, they are rather hard to read.
Here are two of my own recent games on the theme of the draw, both involving Black Q sacrifices for assorted material.
Agdestein — Keene: Gausdal, April 1983; Modern Defence.
1 d4 g6 2 c4 Bg7 3 Nc3 d6 4 e4 Nc6 5 d5 Nd4 6 Be3 c5 7 Nge2 Qb6 8 Nxd4!? For many years this capture was not taken particularly seriously. In- deed, the old line was 8 ... cxd4 9 Na4 Qa5 + 10 b4 Qxb4 + 11 Bd2 Qa3 12 13c1 Qb4 + 13 Bd2 = . Then, last year, Yasser Seirawan played 8 Nxd4 cxd4 9 Na4 Qa5 + 10 Bd2! Qc7 11 c5! dxc5 12 Bb5 + against me and won. 8 ... cxd4 9 Na4
Position after 9 ... dxe3!!?
dxe3!!? (Diagram) My opponent, the 15-year-old Norwegian answer to Nigel Short, looked shock- ed, but this 'sac' is mentioned in BCO and I had analysed it in some detail with GM Jon Speelman after the Yasser debacle. 10 Nxb6 exf2 + 11 Kxf2 axb6 We have reached an extraordinarily rich position. My conclusion from the analysis with Speelman was the situation was not at all clear, though it must be said that Speelman is a man who would prefer to start the game with a couple of extra minor pieces instead of his Q, and might, therefore, be biased. 12 Qc2 Bd4 + To bother White's K. Another plan is 12 ... Nh6 followed by a quick ... f5. 13 Kel Nf6 14 Be2 0-0 15 Rdl Be5 16 a4!? h5 Played partly to restrict White's KB from use of g4. 17 b3 Bd7 18 Qd3 Intending to attack the 'b' pawns, diagonal- ly from e3. 18 ... e6! 19 dxe6 Bxe6 20 Bf3 Nd7 21 Kf2 b5! The last difficult move of the game. If now 22 cxb5 Nc5 wipes out White's Q-side pawns, so White must submit to a variation which permits the exchange of his active R, and still leaves the KR bottled up. 22 cxb5 Ra2 + 23 Rd2 Nc5 24 Qe3 Rxd2 + 25 Qxd2 Nxb3 26 Qc2 Bd4 + 27 Kg3 If White's K goes to the back rank he will not be able to develop his KR. 27 ... Be5 + 28 Kf2 Bd4+ 29 Kg3 Drawn by repetition of position. I was tempted by various sacrificial attempts to deliver mate, but could not quite make this work. Black may still be better posi- tionally, but if he actually captures material the White Q may escape and become a nuisance.
K. Schmidt — Keene: Arhus/Lux-Time Cup, May 1983; Pirc Defence.
1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 Nc3 d6 4 f4 Nf6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be3 Nbd7 7 Qd2 c5 8 0-0-0 Ng4 9 Bg1 cxd4 10 Bxd4 e5 11 Bgl exf4 12 Qxd6 The first critical position in the game. I should now have played 12 ... Ne3! 13 Bxe3 fxe3 when Black can meet 14 e5 with 14 ... Qa5 15 Rd5 Qb6, or 14 Nd5 with Qa5 15 Ne7 + Kh8 16 NxcS Rac8 and it is extremely perilous to capture the piece. The main line is 12 ... Ne3! 13 Bxe3 fxe3 14 Bb5 Bxc3 15 bxc3 Qa5! 16 Bxd7 Rd8!! 17 Qe7 Qxc3l•i 18 Qxd8 + Kg7 and White cannot avoid perpet- ual check since 19 Nd2 fails to 19 ... exd2:4- 20 Rxd2 Qa1 mate, or 20 Kb1 , Qb4 + , still drawing. What I actually play leads to wild come-, lications. 12 ... Bxc3?! 13 bxc3 Ne3 14 Oxf4' Nxdl 15 Bd4!! Not pausing to capture the N White immediately pursues his attack. If now I5 Qe7 16 Bc4! and there is no conceivable answer to the deadly Qh6. Black only has possibility, to sacrifice his Q for White's darkone
i
squared B. 15 Nb6 16 Bf6 Nxc3 17 816
. Rxd8 18 Ng5 Rdl + 19 Kb2 Nca4 + 20 Ka3 0
21 Nxe6! After 21 Qh4 Rc8! 22 Qxh7 + Kf8 23 Nxe6 + fxe6 24 Bb5 Black has 24 . , . Rc3+ .,; Kb4 Rxhl 26 Bxa4 Rc4 + . 21 ... fxe6 22 OS; Rcl 23 Qxe6 + Kg7 24 Qe7 + Kg8 25 Qe6 ,K.ge 26 Qe7 + Kg8 27 Bb5 White decides to sacrific his R in order topostp 2,6one the draw and break the grip of the Black knights. If 27 Be2 Rxc2 Bg4 Rc3 + 29 Kb4 Rc4 + 30 Kb5 Nc3 + etc .30 27 ... Rxhl 28 Bxa4 Nxa4 29 Kxa4 Rbl Oe6 + Kf8 31 e5 Rb6 32 Qd7 Rc8 33 OA° II:: 34 Q118 + Kf7 35 Qh7 + Kf8 36 Qh8 + Dry
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