Game of the week November 17, 2024 by Robert Huntington [Event "1983 Labour Day Open"] [Site "Toronto"] [White "Lawrence Day"] [Black "Kevin Spraggett"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B21"] [PlyCount "91"] [GameId "2110486856128507"] [EventDate "1983.09.03"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "6"] [EventCountry "CAN"] [SourceTitle "Canbase"] [SourceDate "2015.08.19"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2015.08.19"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 (3... Nf6 $1 4. Nc3 Nxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bb5 e6 7. Bxc6+ bxc6 $11 {Roynet-Razumikhin, ICCF email 2017}) 4. Nc3 Qd8 5. Nf3 Nf6 (5... Nc6 $1 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. d3 e6 $11) 6. Ne5 (6. d4 $1 e6 (6... cxd4 7. Qxd4 Bd7 8. Qf2 $14) 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Qxd4 Qxd4 9. Nxd4 Bb4 10. Ndb5 $14 {Jaekel-Folk Gilsanz, ICCF email 2015}) 6... a6 (6... g6 $1 7. Bc4 e6 $11) 7. Qf3 (7. g3 $5) 7... e6 (7... Qc7 $1 $11 {Rahimli-Ozsakallioglu, Istanbul 2019}) 8. b3 (8. Bd3 Nfd7 $11 {is a small improvement for White}) 8... Be7 (8... Nbd7 $1 9. Bb2 Qc7 $11) 9. Bb2 O-O (9... Nfd7 $5) 10. O-O-O Nbd7 (10... Nfd7 $5) 11. Bd3 Nxe5 $6 (11... Qc7 12. Rhe1 (12. a4 $5) 12... b5 (12... g6 $5) 13. Nxd7 Bxd7 14. Ne4 $14) 12. fxe5 Nd5 (12... Nd7 13. Qe4 f5 14. exf6 Nxf6 15. Qe2 $18) 13. Qe4 $6 (13. Ne4 $1 g6 14. Nf6+ Bxf6 15. exf6 $18) 13... g6 14. h4 Nb4 15. Be2 Qd4 $6 (15... Bd7 16. h5 g5 17. h6 $16) 16. Qf3 Qxe5 $2 (16... f5 17. exf6 Rxf6 18. Qh3 e5 19. Qh2 Be6 20. h5 $18 {puts up more resistance}) 17. Ne4 Qf5 18. Qe3 e5 $6 (18... f6 19. g4 $18 {is a fruitless improvement}) 19. Rdf1 Nd5 20. Rxf5 Nxe3 21. Rxe5 Nf5 22. Rxe7 $2 (22. g4 f6 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. g5 $1 b5 25. Rxe7+ Nxe7 26. gxf6+ $18 {And it's over. Instead, Black gets a new lease on life and resistance is no longer quite so futile.}) 22... Nxe7 23. Nf6+ (23. h5 $1 $18 {with Nf6+ to follow is even stronger}) 23... Kg7 24. Nd5+ f6 25. Nxe7 Re8 26. Rf1 Rxe7 27. Bxf6+ Kf8 28. Bxe7+ Kxe7 29. Bc4 Bf5 30. g4 Bxg4 31. Rf7+ Kd6 32. Rxb7 h5 (32... Rh8 33. a4 $18 {is a trivial and irrelevant improvement for Black}) 33. Rb6+ Ke5 ({and so is} 33... Kd7) 34. Rxg6 Kf4 ({Likewise} 34... a5) 35. Rxa6 Rh8 ({And} 35... Rd8) 36. a4 Kg3 37. a5 Kxh4 ({For some reason, Stockfish thinks} 37... Kh3 38. Rf6 Ra8 39. a6 Kxh4 40. Rg6 $18 {is an improvement for Black. I don't quite know why and I don't care. Black can resign. I suspect that time pressure (on one side or both) is the only reason he's still playing.}) 38. Rg6 Bf3 (38... Rd8 {is another meaningless improvement. No point in handing out question marks when they're so irrelevant.}) 39. a6 Kh3 ({If anyone cares, Stockfish prefers} 39... Be4) 40. Rg5 (40. d4 $1 cxd4 41. b4 $18 {is the quick method}) 40... h4 41. Be6+ ({Again} 41. d4 $1) 41... Kh2 42. Rxc5 (42. Bg8 Rh6 43. a7 h3 44. c4 Ra6 45. Rg7 {etc. is even stronger for White (so says Stockfish)}) 42... h3 (42... Ra8 {is better but who cares?}) 43. b4 (43. Rc3 $1 Kg2 44. Bxh3+ Rxh3 45. b4 {Black's not the only one with irrelevant improvements}) 43... Rh6 44. Bxh3 (44. Bc8 {same as before}) 44... Kxh3 (44... Rxa6 {would needlessly prolong the game}) 45. b5 Kg4 46. Rc8 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