Game of the week December 31, 2023 by Robert Huntington [Event "Slncev Brjag 1974"] [White "Vlastimil Hort"] [Black "Ivan Radulov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B64"] [Annotator "ATH"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "1974.09.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "BUL"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O O-O 9. f4 d5 (9... Nxd4 $1 10. Qxd4 h6 11. Bh4 Qa5 12. Bc4 e5 13. fxe5 dxe5 14. Qd3 Bg4 15. Rdf1 Rfd8 16. Qg3 Rac8 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Bd5 ({Stockfish prefers} 18. Bb3 {which is not in my database, e.g.,} Be6 19. Kb1 $14) 18... Be6 $11 {with dozens, if not hundreds, of games in the database}) 10. e5 Nd7 11. Bxe7 (11. h4 $5) 11... Qxe7 12. Nf3 ({The database contains lots of different moves in this position but not Stockfish's preferred} 12. Nb3 $14) 12... a6 13. Bd3 b5 (13... Nc5 14. Qe3 $14 {is an improvement for Black}) 14. Qe3 Rb8 $4 {Moves like this (as well as much pedestrian behavior) make me wonder if Freud might have been right to postulate a universal death-wish.} ( 14... h6 15. g4 $14) 15. Bxh7+ {At least it will be quick and merciful.} Kxh7 ( 15... Kh8 16. Bd3 $18 {would prolong the game but Black clearly wants a quick end}) 16. Ng5+ Kg6 ({Ditto with} 16... Kg8) 17. Qh3 Ndxe5 18. Qh7+ ({Surely he wasn't expecting to turn the tables after} 18. fxe5 $4 Qxg5+ $19) 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts Views: 24