[Event "URS-ch13 Semifinal Group2"] [Site "Rostov on Don"] [Date "1941.06.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Bronstein, David Ionovich"] [Black "Mikenas, Vladas Ivanovich"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C40"] [Annotator "Bronstein"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "1941.06.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "URS"] [SourceTitle "200 Open Games"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2009.11.30"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2009.11.30"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,47,38,18,36,33,133,122,112,149,145,125,125,45,122,72,82,82,24,90,109, 45,45,32,63,-3,62,69,131,106,272,237,247,342,405,405,329,383,681,561,617,512, 782,1010,1010,942,29991,29992,29995,29996] Not every player likes a defensive game; one can assume that the majority do not like to defend at all, but are keen to attack everywhere and at any time, without even taking into account the existing facts and circumstances.A good example of this is the ancient Greco Gambit, or as it is called today, The Latvian Gambit. In reply to 2.Nf3 Black replies with f5 and offeres White the choice of either pawn. Usually White captures 3.Ne5 attracted by the chance of clearing the queen's route to h5! Despite the negative pronouncements of theory, there still exist bold spirits wishing to revive this risky opening.I do not belong to their number. For training purposes it is often useful to play the odd game this way but, after studying Black's main difficulties, it would be more worthwhile switching one's attention and strength to other, more modern, methods of play. People often ask: What is a theoretical innovation? From a cursory look at this short game the main interest seems to consist of a series of effective sacrifices.If you look at it more deeply, this is not the case at all.The value of the game is contained in just one move 6.Be2. For the reason that this is in fact a theoretical innovation.An innovation which refutes, not one random variation, but a whole web of variations united by a common idea. One can relate the hisotry of this idea in a simplified form: - What is the point of the opening? - to attack down the f-file - Which piece plays the main role in the attack? - Black's Queen - Which square does the Queen usually goto? - to g6, to exert pressure against White's g2 - Does White have any means of preventing Black's queen getting to g6? - Yes by checking with his Queen to h5 - But after ....g6 by Black the queen will have to go away.What then? -Then the Black Queen won't be able to goto g6. On the other hand White's Queen will be well placed on e2. Let us check this in our heads:6.Qh5+ g6 7.Qe2 Qxd4 8. Nc3 with good development. We can put this away in our memory, and it will be useful, if we find nothing better. - Has Black not created some weak points in his position by his attacking? - Yes, he has. For example, by advancing his f-pawn he has weakened the e8-h5 diagonal. - Does this diagonal have any significance for us? - For White no, but for Black yes.Because Black's main aim is to establish his queen on g6, and until he has castled both his queen and his king must stand on that diagonal. - Both stand on a weakened diagonal? Surely this is dangerous? - It is difficult to say.It depends on what his opponent wants to do. - His opponent.... He could give a checkwith his Bishop from c10, if such a square existed, but Black would have a defence Bd9. -Or he could try his luck from some other non-existent square on that diagonal. - Wait a minute! Isnt it possible to transform this dream into reality? - Yes, it is! Yes, it is! - And at this point the two interlocutors shouted with one voice:' to do this, all we have to play is 6.Be2 Qg6 7.Bh5!' .... That is how, or roughly how, a theoretical innovation is born.