Half a Dozen Passed Pawns!!!

     Awesome, fascinating, unbelievable and marvelous are a few words that spring to mind when describing the following game in which Denis Victor Mardle (August 9, 1929 - July 31, 2000, 70 years old), a well known British player, amassed an array of six (!) passed Pawns in his defeat of British stalwart Robert Wade. 

     Mardel contracted polio at the age of 15 and was badly disabled for the rest of his life, walking with crutches and leg braces. 

     He took part in several British Championships from 1951 to 1965, with a best finish of =7th in 1957. Some of his best performances were in the Stevenson Memorial tournament held at Bognor Regis where he shared first place with Gereben in 1959, ahead of Karaklaic, Wade, Cafferty and Pritchard. 

     In 1964, he finished clear first ahead of a strong field that included Golombek, Karaklaic, Mestrovic, Rellstab, Hartston, Keene and Basman with the excellent score of 9.5-1.5. He participated in the Hastings Premier in 1964-65, but managed only two draws out of nine games. After playing in the 1965 British Championship in which he scored +4 -4 =3 he gave up major OTB activity but still played some correspondence chess. 

     Mardle had a distinguished career as a cryptanalyst after he was recruited during WWII by British master C. H. O'D. Alexander at an Oxford-Cambridge match. At the time Alexander was head of the cryptanalysis division of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), an intelligence and security organization responsible for providing intelligence information to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom In 1969, Mardle directed the Mathematics Research Group before being promoted to chief mathematician in 1973. In 1982 he was appointed head of the cryptanalysis division, and was awarded the CBE in 1988. 

     During the 1953 British Championship Mardle met Barbara Lally (1920-1972), who was taking part in that year's British Ladies' Championship and they were married in 1954. After her death he married again. His second wife's daughter wrote an account of the last years of his life which was published in The Lincolnshire Post-Polio Information Newsletter in 2000. You can read the article HERE.

ChessBase

Robert G. Wade–Denis V. Mardle0–1E97Stevenson Memorial, Bognor Regis1959Stockfiah 15

King's Indian: Classical Main Line 1.d4 f6 2.f3 d6 3.c4 g6 4.c3 g7 5.e4 0-0 6.e2 e5 7.0-0 c6 8.d5 e7 9.b4 a5 10.a3 axb4 11.xb4 d7 12.d2 So far this is all book, but here white usually continues 12.a4 f5 13.b3 b6 14.a4 c5 15.xc5 bxc5 16.f3 h6 17.d3 h8 18.b5 18.a5 a6 19.b5 g8 20.g3 f6 21.f2 g7 22.c3 fxe4 23.fxe4 h3 with equal chances. Kaabi,M (2365)-Kahn,E (2350) Budapest 1995 18...d7 19.a5 a6 20.a2 g8 21.c3 f4 22.g3 So far black has had a clear initiative, but is next move should have allowed white to gain the advantage. g5 The simple retreat 22... Bh6 was correct. 23.h1 Forcing black to sacrifice the B. 23.xc7 is not nearly as good because after xg3 24.hxg3 xg3+ 25.h1 a7 black has equalized. 23...xg3 23...e3 is forcefully met by 24.f4 d4 25.xd4 cxd4 26.fxg5 and white is a piece ahead. 24.hxg3 Not bad, but 24. Rg1 was even better. 24.g1 f4 25.xc7 a7 26.b5 h5 Threatening ...Qh2# 27.d1 xb5 28.cxb5 and white has a decisive advantage. 24...xg3 24...f4 was somewhat better. 25.d1 fxg3 26.g2 f4 27.h1 etc. 25.f4 25.Nxc7 would be a mistake because after 25...Qh3+ black gets a threefold repitition. h4+ 26.g2 f6 White has a nearly won position here after 27.Qe1 beating back black's attack. Instead, he makes a move that looks plausible, but turns out to be a serious error. At least that's the way Stockfish looks at it. From the human standpoint things are not nearly so clear! 27.h1 27.e1 h6 28.fxe5 xe4 29.f3 dxe5 and white is "clearly winning." Indeed, in Shootouts white scored 5 out of 5, but here's is the winning procedure at 21 plies...it wouldn't be so easy for a human. 30.xe4 fxe4 31.xf8+ xf8 32.d2 c6 33.c3 cxd5 34.xd5 f5 35.xe4 g4+ 36.g3 g5 37.e3 xe3 38.xe3 h5 39.e4 c6 40.d5 a8 41.g1 g7 42.xc5 a7 43.e6+ h7 44.a6 h6 45.ec7 c6 46.b5 d7 47.a7 h4 48.a8 xa8 49.xa8 e4 50.bc3 e3 51.xe3 c7 52.cd5 c6 53.f2 h3 54.a1 h2 55.h1 a6 56.g2 h5 57.g3 g5 58.xh2+ g6 59.c5 f7 60.f2+ g7 61.f5+ f7 62.c6 a1 63.fe3+ e6 64.c2 g1+ 65.h2 a1 66.c7 a8 67.c8+ xc8 68.xc8 d6 69.c4 e6 70.g3 d6 71.c7 e5 72.f3 d4 73.c4+ e5 74.g4 d6 75.xg5 e6 76.c6+ e5 77.f4 Stockfish 15: e4 78.f5 f3 79.c2 e4 80.f2 e5 81.e2# 27...xf4 28.f3 28.xc7 is still unsatisfactory. a7 29.b5 xe4 with the advantage. 28.c1 offering a draw was a good idea. fxe4 28...xc1 29.xc1 c8 was acceptable if black wants to play on although here white is slightly better. 29.f1 h4 30.h1 draws 28...g5+ 29.g3 xg3+ 30.xg3 xe4+ 31.g2 A truly unique position. Amazing! Black's best move is now 31...Rc8 c6 This looks good. but it should have allowed whit to salvage the game. 32.dxc6 32.xd6 was better. xd6 33.xc5 a7 34.xd7 xd7 35.dxc6 c7 36.b1 xc6 37.a6 a8 38.a7 cc8 39.a5 e8 40.c5 c8 This position offers equal chances. 41.b8 xa7 42.xe8+ xe8 43.xa7 c8 44.a5 c7 45.c4 The position is evaluated at 0.00, but that is not the same thing as a draw... at least not in this position! 32...xc6 33.f3 b8 34.d2 This gets a big thumbs down from Stockfish. 34.ha1 g7 35.g1 c3 36.xc3 xf3 37.d2 c6 38.b1 And this position is also evaluated at 0.00! 34...xd2 35.xc6 xc4 This is the only correct move. 35...Rxc6 36.Rxd2 is allegedly equal. 36.d7 d5 Six passed Ps...they can't be stopped, but Wade gives it a try. The rest of the game received some minor tweaking by Stockfish, but the outcome is not in doubt. 37.c3 e3+ 38.f3 d4 39.b5 a7 40.b1 g5 41.c6 e4+ 42.e2 xb1 43.xb1 c4 44.a6 e5 45.d2 c4 46.a4 d3+ Black is clearly winning. 47.e3 c3 48.c4 f4+ Wade resigned. 0–1

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