True Combat, Winning the Won Game Part Two

GHOSTS

By IM Timothy Taylor

If I see a ghost, I want her to look like Virginia Madsen in "Gotham" -- you might be haunted for life, but there are compensations! However, seeing ghosts at the chessboard brings no good. You could throw away a win simply by not believing your position is as crushing as it really is; you might overestimate your opponent's threats when really he has nothing.

In the following game my wife Liz once again destroys her opponent with her favorite Center Game. She has a decisive advantage by move 16, and an absolutely forced win on move 19. Even twenty moves later, on move 39, she still has an absolutely forced win!

And yet, the game was drawn.

Obviously something went seriously wrong in the "winning the won game" part!

Blame the ghosts.

Liz Taylor - Bugnosen
Center Game [C22]
Southern California Open 2006
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 d6?!

As I pointed out in last month's column, this passive move is a sure sign Black doesn't know the opening. Correct is 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 when Black has counterplay.

5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bd2 Be7 7.0-0-0 Be6

Another person who didn't know the opening was a certain Anatoly Karpov! 7...0-0 8.Qg3 a6 9.f4 b5 10.e5 is Hase - Karpov, Skopje 1972; the future World Champion was already in big trouble and only escaped via a timely draw offer.

8.f4

8...a6

Basically a loss of tempo, as Black is hardly in position to get a queenside attack rolling. Relatively best is 8...d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Qg3 when White has only a slight advantage.

If Black castles into it, White can play for direct attack: 8...0-0 9.f5 Bd7 10.Be2 Ne5 11.h3 c6 12.g4 b5 13.g5 Ne8 14.Nf3 f6 15.h4 (White is having fun, but not Black!) 15...a5 16.Rdg1 a4 17.a3 Qb8 18.h5 Nxf3 19.Qxf3 fxg5 20.h6 g6 21.Bxg5 Bxg5+ 22.Rxg5 Kh8 23.Rhg1 gxf5 24.exf5 Nf6 25.Ne4 Nxe4 26.Qxe4 Qd8 27.Qd4+ and Black resigned in Rumiancev - Jankowski, Polanica Zdroj 1996 in view of mate in three.

Liz previously scored against 8...Qc8. She overwhelmed her opponent on the kingside, similar to the above game: 9.f5 Bd7 10.Be2 Ne5 11.h3 Bc6 12.Nf3 Nfd7 13.g4 (White already has a big advantage.) 13...Nxf3 14.Bxf3 Ne5 15.Be2 b6 16.Nd5 Qd7 17.Bc3 f6 18.Nf4 Bf8 19.Ne6 g6 20.Rhf1 g5 21.Bxe5 fxe5 22.Qxg5 (White had no trouble winning the won game this time!) 22...Bxe4 23.Qh5+ Qf7 24.Qxf7+ Kxf7 25.Ng5+ Ke8 26.Nxe4 Bh6+ 27.g5 Bf8 28.f6 Kf7 29.Bc4+ Kg6 30.f7 h6 31.Rg1 Kf5 32.Bd5 Rc8 33.g6 Bg7 34.Rdf1 mate, L Taylor - Sun, Pacific Coast Open 2006.

9.h3

9.f5 as versus Sun is also very strong here.

9...d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Qg3 Bf6?

Correct is 11...0-0. In open games (and this is really an open game, with both center files completely cleared of pawns!) it is very important to castle as soon as possible. Any number of Morphy and Spielmann games show the uncastled King perishing well before his time. However, Black ignores chess history and leaves his King in the firing line!

12.Bc4!

White activates her pieces with attack. Black can't castle now, for if 12...0-0 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.Bc3 and White wins by pin.

12...Nce7 13.Nf3 Nf5 14.Qe1 c6 15.Rf1?!

Maybe my wife sensed that her opponent still wasn't going to castle, for otherwise she would surely have cashed in with 15.Nxd5 which wins a pawn: 15...cxd5 16.Ba5 Qc8 (16...Qd6 17.Bxd5 Qxf4+ 18.Kb1 0-0 19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Qxe6+) 17.Bxd5 0-0 18.Bxe6.

15...Qe7??

Black misses his last chance to castle. Now White's advantage is absolutely decisive.