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nxe5 Qf6 4. d4 (4. Nc4 {LEONHARDT}) 4... d6 5. Nc4 fxe4 6. Be2 $1 (6. Nc3 Qg6 7. d5 {Spielmann,R-Nimzowitsch,A Semmering Panhans 1926 (16) 1-0}) (6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qe2 Qxd4 8. Nc3) 6... Nc6 7. d5 Ne5 8. O-O Nxc4 9. Bxc4 Qg6 {[%CAl Gc8h3,Gg6g2]} 10. Bb5+ $1 {[%csl Rc7,Rc8,Re8]} Kd8 (10... Bd7 $142 {YUDOVICH}) 11. Bf4 (11. f3 $36 {[%csl Gf1][%CAl Gf1f8]}) 11... h5 $6 (11... Nf6) 12. f3 Bf5 13. Nc3 exf3 14. Qxf3 $40 {[%csl Rd8]} Bxc2 $4 (14... Nf6 $8 15. Rae1) 15. Bg5+ Nf6 16. Rae1 c6 17. Bxf6+ Qxf6 18. Qe2 Qd4+ 19. Kh1 Bg6 20. Rxf8+ Kc7 21. Bxc6 $1 bxc6 22. Nb5+ cxb5 23. Qxb5 Re8 24. Re7+ {Black resigns} (24. Re7+ Rxe7 25. Qc6#) 1-0 [Event "Riga off hand"] [Site "Riga (Latvia)"] [Date "1919.07.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Nimzowitsch, Aron"] [Black "Behting, Karl"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C40"] [Annotator "Nimzowitsch"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "1919.07.10"] [EventType "game"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "LAT"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2013"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2012.11.22"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2012.11.22"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,53,19,31,31,57,123,98,112,146,146,116,125,74,96,2,-12,-16,49,23,64,-7, 32,-11,28,30,71,61,61,-4,118,44,54,30,48,39,-7,-11,-3,108,96,224,320,300,284, 322,339,279,721,800,815,812,762,766,766,772]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 {According to K.Behting, whose opinion I inclined to share, this move is quite playable.At least I know of no refutation.} 3. Nxe5 Qf6 4. d4 d6 5. Nc4 fxe4 6. Ne3 $3 { Ranged against this move are: 1.Tradition, which rather demands 6.Nc3 2.The Principle of economic development(dont allow one piece to move around the board) 3.The apparently tiny threat potention from the blockader.And yet 6.Ne3, linked with the following move is in every sense a masterly move. And even if everybody else plays 6.Nc3 I still consider my knight move to e3 to be more correct, purely for reasons connected with my system.} (6. Be2) ({Theory(the praxis of other masters) recommends} 6. Nc3 Qg6 7. f3 {but after} exf3 8. Qxf3 Nf6 9. Bd3 Qg4 10. Qe3+ Be7 11. O-O Nc6 12. d5 Nb4 13. Rf4 Qd7 14. Nb6 axb6 15. Rxb4 {the game is level.}) 6... c6 7. Bc4 $3 {The reason for it.In order to castle kingside Black must now play d6-d5, but this concedes fresh opportunity to the Ne3( Bb3 + c2-c4 and pressure against d5)} (7. Be2) 7... d5 8. Bb3 Be6 9. c4 Qf7 10. Qe2 Nf6 11. O-O ({Not} 11. Nc3 {on account of} Bb4 {White wishes to put the maximum pressure on d5.Let us take a closer look at the blockader on e3.Does it meet up to the demands made of a blockader? Yes,since: 1.It blockades well, preventing the approach of opposing pieces(g4-square) 2.It is making threats from the blockading square. 3.It is totally flexible,as we shall soon see.In short the Ne3 is an ideal blockader!}) 11... Bb4 $1 12. Bd2 Bxd2 13. Nxd2 O-O 14. f4 {In order to play f5, to help with the seizure of d5.} dxc4 15. Ndxc4 Qe7 16. f5 Bd5 {Black is trying to hang on to d5.