shocked when he played this , since he must have seen that White will immediately win the pawn back with a tactic . I felt at the time that the c5 pawn was so weak that Black had time to prepare to capture it more safely and gain a two pawn advantage for the exchange . However on reflection maybe it ’ s not so clear cut , since the natural 24 … Ndc7 neutralising 25 . a4 and with the idea 25 … Nxc5 does not work after 25 . Rd6 Nxc5 26 . Rxc6 and anything else beginning with 24 … Nac7 is probably too slow , eg ; 25 . a4 bxa4 26 . Ra1 . 25 . Bxb5 Kd6 ( If 25 … cxb5 26 . Rxd5 ) 26 . Bc4 Rb8 27 . b3 Nd7
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Here I start to drift and it ’ s where I lose any realistic winning chances . Having overlooked the elementary 29 … Rb7 , it ’ s clear I ’ m not going to improve my position any further by one-move threats and I would have been better employed organising a blockade of black ’ s trump card – the passed e pawn . One line could go 28 . Re2 N7d6 29 . Rde1 Nf4 ( or else 30 . g3 ) 30 . Rxd6 + Nxd6 31 . Rxd6 + Kc5 with chances for an edge for White . 28 . Re3 N7f6 29 . Rg3 ? Rb7 30 . Rf3 e5 ! Naturally enough . 31 . h3 e4 32 . Rf5 Re7 33 . g4 Kc5 34 . g5 I could try to restrain the King with 34 . a3 but then 34 … g6 35 . Rff1 e3 36 . Be2 Ne4 is unpleasant for White . Alternatively just a simple and natural 34 … a4 would threaten to open up my Queen ’ s side . 35 ... hxg5 35 . Rxg5 Kb4 36 . Be2
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Pretty much forced . Simplifying into a materially equal endgame with 36 . Bxd5 cxd5 37 . Rgxd5 Nxd5 38 . Rxd5 is superficially attractive , but after 38 … e3 39 . Kf1 Rf7 + 40 . Ke1 Rf3 it ’ s Black who has all the active play . 36 … Ka3 The Black King invades , but maybe I can turn it to my advantage by sacrificing a pawn to open some lines . Alternatively , 36 … Nf4 37 . Rd4 + Kc3 38 . Rc4 + Kd2 would have become very messy for both sides . 37 . Rd4 Kxa2 38 . Ra4 + Kxb3 39 . Rxa5 Nc3 40 . Kf1 Nfd5 41 . Rc5 Ne3 + 42 . Kf2 ! Anything else loses eg ; 42 . Ke1 ? Nc2 + 43 . Kd2 ( 43 . Kf1 Rf7 + 44 . Rgf5 Ne3 + 0-1 ) Rd7 + 0-1 42 ... Nc2 43 . Bc4 +! Covering the vital f7 square . 43 … Kb4 44 . Rxc6 And after some aggressive defence White has reduced the pawn deficit again . 44 … e3 + 45 . Kg2 45 . Kf1 allows 45 … Rf7 +! and moving anywhere else loses to a Knight fork . 45 … Nd4 46 . Rc8 e2 47 . Bxe2 Ncxe2
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Now my plan becomes very simple – to sacrifice all my remaining material for Black ’ s Rook and pawn , leaving him with a King and two Knights versus my King . There now follows a long passage of play with White alternately threatening the g pawn and if a Knight moves to cover , switching to cutting off the Black King . 48 . Rg4 Rf7 49 . Rg8 Nf4 + 50 . Kh2 Nfe6 51 . Rc8 Kb5 52 . Rg2 Nc7 53 . Rg8 Nde6 54 . Rc2 Nc5 55 . Rg2 N7e6 56 . Rc8 Kc4 57 . Rd2 Rf3 58 . Rh8 Kc3 59 . Ra2 Kd4 60 . Rh4 + Ke3 61 . Rg4 Nd3 ? 62 . Rg3 Rxg3 63 . Kxg3 Part 1 accomplished . 63 ... Ke4 64 . Ra8 Ne5 65 . Rg8 Kf5 66 . h4 Nf7 67 . h5 Nh6 68 . Rxg7 ?! Nxg7
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69 . Kf3 After 68 … Nxg7 I had kind of assumed that I had reached the finishing line with a draw , but with IM Welling playing on , it slowly dawned on me that this was not so . In fact , as he confirmed to me after the game , the position after Black ’ s 68th move is a theoretical win for the second player . The pawn needs to be on the 6th rank for White to be sure to draw on best play . What ’ s going on here of course is that with the pawn on , White has to lose a tempo with a pawn move while the Black Knights and King are stalemating their opponent , enabling checkmate to be delivered the move following . In my play I had only considered the case of mate being delivered where the White King is hemmed in , the vital escape square being blocked by his own pawn : I thought by running across to the other side of the board I would be safe . Not so . However ,
25 | P a g e I r i s h C h e s s J o u r n a l