Game of the week February 13, 2022February 26, 2022 by Robert Huntington [Event "1984 Bermuda Open"] [White "Andrew Soltis"] [Black "Leonid Bass (or possibly Balmazi)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B23"] [Annotator "ATH"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1984.01.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "BER"] [SourceTitle "CH, April-May 1984"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nge2 {Grandmaster Soltis wrote a pamphlet on "The Chameleon Sicilian." White keeps his options open and, depending on what Black does, can play either an Open Sicilian or a Closed Sicilian.} Nc6 4. g3 g6 $6 ( 4... Nf6 $11 {or}) (4... d5 $11) 5. d4 cxd4 (5... Nf6 $1 6. Bg2 $14) 6. Nxd4 h5 $6 (6... d6 7. Be3 $14 {Soltis-Sheppard, Bermuda 2002}) 7. Bf4 Bh6 $6 (7... d6 8. Ndb5 $16) 8. Ndb5 (8. Bd6 $1 $18) 8... Bxf4 9. gxf4 a6 $6 (9... d5 10. exd5 exd5 11. Qxd5 $16) 10. Nd6+ Kf8 11. Qd2 Nge7 $6 (11... Nf6 12. O-O-O Ne8 13. Nxe8 Kxe8 14. f5 $18) 12. O-O-O b5 13. Rg1 b4 (13... Qa5 14. Qe3 $18 {might lead to a slightly slower death for Black}) 14. Na4 Qa5 (14... Rh7 {is insufficiently better}) 15. b3 Rb8 (15... Rg8 {would prolong Black's wretched existence}) 16. Be2 $6 (16. Kb1 $1 $18 {is even stronger. What can Black do except stare forlornly at his miserably weak dark squares, his pathetic bishop, and his useless rook on h8? At least he hasn't lost any material. Yet.}) 16... f6 $2 ({Stockfish says} 16... Nd8 {is better but computers don't feel any pain} ) 17. Nxc8 $6 (17. Kb1 $1 {is again better. Let Black simmer in his own juices. }) 17... Rxc8 18. Qxd7 {White cashes in} Nd8 $2 {Oops. Black defends one pawn but falls for a combination that wins a different pawn and rips Black's position open} (18... Qc7 19. Nc5 $18) 19. Rxg6 (19. e5 $1 {simply disembowels Black}) 19... Nxg6 20. Qxc8 Kg7 21. Rg1 (21. f5 $1 {is the quick way}) 21... Kh6 22. Qd7 f5 23. Rg5 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: 105
Perhaps but my database lists the source as the April-May 1984 edition of Chess Horizons (which I no longer possess). During a data recovery several years ago, the source fields in ChessBase somehow got corrupted so I can’t be 100% sure. Reply
The Vlack player was Balmazi not Bass–one source is Open Lines to confirm
Perhaps but my database lists the source as the April-May 1984 edition of Chess Horizons (which I no longer possess). During a data recovery several years ago, the source fields in ChessBase somehow got corrupted so I can’t be 100% sure.
Andy confirmed it was Balmazi–his wife did lose to Bass in this event