White To Play And Win

     Weaver W. Adams (April 28, 1901 - January 6, 1963, 61 years old) was born in Dedham, Massachusetts and is most famous for his book White to Play and Win which was published in 1939. Then in 1948 he published Simple Chess.

     When he first published White to Play and Win it created a sensation because he claimed to be able to prove that white has a win by force from the first move against any defense. Of course, he was never able to prove his thesis. 

     His pet opening was the Vienna Game and as black he pinned his hopes on the Albin Counter Gambit even though he felt that theoretically black had no chance. 

Adams frequently advertised in Chess Review

     A hard man to discourage, he was handicapped by playing exactly the opening lines he gave in his books. Because he played what he published, on more than one occasion he ended up playing against his own analysis. All of his ideas weren't bad though because Bobby Fischer studied his suggestions and used many of them.

     Hardly a patzer, in spite of his stubborn adherence to his own published analysis Adams defeated such players as Kashdan, H. Steiner, Horowitz, Evans, Santasiere, Pavey, Bernstein, Kramer, Shainswit and Seidman even though they knew in advance exactly what he was going to play.

     Adams won the 1948 US Open in Baltimore with a score of 9.5-2.5. In the second round Adams suffered his only loss when Carl Pilnick, playing white, won in a reversed Sicilian Dragon.

74 players

     In the following difficult game Adams scores a lucky win over the redoubtable Max Pavey.

Weaver W. Adams - Max Pavey

Result: 1-0

Site: US Open, Baltimore

Date: 1948.07.15

Sicilian Najdorf, Adams Attack

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 a6 6.h3 At that time this game was played this move (now sometimes called the Adams Attack) was almost never seen. When discussing the Sicilian, it was Adams' contention that his 6.h3 was a refutation of the Najdorf. Interestingly, it scores as good as the more popular 6.Be3 and 6.Bg5. 6...♕c7 While this move is good in principle Adams thought it was premature and recommended 6...Nc6. Nowadays black has tried 6...e6, 6...g6, 6...e5 and 6... b5 with varying degrees of success.

6...h5 Is interesting, but white can met it adequately. 7.♗g5 e6 8.♕f3 ♘bd7 9.♗e2 ♕c7 10.a4 b6 11.♕e3 ♗b7 12.O-O Black's 6th move hasn't amounted to anything, but neither does white have any advantage. Volkov,D (2329)-Ilincic,Z (2450)/Budapest 2018

7.g4 Adams felt that because of black's passive play that white's position was now better. That's over optimistic...the position is actually equal. 7...e6 Heading into a Scheveningen, but black has to be careful because white's K-side attack can pack a real punch.

7...e5 is premature. White gains the upper hand after 8.♘f5 d5 9.♘xd5 ♘xd5 10.♕xd5 ♗xf5 11.exf5 Kudrin,S (2578)-Rensch,D (2392)/ OS Open Indianapolis, 2009

8.♗g2 ♘c6 Probably best. Other tries are 8...b5 and 8...Be7 9.♗e3 ♘a5 So as to attack the B with ...Nc4. 10.♕e2 After 10. ..Nc4 Adams intended to castle Q-side with the hopes of launching a promising K-side attack.

10.g5 ♘d7 Where, unlike in the Keres Attack, white doesn't seem to get much. For example... 11.O-O b5 12.a4 b4 13.♘ce2 ♘c4 14.♗c1 ♗b7 15.♕e1 e5

10...♗d7 (10...♘c4 11.O-O-O ♘xe3 12.♕xe3 is equal.) 11.♖d1

11.O-O-O Adams believed this to be too dangerous because "black lost no time with 10...Nc4" I don't understand the comment either. 11...♖c8 12.g5 ♘g8 13.f4 is quite equal.

11...h6 12.♗c1 Evidently the idea is to render ...Nc4 useless, but there was no reason to delay the advance of the f-Pawn. (12.O-O ♘c4 13.♗c1 ♖c8 is equal.) 12...♗e7

12...♘c4 13.O-O ♖c8 has transposed into the above line so white really hasn't gained anything.

