Game of the week September 1, 2024 by Robert Huntington [Event "1990 Pan-American Intercollegiate"] [Site "Cambridge, MA"] [White "Vivek Rao (Harvard)"] [Black "Ilya Gurevich (NYU)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D85"] [PlyCount "63"] [GameId "2085103448454072"] [EventDate "1990.12.??"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceTitle "CH, March-April 1991"] {bd. 1 of Harvard vs. NYU} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bb5+ Nc6 ({Better (according to Stockfish) is} 7... c6 {e.g.,} 8. Bc4 O-O 9. Ne2 b5 10. Bb3 a5 11. O-O Ba6 $11 {Harman-Peut, ICCF email 2018}) 8. Nf3 O-O 9. O-O a6 (9... Na5 $1 10. Bg5 b6 11. Re1 $14) 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Ba3 (11. Qc2 $5) 11... a5 (11... Bg4 $1 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 $14) 12. Qa4 Ba6 (12... Re8 $1 13. Qxc6 Bg4 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Qd7 16. Qxd7 Bxd7 17. Rfd1 $14) 13. Rfe1 (13. c4 $1 $16) 13... Qd7 14. Bc5 (14. Rac1 $1 $16) 14... Rfe8 15. c4 e5 16. dxe5 Bxe5 ({Ever so slightly better is} 16... Bh6 17. Be3 Bf8 18. Bg5 $16) 17. Rad1 Qc8 (17... Qe6 18. Nxe5 Qxe5 19. Bd4 $16 {is yet another small improvement}) 18. Nxe5 Rxe5 19. Bd4 Re6 20. Bc3 (20. Bb2 $1 $16) 20... Qe8 $6 (20... c5 21. f3 Qf8 22. Qxa5 Bxc4 23. Qxc7 $16) 21. c5 f6 22. Qd4 (22. h3 $5) 22... Qe7 (22... Qf7 23. a4 $16 {is also a tiny improvement}) 23. f4 (23. a4 $1 $16) 23... Kf7 $6 (23... Re8 24. a4 h6 25. f5 gxf5 26. exf5 $16) 24. f5 (24. g4 $1 $18) 24... Re5 $2 (24... gxf5 25. exf5 Re2 26. h3 $16) 25. Qf2 (25. Qe3 $1 $18 {ìs even stronger}) 25... Rxc5 $2 (25... Kg8 26. Qh4 Re8 27. Bxe5 fxe5 28. Qxe7 Rxe7 29. fxg6 hxg6 30. Rd8+ Kf7 31. Ra8 $18 {allows Black to escape into an exchange-down ending}) 26. fxg6+ Kxg6 27. Bxf6 $1 Qf8 $2 (27... Qxf6 28. Qxc5 $18) (27... Rf8 28. Bxe7 Rxf2 29. Bxc5 $18 {is best, according to Stockfish. And best is totally hopeless.}) 28. e5 Rd5 29. Rxd5 cxd5 30. Qc2+ Kh6 $2 (30... Kf7 31. Qxh7+ {leads to a mate in 24, according to Stockfish, but Black wants to shuffle off this mortal coil asap.}) 31. Qd2+ Kg6 32. Qg5+ 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: 0