[Event "8 Board Clock Simul, London"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "1981.04.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Black "Alan M Byron"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C77"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "1981.??.??"] {[%evp 14,68,43,38,94,44,155,76,71,76,80,55,60,-13,-15,-17,-14,-16,14,0,127,95, 89,89,92,80,81,47,263,149,155,57,55,29,255,242,436,389,486,476,521,524,606,608, 612,609,602,616,29987,661,637,553,589,565,836,847,29999] C77: Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 {The Exchange Variation is 4.Bxc6. If white delays the exchange one move and plays 5.Bxc6 it's the Bayreuther variation, named after Alekhine vs Bogoljubov, 1934, 16th match game played in Bayreuth. If white exchanges at move 6 it's called Deferred Exchange Ruy Lopez Delayed or Steenwijker variation after Euwe vs H Kramer, 1940, played in Steenwijk.} Nf6 5. Bxc6 {White aims to achieve long term positional pressure by trying to force black into an awkward defense set-up.} bxc6 {n my database this move gives black better results thnt the far more popular capture with the d-Pawn.} 6. Nc3 d6 7. d4 exd4 8. Qxd4 Bg4 {This move seems to rarely work out well for black in the Ruy Lopez.} 9. e5 c5 10. Qe3 dxe5 $1 11. Nxe5 Be6 {Black's 8th move turns out to be a loss time.} 12. O-O Bd6 $1 13. b3 O-O 14. Bb2 Re8 15. f4 Bf5 16. Qf2 g6 {Although this move result in a small weakening of the dark squares around the K it hardly seems enough to prove fatal, but Botvinnik will show its defects.} 17. Rae1 c4 {The purpose of this nifty little move is to deflect the N from covering g4, but Botvinnik doesn't take the bait with 18. Nxc4} 18. h3 cxb3 19. cxb3 h5 20. Kh1 Qc8 $2 {The idea here is not to sacrifice ...Bxh3 because after ...Qxh3+ white can interpose his Q, but rather to play ...Qb7 which does threaten ...Bxh3.} 21. Qh4 {Stronger would have been 21.Qd4 threatening a discovered attack on the N.} Re6 22. Nf3 {Missing the stronger 22.Nc6} Be7 $1 23. Ng5 Nh7 $2 {After this black is lost.23...Rxe1 would have left him with a decent game.} 24. Nd5 {[%mdl 32]} Bd8 $2 25. Qg3 Qd7 26. Nxe6 Bxe6 27. Ne3 h4 28. Qf3 Rb8 29. f5 gxf5 30. Nxf5 Ng5 31. Qc3 {Missing a forced mate, not that it matters.} f6 32. Nxh4 Bd5 33. Rf5 Be7 34. Rxg5+ $1 fxg5 35. Qg7# 1-0