} 17. Nxd5 cxd5 18. Ne3 Qd7 {As soon as the blockader on e3 disappears, another Knight takes its place.Even death did not influence the flexibility of the blockade.} 19. Nxd5 $1 {The decisive sacrifice is the culmination of the theme of "the blockader excercises threats from its blockading square'.} Nxd5 20. Qxe4 Rd8 21. f6 $1 {The point of the combination and at the same time a further illustration of the principle of lust to expand of the pawn( f5 was a candidate)} gxf6 (21... Nc6 22. f7+ Kh8 (22... Kf8 23. Bxd5 Qxd5 24. Qxh7 $18) 23. Bxd5 Qxd5 24. f8=Q+ Rxf8 25. Qxd5 $18) 22. Rf5 Kh8 23. Rxd5 Re8 (23... Qe8 24. Bc2 $1 {wins a whole rook.}) 24. Rxd7 Rxe4 25. Rd8+ Kg7 26. Rg8+ Kh6 27. Rf1 1-0 [Event "GCT Sinquefield Cup 2021"] [Site "Saint Louis"] [Date "2021.08.17"] [Round "1.4"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Shankland, Sam"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A48"] [WhiteElo "2806"] [BlackElo "2709"] [Annotator "Sundararajan Kidambi"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2021.08.17"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 {One would hardly expect the London system from a principled player such as Caruana! However, I guess things are changing in terms of what constitutes a mainline in this day and age.} Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. h3 { to secure the h2-square for the dark squared Bishop.} (5. Be2 {is another main move in this position.}) 5... c5 6. Nbd2 cxd4 7. exd4 O-O 8. Be2 (8. Bd3 Nd5 9. Bh2 Nc6 {After a later e7-e5, the B may not be that well placed on d3 after all!}) 8... Qb6 (8... Nc6 $5) 9. Nc4 Qc7 {[#]} 10. Ne3 $146 ({An earlier game continued} 10. O-O Bf5 11. c3 Nbd7 12. Ne3 e6 13. Nc4 Ne8 14. a4 e5 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Bg3 {1-0 (45) Starke,R (1931)-Kamari,I (1562) Berlin 2017}) 10... Nc6 11. c3 e5 12. Bh2 {This is White's idea- not to commit dxe5 and let Black gain central space.He is fine to allow e5-e4, but needs a pawn on d4 to control space.} Qe7 {A natural move, but not the best.He needed to open the position up and make use of his ephemeral development advantage.} (12... exd4 $1 13. Nxd4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 {Outwardly it seems very good for Black and it is not surprising that this was missed in a practical game. Black has a surprising hidden resource which completely changes the character of the position.} ({if} 14. cxd4 Qa5+ $1 {is a problem}) 14... Ng4 $1 {is a surprising tactical blow that makes this possible for Black.} 15. Bxd6 (15. Qxd6 Bxc3+ $1 {wins for Black}) 15... Nxe3 16. fxe3 Bxd4 (16... Qc6 17. Bf3 $1) 17. Bxc7 Bxe3 $15 {/=}) 13. O-O $36 {[%mdl 2080] Just one tempo and the whole game's complexion changes.White welcomes Black to push his e-pawn as this would mean increasing the sphere of influence of the Bishop on h2.} e4 14. Ne1 d5 15. N1c2 {White's piece placement and coordination are just perfect. The knight is fine blockader on e3 and not only that a reserve knight is there to take its place just in case! Nimzowitsch would love this strategy.} Be6 16. Qe1 $5 {A very clever move.White realises that the Queen does not belong to d1 and seeks to improve it. He knows that it might be better placed on f2 or g3 after an eventual f3 or f4 pawn break.But note that he does not go for f3 or f4 break right away? Why is this so? He wants to go ahead with f3 break only after Black has moved his knight away from f6. One of the ideas for White is not to let Black capture on e4 in case of a future fxe4 by White, or rather use e4 square for a piece.White wants Black to have a pawn on e4 rather than make the square available for a piece.