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[A.J.G.] An absolutely fantastic game by GM Yuri Averbakh, I saw this game in an older book (or magazine) many, many years ago. Sarvarov was a master who once drew Smyslov when he was near the height of his powers in the mid-1950's. Sarvarov also specialized in the Cambridge Springs Defense. (1.d5, d5; 2.c4, e6; 3.Nc3, Nf6; 4.Bg5, Nbd7; 5.Nf3, c6; 6.e3, Qa5.) Sarvarov was an Uzbeki player who played for his team in the Olympiads.
1.c4, (English) Most GM's use this to sidestep
certain openings they don't want to see and force the game into standard QP openings. I think, although I am not
sure, that Sarvarov liked to play a few Indian Defenses. If so, then 1.c4!,
was an attempt {by White} to steer the game back
[ The normal move order to reach QP openings would be: 1.d4 d5; 2.c4 e6; etc. ]
Play now continues in pretty much standard lines for a QP opening. 1...e6; 2.d4 d5; 3.Nf3 Nf6; 4.Nc3 Nbd7; It is obvious that Black is trying to head for his favorite opening here, but Averbakh crosses him up.
r1bqkb1r/pppn1ppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5
Since Black has already (voluntarily) shut in his own QB, Averbakh just helps things along. 5.cxd5! exd5; 6.Bf4!, Because of the move order, Black cannot contest the WB on f4. Therefore Averbakh heads for a line that is very aggressive, clearly in the 1st player's favor ... and was probably the result of pre-game preparation. (White plans a possible Q-side castle followed by a brisk attack. This means a Pawn storm ... and if White played his Bishop to the g5 square, it would only interfere with that plan.)
r1bqkb1r/pppn1ppp/5n2/3p4/3P1B2/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R2QKB1R b KQkq - 0 6
Black will be forced - probably sooner than later - to play ...c7-c6; in an effort to meet the threat of a possible Nb5 by W.
[ Also possible was: RR 6.Bg5, "+/=" (slight plus for White) which is the Exchange Variation. ]
6...c6; 7.Qc2! Be7; 8.e3 0-0; 9.Bd3 Re8; 10.h3! Nf8; 11.0-0-0, ('!?' Maybe - '!')
Both sides have castled on opposite wings. In such situations, it becomes a race to mate the enemy King, with victory usually going to the side that can
r1bqrnk1/pp2bppp/2p2n2/3p4/3P1B2/2NBPN1P/PPQ2PP1/2KR3R b - - 0 11
The die is cast, both sides are forced to attack as quickly and as vigorously as humanly possible.
[ Also possible was: RR 11.0-0 Ng6; 12.Bg3, "+/=" (plus for W) ]
Here, most engines choose 11...Ne6; as a good move for Black. 11...b5!?; (Pawn Storm) In games where players have castled on opposite sides of the board, the normal method of attack is to simply rush your Pawns down the side of the board where the enemy King is located, in an effort to open as many lines as quickly as possible.
r1bqrnk1/p3bppp/2p2n2/1p1p4/3P1B2/2NBPN1P/PPQ2PP1/2KR3R w - b6 0 12
So while White is advancing his Pawns on the K-side, (in an attempt to open lines); Black pursues a similar idea on the Q-side.
***********************************************************************************************************
Please note that NEITHER SIDE plays a lot of defensive moves ... RULE: The majority of the time, when involved with attacks on opposite sides, pushing Pawns in front of your own King only helps your opponent open
12.Ne5! Bb7!?; 13.g4! a5; 14.Rdg1 a4; (Q-side) If given enough time, Black is all set to play ...Qa5; and then ...b5-b4; with a healthy attack of his own.
