April 29 1978, Freestyle
I'm in a rut. Just before the Civic Easter tournament I decided that a limited opening repertoire restricted my understanding of certain positions. Crumbs, I had never even played a Kings Indian defence!
So what to do? I had a reasonable general knowledge of most openings, but before I attempted a new opening I would usually, have to wade through all of the theoretical material and latest tactical nuances, - an enormous task. Instead I found a solution - zero preparation! I decided that I would play whatever opening gambit· came into my head, and aim for interesting games instead of merely trying to win.
It worked. Against a fairly impressive line-up of B. Kay, J. Jackson, B. Carpinter, K. Jensen, P. Green, V. Small - and M. Evans I scored 6½/7. Of course, I didn't win just because I had ditched all the lines I knew well! I had been studying ·the recent style of Korchnoi and in order to put his middlegame ideas into action during Easter, I felt I had to avoid stereotyped ideas.
One of the most exciting games was a mammoth struggle against former Olympiad player Bernard Carpinter.
Carpinter, Bernard Alan - Chandler, Murray G
Civic Easter 1978
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6 7.d4 Bg7 The opening has now been transformed into some sort of Grunfeld Defence. Vernon Small told me that he had this position against Sarapu at the New Zealand champs last Christmas, and that Sarapu had played 8.Bc4. Carpinter decides on a more passive continuation. 8.Be2 O-O 9.O-O Nd7 10.Rb1 b6 11.a4 Qc7 12.Qb3?! The Queen is misplaced here. Better is 12.c4 12...Bb7 13.Rd1 Rac8 14.d5 c4
Moves are clickable
Initiating a very Korchnoi-like series of combinations. 15.Qc2 Nf6 16.e4 e6! 17.Ba3! An important Zwitchenzug 17...Rfe8 18.d6 Bxe4! 19.Qxe4 Nxe4 20.dxc7 Nxc3 Now the reason for White's 17.Ba3 becomes apparent; the multiple fork isn't nearly so effective now that the rooks are connected. 21.Bxc4 Nxb1 22.Bb5!? An amazing move which sidesteps the unclear, but probably slightly better for Black (22.Rxb1 Rxc7 when I have a rook and two pawns in exchange for two pieces. ) 22...Nxa3 I also considered (22...Nc3 but after 23.Rd7 Nxb5 24.axb5 just how does Black make progress? ) 23.Bxe8 Kf8!? Obviously not (23...Rxe8 24.Rd8 ) ( but after the logical 23...Rxc7 I was worried about 24.Ng5 with the idea of taking on f7 whereupon my remaining bishop and knight would combine poorly against White's rook. ) 24.Bxf7! Kxf7 25.Rd7+ Kf6 26.Nd2
In my analysis I considered only (26.Nd4 e5 27.Nc6 Ke6 28.Rxg7 Kd6 with advantage. Suddenly Bernie produced 26.Nd2 instead and my thoughts began racing - a piece up and I'm almost lost! Luckily there is a resource... ) 26...Bf8 27.Rd8 Rxc7 28.Rxf8+ Ke7 29.Rh8 Rc1+? Black should play (29...Kd6 with a winning endgame, but I wanted my piece back. ) 30.Nf1 Nb1 31.Rxh7+ Kd6 32.Rh8 Nc3 ( And now 32...Kc7 doesn't work owing to 33.Rh7+ Kc6 34.Rh8! ) 33.g3 Nxa4 34.Rg8 b5 35.Rd8+ Ke7 36.Rb8 a6 37.Kg2 Rc6 38.Nd2 Rb6 39.Rc8 a5? In time trouble, I blundered away my hard-earned pawn. 40.Ra8 Nc3 41.Rxa5 b4
The position is marginally better (still!) for Black owing to his outside passed pawn. Things went much as expected in adjournment analysis. 42.Nb3 Nd5 43.h4 Rc6 44.Rc5 I had reached this position in my study over dinner and decided by a process of elimination Black has only one winning attempt. 44...Rxc5 45.Nxc5 Kd6 46.Nb3 Nf6! 47.Kf3 Kd5 48.Kf4 Overlooking the strength of Black's reply. ( Perhaps 48.g4!? ) 48...Ne4 49.f3 e5+ 50.Kg4 Nc5 51.Na5 ( Or 51.Nd2 Ne6! restraining White's king ) 51...b3 52.Nxb3 Nxb3 53.Kg5 Nd4 54.Kxg6 Nxf3 55.h5 e4 56.h6 Ne5+! 57.Kf5 (57.Kg7 Ke6 followed by Nf7 ) ( or 57.Kf6 Ng4+ ) 57...Nf7 58.h7 Nh8 59.Kf6 Kd6 Wasting a tempo but after 10 hours play that day I was almost asleep... 60.Kg7 Ke7 61.Kxh8 Kf7 62.g4 e3 63.g5 e2 64.g6+ Kxg6 (64...Kxg6 After 65.Kg8 both sides will queen 65...e1=Q 66.h8=Q but Black mates in one afterwards 66...Qe8# ) 0-1
Results of Civic Easter ... M. Chandler (Pencarrow) 6½; P. Hawkes, P. Green 5; D. Beach, M. Evans, J. Sarfati 4½