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  • Tuesday, June 28, 2022

    Rubezov's Fatal King Walk

         Lou P. Andvere describes himself as a reasonably strong correspondence player (about 2300+ ICCF) who has written several chess engines. As he explained, these days in correspondence chess a good correspondence player using an engine is always stronger than a lone engine, especially in situations with a material imbalance that are difficult to evaluate. He added, "Correspondence players are a bit like race car drivers. They can’t outrun the car, but that’s not the point - the point is how well do you steer it." 
         Be that as it may, correspondence chess was a lot more fun before engines and it produced games like the following one. 

         Nothing is known of the Soviet correspondence player Anatoly Rubezov except that between 1960 and 1963 he he played, and lost, a game in the 1960 USSR Correspondence Championship to Georgy Borisenko (May 25, 1922 - December 3, 2012) that can be found in several books of chess brilliancies. 
         Borisenko was a Soviet correspondence GM and theoretician who trained, among others, Nona Gaprindashvili, his wife Valentina Borisenko, Viktor Korchnoi, Mark Taimanov and Timur Gareyev. He became a Russian Master of Sport in 1950 and a Russian Correspondence GM in 1966. He won the USSR Correspondence Championship twice, in 1957 and 1962, and came in second in 1965. 
         In the following game Borisenko displays fantastic ingenuity as he forces Rubezov's King on a long walk to its doom. The white King started on e1 and from there went on a journey to g1-f2-e1-d2-c3-c4-d5-d6-e5-e6-f5-e4 and ended up on d5 at which point Rubezov resigned. 
         In the game, at move 13, Borisenko made the sacrifice of the exchange that's often seen in the Sicilian (...Rxf3) and a few moves later makes what looks like a mistake, but was actually a carefully laid plan: a whole Rook down he chases white's King all over the board until there was nothing for Rubezov to do but send off a postcard with the dreaded words, "I resign" or some such. A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
    Anatoly RubezovGeorgy Borisenko0–1B89USSR Correspondence Championship1960Stockfish 15
    Sicilian: Sozin Attack 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 d6 6.c4 This aggressive move, the Sozin Attack, sets up tactical possibilities against f7. Afte black plays ...e6 then white can generate threats against the P on e6 and gain good prospects for a K-side attack with f4-f5. e6 7.0-0 e7 8.e3 0-0 9.b3 9.e2 is an alternative. a6 10.ad1 xd4 11.xd4 b5 12.b3 b7 13.a3 b8 14.f3 c6 15.f2 a5 16.fe1 b4 17.axb4 axb4 18.d5 Draw agreed. Gomez Garrido,C (2504)-Vera Gonzalez-Quevedo,R (2446) Panama City PAN 2013 9...a5 At the time this move was considered somewhat suspect because it neglects the center. It was believed that either 9...a6 or 9...Bd7 were better. Stockfish actually prefers the text. 10.f4 b6 In annotating this game Graham Burgess was critical of this move, but did not offer an alternative. Sockfish considers the position equal. 10...e5 is an equally good alternative. 11.fxe5 g4 12.e2 dxe5 13.f5 xf5 14.xf5 xe3 15.xe3 d4 16.xd4 exd4 17.d5 White's pieces are better placed, but there does not seem to be any way for him to make substantial headway. Five Shootout games were drawn. Generally black avoided the exchange ...Nxb3 and played an ending with Bs of opposite color and double Rs. 10...xb3 Burgess said black should avoid this, but that does not appear to be the case. After 11.axb3 e5 Superior to Burgess' 11...b6 12.de2 a5 the position is equal. 