Queen Sacrifice by van Steenis

    This is a game from the tournament mentioned in the previous post of October 28th about de Groot. It features a marvelios Queen sacrifice by van Steenis in his game against Koomen. 

    Hendrik van Steenis (1908-1976, 56 yrats old) was a Dutch politician and administrator. From 1951 to 1965 he was a member of the central committee of FIDE. Willem Kppmen (1909-1989, 60 years old) was married to the Dutch lady champions Fenny Heemskerk.

 

 

 

 

[Event "Hoogovens, Beverwijk"] [Site "Beverwijk NED"] [Date "1946.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hendrik van Steenis"] [Black "Willem Koomen"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "1946.01.05"] {C58: Two Knights Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 {This remains the most common move in the Two Knights.} (5... b5 {was played in the famous Yakov Estrin-Hans Berliner ICCF 1965} 6. Bf1 Nd4 7. c3 Nxd5 8. Ne4 Qh4 9. Ng3 Bg4 10. f3 e4 11. cxd4 Bd6 {White is better, but black went on to win.}) 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. Bd3 Be7 10. b3 {Excellent! In the game Rossolimo,N-Bogoljubow,E Dortmund 1951 white played 10.Nc3 which is OK, but the text move is the engine's forst choice, but of course in 1946 there was no such thing.} O-O 11. Ba3 {This is hardly bad, but 11.Bb2 seems more logical.} Bxa3 12. Nxa3 {White's N os out of play here.} h6 13. h4 { Aggressive play by van Steenis. Black could take the N, but if he does both sides must walk a tightrope!} Re8 (13... hxg5 14. hxg5 Nd5 {runs into} 15. Rh8+ Kxh8 16. Qh5+ Kg8 17. Qh7#) ({Black should try} 13... Nd5 $17 {White must now prevent ...f5.} 14. Bh7+ Kh8) (13... hxg5 14. hxg5 Ng4 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Bf5+ Kg8 17. Qxg4 Bxf5 18. Qxf5 {White has a winning position.}) (13... hxg5 14. hxg5 e4 {This is the correct defense. White's best continuations is...} 15. gxf6 exf3 16. Bh7+ Kh8 17. Bg6+ {with a draw.}) 14. Ne4 Nxe4 {Keeping the Ns on and plauing 14...Nd5 was a bit better.} 15. Bxe4 (15. Qxe4 {was positionally better, but white is playing for the attack.} f5 16. Qb4 Be6 17. O-O Rad8 18. Rfe1 e4 19. Bf1 {White is supposed to be better, probably owing to his better P-formtion.}) 15... Be6 {This gives white's attack more impetus.} (15... f5 {This active move keeps the chances about equal after} 16. Bxf5 e4 17. Bxe4 Qe5 {Now white should castle on either side (it makes little difference) and after black take the B the chances would be about even.}) 16. b4 Nb7 17. b5 Na5 18. g4 {After having diverted black's attention to the Q-side white switches back to the K-side/ On his next move black would have done better with 18...Bd5, offering an exchange of Bs to eliminate an attacker. } Rab8 19. g5 hxg5 (19... cxb5 {was safer/} 20. gxh6 f5 {This counter equalizes.} 21. Bxf5 Bxf5 22. Qxf5 b4 {and black can defend his K plus he is in a position to counter white's Q-side advances.}) 20. hxg5 Kf8 {This move, preparing to flee, gives white just enough time to build up his attack. He needed to keep white busy by countering on the Q-side. In any case, black is in a difficult position.} (20... cxb5 {was called for.} 21. O-O-O {Getting his other R into play.} Red8 22. Rh7 Qd6 23. Nb1 Kf8 24. g6 Nc4 (24... f6 25. Rdh1 Bg8 26. Qh3 Bxh7 27. gxh7 {with a likely win.} Ke7) 25. gxf7 Qb4 26. Qb3 Qxb3 27. axb3 Nd6 28. Bg6 {White is clearly better.}) 21. Ke2 {Connecting his Rs/} cxb5 {White to play and win...there's only one move that does it!} 22. Qf6 { If the Q is taken then white's P on f6 cuts off the Ks escape route.} (22. Rh7 {Doubling Rs on the h-file looks like a sure-fire way to win, but black can save himslef.} Red8 23. Rah1 Qd7 {Attacking the d-Pawn and threatening ...Bg4} 24. Qe3 Qd4 25. Qxd4 exd4 {The attack is broken.}) 22... Bg4+ {There was nothing any better.} 23. f3 gxf6 24. gxf6 Kg8 {The K is trapped.} 25. Rag1 Qd7 {This position is not as clear as the engine evaluation of 3.5 Ps in white's favor would lead you to believe.} 26. Bh7+ {[%mdl 128] White has strong attack, but there is no knockout blow.} (26. Rxg4+ {This demonstrates the correctness of white's Q sacrifice.} Qxg4 {Forced to avoid mate.} 27. fxg4 Nc4 28. Nxc4 bxc4 {White is down the exchange, but he has sufficient compensation in the form of play on the K-side that he should be able to force the win.} 29. Rh7 Red8 30. Rg7+ Kf8 31. g5 Rb1 32. Bh7 Ke8 33. Bg8 Rd4 34. Bxf7+ Kd8 35. Rg8+ Kd7 36. Bxc4 {and now it's clear that white is winning.}) 26... Kf8 27. Rxg4 { Black is forced to return the Q to avoid mate.} Qxg4 28. fxg4 Rb6 29. g5 { [%mdl 1024]} a6 30. Be4 Kg8 31. Rh7 b4 32. Rg7+ Kf8 33. Bh7 {Black resigned. It's mate in 2.} 1-0