Sunday, October 04, 2015

My One Memorable Chess Game

From the 1985 San Francisco Class Championship


White: Cha
Black: Resnick

1.  e4    e5
2.  Nf3    Nc6
3.  Bc4    Nf6
4.  Ng5    Bc5?!

This is called the Wilkes-Barre Variation, named for a city near my hometown of Havertown PA. It may be unsound, but has definite shock value. One point is that after the tempting 5. Nxf7, Black gets an attack with 5. ... Bxf2+, 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+ and 7. ... Qh4.

5.  Bxf7+  Ke7
6.  Bd5    Qe8

At this point, my friend and fellow player Michael walked by and did a double-take. He thought I had mixed up my King with my Queen!

7.  Nc3    d6
8.  Nb5    Rf8
9.  Nxc7   Qg6
10. d3?    Bxf2+!

White can't take the Bishop, because of 11. Kxf2 Nxd5+ and 12. ... Nxc7.

11. Kf1    Bg4
12. Qd2    Be3!

Again, the Bishop is poison: 13. Qxe3 Nxd5+.

13. Qe1    Nxe4+
14. Nf3    Rxf3+!
15. gxf3   Bh3+
16. Ke2    Nd4+
17. Kxe3   ...

Or 17. Kd1 Nf2+

17. ...    Qg5+
18. Kxe4   Bf5# mate

1 comment:

mhniemczyk said...

Today, in round 10 of the Grand Chess Tour Sinquefield Cup 2019, the game Aronian (2765)-Ding (2805) reached your position after 4. Ng5. Instead of your move (4…Bc5), Ding played the computer’s top choice (4…d5). After 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 Nd5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. O-O, an even position was reached. The game ended in a draw after 43 moves.

Unlike their game, yours against Chan was thrilling and beautiful. As you say, the variation beginning with 4…Bc5 “may be unsound, but has definite shock value.” Here's the shocking line that Stockfish 10 (a strong open source chess engine) gives as best for both sides after 4... Bc5 (your move against Chan): 5. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 7. Kg1 Qh4 8. g3 Nxg3 9. Nxh8 Nxh1 10. d3 d5 11. Bxd5 Qd4+ 12. Be3 Qxd5 13. Nc3 Qd7 14. Kxh1 Qg4 15. Qxg4 Bxg4 16. Rf1 Be6 17. Ne4 Bxa2 18. Bc5 Kd7 19. Nf7, with advantage to White roughly equal to 2 pawns.