11.g4 11.e5 is the main alternative. e8 12.h5 and black has two main choices. xb3 This is probably the safest. 12...b7 This results in some complicated tactics. 13.xe6 fxe6 14.xe6+ h8 15.f7 c8 16.d5 xd5 17.xd5 with equal chances. 13.c6 c7 14.xe7+ xe7 15.axb3 b7 16.b5 a6 17.d4 b5 equals. 11...b7 12.f3 c8 13.g5 xc3 This sacrifice of the exchange is quite common in the Dragon Variation, but, as here, it is often seen in other variations as well. The point is that it weakens white's e-Pawn. 13...d7 is barely playable; it's rather passive and things get tactical. 14.xe6 fxe6 15.xe6+ h8 16.h5 with the initiative. d5 17.f3 g6 18.h6 c5 19.xc5 xc5 20.h3 e7 21.exd5 xf4 22.xg6 g7 23.xg7+ xg7 24.xd7 xd5 White is better. 13...e8 is also too passive and here, too, black ends up on the defensive. 14.h3 xb3 15.axb3 a6 16.f3 b5 17.h5 xc3 18.h3 Black has only one good move here. xe4 19.bxc3 g6 20.f3 c7 Black has beaten back the attack on his K, but white has slightly better chances. 14.gxf6 Excellent! Black has only one reply that does not lose. 14.bxc3 is a mistake. xe4 15.g4 c8 16.f3 xb3 17.axb3 f5 Padevsky-Botvinnik, Moscow 1956. Black soon won. 14...xe3 This is it. 14...c7 15.fxe7 xe7 16.f5 Crushing. xb3 16...e5 17.f6 c7 18.g4 g6 19.f5 e8 20.h4 h5 21.e7+ exe7 22.fxe7 xe7 23.xf7+ g7 24.g5 d7 25.d8 and wins 17.axb3 exf5 18.g5 f6 19.xf5 e5 19...fxg5 20.xe7+ xe7 21.xf8+ xf8 22.xf8+ xf8 23.xa7 xe4 24.c4 with a won ending. 20.xa7 b8 20...xe4 21.xg7+ mates in 21.xb7 xb7 22.f4 e6 23.g4 d7 24.d1 g6 25.g3 white will ultimately win this position: 5-0 in Shootouts. 15.xe3 15.fxe7 is a mistake as after xf3 16.exd8 xf1+ 17.xf1 xd8 Black is a good Pawn up. 15...xf6 16.ad1 Also good was 16...c3 xb3 16...e7 This cautious move was played in Jankovec,I (2320)-Smejkal,J (2515) Trinec 1972 17.c3 g6 18.f3 g7 19.d3 h6 20.e1 e8 21.c2 c6 with equal chances. 17.axb3 a6 This allows white some tactical ideas, but Borisenko is relying on the open lines he gets as compensation. 17...g6 is slightly more accurate, but the results is no more than a draw. 18.e5 dxe5 19.xe6 c8 20.xf8 xc2 21.h3 h4 22.d3 c5+ 23.e3 c2 repeating moves, 18.e5 dxe5 Now this is not good as white seizes the initiative. The best defense was 18...Bh4 when white is only slightly better+ 19.xe6 c8 20.xf8 c6 21.f2 Here white goes astray. He keeps the advantage after 21.Rd2 21.h3 is a colossal blunder! h4 21...xf8 22.d3 equals 22.f3 xf3 23.xf3 xf3 24.d3 g4 25.xh7 exf4 and black has what should be a winning advantage. 21.d2 h4 Threatens mate. 21...h1+ 22.f2 h4+ 23.e2 and the K slips away. 22.f3 Forced xf3 23.xf3 xf3 24.d7 exf4 25.xb6 and white is better. 21...g2+ 21...h4+ is ineffective beause after 22.e2 g2+ 23.d3 e4+ 24.c3 f6+ 25.b4 e7+ 25...xc2 26.xb6 26.c3 The K has escaped and black has to take the draw. 21...xc2+ is also ineffective. 22.d2 f5 23.g1 exf4 24.xf4 g5+ 25.f1 xf8 26.df2 and black's position is difficult. 22.e1 h4+ 23.f2 This threatens to win with 24.Ne6 f3 Meeting the threat and leaving black with a clearly winning position. 24.d8 From here on black is forced to find th very best moves in a remarkable King hunt. 24.e6 is refuted by h1+ 25.d2 xd1+ 26.c3 fxe6 24...g1+ 25.d2 d1+! 25...e4 would lose the game after 26.e8 d1+ 27.c3 f6+ 28.c4 b5+ 29.b4 d6+ 30.c5 xc5+ 31.xc5 e7+ 32.xe7 xf8 33.a7 winning easily. 26.c3 xd8 27.xf3 e4 28.h3 f6+ 29.c4 c7+ Both 29...Kxf8 and 29...Qxf8 would lose almose all of black's advantage. 30.d5 b7+ Again, the most precise. 30...xf8 31.xe4 xc2+ 32.f3 with equal chances. 31.d6 xf8 32.xh7 e7+ 33.e5 f6+ 34.e6 c6+ 35.f5 c8+ 36.xe4 xc2+ 37.d5 The end of the line for white's K! White played quite well, but his play was no match for Borisenko's precision. xh7 White resigned. 0–1

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