Last season’s Capital District Chess League competition had eight teams. With four boards making up each team and substitutions probably upwards of forty-five people took part. The first board players always get the bulk of the coverage it seems. Today we will take a look at a lower board game that was crucial to the outcome of the match between the Uncle Sam Chess Club of Troy and the Schenectady A team. The “Phils“, Ferguson and Thomas of Uncle Sam managed draws with Philip Sells and John Barnes, and Sylvester Canty of Troy defeated the rising scholastic player Dilip Aaron from the Schenectady team. To rescue a result Bill Townsend had to win his game from Elihue Hill. Both of these guys qualify as veterans, both have risen to Expert ratings in past years, and both have not played as often as they did in their salad days. Nevertheless, they still can make a fight when the opportunity presents itself.
Hill, Elihue - Townsend, William [A45]
CDCL Match Uncle Sam v Schenectady A, Troy, NY , 03.2011
1.d4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3,..
Rybka calls this the Trompowsky Attack, A45. I am not that familiar with the nomenclature of the off-beat lines to argue the point.
4..., b6 5.f4 Ba6 6.Bxa6 Nxa6 7.Qe2 Qc8 8.Nf3 Be7 9.Nbd2 0–0
Now the game seems to be some kind of Bird’s Opening. Black has equalized so it can’t be said White’s opening scheme was particularly successful.
10.Ne5?!,..
Straightaway castling is better. The text gives Black a chance to obtain an advantage.
10..., d6 11.Ng4?!,..
Better 11 Nd3, leading to a more rational layout of the White forces. Mr. Hill may have been motivated by a wish to make things as difficult as possible for his opponent in hopes of causing a mistake.
11..., Nc7!?
Too cautious. With 11..., Nxg4; and 12..., Qc6; retraining the e3-e4 push Black could have increased his edge.
12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Ne4?,..
Ignoring the principle of development before maneuvering is incorrect. Better 13 0-0 d5 14 b3, keeping any disadvantage to a minimum.
13..., Be7 14.0–0 Nd5!?
The move 14..., f5; strongly suggests itself. I am not certain it is better than the text regardless of Rybka’s recommendation. The computer lines is; 14..., f5 15 Ng5 Bxg5 16 fxg5 e5; keeping a solid edge for Black. In a serious game, the Black dark squared Bishop looks to have some potential. Giving it up for the Ng5, even though some damage is done to the White pawn formation, takes careful consideration.
15.a3..,
By playing 15 c4, White could have tried to equalized after 15... Nf6 16 Nxf6 Bxf6, but 17 Rd1 d5; leaves Black with his advantage.
15..., Nf6 16.Ng3?!,..
White has consistently avoided simplification. He wants this Knight at hand to work with his Queen in making an attack on the Black King I guess. The logic of the position tells us such an attack is most unlikely to work, Black has too many defensive resources available. Best here is 16 Nxf6+, and aiming for equality.
16..., Qc7 17.Bd2 e5?!
Now Black is bitten by the bug of aggression in his turn. With the natural sequence 17..., d5; 18 Rac1 Qb7 19 c4 cxd4 20 exd4 dxc4; Black hangs on to his slight advantage even against 21 f5. To which Black answers coolly with 21..., Qd7; and then 22 fxe6 fxe6 23 Qxc4 Rac8. The advantage is not close to a winning one, but it is persistent. The game move could have allowed White to justify his maneuvering idea with the Knight after; 18 fxe5 dxe5 19 Nf5! Rae8 20 Qf3, and although there is no violent attack going to burst through on the Black King, the threat of such limits the choices for Black permitting White claim full equality and maybe a bit more.
18.fxe5 dxe5 19.dxe5? Qxe5
The upshot is Black has hung on to the edge which consists mostly of a sounder pawn formation.
20.e4 Qe6
Leaving before being pushed by 21 Rf5, or 21 Bf4. It is not clear that moving the Queen before she is attacked is entirely right. A case can be made for 20..., Rfe8; as a better use of this tempo.
21.Rae1 Rad8 22.Bf4?,..
