By Timothy Taylor

 

Why do we make double question mark moves? Everyone makes them, from Kasparov to you and me but what is the cause?

In this episode of the difficult opponent I will once again feature one of my games against Andranik Matikozyan. As usual I obtain a clear winning position, as I did in most games against this, for me, extremely difficult opponent, and once again, I lose the game!

Before I go on, let's stop for a minute and define "clear winning position." I have specific criteria for this. In all three of the Taylor vs. Matikozyan games I have shown so far (the draw in PART ONE, and the two King's Indians in PART TWO), I obtained winning positions. To me, this means that not only do I, with my judgment and experience, see the clear winning path, and see there is no defense for my opponent (in analysis of course, not necessarily during the game!), but also I have mechanical back-up. All three previous games featured the decisive advantage sign as given by our friend Fritz, namely +- , which translates to an advantage, either in position or material, of two pawns or more. In other words, the kind of position that every master should win, let alone an International Master!

However, as we know, I only scored a half point from those three winning positions! The present game will feature another +- position, and another big 0 on the wall chart! Why? Because of a single blunder, a single double question mark move that transformed a dead won position into White is struggling to draw.

I want to know why I made that move. For this reason, unlike my usual style, I am not going to annotate the game as a whole (just a few light notes) but instead will concentrate fiercely on that single move, and try to uncover the secret behind my misfortune!

But before we get to my latest disaster, let's take another look at a rather more famous difficult opponent. In the first two columns of this arc, I talked about Svetozar Gligoric's disastrous run of losses against Leonid Stein, but I think poor Gligo has been embarrassed enough! Here's another winner and difficult opponent: Garry Kasparov and Judit Polgar. Now Kasparov would be a difficult opponent for anyone, but Judit's score against him -- ten losses, four draws, and only one win (finally!) in a rapid event -- does not reflect their relative strength. Kasparov won even dead drawn positions against her!
In keeping with the theme of today's article, I am not going to analyze the whole game below, but only the particular blunder by which Judit lost a drawn ending.

Judit Polgar - Kasparov
Sicilian Defense, B82
Dos Hermanas 1996
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f4 e6 7.Qf3 Qb6 8.a3 Nc6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.b3 Bb7 11.Bb2 d5 12.Bd3 c5 13.exd5 exd5 14.0-0-0 0-0-0 15.Na4 Qc7 16.Bf5+ Kb8 17.Be5 Bd6 18.Qc3 d4 19.Bxd6 Qxd6 20.Qxc5 Qxf4+ 21.Kb1 Rd5 22.Rdf1 Qe5 23.Qc4 Rb5 24.Qxf7 Bd5 25.Qxg7 Rg8 26.Qh6 Bxb3 27.cxb3 Rxb3+ 28.Kc1 Qc7+ 29.Bc2 d3 30.Qf4 Rc8 31.Qxc7+ Rxc7 32.Rf2 Ne4 33.Rf8+ Ka7 34.Rf7 Rbb7 35.Rxc7 Rxc7 36.Rd1 Rxc2+ 37.Kb1 Rxg2 38.Rxd3 Rxh2 39.Rd7+ Kb8 40.Re7 Nd2+ 41.Kc1 Nb3+ 42.Kd1 h5 43.Re3 Nd4 44.Nc5 a5 45.Nb3 Nc6 46.Rc3 Kb7 47.Ke1 Kb6 48.Kf1 Rh4 49.Kg2 Nd4 50.Nxa5 Kxa5 51.Rc5+ Kb6 52.Re5 Kc6 53.Kg3 Rh1 54.Kg2 Kd6 55.Ra5 Rh4 56.Kg3 Rg4+ 57.Kh3 Ne2 58.Rxh5 Rg3+ 59.Kh4 Rxa3 60.Kg4 Ke6 61.Rb5 Rg3+ 62.Kh4 Rg1 63.Rg5 Rf1 64.Ra5 Kf6 65.Ra8 Rg1 66.Rf8+ Ke5 67.Re8+ Kf4 68.Rf8+ Ke4 69.Re8+ Kf3 70.Kh5 Ng3+ 71.Kh6 Nf5+ 72.Kh7 Kf4 73.Rb8 Rg7+ 74.Kh8 Rd7 75.Re8 Kg5 76.Re6 Nd4 77.Re1 Kf6 78.Rd1 Rd5

This ending was solved by Centurini as far back as 1888! Most positions are drawn, but the basic win, now known as the Centurini win, is as follows.