} (16. f3) ({or} 16. f4 exf3 17. Bxf3 {and perhaps Black could use the e4-square for his Knight.However the position remains quite complex.}) 16... Nd7 {A very natural move intending to conquer more space on the Kingside with f5. But, clearly White was expecting this!} ({ Perhaps Black could play the waiting game too!} 16... Rad8 $5) 17. f3 $1 f5 18. fxe4 $1 fxe4 {This was White's plan. By exchanging the f-pawns White has facilitated in creating a protected passed pawn for Black! But he has taken enough care by means of blockade on e3 and a reserve knight waiting to take its place on c2.After the exchange of the f-pawns there is no way for a Black pawn to attack White's knight on e3 make it more stable than before. Knight being an ideal blockader of protected passed pawns have been known since the time of Nimzowitch.It is an active blockading piece, in the sense that it attacks the base pawn among the protected passed pawn configuration.And the passed pawn itself shields the knight from a frontal attack. In short its an attacking defended!} 19. Bf4 $1 {From here on White keeps on improving his pieces, whereas Black struggles to do the same.White blocks the f-file to avoid exchange of Rooks and then improve his Queen and Rook positions. As Suba would have put it, White's position has potential, whereas Black has come to a standstill!} Rf7 20. Qg3 Nf6 21. Rf2 Qd7 22. Raf1 Raf8 23. Qh4 $1 { White's army gives a picture of wholesome coordinated unit.Now there are ideas of Bh6 or Bg5.} Ne8 24. Ng4 $1 {The last Black's move gave up control of the g4-square and White is so positioned to keep using that and improving his position all the more.} Nd6 25. Nce3 $1 {Other Knight takes over the blockading role to free his colleague to more agressive duties.} Ne7 26. Ne5 Bxe5 27. Bxe5 {White has accomplished a very favourable exchange at the end of all the manoeuvring. Black's pawn structure clearly reveals a distinct weakness of dark squares, and what can be better than exchanging black's King's Indian Bishop for Whites knight!} Ndf5 $2 (27... Rxf2 {would have avoided an immediate disaster} 28. Rxf2 Rxf2 29. Kxf2 $16 {However, Black is far from solving all his problems on the dark squares.}) 28. Ng4 $1 $18 { [#] Threatening to take twice on f5 and checkmate on h6! A pretty sight.} h5 ( 28... Nxh4 29. Nh6#) 29. Qg5 $1 hxg4 30. hxg4 Ng7 (30... e3 31. Rf3) 31. Qh6 { Materially White is down a piece, but his threats are insurmountable.Black is forced to give back material with interest.} Nef5 32. gxf5 Rxf5 33. Rxf5 Rxf5 34. Rxf5 Bxf5 35. g4 Be6 ({If} 35... Bxg4 36. Bxg7 $1 {[%mdl 64]} Qxg7 (36... Bxe2 37. Qh8+ Kf7 38. Qf8+ Ke6 39. Qf6#) 37. Qxg7+ Kxg7 38. Bxg4 $18) 36. Qxg6 Qf7 37. Qh6 e3 {[#]} 38. Bf3 $1 {[%mdl 512] There is no defence against Bg7 winning a piece and the game.} 1-0 [Event "URS-ch19 Final"] [Site "Moscow (Russia)"] [Date "1951.11.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Botvinnik, Mikhail"] [Black "Moiseev, Oleg Leonidovich"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E45"] [Annotator "Botvinnik"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "1951.11.11"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "17"] [EventCountry "URS"] [SourceTitle "URS-ch"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,113,19,31,14,-14,3,-10,0,27,33,23,24,27,25,12,5,15,26,3,-7,-7,-7,5,19, 4,2,5,5,0,9,-10,32,37,21,13,21,7,16,31,26,-6,-5,-14,-11,-11,-5,-19,-12,-11,-2, -2,-5,0,0,2,0,-17,0,-39,-9,-12,11,6,9,7,7,3,9,3,7,3,3,3,3,0,0,0,0,15,41,45,32, 23,59,57,64,64,64,59,70,99,97,97,102,109,109,108,103,108,108,108,149,108,130, 156,156,156,132,132,134,178,180,183,186,578]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 (4... O-O {is the more usual continuation.