SCCA Magazine Spring 2016 | Page 16

33.Qxe4!!
BCCA Games Ed. John Ward (who
was also competing in this Final) is
responsible for the double !!
"Although the concept is not so
difficult to find, the follow-up is not
so obvious.", he said.
33...
dxe4
34.Rxe8+
Kf7

35.Re5
Very strong. Not 35.Rxa8?? Qd5
35...
g5
35...Qh6 36.Rc7+–
36.Rf5+!
The zwischenzug Black missed.
36...
Ke8
36...Ke7 37.Rxg5 Qf7 38.Rg7!
37.Rxg5
e3+
38.Kh2
Qh6
38...Qf7 39.Rc8+ Ke7 40.Re5+ wins
the queen.
39.Rc8+ Kf7
40.Rf5+ Kg7
41.Re5
Turning down the bishop and going
for the mating finish. So ... Black
resigned.
If 41...Qb6 42.Nf5+ Kf7 43.Re7+
Kg6 44.Rf8! Curtains!

My best game in what was my first
of three consecutive Finals. Adrian
Hollis outclassed the rest of the field
in this one, but I did manage joint 2/3
place and a copy of the 5th World
CC Championship book by Ken
Messere and Hans Berliner as my
prize. I got very close to being
champion the next year but blew it
with a fatal clerical error — thanks to
descriptive notation! Third time
round I slipped further down, and if
my memory serves me right, just
missing the podium.

© John E. Hawkes

1–0

Miniature

Correspondence Masterpieces

By John E. Hawkes

No. 1

White: Zelinsky,Yuri
Black: - Skotorenko,Vasily
USSR Correspondence, 1974
Benoni Defence [A62]
[Notes by John E. Hawkes]

12.Qc2
13.Nh4
14.Rae1
15.Nd1
16.b3
17.f4
18.e4
19.Ne3
20.e5

1.d4
Nf6
2.c4
c5
3.d5
e6
4.Nc3
exd5
5.cxd5
d6
6.Nf3
g6
7.g3
Bg7
8.Bg2
0–0
9.0–0
Qe7
My copy of Kapengut's superb
"Indian Defence" book (published
Minsk, 1984) was miraculously
recuperated intact after its 1988 fall
from a Strand Palace fifth-floor
window — and I still have it on my
bookshelf today!
10.Bg5
Kapengut's main line for this very
interesting queen-move variation
was: 10.Nd2 Nbd7 11.Nc4 Ne5
12.Nxe5 Qxe5
10...
h6
11.Bd2
Bd7

One of the "Combinations" in
Informator–18. I couldn't track down
the complete score anywhere and so
had to reconstruct the moves leading
to this position. The actual order of
moves may well have been rather
different. The precise point at which
Black resigned is not clear either, and
is my excuse for taking the game

We started with A – for Alan,
Alekhine’s and Adjudication, and we
close with Z - for Zelinsky!

SCCA Magazine 133

b5
Na6
b4
Rac8
Kh7
c4
Ng8
f5?
Bb5

15

score beyond the traditional 24
moves required for miniature status.
21.Nxg6!
Kxg6
No choice for Black; 21...cxb3
22.Nxf8+ Qxf8 23.Qxf5+ Qxf5
24.Nxf5 Bxf1 25.Bxf1!+–
22.Nxf5!
More spectacular than 22.Bh3
22...
Rxf5
And Yuri can now follow his twoknights assault with a third sacrifice the supreme one!
23.Qxf5+!!
Kxf5
24.Be4+
Kg4
25.h3+!
Another sacrificial touch.
25...
Kxg3
25...Kxh3 26.Bf5+ Kxg3 27.Re3+
Kh4 28.Rh3#; 25...Kh5 26.g4+ (or
26.f5) 26...Kh4 27.Re3 and mate next
move.
26.Re3+
Kh4
27.Bg6!
A "quiet" move applies the finishing
touch.
1–0

© John E. Hawkes
Spring 2016