New Zealand Listener, 1978 April 22 - A touch of class

A touch of class

Auckland's Ewen Green has recently had a run of quite outstanding successes. By finishing third in the Windy Music New Zealand champs over Christmas, Green won the opportunity to represent New Zealand at the Asian Zonals in Japan. In Tokyo Green did exceptionally well. By scoring 6.5 points in the final group of eight, out of an original field of 22; a significant achievement considering the fierceness of the competition. (Rodrigues and Torre, both of the Philippines, eventually won the two qualifying places for the interzonals).

Now, in the weekend tournament at Waitemata two weeks later, he displayed the same class to sweep the field with a clean 5/5 points.

Green's recent comeback clearly shows the importance of psychological considerations. Many people have felt that Green has always had a natural untapped talent, but although experienced internationally, he has never before produced the touch of class he has of late.

Stuart, Peter - Green, Ewen - Waitemata 1978

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 a6 ( In Petrosian - Fischer, USSR v Rest of the World 1970, Black took advantage of the move order and continued 5...e6 avoiding the standard lines after 5...Nf6 and Fischer quickly ganed the initiative ) 6.e3 Instead of weakening his white squares like this, Stuart should simply castle. Now Green decides to sacrifice a pawn in an interesting experiment.  6...b5 7.cxb5 axb5 8.Nxb5 Ba6 9.Bf1









Moves are clickable

White has no alternative but to challenge the Black bishop's raking diagonal (eg 9.Nc3?! Nb4 10.Ne2? Bd3! 11.O-O Bc2 12.Qe1 Nd3 and it's goodbye Queenie ) 9...Qa5 10.Nc3? (10.a4 gave much better defensive chances ) 10...Nb4! ( With the retreat 10.Nc3 Stuart was probably hoping for 10...Bxf1 11.Kxf1 whence his king scampers for safety via g2 ) 11.d4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Bb7 13.f3 Bxd4!? 14.exd4 Qf5 Now the double threat of ...Bxf3 and ...Nc2+ forces Stuart to take his king walkabout  15.Kf2 Nf6 16.Kg2 O-O Green safely negotiates the pitfall (16...Nc2 17.Bd3! (17.Rb1 Ne1+! 18.Qxe1 Qxf3+ ) 17...Qxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Bxf3+ 19.Kxf3 Nxa1 20.Bf4 and his knight trapped in the corner is doomed ) 17.a3 Rfc8 18.Be2 White's position has little scope for defensive manoeuvring and Stuart, although renowned for his tenacity, can do little but await the finish  18...Nfd5 19.Nxd5 Bxd5 20.Bf4 Rc2 21.Rc1 Rxb2! 22.axb4 Raa2 23.Re1 g5 24.Kf2 ( If 24.Rc8+ Kg7 25.Be5+ f6 Black threatens both ...fxe5 and ...Qxf3+ mating ) 24...gxf4 25.g4 Qf6 26.Qd3 Qh4+ 27.Kg1 e6 This prevents the Queen jumping to f5 after ...Rd2. Stuart obliges by blocking the other diagonal, but there is nothing for White to do.  28.b5 Rd2  ( A bishop falls after 28...Rd2 29.Qc3 Rxe2 ) 0-1


This was the first time since 1965 that Green has taken the full point off Stuart with the black pieces. Results: E. Green 5 Jensen 4.5, Stuart, Weir 4. Sarapu (?) was among those on 3.

Besides his victory against Stuart, Green scored two other notable firsts at Waitemata. He defeated Russian emigree Lev Aptekar for the first time with white and he beat IM Ortvin Sarapu for the first time ever.