16.Nxd5 cxd5

16...Bxd5 is relatively better, but still loses to a simple forced sequence. 17.Bxd5 cxd5 18.g4 Nd6 (18...Nd4 19.Nxd4 Bxd4 20.Qxe7+ Kxe7 21.Bb4+) 19.g5 Qxe1 20.Rfxe1+ Be7 21.Bc3 wins a pawn for starters, due to the double attack on d5 and g7.

17.Bb4!

Catching the black King in the center. Black is dead or should be dead.

17...Qc7 18.Bxd5

White picks up a pawn and threatens e6 -- there is no good answer.

18...Qxf4+

Black recovers material but activates the white king-Rook. This means that the black King is stuck in the center, under fire from all three of White's heavy pieces, which means that we now have ... drumroll please:

WIN NUMBER ONE!

But before we get to this first winning move, let's take another lesson from the master of winning won games, Mr. Alexander Alekhine. Take his game against A. Speyer from Hamburg, 1910 -- Alekhine is Black:
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 Ne7 5.exd5 exd5 6.Qf3 Nbc6 7.Bb5 0-0 8.Nge2 Bf5 9.0-0-0 a6! 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Na5! 12.a3 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 Nc4 14.Rde1

At this point Alekhine comments: "Strategically, the game is already won by Black, but the latter here makes a slight tactical error, which allows his opponent to exchange Queens. The simple plan of attack to lead to an early win would be 14...a5 followed by ...b5-b4, etc. The decision of the game could and should have been brought about by a direct attack on the King."

After his played 14...Nc6 Alekhine eventually won a prolonged ending, but he's quite right that he could have finished his opponent off quickly -- and Liz could do the same!
For the record, here is the rest of Alekhine's win: 15.Nf4 Qd6 16.Qf3 Rad8 17.Nd3 a5! 18.Qf4 Qxf4+ 19.Nxf4 b5 20.Nd3 Rb8 21.Ne5 N6xe5 22.dxe5 c5! 23.b3 d4! 24.bxc4 dxc3 25.Re3 b4 26.a4 Rbd8 27.Rhe1 Rd4 28.Re4 Rxe4 29.Rxe4 Rd8 30.e6 fxe6 31.Rxe6 Rd2 32.Re5 Rxf2 33.Kb1 Rf1+ 34.Ka2 Rc1 35.Rxc5 Rxc2+ 36.Kb1 Rb2+ 37.Kc1 Rxg2 38.Rb5 Kf7 39.c5 Ke6 40.c6 Kd6 41.c7 Kxc7 42.Rxa5 Rxh2 43.Rb5 Rb2 44.a5 Kc6 45.Rb8 Kc5 46.a6 Ra2 47.Rc8+ Kb5 48.Rb8+ Kc4, 0-1, Speyer - Alekhine, Hamburg 1910.

Now back to the lovely Liz: she has a winning attack against her opponent's King, which is caught in the center -- she is also in check. What is the best answer?

WHITE WINS

19.Bd2?

Not this! The Bishop retreat frees Black's King and encourages an exchange of Queens, prolonging the game. As Alekhine says, "The decision of the game could and should have been brought about by a direct attack on the King."

Therefore White wants to keep the black King right where he is, with no good flight squares. Leaving the Bishop at b4 accomplishes this, so ...

Win #1 is the simple 19.Kb1! The threat is 20.Bxe6 with a mating attack. What can Black do?

A) He can't do nothing: If 19...h6 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Qxe6+ Be7 (21...Ne7 22.Bxe7 Bxe7 23.Ne5 and mates) 22.Ng5 Qxg5 23.Rxf5 and mates.

B) He can't castle out of it: 19...0-0-0 20.Bxe6+ fxe6 21.Qxe6+ Kb8 22.Bd2 wins a piece.

C) He can't exchange Queens: 19...Qg3 20.Bxe6 Qxe1 (20...fxe6 21.Qxe6+ wins as in A) 21.Bd7+ wins a piece.

D) He can't fork: 19...Ne3 20.Bxe6 and now Black has three entertaining ways to lose, depending on which White piece he recaptures -- he has his choice of Bishop or two Rooks.

Let s try the Bishop capture first (and Black must take something, otherwise he's just a piece down).

