One of the prettiest games of chess ever played. One of the true masterpieces of the chessboard. A great game!!!
White plays very logically and is preparing for a big push in the center, when ...
My annotations here are based primarily on those of GM Andy Soltis, in his book, "The 100 Best." ( "The 100 Best Games of the 20th Century, Ranked." )
1. d4 Nf6; 2. c4 e6; 3. Nc3 Bb4; 4. a3 Bxc3+; 5. bxc3 c5; 6. f3 d5;
7. e3 0-0; 8. cxd5 exd5; 9. Bd3 Nc6; 10. Ne2 Re8; 11. 0-0 a6!; Black begins a rare, but promising plan of Queen-side expansion.
12. Qe1 b5; 13. Qf2 Be6; 14. h3 Ra7!; 15. Bd2 Qb6; 16. Rfb1! Rae7;
17. a4 c4; 18. Bc2 Bc8; The computers give A VERY LARGE ADVANTAGE ("+/") to White here!!
19. Ng3 h5!; (Maybe - '!!') A magnificent move. (A very good move, featuring both restraint and prophylaxis.)
Most books tell you to avoid weakening your King-side, (You might wind up opening your King up to a mating attack.); but Black completely ignores that conventional little piece of wisdom here.
20.Ne2, The computers all consider this move forced.
[20.e4!? h4! ].
20...Nd8; 21. Ra2! Bd7; 22. axb5 axb5; 23. Rba1 Bc8; 24. Rb2 Bd7;
25. Qh4! Ne6!; 26. Kh1 Nf8; 27. Ng3, White has played well. His position looks MUCH better and he is ready to start shoving his center pawns ... and maybe ram them down Black's throat. In addition, Black's QB looks very bad, and his Queen-side pawns appear firmly fixed.
What can Black do?
[ 27.Nf4!? ].
Now comes one of the best, the prettiest, and one of the most shocking moves ever played on the chess board.
27...Rxe3!!; (Maybe - '!!!!!') Why does Black play this move?
28. Bxe3 Rxe3; 29. Nxh5 Nxh5; 30. Qxh5 Bc6; This move is forced to protect d5.
31. Qg5!?, (Maybe - '!') Looks good, even winning, in fact.
[ 31.f4 ].
31...Rxc3!!; (Maybe - '!!!') An amazing second exchange sacrifice.
32. Qd2 Rxc2!; (Maybe - '!!') It almost appears as if Black is playing "give-away."
[ Most of my students want to play the move: 32...Rxf3; in this position. ]. 33.Rxc2 Ne6; Most computers consider this position winning for ... WHITE!! (An evaluation of "+/-" here.). 34.Rd1 b4; Now it becomes clear what Black was playing for, his Queen-side pawns have become VERY dangerous. The only question is, can they win?
35. Rb2 b3; Forced. Black avoids a little trap.
[ 35...c3?; 36.Qxc3! bxc3; 37.Rxb6, "+/-" ]. 36. Qc3 Nc7; 37. Re2 Qa7!?; 38. Qb4 Nb5; 39. Re7 Qa3!;
40. Qe1!, A good move. Swapping Queens allows Black's pawns to sail in for promotion.
[One sample variation: 40.Qxa3?! Nxa3; 41.Ra7!? c3; 42.Rxa3? c2; 43.Rc1 b2; 44.Rxc2 b1Q+; 45.Kh2 Qxc2; "-/+" ]. 40...c3!; 41. Re8+!?, (Maybe - '?!') The critical move. (And the turning point of the game.)
[ 41.Ra1!?, (Maybe - '!') This may be the best move for White, although it is not clear if White can even save the game at this point. ]. 41...Bxe8; "=/+" (Black is already a little better here, according to computer analysis.)
42. Qxe8+ Kh7; Now the only hope for White is a perpetual check.
43. Qxf7 Qa8!; 44. Re1 Nd6; 45. Qc7 c2!; 46. Qxd6 b2;
47. Qf4 Qc6!, White Resigns, 0 - 1.
One of the greatest chess games ever played. It also features a very unique and original idea. A double exchange-sacrifice at the GM-level is very rare, in my experience. (And the only other examples I could find were to mate the opposing King, or to win material. This is the only game I could find where this type of sacrifice occurred simply to liberate pawns to advance.)
GM A. Soltis calls this game, "A glittering lesson between material and position." (Soltis gives out like 11 exclams and two double-exclams to this game. On top of that, he finds NOT ONE MOVE that White made that was worthy of a question mark, or even a dubious appellation.)
I consider this the third greatest chess game ever played.
Copyright, (c); A.J. Goldsby, 2001.
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Click HERE to go to my web page on my Geo-Cities web site, where I examine this game in GREAT detail!!! (But there is only 1 diagram, so you have to use a chess board & set!)
This is a MUCH shortened copy of the game than the version that exits in my database. (I had to shorten it for publication. The other version was simply too difficult to convert to an HTML document.)
The original "ChessBase" file contains a fair look at the opening of this game, "The Nimzo-Indian Defense." This includes all the lines and all the notes that are in MCO. (Relevant to the Samisch Variation.) This would be a great asset to have, if you wanted to study this opening.
If you would like a copy of this game, please contact me.
Copyright, (©) A.J. Goldsby I.
© A.J. Goldsby, 2001 - 2004. © A.J. Goldsby, 2006.
Copyright © A.J. Goldsby, 2006. All rights reserved.
