Nice Combination

[Nick Burrows]

Yesterday at the 4NCL, I played a nice combination to beat perhaps my strongest ever opponent. My Fide rating is artificially low due to 2 tournaments where i partook in extra-curricular activities - but 400 points is 400 points. He said afterwards that I am the lowest rated opponent he has lost to in 15 years!

I am unashamedly showing it to anyone with a pair of eyes, including my unfortunate girlfriend who humoured me by looking through it last night!


[Event "4ncl"] [Date "2014.01.12"] [Round "4"] [White "Nick Burrows (1838)"] [Black "Rob Willmoth (2237)"] [Result "*"] [TimeControl "40/140 + 50 + 30 sec inc"] 1. Nf3 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 c5 5. O-O cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nf6 7. c4 Nc6 8. Qf4 Be7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Rd1 d6 11. b3 Qb8 12. Bb2 Rd8 13. Rac1 a6 14. e4 {(must be incorrect as it already allows b5)} b5 15. Bf1 b4 16. Na4 Nxe4 {(I had missed this, and now spent 25mins - luckily there is an out!)}17. Nb6 Qa7 {( is 17..Ra7 then 18.Qxe4 Ne5 19.Nd5! exd5 20.cxd5 and white is clearly better)} 18. c5! Nxc5 19. Nxa8 Bxa8 20. Ng5?! Bf8? {(after 20..f6 the knight must retreat since i had forgotten that after 21.Nxe6 Nxe6 22.Bc4 d5 23.Rxd5 Rxd5 24.Bxd5 the knight can go backwards - 24..Nd8!)} 21. Rxc5! dxc5 22. Qe4! g6 23. Rxd8 Nxd8 24. Qe5 f6 25. Qxf6 Nf7 {(black is busted)} 26. Nxf7 {(With the clock ticking I bailed into a won ending. 26.Nxh7! Be4 27.Bg2! was much easier)} Qb7 27. f3 Qxf3 28. Qxf3 Bxf3 29. Ne5 Bb7 30. Bc4 Bc8 31. Kf2 Bh6 32. Ng4 Bg5 33. Nf6+ Kf7 34. Nxh7 Be7 35. h4 Bd6 36. Ng5+ Ke7 37. Ne4 Bb7 38. Bf6+ Kd7 39. Nxd6 Kxd6 40. Bd3 a5 41. Bxg6 e5 42. h5 Ke6 43. Bd8 a4 44. h6 c4 45. bxa4 b3 46. axb3 {(1-0)}

[MartinCarpenter]

Nice Hope you're not berating yourself for going into that (totally won) ending rather than more tactics.

Gap 'only' 30 pts (240) going by coverted ECF but still a very good achievement in those terms.

[John Cox]

Better to win a piece than to give mate, as Botvinnik apparently said.

[Ian Stephens]

Hi Nick, just played through the game, very nice! 21.Rxc5 deserves the exclamation, when did you see the capture? what were your thoughts from then on? An exclamation does not quite say it all.
Coincidently I faced a Reti opening in a league match last night, I have not had one for a long time and felt on strange ground, I tried to create something with 15..c5, but my opponent offered a draw on move 20 when I incorrectly thought I stood worse, here it is for your perusal[Event "WIDNES A V ATHERTON A"] [Site "ST BEDES"] [Date "2014.01.13"] [Round "6"] [White "HOWARTH PETER"] [Black "STEPHENS IP"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "1858"] [BlackElo "1866"] [ECO "A05"] [EventDate "2014.01.13"] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b4 e6 3.a3 Be7 4.Bb2 O-O 5.e3 b6 6.Be2 Bb7 7.O-O d6 8.d4 Nbd7 9.Nbd2 Rc8 10.Bd3 c5 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.b5 Qc7 13.Nc4 Bd5 14.Qe2 Qb7 15.Ncd2 c4 16.Bxc4 Bxc4 17.Nxc4 Qc7 18.Nce5 Nxe5 19.Nxe5 Qxc2 20.Qxc2 1/2-1/2

[Nick Burrows]

Hi Nick, just played through the game, very nice! 21.Rxc5 deserves the exclamation, when did you see the capture? what were your thoughts from then on? An exclamation does not quite say it all.

