The following game from the 1942 Manhattan Chess Club Championship illustrates the point. White emerged from the opening with a decent position, but he didn't play well and lost.
The winner, Weaver Adams (1901-1963), is most famous for his controversial claim that 1.e4 confers a winning advantage upon White. He advocated this in books and magazine articles amd in his games. Of course, he was never successful, but at least in 1999 World Correspondence Champion (1965-68) Hans Berliner (1929-2017) published a book titled The System in which he expressed his admiration for Adams and claimed that 1,d4 gives white a large, and possibly decisive, advantage. Like Adams, he didn’t proved it.
Adams’ results suffered because he published his analysis for all to see and then stuck to it in his play. Consequently, his opponents were well prepared because the new what he was going to play.
In this game he essayed the Albin Counter Gambit against his opponent’s 1.d4. Boris Blumin (1908-1998) who was in born in St. Petersburg, Russia. At one point he lived in in Canada and won the Canadian Championship twice before moving to the United States.
Adans would, of course, dispute that his opening was inferior, but Fine, like Berliner, said, “..we should all be thankful to Mr. Adams for his sponsorship of so many out-of-the-way opening lines which invariably lead to sparkling and interesting play.” Take a gander at this game.
Boris Blumin–Weaver Adams0–1D09Mamhattan CC Champ, New York1942Stockfosh 17
D09: Albin Counter Gambit 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 This gambit is based on the idea of sacrificing a P in order to secure a strong P wedge on d4 along with free and easy development. It is true that black usually develops well, but he has to damage his position to regain the P. 3.dxe5 The only move that offers white any chance of obtaining an advantage. d4 4.f3 c6 5.a3 The main alternative to this move is 5.g3, but I remember seeing a game in which Reshecvsky played 5.a3 and he gave it an explanation mark. Fine was of the opion that the value of this then fashionable move may be questioned. He explained that white's strategie objectives are to keep the black d-Pawn under guard and to secure play against blacj's Q-side and neither of these objectives are furthered by 5.a3. In my database the only significant difference is that the percentage of draws goes up when white plays 5.a3, so Fine may very well be correct. a5 According to FIne this move is forced, but it gives black an excellent P position on the Q-side. That is not the case though because ay least at this point the move is hardly forced and the position is actually slightly in white's favor. That said, as will be noticed a bit later black will need to play ...a5 anyway. So, should he do it now or wait? It seems waiting is the beter alternative. 5...ge7 This is the move that gives black the best winning chances. 6.b4 g6 7.b2 and now... a5 An interesting position. Stockfish evaluates the positionas slightly in white's favor, bot humans don't play like engines and my database has only 11 games with this position and black scored +5 -2 =4. 6.bd2 g4 6...a4 is a plausible alternative. 7.b4 axb3 8.xb3 e6 9.bxd4 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.xd4 xc4 White is better. Dyachkov,S (2549)-Kanep,M (2476) Moscow RUS 2005 7.g3 This is hardly bad, but the more direct 7.h3 was worth considering. 7.h3 e6 Better than 7...Bh5 8.g3 d7 9.g2 Pachman,L-Plachetka,J Luhacovice 1968. White stands well. 7.b3 This is also a reasonable move. e7 8.bxd4 0-0-0 9.e3 White has the advantage. Jankovic,A (2446)-Zaja,I (2466) Omis 2005 7...c5 8.g2 ge7 9.0-0 0-0 Black is still a long way from regaining his P and white is well developed. Fine wrote that the simplest plan for white is now to concentrate on the exposed P on d4, but the line he plays is not bad at all. Fine did not give any indication as to how white could play against the d-Pawn and there really seems to be no clear way of how to do it. 10.b3 Here and on the next nove he could also play h3 g6 11.b2 e7 White;s advantage is very small. 12.h3 xf3 Not the best, Black should keep his B and retreat to f5. 13.xf3 What could be more logical than this recapture? However, after 13.Nxf3 his position is no more that equal. To gain the advantahe he must play 13.exf3! 13.exf3 aiming for f4 solidly guarding the e-Pawn. gxe5 14.e1 d7 15.e4 e7 16.f4 g6 17.h4 with a ptomising position. 