CHESS
15.Ne5.
14...Rae8
Black prepares ...e5. If that
move can be played safely, White
will need to fight for equality. 15.
Ne5 now loses the f-pawn without
compensation after 15...Nxe5
16.Qxe5 Qxe5 17.Rxe5 Ng4.
15. h3 e5
Now that Black has achieved
...e5, White must limit its impact by
tactical means.
16. Qf1
White would like to play 16. Bc4
immediately, but 16... Nd4! wins
material.
16... a6?
Ignoring White's primary threat
in order to prevent the irrelevant 17.
Nb5. Better is 16...Kh8, which limits
the effectiveness of White's next move,
or 16...Qc5, which stops it entirely.
17. Bc4! Be6 18. Ng5 Nd4 19. f4!
dxc4 20. fxe5 Qc5?
20... Qc6 is a better try.
21. Nxe6 Rxe6 22. exf6 Rexf6
During the game I thought that
Rfxf6!? was even worse than the
text after White, as in the game,
plays 23. Qg1. However, the silicon
beast points out a nice queen retreat
that keeps Black in the game, albeit
in a worse position. 22... Rfxf6!?
23. Qg1 Rxe1 24. Qxe1 Qf8!
23. Qg1 Rf2
The superficially appealing 23...
Ne6 loses to 24. Ne4 Qxg1 25.
Nxf6+ followed by 26.Rxg1
24. Ne4 Qb6 25. Nxf2 Nxc2
Hoping for 26. Kxc2 Rxf2+ 27.
Rd2 Rxd2+ 28. Kxd2 Qxb2+ 29.
Ke3 Qxa2, when Black has three
connected passed pawns for the
rook and can dream of a perpetual
check. However...
26. Ne4 1-0
8
WWW.MASSCHESS.ORG
HORIZONS
White: Joe Fang
Black: Scott Massey
[B39] Sicilian Defense
Annotated by Joe Fang
After 5 rounds we had won 4
matches and drawn one, and for the
final round board one pairing we
were facing Kenilworth A, the only
team with a perfect 5-0. Both teams
featured AARP eligible lineups, the
exception being our 37 year old
Board 3 baby Len Morrissey. Our
matches had seemed somewhat
smooth (we had gotten at least 3/4
in our four won matches and had
lost only 1 game for the tournament).
After 5 rounds Board 1 Bill Kelleher
was at +1 facing strong opposition.
Board 4 Anatoly Levin was also at
+1, employing his strange repertoire
of 1.b4, and as Black, weird gambits
in the Philidor Defense. Our secret
weapon was Len at +4, who was recapturing the glory days of his competing in Canadian Junior championships. His victories had appeared
remarkably free of tactical complications, balancing out the stress some
of his teammates might have had in
reaction to the Board 4 shenanigans.
I had somewhat mixed feelings
about my own +4 score. These days
I try to play "correct" chess, but all
of my games seemed to follow the
up and down waves of a sine curve.
The one game I drew started out with
a shaky opening, a temporary bishop sac which turned the tide, turning down the win of an exchange
with a completely won game in
order to maintain my "attack", after
the attack fizzled out simplifying to
a slightly better bishop vs knight
ending, nearly losing on time while
trying to find a win in what had
become a drawish position, then
finally conceding the draw after we
had already won the match.
Basically my semi-retirement has
left my calculating muscles atrophied,
so I was constantly re-checking
variations throughout the games,
with lots of holes and time pressure
in the end. My 4th round game
during our one drawn match was a
bit unusual in that I ended up w a y
ahead on the clock in a position
where I had played a speculative
pawn sac in the opening. In fact it
was something I had played before
with a nice 25 move win, so I had
simply repeated it with only happy
thoughts. Unfortunately, my opponent had done his due diligence and
gotten a fantastic position, consolidating his extra pawn. Strangely,
this allowed me to serenely continue va banque, while my opponent
chewed up the clock in what he
knew was a favorable position.
The attack carried the day and it felt
like old times when I played things
like the KID 4 Pawns Attack. So
during this game when the opportunity arose to transform a typical
positional space advantage into a
sacrificial attack, it felt right.
1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 g6 3. d4
If White wishes to establish the
Maroczy bind then 3. Nc3 is a mistake as after 3... Bg7 4. d4 cxd4 5.
Nxd4 Nc6 White must make concessions.
3... cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7
This move does not allow Black
to employ the variation 4... Nc6 5.
e4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Be2 Nxd4 8.
Qxd4 Bg7 where Black's early
exchange on d4 gains time by
exposing White's queen. In order
to combat the Bind and alleviate the
cramping, Black usually trades a
pair of minor pieces.
5. e4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Ng4
An unusual way to achieve the
usual trade of knights. Another