This position is won regardless of who is to move.

It s easy to see the key elements of this win: the Black King is in a box in the corner, while the White King is sheltered from checks by his Knight.

In the present game, Black has the extra Knight, but the key square, g6, is the same: the Black King wants to get to g6, and the Black Knight wants to give him shelter via ...Ne6-g5. However, all this is impossible to force, and Ms. Polgar could draw easily with the most obvious move on the board, namely 79.Rf1+. Now if 79...Nf5 White simply waits with 80.Kg8 and Black has no way of setting up the decisive Centurini box as 80...Kg6 is met by the Rook check on g1, while other moves fail to improve Black s position.
    
All this can be verified by using the Lokasoft tablebase, which I discovered via all the reader response to my TRUE COMBAT IN THE ENDING, PART TWO! However, Judit played the inexplicable

79.Ra1??

And now that very same tablebase points out that she is dead lost! She goes from dead drawn to dead lost in a single move!

Why?

How can a strong GM make a non-threatening move like Ra1 in a clearly critical position? Why allow Black a free hand to set up his winning attack, when the obvious check prevents Black from accomplishing anything?

I have to guess, but I suspect three factors. One, fatigue: White has been defending for a very long time (this is move 79 after all!) and may have simply begun to swim rather than calculate accurately. Two, Kasparov's famous will to win may have rattled or unnerved his opponent. Finally, there is the possibility that the younger player had simply not studied this basic ending, and did not know what Centurini box she was stepping into!

In any case, it came down to this one move: after Judit's blunder, Kasparov played 79...Ne6 (The Black King reaches g6 with a winning position) 80.Ra6 Kf7 81.Ra7+ Kg6 82.Ra8 Rd7 83.Rb8 Rc7 84.Kg8 Rc5 85.Ra8 Rb5 86.Kh8 Rb7 87.Rc8 Nc7 88.Rg8+ Kh6 89.Rg1 Rb8+ 90.Rg8 Ne8, 0-1. A single lapse, and the game is lost. Chess is harsh!

And now for my debacle!


Taylor - Matikozyan
King's Indian Defense, E70
John Rowell Invitational, Los Angeles 2002
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2

I like this dangerous system the Hungarian Attack vs. the King's Indian. For another game with this line see True Combat, THE NERVE SHREDDING LAST ROUND, PART TWO.

5...0-0 6.Ng3 e5 7.d5 a5

For 7...c6 See Taylor Stoecklin mentioned above.

8.h4 h5 9.Bg5 Na6 10.Be2 Qe8

To prevent the sac on h5, as seen in the Stoecklin encounter and many other Hungarian Attack games.

11.Qd2 Nh7 12.Bh6

Forintos, in his book on the Hungarian Attack, recommends the immediate 12.Be3, and this may be best. After 12...Bd7 13.a4 he cites the game M. Gurevich-Nijboer, Holland 1992, in which White played for the idea Ra3 and a sac on h5, with the Q-Rook swinging over, a maneuver also seen in Taylor - Stoecklin.

12...f6 13.0-0-0 Bd7 14.Rdf1 Nc5 15.Be3 a4 16.Bd1 b5 17.Bxc5 dxc5 18.cxb5 Bxb5 19.Be2 Bd7 20.Bc4 Kh8 21.d6 c6 22.Rd1 Qb8 23.a3 Rd8

Not a mistake, though it allows the following dangerous but highly speculative sacrifice.

24.Bf7

White takes a risk! Of course it s possible to play quietly with 24.Kb1 keeping an approximately equal game.