13...ad8 Overprotecting the vital d-Pawn. 14.d2 b6 A precaution in that ot removes the P from any attack by the B at g2. Adams is now ready to capture the e-Pawn. 15.h2 Fine adds that this is quite beside the point except for the fact that it prepares a blunder! White's K is in no danger and the best course was to attack black's d-Pawn. The psychologist Fine observed that this move indicates a situation in which white "seems to have been overcome by one of those strange compulsions which lead a player to carry out a preconceived idea even though he realizes ot is bad." 15.c2 Fine's suggestion, but after gxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.ad1 fe8 18.b4 18.d2 h5 19.fd1 h4 20.g4 d3 the chances are equal. 18...axb4 19.axb4 xb4 20.xd4 xd4 21.xd4 the position is equal. 15.e6 This surorising move keeps the iniative. f5 15...xe6 16.g5 d7 17.ad1 White is slightly better. 16.h4 h6 17.h5 ge5 18.xe5 xe5 19.f4 followed by Bd5 with a good position. 15...cxe5 16.xe5 xe5 17.f4 d7 18.fd1 Fine was wrongly super-critical of this stating that In spite of all his previous inaccuracies, white could still have secured a playable position by 18.Bxd4. First, Blumin's previous play was not riddled with inaccuracies and second, while 18.Bxd4 was better than the text because it results in an equal position, 18.Rfd1 is not a gross blunder by any means. Black now has no more than equality. f6 Here Fine praised Adams for playing consistently and intelligently and he now presses his advantage home with great vigor. The only arguable point is that black has no clear advantage and the position is evaluated as equal. Stockfish 0.15 and Berserk, an aggressive attacking engine, 0.15. 19.d3 fe8 20.f3 Fine did not commented on this move, but it is a critical mistake that gives black a considerable advantage. Counterattacking on the Q-side with 20.keeps the chances equal. 20.b4 axb4 21.axb4 xb4 22.xd4 e4 22...c5 23.xf6 23.e3 20.b4 axb4 21.axb4 xe2 22.xe2 xe2 23.bxc5 xb2 24.xd4 e8 25.cxb6 xb6 with equality. 20...e4 Threatening ...Nf2 21.g2 Against Nf2 f5 22.h5 A loss of time, but white is reduced to passivity owing to his 20th move. g6 23.f3 g5 Adams has completed all his preparations and now unleashes a violent attack. However, white does not yet need to give up hope! 24.g1 Probably played to discourage 24...gxf4 opening the g-file, but it doesn't work. 24.h5 Again, but it makes black work to prove he can win. f8 25.f3 f6 and white plays26.Bc1 adding the B to the defense and intending fxg4. In this case black would still be better, but he would also still have a lot of work to do. 24...gxf4 White's K will be exposed to great danger on the g-file...blavk's will not. 25.gxf4 h4 An excellent move. 26.af1 26.xe4 eliminates the well placed N, but runs into fxe4 27.f1+ f7 28.g3 xg3 29.xg3 and black's centralized Ts and Ps on d4 and e4 give him a huge advantage. 26...f7 Also very strong was 26...Qxf4 27.h2 d6 A nice surprise! The immediate threat is mate beginning with ...Qxh3+ 27...xf4+ 28.h1 f6 29.e3 g3+ 30.xg3 xg3 31.g4 28.g2 To demonstrate the mate threat. 28.b4 xh3+ 29.xh3 h6+ 30.g2 g8+ 31.g4 xg4+ 32.f3 h3+ 33.g3 hxg3# 28...g6 29.f3 d6 30.xd4 Desperation. 30.c1 was the only try. Stockfish goves black a winning advantage, but in practice things might not have been so simple! Here is a sample lien... d8 31.a4 c5 32.b2 e7 33.h1 b4 34.c5 xc5 35.b4 axb4 36.a5 bxa5 37.b5 f6 38.xa5 b6 39.a1 dg8 40.e1 e6 41.c1 f7 42.c2 c6 43.d3 f2+ 44.h2 xd3 45.exd3 d6 46.c1 c5 47.f2 b3 48.f1 g7 49.c6 xg1 50.xg1+ h8 51.f2 g6 52.f3 g7 53.d1 f8 54.a3 h6 55.b2 h7 56.f2 e3 57.xe3 dxe3 58.c1 Of course black is winning, but some technique is required. d6 59.b2 xf4+ 60.h1 e7 61.e2 e5 62.c1 g7 63.f3 b2 Obviously this line has many other possibilities, but it 1llustrates the point that white missed his nest chance when he missed 30.Bc1 30...xf4+ The position is a bit messy, but black is clearly winning. 31.h1 d8 32.xf4 The game is not yet quite over! Black could carelessly play a check which would be a colossal blunder. xf4 lack resigned. Great play bt Adams! 32...g3+ 33.h2 and black has his Q and a R under attack, so... f1+ 34.xf1 xd4 35.xh4 xh4 36.g2 and white's two Bs vs, the R cinfer the advantage on him. Like to analysis after 30.Bc1 the win is very long and very complicated the only difference being that the shoe is on the other foot. 32...xf4 33.xe4 33.xd8 f2# 33...fxe4 wins easily 34.f1 xf1+ 35.xf1 d1 etc. 0–1
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