3rd Annual SCCA Best Game Prize
[Ed – once again, we received a very
high standard of entry for our
competition and I’m very grateful to
David for doing such a thorough job
of assessing the games. All entries
were judged anonymously, sans
annotations - notes were added by
the players once the final placings
were known.]
The games this year split into two
broad sections.
The first contained games where the
players both played well but one
player had a good advantage most of
the game although the opponent
managed to control this advantage to
some extent.
The second group involved one
player just finding the best moves
and the other failed to either see or
parry the threats. In this second
group the winning player did play
well but it was not a good contest as
the second player sometimes did not
really counter.
I thought the first group of games
was very good and really well played
by both sides. The winning game
comes from this group as do the
second and third games.
Modern Defence [B06]
[Notes by Peter Bennett]
1.e4
g6
2.d4
Bg7
3.Nc3
d6
4.Be3
a6
5.Qd2
b5
6.h4
h5
7.f3
Nd7
8.Nh3
Bb7
9.Ng5
Ngf6
10.0–0–0
0–0
The Modern Defence is an excellent
weapon with Black, OTB, precisely
because of its fluidity: Black can
choose to transpose to a variety of
different openings by a late advance
of central pawns. In correspondence
play, the weakness of this system is
that it fails to challenge for control of
e5 and potentially cedes White too
much space on the kingside.
11.g4
White expands immediately on the
kingside to take advantage of his
temporary control of the centre.
11...
hxg4
Winning a pawn is altogether too
tempting for Black; but 11...e5 is
probably sounder.
12.h5
Nxh5
13.fxg4
Nhf6
14.Qh2
e5
My view is that where the players are
of about the same standard the games
have to be played well and the
winning player usually sees just that
little deeper or has a better strategy
to enable him to gain an advantage
and even then it is not always clear
how the advantage can be sustained.
So it takes real understanding of the
positions to hold this advantage and
finally win the game.
All the games had merit but few had
any real sacrifices or combinational
play and the winning game was well
played by both sides through each
stage of the game.
Third Place
White: Bennett ,Peter (2365)
Black: Cumming, David (2375)
SCCA 3rd Webserver Open Final,
2015
SCCA Magazine 133
Black finally plays ….e5, but is this
a case of 'locking the door after the
horse has bolted?" Black’s kingside
is already under siege and White can
simply get on with completing his
own development. The pawn deficit
is irrelevant.
15.Bg2
Re8
16.Rdf1
exd4
17.Bxd4
Ne5
6
18.Nd5
19.exd5
20.Qh4
By GM David Kilgour
Bxd5
Nexg4
Ne5
Now Black is two pawns up, but
White’s compensation for the
material is massive.
21.Rxf6
Qxf6
22.Rf1
Qxf1+
23.Bxf1
Bf6
24.Qh7+
Kf8
25.Bxe5
Bxg5+
26.Kd1
dxe5
27.Qh8+
Ke7
28.Qxe5+
Kf8
29.Qxg5
Queen and bishop against two rooks
is strongly in White’s favour.
29...
Rad8
30.c4
bxc4
31.Bxc4
Rd6
32.Kc2
Re4
33.b3
Re8
34.a4
Kg7
35.Qg1
Re7
36.b4
f6
37.a5
Rf7
38.Qc5
Kh6
39.b5
axb5
The passed a-pawn is now decisive.
40.Bxb5
f5
41.a6
Rf8
42.a7
If, e.g., 42…f4 43.Bc6 forces Black
to give up the exchange on a8 which
will leave White a completely
winning endgame of Q v R.A note of
commendation to my opponent: not
only did he play briskly in defence,
he was also very gracious in defeat.
Such a sporting attitude is not the
norm that it ought to be in many
competitions in which I play.
1–0
Spring 2016