}) 5. Nge2 Ba6 6. a3 Be7 7. Nf4 ({One of my games from the match with Bronstein(1951) developed differently} 7. Ng3 d5 8. cxd5 Bxf1 9. Nxf1 exd5 10. Ng3 Qd7 11. Qf3 Nc6 12. O-O g6 13. Bd2 O-O {and as White I did not manage to get any advantage.}) 7... O-O ({Preference cannot be given to} 7... d5 {It is true that against Novotelnov I did not achieve much, but in one of my matches with Smyslov my opponent employed this continuation only once- a fact that speaks for itself.}) 8. b4 (8. e4 d6 9. Be2 Nbd7 10. O-O c6 11. d5 {came into continuation as in a game Reshevsky-Bisguier 1957}) 8... d5 9. b5 ({White does not achieve anything in the variation} 9. cxd5 Bxf1 10. Kxf1 exd5 11. Qf3 c6 12. b5 Bd6) 9... Bb7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bb2 c5 12. Be2 (12. bxc6 Nxc6 {Black would have achieved a good game by subsequently playing his N to c4. Now however the b5-pawn cramps the enemy pieces.This factor and the weakness of the d5-pawn are not compensated at all by the passed c-pawn.}) 12... c4 13. O-O a6 14. a4 {White overprotects his b-pawn to retain his pawn outpost.Meanwhile he would not have lost anything by parting with this pawn.After the exchange on a6 Black would have been given a new weakness- the b6 pawn. It is curious that for the next 4 moves White could have reverted to this plan, but he forced Black to play a6-a5.} Bb4 15. Qc2 Qd7 16. Rfb1 {White holds on to his b5 pawn.} Re8 17. Ba3 Bxa3 18. Rxa3 Qd6 19. Ra2 ({Here was the last time when} 19. bxa6 $1 {could have been played} Qxa3 20. axb7 Ra6 21. Nfxd5 Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Qxa4 23. Qxa4 Rxa4 24. Nxb6 {is dubious for Black.}) 19... a5 {At last the position on the queenside is stabilised.White decides to exchange queens, in order to deprive his opponent of any active possibilities.In the ending his advantage is undisputed.} 20. Qc1 Nbd7 21. Qa3 Qxa3 22. Rxa3 Nf8 23. h4 {Since the c4 pawn is securely blockaded, in the centre and on the kingside White effectively has an extra pawn.} Rad8 24. Bf3 Ne6 25. Nh5 ({Of course White did not want to support the d5 pawn by} 25. Nxe6 fxe6 {but now Black gains an opportunity to advance his f-pawn, blocking the position.}) 25... Nxh5 26. Bxh5 g6 27. Bf3 f5 {In this way Black establishes effective control of e4, but in some cases White will be able to open up the position with g3-g4.} 28. Ra2 Kg7 29. Kf1 h6 30. g3 Kf6 {Here or later Black could have advanced his rook pawn to h5, blocking the position even more. Then, in order to breakthrough, White would first have had to play f2-f3, which all to some extent looks problematic. In short White would like to avoid such problems, and whereas he forced Black into playing a6-a5, he now acts very cautiously to avoid suggesting to his opponent the need to play h6-h5.} 31. Kg2 Rh8 32. Rh1 Rhe8 {It transpires that Black is quite satisfied with his pawn formation and does not intend to change it- good!} 33. Rd2 Re7 34. Re2 Ree8 35. Kf1 {Now, White is free to play his king to d2, where it will replace the knight that is blockading the c-pawn, and in some cases will prevent the black bishop from attacking the a4-pawn.