13.f4 O-O-O Technically castling K-side would be OK because black should have adequate defensive resources, but his K is quite safe here because all of white's army is poised for a K-side attack. 14.O-O ♔b8 15.g5 This opening of the K-side should not really benefit white because Pavey's K doesn't live there. (15.♕f2 ♖c8 16.♖d3 is the Komodo way. Both sides have solid positions.) 15...♘e8

15...hxg5 Adams pointed out that this isn't playable because black loses his f-Pawn, but that's not quite correct... 16.fxg5 ♘h7 17.♖xf7 ♗xg5 18.♖xg7 ♗xc1 19.♖xc1 ♕b6 True white is a P up, but his K is dangerously exposed and he is going to have to walk a tightrope to survive. In fact, both players will have to be careful! 20.♖d1 e5 21.♘d5 ♕a7 22.♕e3 exd4 23.♕h6 ♘c4 24.♔h2 ♗c6 25.♖xh7 ♖hg8 26.♖g7 ♗xd5 27.exd5 ♘e3 28.♖xg8 ♖xg8 29.♕xd6+ ♔a8 30.♖g1 d3 Now after 31.Qe6 things are unclear, but not... 31.cxd3 ♘g4+ 32.♔h1 ♘f2+ 33.♔h2 ♘xh3 34.♖f1 ♘f2 35.♕e6 ♖h8+ 36.♔g3 ♕d4 white has to be careful because of his exposed K.

16.h4

16.g6 leads to some interesting play after 16...fxg6 17.f5 ♘c6 (17...gxf5 18.exf5 exf5 19.♘d5 ♕c4 20.♕xe7 wins for white) 18.♘xe6 ♗xe6 19.fxe6 ♕c8 20.♗e3 ♕xe6 21.♘d5 and now white has some prospects of attacking black's K so the chances are about equal.

16...♕c8 17.f5 hxg5 18.hxg5 ♘c6

18...♕c5 19.♖f2 ♘c4 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.♘b3 ♕c6 22.♖f7 ♗f8 23.♕f2 ♘c7 24.g6 e5 25.♘d5 ♖c8 26.♘xc7 ♕xc7 27.♘c5 ♕xc5 28.♕xc5 ♖xc5 29.♖xd7 ♖c6 and white is better.

18...♘c4 Is a reasonable move. 19.fxe6 ♗xe6 20.♘d5 ♗xd5 21.exd5 ♘e5 with an equal position.

19.fxe6 An extremely difficult position has arisen. Even analyzing with Stockfish and Komodo saw the evaluation jumping around quite a bit! 19...♘xd4 After this black's position begins to deteriorate.

19...♗xe6 It would appear that this is the only move that keeps black in the game as after 20.♘d5 ♗xd5 21.exd5 ♘e5 the position is equal.

20.♖xd4 fxe6 21.♖f7 ♕c5 22.♕c4 After this black reaches an ending where he faces only minor difficulties.

22.♕e3 keeps up the pressure, but black seems to be able to survive in this situation also. 22...♕e5 23.♖d3 ♕h2+ 24.♔f2 ♖f8 25.♖xf8 ♗xf8 26.♕f4 ♕xf4+ 27.♗xf4 ♗c6

22...♕xc4 23.♖xc4 ♗f8 24.g6 Adams castigated himself for playing this. On g5 the P was strong, but here it can't be defended. After, say, 24.Be3 the chances would be equal. 24...♖c8 25.♖xc8+ ♔xc8 26.♗g5 ♘f6 What a shame that this game is decided by a crude blunder,

26...♘c7 27.♗h3 ♗e8 28.♖f3 ♗xg6 29.♘d5 ♔d7 30.♘xc7 ♔xc7 31.♗xe6 ♗xe4 32.♖f7+ ♔c6 33.♗c8 d5 34.♗xb7+ ♔b6 is a likely draw.

27.♗xf6 gxf6 28.g7 ♗xg7 29.♖xg7 Black resigned.

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