“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5 and the path leading out I only wide enough for one.” (Mikhail Tal)
As astute reader “Cribb” pointed out, my post on Eric Andersen on February 4th contained a faux pas on my part in which I described one game and posted another one, a loss no less!
After playing over several of Andersen’s games the one I had decided to post (given below) was hardly one of his “best,” but it was an exciting one.
Chessgames.com had a discussion of it in which one reader thought it was a great game with a masterful finish worthy of a puzzle of the day. Another disagreed, pointing out that based on engine analysis, it was a comedy of errors.
It doesn’t matter.
If one is looking for perfection, one can play over the games of modern day correspondence champions with their engine assisted near perfect games. If one is looking for spill and thrills, play over games like Andersen’s win over Wagner in the following game!
Andersen’s sacrifice was unsound in that it should have resulted in no more than equality and at move 30 black missed the winning line. Then on the very next move, he resigned in a position in which Andersen had no more than a perpetual check!
OK, so the game was far from perfect and black got lead into the forest where 2+2 actually did equal 4; the path leading out was wide enough for two, but it was too dark for the players to discern it!
Heinrich Wagner (August 9, 1888 – June 24, 1959) was a German player. He was awarded the IM title because of his 3rd= placing with Akiba Rubinstein after Efim Bogoljubov and Aron Nimzowitsch at Breslau in 1925. He also played on the German Olympiad teams of 1927, 1928, 1930 and 1931, but retired from chess when the Nazis came to power.
[Event "Swinemuende"]
[Site "Swinemuende GER"]
[Date "1930.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Erik Andersen"]
[Black "Heinrich Wagner"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{D37: Queen's Gambit Declined: 5 Bf4} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3
Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. b3 O-O 7. Bd3 c5 8. O-O dxc4 9. bxc4 cxd4 10. exd4 {The
infamous Hanging Pawns. It takes a good positional understanding both to use
their advantages and to play against them. They are a weak pawn formation by
nature, so piece activity is the key. When playing against them, one must
apply pressure on the Ps in order to force the advance of one of them.
Normally this leaves weak squares which can be used to establish a permanent
blockade. In general terms, it's a dynamic formation in which the piece play
is a major factor to consider. Instead of his next move black should have
pressured the hanging Ps with moves like ...b6, ...Bb7 and ...Rc8.} 10... Nb6
11. Re1 Bd7 12. Ne5 Rc8 {Black has succeeded in putting pressure on the
c-Pawn, but that's a far as he gets. As compensation white has a N on e5 and
black's QB would be better placed on b7.} 13. Re3 {White has an interesting
idea: a direct attack on black's K.} 13... Bc6 14. Rh3 g6 15. Be3 Nbd7 16. f4
Qa5 17. Qc2 {Black's next move is too passive. He should have eliminated the
N on e5 with 17...Nxe5 18. fxe5 Ng4! The N may look dangerously exposed here,
but white will be unable to take advantage of it. There is also a neat little
tactical point. If white tries to avoid the exchange of his dark squared B
with 19.Bd2 black has 19...Bc5! and if 20.dxc5?? (Better is 20.Rf1) Qxc5+
21.Kh1 Nf2+ 22.Kg1 Nxh3+ and mates in two.} 17... Rfe8 18. Rf1 Nf8 {A
pointless waste of time. Better was 18. ..Bf8.} 19. g4 {White has already
established a winning attacking position.} 19... Bb4 20. g5 N6d7 21. Ne4
{White intends c5} 21... Bxe4 22. Bxe4 Nxe5 23. fxe5 b5 24. c5 Bc3 25. Rxh7
{Unsound, but it leads to complications black proves unable to handle. The
best plan was 25.Qf2 followed by the advance of the d-Pawn.} 25... Kxh7
{Definitely not 25...Nxh7 26.Bxg6 winning.} 26. Rxf7+ Kg8 27. Bxg6 Qd8 {
Attacking the backward pawn on d4. The B on c3 is immune because the attack
is over and white is down a R.} 28. Bh5 Bxd4 29. Rxf8+ Kxf8 {White's next move
is a losing blunder. He can reach a very unclear position after 30.Qf2+ Kg8
31.Qf7+ Kh8 32.g6 Bxe3+ ( or 32...Qg5+ 33.Kh1 Re7 34.Bxg5 Rxf7 35.gxf7 Kg7)
33. Kh1 Qd5+ 34.Bf3 Qxf3+ 35.Qxf3} 30. Qh7 {An interesting position! In the
comment sections to this game on Chessgames.com one player asserted that this
move is winning which is probably the view shared by both Andersen and Wagner.
But that is wrong! Black can reach a position where he is two Rs up and
facing no danger after 30...Bxe3+!! 31.Kf1 Qc7} 30... Qxg5+ 31. Kh1 {Now
Wagner mistakenly resigned, but Andersen has no more than a perpetual check
after 31.. .Re7 32.Qh8+ Qg8 33.Qf6+ Rf7 34.Bh6+ Ke8 35.Bg5 Black has to allow
the perpetual because the attempt to escape by 35...Kd7 is met by 35...Kd7
36.Bxf7 Qf8 37.Qxe6+ Kc7 38.Be7 winning easily.} 1-0
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