This move is not tactically flawed, it is wrong on positional grounds. White has wanted to carry out an attack by pieces on the Black King for a long time. At least that is what his moves have indicated. Now when he has done much to achieve that end, his attention swings to other targets. The natural continuation is; 22 Nf5, then if 22..., Nd7 23 e5 Rfe8 24 Qf2, and if 24..., Nxe5 fearlessly 25 Nxg7 Kxg7 26 Qg3+ Qg6 27 Qxe5+ Bf6 28 Qxe8, Rxe8 29 Rxe8, and the two Rooks are as good as the Black Queen. Using the principle that two pieces are often more dangerous than is one piece, if the two pieces are coordinated, we can say that White has the better chances by playing as suggested.
22.., Nd7
Possibly better is 22..., g6; denying f5 to the White pieces.
23.Nf5 Ne5 24.Rd1 Rfe8 25.h3?..,
I don’t get this move at all. Capturing on e7, or on e5 are the principled tries. White apparently did not care for any endgame positions with his weak e-pawn on the board. The text seems to be a “pass” in hopes that something will develop. Such moves all too often make things worse.
25..., Bf8 26.Ne3 Ng6 27.Bc7 Rxd1 28.Nxd1 Qxe4 29.Qxe4 Rxe4
The weak e-pawn is gone leaving Black with all the winning chances. His Rook is far more active than its counterpart and the Bd7 is not entirely safe.
30.Nf2 Re2 31.b3 Re3 32.Nd1 Rd3 33.Re1 Bd6?
Much better is the logical 33..., f6; making a “luft” for his King and opening a path for the monarch to contribute to the game. Also useful is 33..., c4; weakening the White Q-side pawns, or 33..., b5; with the same intention. And finally, 33..., Rd2; putting the Rook on the natural square is sensible. All the alternative keep the winning edge. The text does not do so.
34.Re8+?!,..
Missing the opportunity. With 34 Nf2 Rd5 35 Re8+ Bf8 36 Ra8, White would have generated quite a lot of counter-play, maybe even enough to hold the game. The rush to check on e8 is understandable but wrong.
34..., Bf8 35.Rd8?,..
Compounding the error. White has nothing better than 35 Re1, when Black still has the options outlined above. The text leads to a bad position.
35..., Rxd8 36.Bxd8 Bd6
Setting up a nasty threat to the survival of the Bd8.
37.Kf2?,..
White misses it. He had to play 36 Bg5, then 36..., f6 37 Be3 Kf7; and Black is near winning but there are many moves to play. Now a piece is lost.
37..., f6 38.Ne3 Kf7
It is now clear to both players the Bd8 is doomed. Perhaps Mr. Hill thought going into this position he had something tricky with 39 Nf5. That turns out not to be the case. The one possibility of obtaining some compensation is 39 Nc4, planning to obtain two extra pawns on the distant Q-side for the piece by capturing on b6. Play could go; 39 Nc4 Bb8 40 Nxb6 axb6 41 Bxb6 Ne5 42 Ke3 (to avoid the fork at d3 if the Bishop captures at c5) 42..., Nd7. Black has a some technical problems to solve, but he should be able to keep the White Q-side pawns from becoming dangerous without too much difficulty and eventually will win.
39.Nf5 Be5
The threat to the pawn on c3 puts paid to all White’s hopes.
40.c4 Ke8 41.Bxb6 axb6 42.Nxg7+,..
White has his two pawns for the piece this way, but they are on opposite sides of the board and not passed. The technical problems are not great and the extra piece can easily deal with the pawns.
42..., Kf7 43.Nf5 Nf4 44.Kf3 Nd3 45.Ke4 Nf4 46.Ne3 Ke6 47.Kf3 f5 0–1
The game score after this move is unclear. The game went on to move 55 when Hill’s clock fell. The win leveled the match at 2 -2. The drawn result was an excellent accomplishment for the Uncle Sam team considering the rating difference between the teams. Holding the draw was not as terrible as a defeat would have been for the Schenectady team. Had they lost, it is possible they would not have come back to win the title this year.
More soon.
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