D.1) 20...fxe6 21.Bd2 and now to avoid the loss of the piece, Black must defend with ...Bg5 or ...Bd4, which means we have:

D.1.a) 21...Bg5 22.Bxe3 Qxe3 23.Nxg5 Qxg5 24.Qxe6+ Qe7 25.Qc4 wins the Queen. Take note of this position, as versions of this win will occur again and again -- note how helpless Black is with his uncastled King in the firing line of three open files.

D.1.b) 21...Bd4 22.Bxe3 Bxe3 23.Nh2! Qxh2 (not 23...Qe4 24.Ng4 winning a piece, or if 23...Qg5 24.Ng4 Ba7 25.Qxe6+ Qe7 26.Qc4 wins the Queen, in a pleasing echo of D.1.a) 24.Qxe3 Qc7 (24...e5 25.g3 forces mate) 25.Qxe6+ Qe7 26.Qc4 and White again reaches the basic win, and again, Black's Queen falls and soon his King!

Now let s try the rook captures:

D.2) 20...Nxf1 21.Bd7+ Kd8 22.Ba5+ wins the Queen -- short and sweet!
How about the other Rook?

D.3) 20...Nxd1 21.Bxf7+! White uses the open f-file 21...Kxf7 (21...Kd7 22.Qxd1+ with two pieces for a Rook, an extra pawn, and a winning attack) 22.Ne5+ (the pattern continues: first White wins the Queen) 22...Bxe5 (22...Qxe5 23.Qxe5) 23.Rxf4+ Bxf4 24.Qe7+ Kg6 (24...Kg8 25.Qe6 mate) 25.Qe6+ Kh5 (25...Kg5 26.Be7+ Kh5 27.g4 mate) 26.Qg4+ Kh6 27.Qxf4+ and now the King falls! White mates in at most 7, as the student can work out for himself.

E) He can't pin: 19...Rd8 20.Nd4 Qe5 21.Qxe5 Bxe5 22.Nxe6 fxe6 23.Rfe1 Bg3 24.Rxe6+ Kd7 (24...Kf7 25.Rb6+ wins at least the Exchange) 25.Ba5 and wins. White is a pawn up while black s King is still caught in the crossfire, making further material gain inevitable.
What then should Black do after the simple but deadly 19.Kb1? As GM Yudasin once said to me, Black's best move is Resigns!

Bluntly put, 18.Kb1 leaves black's King in the center, under fire from all White's pieces. Heavy material loss or mate follows quickly. The game could and should have been decided right here.

Now we come to the 64 dollar question (Chess prizes are low!).Why did my beautiful wife not play this obvious and winning move? Answer: she saw a ghost, a quick glimmering ghost that forced her to move her Bishop back.

No, she did not see la Madsen tumbling out of a refrigerator -- she had a pattern recognition response: she saw "Black Queen checks my King and simultaneously attacks my Bishop!"

So to "save" her piece from the fork, she moved the Bishop back, completely forgetting it was protected by the Queen!

Just a ghost ... a few more minutes thought would have saved a long struggle.

19...Qg3

Black is still alive!

20.Bxe6 Qxe1 21.Rfxe1 fxe6 22.Rxe6+ Kf7 23.Rb6

OK, maybe kinda sorta alive! Black can't even defend b7 normally because of Bf4, so has to make the following zany Rook move. Nonetheless, even though this is a "winning ending" the fact that the game is still going means there are more chances to go wrong. Had Liz played Kb1, the game would probably be over by now.

23...Ra7 24.Bf4 Re8 25.Rd7+ Kg8 26.Rbxb7

A second pawn falls!

26...Rxb7 27.Rxb7 Re2 28.g4 Ne3

White is two pawns up with a Rook on the seventh. Black's pieces are loose (the Rook barely defends the attacked Knight, the white King dominates black's Bishop, which practically has no moves) so all this means it's time for that drumroll ...

WIN NUMBER TWO!

29.Rb8+?

Letting the King escape its prison can't be right.

Remember white's advantages: Rook on the seventh, loose Black pieces, black's vulnerable Bishop ...

Ah, there it is, and so simple. Win #2 is the direct attack 29.g5. The Bishop is attacked -- what can Black do?