Hi Ian, I only saw it after 20..Bf8 as this was a move I had not considered. I expected ..Rf8. My thoughts from then on went something like "Holy sh*t, I can't believe I'm gonna beat this excellent player!" Luckily I had plenty of time to stay calm and remain on guard, after the combo the position is very easy and kind of played itself. Looking at it now it is quite simple, at the time it felt like I had just discovered gravity It's attractive because the 2 squares the queen uses to attack the kingside are covered at the start of the sequence.

[Nick Burrows]

Two more great combinative vignettes from my Oxford team mates:

Spectacular play from Justin starting with 40..Nc3!


[Event "4ncl"] [Date "2014.01.12"] [Round "4"] [White "Andrew Greet"] [Black "Justin Tan"] [Result "*"] [TimeControl "40/140 + 50 + 30 sec inc"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Nc3 e6 7. Nh4 Bh5 8. h3 g5 9. Nf3 h6 10. Ne5 Nfd7 11. Nd3 Be7 12. h4 gxh4 13. c5 Qc7 14. e4 Bg5 15. f4 Be7 16. Be3 Bg4 17. Nf2 h5 18. f5 b6 19. cxb6 Nxb6 20. Nxg4 hxg4 21. Qc2 Qg3 22. Bf2 Qf4 23. fxe6 fxe6 24. Bd3 g3 25. Bg1 Bg5 26. Qe2 N8d7 27. Kd1 O-O-O 28. Kc2 Rhf8 29. Re1 Nf6 30. exd5 Nfxd5 31. a3 Rfe8 32. Ne4 Be7 33. Nc5 Bxc5 34. dxc5 Qa4 35. Kc1 Nd7 36. Qe4 Qa5 37. Rxh4 N7f6 38. Qe5 Nc7 39. Rd1 Nfd5 40. Qxg3 Nc3 41. Rd2 Rg8 42. Qe5 Nb1 43. Rd1 Nxa3 44. Rd4 Rxd4 45. Qxd4 Nab5 46. Bxb5 Qxb5 47. Qd7 Kb7 48. Bh2 Qxc5 49. Kb1 Qf5 50. Kc1 Qg5 51. Rd2 Rg7 52. Qd4 Nb5 53. Qe4 Rd7 54. Qf4 Qxf4 55. Bxf4 Nd4 56. Kd1 c5 57. b4 Rf7 58. g3 e5 59. bxc5 Kc6 60. Rd3 exf4 61. Rxd4 f3 62. Ke1 Kxc5 63. Re4 a5 64. Kf2 Kb5 65. Re5 Kb4 66. Re4 Kb3 67. Re3 Kb2 68. Re4 Ra7 69. Kxf3 a4 70. Rb4 Kc3 71. Rb1 a3 72. g4 a2 73. Ra1 Kb2 74. Rxa2 Rxa2 75. Ke4 Kc3 76. Kf5 Kd4 77. g5 Kd5 78. Kf6 Kd6 79. g6 Rf2 80. Kg7 Ke7

and a pintastic effort from Mike Healy starting with 34.g4 !

[pgn][Event "4ncl"] [Date "2014.01.11"] [Round "4"] [White "Mike Healy"] [Black "Chris Fegan"] [Result "*"] [TimeControl "40/140 + 50 + 30 sec inc"] 1. e4 d6 2. Nc3 g6 3. Bc4 c5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 Bg7 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. Qd2 a6 9. Bh6 O-O 10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. a4 Rb8 12. O-O Ne5 13. Bb3 b5 14. axb5 axb5 15. Qd4 Nc6 16. Qd3 Ne5 17. Qd4 Nc6 18. Qe3 Na5 19. Qa7 Nc6 20. Qe3 Na5 21. Nd4 Bd7 22. Nd5 Nxb3 23. Nxb3 e6 24. Nb4 Qb6 25. Qf3 Qb7 26. Rfe1 e5 27. Qd3 Ne8 28. f4 f5 29. fxe5 Qb6 30. Qe3 dxe5 31. exf5 Rxf5 32. Ra7 Qd6 33. Nc5 Nf6 34. g4 Rf4 35. Ne6 Qxe6 36. Qxf4 Nxg4 37. Qd4 Rd8 38. Rb7 Kg8 39. Qd5 Qxd5 40. Nxd5 Bc6 41. Ne7

[Peter Shaw]

76. Kf5 is a strange move in the first game, the natural 76. g5 draws according to the tablebase.