Brett Mullan
Wellington Chess Club members were saddened to learn recently of the death of Dr Brett Mullan, a stalwart of the club scene for nearly forty years. The news was delivered by an extensive obituary in the Dominion-Post. Brett was seemingly ageless, and his illness, which he didn't mention at the club, was a surprise. So too the scope of his remarkable professional accomplishments, which were also not a normal topic of conversation on Thursday nights.
Brett's chess hobby is mentioned in the newspaper obituary, Brett is quoted as admitting to being “a good B-grade or a poor A-grade player”. Possibly so, but he did have his moments. The following game is one of the very last serious games Brett played. Brett was almost exclusively a club player. This game is so characteristic of humble club chess. Most people go through life mystified why anyone would abandon their comfortable homes to spend entire evenings silently contemplating wooden figurines, probably in a drafty school hall or similar. We know better of course. It's to experience epic larger than life battles like this one.
Stone, Andrew - Mullan, Brett - Club Championships 2019 Major Open 2019
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.O-O Be7 8.Qe2 a6 9.Rd1 Qc7 10.Bf4 Ne5 11.Bxe5 dxe5 12.Rac1 Qb8
Moves are clickable
13.Bb5+!! Andrew is a very aggressive player, in his element in the Smith-Morra where he specialises in ripping people to bits just like this. I have experienced it myself, and if you want to find a positive, well it's educational 13...Kf8 ( or 13...axb5 14.Qxb5+ Kf8 15.Na4 Rxa4 16.Qxa4 recovers most of the material with an overwhelming position ) 14.Na4 b6 15.Rxc8+! Qxc8 16.Nxb6
To be fair this is catastrophic for Black, the engine is saying +6.0 16...axb5!? A very pragmatic decision, Black gets a decent amount of material for the queen and can fight on (16...Qb7 17.Nd7+ Ke8 18.Ba4 Black is all tied up and White will win as he pleases ) 17.Nxc8 Rxc8 18.Qxb5 f6 19.Qb7 Re8
Somedays you just want to revert to the foetal position. Knowing both players as I do, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a shared laugh or at least a smile at this point 20.Rd7 Nh6 21.Kf1 Nf7 22.a4 Nd6 Black develops one piece 23.Qc6 Rc8 Black develops two pieces! 24.Rc7 Rxc7 25.Qxc7 Kf7 26.Nd2 Rc8 Black develops his final piece! Black has done a great job to unravel and White hasn't found a killer blow. The engine's eval is still around +3, but that's basically just the material deficit, and an unbalanced -3 material deficit is better for the defender than just an extra piece for example 27.Qb6 Rc2
Black gets his first threat of the game 28.Ke1? And White misses it! 28...Rxd2! 29.a5! The engine is now saying 0.00 and we just have a completely unbalanced, chaotic, maximum fun position, and for the first time in the game it feels like a fair fight 29...Rd4 30.f3? (30.a6 Rxe4+ 31.Kd1 Ra4 32.Kc2 threatening a7 Nc8, Qc6! and Black doesn't have a check 32...Ra1 33.b4 Ra2+ 34.Kc3 Ra3+ 35.Kc2 with a forced repetition indicates why the engine is saying 0.00. So it's even, but White has to play precisely ) 30...Nc4 31.Qc7 Nxa5! Another shot. Without the threatening passed duo on the Queenside, White now has a significant material disadvantage. A queen against multiple pieces is very annoying for the queen if the pieces are always protected and never allow a fork 32.Kf1 Nb3 33.Qc3 Rb4 34.f4 Nd4 35.fxe5 fxe5 36.Qc7 Kf6 37.g4 Characteristically Andrew prefers to try and attack with his diminished army 37...Nf3 38.Kg2 Ng5 39.h4 Rxb2+ 40.Kf1 Nxe4 41.g5+ Kf7 42.Ke1 Rb5 43.Qc2 Rb4 44.Qc7 Nd6 45.h5 Re4+ 46.Kd1 Nf5 47.Qb7 Rg4 48.g6+ hxg6 49.hxg6+ Kxg6 ( It's a shame that Brett didn't play 49...Rxg6
and his pieces retreat back to the corner of the board again, this time after they've conquered White's entire army ) 50.Qc8 Kf6 51.Qe8 Rh4 52.Qg8 g5 53.Ke2 g4 54.Kf1 g3 55.Qa8 Rg4 56.Qh8+ Rg7 57.Kg2 e4 Now it's just a matter of keeping calm and playing Space Invaders 58.Qc8 e3 59.Qc3+ e5 60.Qc6+ Kg5 61.Qe4 Bf6 62.Qc6 Rh7 63.Qc1 Rh2+ 64.Kf3 Rf2+ 65.Ke4 g2 66.Qg1 Rf4+ 67.Kd3 e4+ 68.Kc4 Rg4 69.Kd5 e2 0-1