Since the white Knight completely dominates the hapless cleric, its only free square is 29...Bd8 -- but that loses a piece to the obvious 30.Rb8. So the Bishop can't move! Black's only counterattack is 29...Rf2, but that allows mate after 30.gxf6 Rf3 31.f7+ Kf8 32.Bd6 mate.

So after a very short and easy calculation, one sees that Black's only possible move is 29...Rxc2+. White answers 30.Kb1 and now Black is out of checks (or out of good checks -- if 30...Rxb2+ 31.Rxb2 and Black does not even get one pawn for his lost piece) and so must counterattack with 30...Rf2. The temporary mate threat keeps the number of pieces even, but the pawns ...

The next few moves are forced: 31.Bxe3 Rxf3 32.gxf6 Rxe3 33.Rxg7+ Kf8 (33...Kh8 34.Re7 Rg3 35.Re8+ Rg8 36.f7 wins a rook) 34.Rxh7 and White has won yet another pawn (yes, three extra pawns should be enough!) while simplifying the position.

Black can't win a pawn back, for if 34...Rf3 35.f7 and the exchange of Rooks is an absurdly easy win for White -- but if Black keeps the Rooks on, White wins by tying Black up on the kingside and breaking through on the queenside -- here's a sample: 35...Rf2 (35...a5 36.a4 Rf4 37.b3 Rf2 38.Rh5 etc.) 36.b4 Re2 37.a3 Rf2 38.h4 Rh2 39.h5 Rf2 40.h6 Rh2 41.Rh8+ Kxf7 42.h7 Kg7 43.Ra8 Kxh7 (43...Rxh7 44.Ra7+ Kg6 45.Rxh7 Kxh7 46.a4 Kg7 47.b5 axb5 48.axb5 Kf7 49.b6 Ke7 50.b7) 44.Rxa6 Kg7 45.Rc6 Kf7 46.Rc2 Rh3 47.Kb2 Ke6 48.Rc3 Rh2+ 49.Kb3 Kd6 50.b5 Rh1 51.a4 Rb1+ 52.Ka3 Kd5 53.Rb3 Ra1+ 54.Kb4 Kd6 5.Rc3! Rb1+ 56.Ka5 and White would win this even without the a-pawn.

Why was the win missed? The variation is exceedingly simple: just attack the Bishop, which has no moves, and then collect material. But the ghost! Liz "sees" the black Rook attacking on the seventh rank, it looks like it will take on c2 and b2 and run amuck -- but wait!! It doesn't really attack b2, as that is defended from above by the white Rook! So as mentioned above, if 29...Rc2+ 30.Kb1 Rb2+ White takes the Rook and emerges a piece up, and Black doesn't even have one pawn for the piece! But fearing this "attack," Liz blocks the "dangerous" Bishop on f6 with tempo -- but in reality the Bishop wasn't dangerous, it was doomed!!

29...Kf7

The Black King is free now -- but of course the position is still won!

30.Ne5+ Bxe5 31.Bxe5 Rxc2+ 32.Kb1 Rg2 33.b3 Rg1+ 34.Kb2 Rg2+ 35.Ka3 a5 36.Ra8 Nc2+ 37.Ka4 Nb4 38.a3 Ra2

The centralized white Bishop is much better than the hapless black Knight, the white Rook attacks in two directions, and Black's a-pawn is vulnerable. Could it be? Yes! It's time for

WIN NUMBER THREE!

39.Bc3??

Oh no, there aren't any more after this. Of course correct is 39.Rxa5 and White simply wins by material, two good pawns up, while also having the better minor piece. How could Liz have not played this, which is the most obvious of all the wins? Because of the ghost! She thought Black would then get a pawn back with counterplay with 39...Nc2, overlooking that after the simple 40.Bd6 Black neither gets a pawn back nor has any counterplay whatsoever -- and must, or at least should, resign.

After the panicky move actually played, ...Nc2 actually works -- Black gets his pawn back and draws.

39...Nc2 40.Ra7+ Ke8 41.Rxa5 Rxa3+ 42.Kb5 Rxb3+ 43.Kc4 Rb7 44.Ra2 Ne3+ 45.Kd3 Nd5 46.Rb2, 1/2-1/2.

Leave the ghosts to the movies! Many times your opponent's "threats" are just illusions.

If you have every piece attacking his King, you probably are actually winning -- so do a little bit of objective calculation, and bring the point home!