} Rh8 36. Ke1 Rhe8 37. Kd2 Re7 38. Ree1 { At the time of breakthrough both rooks must be on the first rank. Now it only remains for White to establish control of f4.} Ree8 39. Ne2 Rh8 {Black misses his last chance to play h6-h5, but how could he have guessed that White had long been dreaming of making a breakthrough, and that he would not be stopped by the need to make his last move before the time control.} 40. g4 Rhg8 41. Reg1 fxg4 {This makes things somewhat easier for the opponent.It would have been better to allow} (41... Z0 42. gxf5 gxf5 (42... Kxf5 $2 43. Bg4+) 43. Ng3) 42. Bxg4 Rdf8 {Perhaps the decisive mistake.It was essential to activate the B by} (42... Bc8 $1 {since with it at b7 the opening of the position proves catastrophic for Black.}) 43. Bxe6 Kxe6 44. Nf4+ Kd6 (44... Kf6 45. Rh3 { the Bishop would have remained in its passive position. Then White would have either won the g6-pawn} Rf7 46. Rf3 {or after ...g6-g5 he would have opened the h-file and invaded the enemy position with the rook. But now too the loss of a pawn is inevitable.}) 45. Rh2 {Defending the f2-pawn.} Rf6 46. Rhg2 Bc8 { Too late} 47. Rxg6 Rgxg6 48. Rxg6 Rxg6 49. Nxg6 Bf5 50. Ne5 Bb1 {Had White not played his King to d2 in good time, Black would now have played Bc2 and it would not have been clear how it all would have ended!} 51. Kc3 Ba2 52. e4 $1 { This is simplest way to neutralise the Bishop's aggressive manoeuvre.} dxe4 ( 52... Bb3 53. exd5 Bxa4 (53... Kxd5 54. Nd7) 54. Nxc4+ {but the pawn ending is also hopeless.}) 53. Nxc4+ Bxc4 54. Kxc4 h5 55. d5 Ke5 56. d6 {A well known manoeuvre.} Kxd6 57. Kd4 {Black resigns} 1-0 [Event "Kent County CA-28 Premier"] [Site "Margate"] [Date "1935.04.27"] [Round "4"] [White "Reshevsky, Samuel Herman"] [Black "Capablanca, Jose Raul"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D62"] [Annotator "Reshevsky"] [PlyCount "111"] [EventDate "1935.04.24"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "Reshevsky on Chess"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceVersionDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,111,15,14,14,6,6,6,2,2,2,1,4,-1,23,47,47,36,36,30,29,24,52,32,45,18, 36,63,39,8,11,-19,29,23,23,17,23,25,19,8,28,35,17,66,55,54,51,51,54,54,45,65, 61,2,28,29,56,60,0,0,0,0,0,-38,0,-13,-11,-14,-7,-7,16,4,-1,-16,52,19,1,0,26,-9, -3,18,5,20,41,-1,37,28,56,45,49,13,42,139,139,92,131,195,218,221,215,189,264, 198,275,383,474,474,540,497,526,520,575,532]} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Qc2 c5 ({I prefer} 8... c6 { here, because the text despite its apparent agressive character, invariably leaves Pawn weaknesses in its train.}) 9. Nf3 c4 ({Since the d-pawn will be weak in any event Black tries to prevent a direct frontal attack on it.If instead} 9... cxd4 10. exd4 Re8 11. O-O {and White's occupation of e5 will definitely give him the better game.}) 10. Bf5 Re8 11. O-O g6 (11... Nf8 $2 12. Bxc8 Rxc8 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Qf5 $18 {winning the d-pawn.A blunder commited once by Vera Menchik against Flohr, and by Dake against me in Chicago 1934}) 12. Bh3 Nf8 ({stronger is} 12... Nb6 {permitting Black to utilize the N to a greater advantage.Black's d-pawn would have additional protection, and in the event of b2-b3 followed by bxc4 Black could recapture with the N. An attempt by White to shatter the position of the knight on b6 with a2-a4 would be answered by a7-a5.}) 13. Bxc8 Rxc8 14. Bxf6 $1 {Highly important, because it prevents equalisation with Ne4 and also removes a vital protection of the d-pawn.