Graham Pitts
Philip Hair Reports
Graham passed away after an illness on 22 November 2019, aged 74 years. An architect by profession, Graham was an accomplished chess player, good enough to draw on occasion against IM Ortvin Sarapu. I have annotated a game of mine against Graham from 1992.
Pitts, Graham L - Hair, Philp I - North Shore CC Chp 1992
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 c6 Transposing from the Queen’s Gambit Accepted to a variation of the Slav Defence, normally reached by the move order 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e4 b5 5.a3 A cautious move. More usual is (5.a4 Qa5 6.Bd2 b4 7.Na2 e6 ) 5...e5 6.Be3 exd4 7.Qxd4 Qxd4 8.Bxd4 Nd7 9.Nf3 Ngf6 10.Be2
Moves are clickable
White does not seem too concerned about the pawn minus, but just concentrates on development and reaching a sound position. 10...Bc5 Possibly not the best; 10… Be7 could be considered 11.O-O O-O 12.Rfe1 a6 13.Rad1 Bxd4 14.Nxd4 Bb7 15.f3 White continues to be careful. Also possible was (15.Nf5 targeting the d6 square, when play might continue 15...Rad8 16.Nd6 Ba8 17.f4 Nc5 18.e5 Nd5 19.g3 Ne3 20.Rb1 and Black is slightly better according to Fritz. ) 15...Rad8 16.Nf5 Ne5 17.Rd6 Rxd6 18.Nxd6 Ba8 19.f4 Nd3 Giving the pawn back to reduce some of White’s pressure. 20.Bxd3 cxd3 21.Rd1 c5 22.Rxd3 Rd8 22… b4 might be better. 23.e5 Ne4? This loses the c-pawn. Black should play 23… Ne8= 24.Ncxe4 Bxe4 25.Rc3 Bg6 26.Rxc5 f6 27.Rc6 fxe5 28.fxe5 a5 29.Rb6 Bd3 30.Nxb5 Rd5
31.Nd6 Also good is (31.Rb8+ Kf7 32.e6+ Ke7 33.Rb7+ Kf6 34.Nc7 +- ) 31...g6 32.e6 Kf8 33.Nc8 Bf5 34.h3 Ke8 35.g4
35...Rd1+ A better chance was (35...Bxe6 36.Rxe6+ Kd7 37.Re7+ Kxc8 38.Rxh7 Rb5 but White is still winning: 39.Ra7 Kb8 40.a4 Rd5 41.Rg7 Rd1+ 42.Kf2 Rd2+ 43.Ke3 Rxb2 44.Rxg6 +- ) 36.Kf2 Bb1 37.Rb7 Rd8 38.Rxh7 Rd2+ Despair, but (38...Rxc8 39.Rh8+ Ke7 40.Rxc8 Kxe6 41.Ra8 wins easily for White. ) 39.Ke1 1-0