24...Nf8 25.Bxg6!?

                                      
                                       TAYLOR'S AT IT AGAIN

White's point.  

25...Nxg6 26.Nxh5 Be6

Spielmann is once again proved right! The effect of a speculative sacrifice is frequently so strong that the opponent, unnerved, will blunder immediately afterward from sacrificial shock! Here 26...Nf4 is correct, with the tactic 27.Nxf4 Bh6! in mind, while 27.Nxg7 Kxg7 seems to favor Black.

27.Nxf6!

The second piece sacrifice catches Black by surprise! Now Black's King position is destroyed, and White stands better.

27...Nf4 28.g3 Bh6

No better are 28...Bxf6 29.gxf4 exf4 30.Qxf4 Bg7 31.Rhg1 Kh7 32.Rxg7+ Kxg7 33.Qg5+ and mates or 28...Rf8 29.gxf4 Bh6 30.Nh5 Bg4 31.Rdg1 Bxh5 32.Rg5! with a winning attack.

29.Kb1 Rf8 30.d7 Qd8

 
White's advantage is overwhelming: three pawns for the piece (all of Black's King protecting pawns); The Black Knight is pinned to an undefended Bishop; and finally add a White passed pawn on the seventh rank!

Dial up the Fritzter!

Yes, the infamous machine gives White +-, specifically an advantage of 2.19, or the equivalent of a bit more than two pawns up. All White has to do is find a single move, a far from spectacular, in fact, easy to see move, and Black will be deader than a big budget remake of Bewitched!

Now I played

31.Ne8??

And well, let's leave that schmuckovich of a move for a moment, and go back to the critical position after 30...Qd8. Once again, here are White's advantages: Three pawns for the piece, a pinned Black Knight, a passed pawn on the seventh.

At this point it's worth mentioning Richard Teichmann s famous observation that Chess is 99% tactics. While this is certainly not literally true today (where it sometimes seems that chess is 99% opening number crunching!), Teichmann certainly has a point where the middle game is concerned.

Take this position for example: Which of the three advantages mentioned above is a tactical advantage? Clearly the second one, the pinned Black Knight. This is a temporary tactical condition, and it will end in one move if Black can play ...Kg7. Therefore, White should immediately play against this pinned piece. Correct is 31.Nh5 a simple move that hardly deserves an exclamation point. The threat is the evident gxf4, regaining the piece, while in many lines White, while failing to win the piece back, can capture a fourth pawn for his investment, and these infantrymen will then be poised to march right over the Black kingside.

After the decisive 31.Nh5 Black has:


a) 31...Ra7 Black tries to counter as in the game. 32.Qd6 Rxd7 (32...Nxh5 33.Qxe6 Bg7 34.Qxc6 Rc7 [34...Rxf2 35.Qxc5 forks the Rooks] 35.Qg6 Nf6 36.h5 with a routine win as the pawns roll over all opposition) 33.Qxe5+ Kh7 34.Nxf4 wins as the White Knight is not loose, and so is able to take revenge on its opposite number.

b) 31...Nxh5 fails horribly to 32.Qxh6+ Kg8 33.Qxe6+.

c) 31...Bxd7 32.gxf4 Bg4 33.Qxd8 Rfxd8 34.Rxd8+ Rxd8 35.Nf6 Bf3 36.Rh3 Bg2 37.Rg3 Bf1 38.f5 and the ending is winning for White.

d) 31...Qxd7 32.Qxd7 Bxd7 33.Rd6 is a clean win, recovering the piece in all variations.

e) 31...Bg4 32.Qd6 Kh7 33.Nxf4! exf4 34.e5 and the pawns march through, e.g. 34...fxg3 35.fxg3 Bxd1 36.Rxd1 Bg7 (36...Rf2 37.Ne4) 37.Ne4 with a winning attack.