} Bxf6 15. b3 $1 Qa5 $2 ({Kashdan later recommended} 15... Qd7 { followed by h7-h5 which surely give him better chances than this provocative text.}) (15... cxb3 $2 {on the other hand would not do because of} 16. Qxb3 { winning a pawn.}) 16. b4 $1 {The key to White's plan, Black has no choice but to retreat his Queen.} Qd8 (16... Qxb4 17. Rab1 {would allow an uncomfortable penetration into his position}) 17. Qa4 $1 {The necessary sequel to the previous move.Black cannot avoid creating a target for attack on the queenside. } a6 (17... Ra8 $2 18. Qb5 $1 {wins a pawn.}) 18. b5 {[%mdl 48]} Re6 (18... a5 {would not be adequate because of} 19. b6 $1 Qxb6 20. Nxd5 {followed by Nxf6 and Qxa5}) 19. Rab1 Rb8 {Resigning himself to defence} (19... a5 20. b6 $1 Rxb6 21. Rxb6 (21. Qxa5 $2 Rxb1 {wins}) 21... Qxb6 22. Nxd5 {winning a pawn}) 20. Rb2 Be7 21. bxa6 Rxa6 {forced, but now Black's b-pawn becomes weak.} 22. Qc2 Ne6 23. Rfb1 Ra7 {Black's position assumes an even more passive character} 24. a4 $1 Nc7 25. Ne5 {[%CAl Ye5c6]} Qe8 26. f4 (26. Nb5 {would be premature} Nxb5 27. Rxb5 f6 28. Nf3 (28. Ng4 $2 h5 $19) 28... Qd7 {Black's chances have improved.}) 26... f6 27. Ng4 $1 Qd7 28. h3 Kg7 29. Nf2 Ba3 30. Ra2 Bd6 31. Nfd1 $1 {White wants to exchange the knights to remove one of the defenders of the d-pawn.He therefore makes it possible for the king knight to replace his colleuage.} f5 32. Nb5 Ra5 {Necessary if the d-pawn is to be defended adequately.} 33. Nxc7 Bxc7 34. Nc3 Qd6 35. Qf2 b6 {Here Capablanca offered a draw, but since I had a clear initiative and pressure, I declined the offer.} 36. Qf3 Rd8 {The d-pawn required additional protection, in view of White's contemplated} (36... Z0 37. Rb5 Rxb5 38. axb5 Rd8 39. Ra7 {which would have left Black with a lost game.}) 37. Rab2 Qe7 $1 {A clever move, the idea is that if 38.Rb5} 38. Rb4 (38. Rb5 Qa3 $1 39. Nxd5 Rxd5 40. Qxd5 Qxe3+ 41. Kf1 ( 41. Kh1 Qxf4) 41... Qd3+ 42. Kf2 (42. Kg1 $2 Qxb1+) 42... Bxf4 43. Qf3 Qxd4+ { Black would be left with an excellent game.}) 38... Rd7 {Black has to sit tight and wait for the decisive action by the opponent.} 39. Kh1 {This and the next move are questionable.The straightforward course was to bring the King to c2, followed by Rb5.The invasion of Black's Queen at a3 would have been neutralised and the d-pawn would have fallen in the long run.} Bd8 40. g4 $2 { There was still time to change my plan.My idea was to stablize the King-side and then march the King over to the Queen-side to protect my knight before playing Rb5.However this plan could have demonstrated to be faulty if Capablanca had seized his opportunity on the 45th move.} fxg4 41. hxg4 Qd6 42. Kg1 Bc7 43. Kf2 Rf7 {Threatening g6-g5, which White must prevent.} 44. g5 Bd8 45. Ke2 Bxg5 $2 {Black is desparate in the face of the threatened Rb5, but he overlooks the strength of} (45... Qe6 $1 {If then} 46. Rb5 Rxb5 47. Rxb5 Qf5 $1 {with strong counterplay. In any event it is difficult to see how White could have continued after 45...Qe6! without the interpolation of a lengthy neutralizing manoeuvre against Black's intended Qf5 followed by ...Qd3+ or .... Qc2+}) 46. Rxb6 {Now Black has no recourse} Qa3 47. Kd2 $1 Be7 48. Rb7 { Tying up Black's pieces.} Rxa4 $5 {An ingenious trap} 49. Qxd5 $1 ({Black hoped for} 49. Nxa4 Qd3+ 50. Kc1 (50. Ke1 Bh4+) 50... Ba3+ 51. R7b2 c3 { and Black wins!}) 49... Ra5 50. Qxc4 Rh5 51. Kd3 {White's King is a bit exposed, but not enough to matter.} Qa8 52. Qe6 Qa3 53. Rd7 $1 {Winning a piece as Black is helpless against the coming Rb3!} Rhf5 54. Rb3 Qa1 55. Rxe7 Qf1+ 56. Kd2 {Resigns.} 1-0