[ Black probably should not play the continuation of:
(</=)
RR
14...b4!?;
15.Na4, "+/="
15.g5 Nh5!?; (error?) Black intentionally plays his Knight to the h5-square in an effort to slow down White's coming Pawn storm.
r2qrnk1/1b2bppp/2p5/1p1pN1Pn/p2P1B2/2NBP2P/PPQ2P2/2K3RR w - - 0 16
Black has several problems:
[
It would have been better to play:
Now White breaks through to the Black King in really spectacular fashion. 16.Bxh7+!! Nxh7; 17.g6! fxg6; 18.Qxg6, ± ('+/') ["--->" (With a few threats.) ]
White has broken through to the enemy King first, please note that the hanging Black Knight on h5 ...
r2qr1k1/1b2b1pn/2p3Q1/1p1pN2n/p2P1B2/2N1P2P/PP3P2/2K3RR b - - 0 18
It is hard to believe, but according to the chess engines, Black is already lost!
*************************************************************************************************
Black's next move is forced ... anything else will get Black mated or drop a piece for free. 18...N7f6[]; 19.Qf7+ Kh8[]; This was 100% forced.
r2qr2k/1b2bQp1/2p2n2/1p1pN2n/p2P1B2/2N1P2P/PP3P2/2K3RR w - - 0 20
Now White has a forced win, and it is one that Averbakh does not miss.
[ Even worse would be:
</=
19...Kh7?;
20.Rg6! Ng8[]; (</= 20...Rf8??; 21.Rh6#.) 21.Rxg7+! Nxg7; 22.Qg6+ Kh8; 23.Nf7#. (Mate.) ]
White's next move is a text-book example of denuding/removing the Pawn cover in front of the enemy King! 20.Rxg7!! Nxg7; 21.Rg1! Nfh5[]; Again, this was forced, Black had no choice at all. (Black had to try and meet the threat of 22.QxN/g7#.)
[ Of course not: </= 21...Ngh5??; 22.Ng6#. *****************************
Also very bad would have been: 24.Qg6+ Kh8; 25.Qh6+ Nh7; 26.Ng6#. (Check-mate.) ]
White's next move threatens a very simple mate-in-one. 22.Rg6! Qd6[]; (Forced.) Black's last move was the only way to prevent White from playing the easy finish, 23.Rh6 mate.
23.Rxd6 Bxd6; 24.Ng6+ Kh7; 25.Bxd6, (Winning.) White now has a won game ... even worse for Black, his position is completely disorganized and the BK is completely exposed.
r3r3/1b3Qnk/2pB2N1/1p1p3n/p2P4/2N1P2P/PP3P2/2K5 b - - 0 25
Black would have been justified in quitting here.
25...Re6; 26.Nf8+ Rxf8[]; (Box/forced.) 27.Bxf8 Rf6; 28.Qe7!, "+-" Black Resigns.
5B2/1b2Q1nk/2p2r2/1p1p3n/p2P4/2N1P2P/PP3P2/2K5 b - - 0 28
(White's dual threats of BxN/g7 and then QxR/f6 and also QxB/b7 cannot both be adequately met.) A totally brilliant game by one of chess's greatest players/writers.
This game is thoroughly annotated in the excellent book:
"50 Essential Chess Lessons,"
(Game #1) by FM Steve Giddins. (2006)
{One master - several years ago, just after the book by FM Steve Giddins came out - emailed me and told me that he thought that Averbakh's game was mostly pre-game prep ... mostly because it is so flawless. He gave several other reasons why he thought this was true - I don't remember them all and I did not save the e-mail. It is entirely possible that this game was the result of "home cooking" ... however, without any proof ... one way or the other ... we can only speculate on what actually occurred in this game. Averbakh's ability was huge, and he has left behind a decent body of games to show that, on his best days, he could play with anybody.}
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2007. All rights reserved.
1 - 0 If you are curious and want to see the picture that I used for the background of this page, then click here. Make sure you watch my video on this game ... I cover several things there that are not covered here. See my blog on www.chess.com, (about this game).
The analysis for this page was prepared with the excellent program,
ChessBase
10.0. (I also have CB 11 and CB
12.) The HTML was polished with several different tools and programs, (mostly FP) ... the text was checked for spelling with MS Word. If you enjoyed this web-page, please e-mail me any comments!
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