f) 31...Bf7 (relatively best) 32.Nxf4 exf4 33.Qd6 (not 33.gxf4 Bxf4!) 33...Bg7 (33...Kh7 34.g4 and the pawns marching forward remind me of the tarantula attack in Lucio Fulci's "The Beyond;" slow moving but deadly and unstoppable) 34.gxf4 Bb3 (34...Bxc3 35.Qh6+ and mates) 35.e5 (Only the pawns matter!) 35...Bxd1 36.Rxd1 Qxh4 37.e6 Bxc3 38.bxc3 Rfb8+ 39.Ka1 Qh3 (39...Qf6 40.Rh1+ Kg7 41.Rg1+ Kh8 42.Qxc5 Rb5 43.Qxc6 Raa5 44.e7!!


A pretty finish!) 40.Qe5+ Kh7 41.Qe4+ Kg7 (41...Kh6 42.Rh1) 42.Rg1+ Kf6 43.Qe5+ Ke7 44.Rg7+ Kd8 45.Qf6+ Kc7 46.d8=Q mate!

So 31.Nh5 wins: hardly an earthshaking move, hardly a difficult decision.

But the question remains: Why was the blunder 31.Ne8 played?

As near as I recall, the first part was tactical blindness. I simply missed Black's next move, which wins White's pride and joy, my passed pawn on d7, and indirectly threatens my too advanced Knight. Not a good thing to overlook! But I think the answer is a little more complicated than that. I think I was attracted to 30.Ne8 by its cool aspect: White creates a Knight outpost on the eighth rank! Damn that's cool!

I believe I was carried away by the illusory beauty and sheer zaniness of the move, and quickly played it, thinking Black had no defense
 
But a sober evaluation would have indicated that the other Knight move, the simple Knight move, the slightly retreating Knight move, was the clear and sound winner.
Bottom line: I got fancy and lost.
 
31...Ra7! 32.Qd6 Rxd7 33.Qxe5+ Kh7 34.gxf4 Rxe8 35.Qxc5 Bxf4 36.Qxc6 Qe7 37.Qxa4?

37.Nd5 might still equalize.

37...Rb7 38.Nd5 Reb8! 39.b4

39.Nxe7 Rxb2+ 40.Ka1 Ra2 mate.

39...Bxd5 40.exd5 Rxb4+ 41.axb4 Rxb4+ 42.Qxb4 Qxb4+ 43.Kc2 Qc4+ 44.Kb2 Be5+ 45.Ka3 Bc3 46.Rb1 Qxd5 47.Rhd1 Qa5+ 48.Kb3 Qb4+ 49.Kc2 Qc4 50.Rd7+ Bg7+ 51.Kd2 Qf4+ 52.Kc2 Qe4+?

52...Qa4+ and I resign. I was annoyed that he missed this, prolonging the game.

53.Rd3 Qc4+ 54.Kd2 Bh6+ 55.Re3 Qa2+ 56.Kc1 Qxf2 57.Rb7+ Kg6 58.Rb6+ Kf5 59.Rb5+ Kg4 60.Rb4+ Kh5 61.Rb5+ Kxh4 62.Rb4+ Kh5 63.Rb5+ Kg4 64.Rb4+ Bf4 65.Rxf4+ Kxf4 66.Rd3 Ke4 67.Rd2 Qf1+ 68.Rd1 Qc4+ 69.Kd2 Kf3 70.Rc1 Qd4+ 71.Kc2 Ke2 72.Kb3 Qb6+ 73.Kc3 Qc5+ 74.Kb2 Qb4+ 75.Kc2 Qd2+ 76.Kb1 Kd3 77.Rc8 Qb4+ 78.Kc1 Qa5 79.Kb1 Qb6+ 80.Kc1 Qa6 81.Rd8+ Kc3 82.Rd3+ Kxd3, 0-1.

Once again, as we see in Polgar - Kasparov, a single move can alter the entire result of the game. Chess is hellaciously difficult! It demands full concentration on every move, and every distraction such as my own bent for the beautiful and zany can detract from the search for truth, can lead one towards a mirage and victory turns to defeat.