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Thursday, July 15, 2021

Purdy Examined But Rejected the Prettiest Line

     Australia was among the first nations to declare war on Nazi Germany and between 1939 and 1945 nearly one million Australian men and women served in World War II. They fought in campaigns against the Axis powers across Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. 
     Then in 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and advanced into South East Asia, Australia found itself at war with Japan as well and the focus shifted to the defense of Australia as Japanese victories in the following months became more and more menacing. 
     On February 15, 1942, 15,000 Australians became prisoners of war when Singapore fell and four days later Darwin in northern Australia was bombed. The result was the consequent threat of a Japanese invasion in northern Australia which resulted in widespread panic that caused the government to take drastic measures to protect the country and its territories.  
     That was the backdrop in 1943 when New South Wales, a southeastern Australian state with Sydney as its capital met Victoria, also a state in southeast Australia with Melbourne as its capital, in a telex match. The telex was a customer-to-customer network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network that communicated using two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of sending written messages between businesses in the post-World War II period, but beginning in the 1980s there use declined. 
      In the following rough and tumble game between C.J.S. Purdy and George R. Lamparter, the 1933 Victoria champion, things got interesting at move 16. Purdy missed the best (and prettiest!) line, but his position was still so good that it didn't matter.

C.J.S. Purdy - George Lamparter

Result: 1-0

Site: Telex Natch, NSW vs Victoria

Date: 1943

[...] 1.d4 e6 2.e4 c5 3.d5 ♘f6 4.♘c3 exd5 5.exd5 Later Purdy came to the conclusion that 5.Nxd5 was best because it gives black a backward P on an open file which means his game is strategically lost. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but white does have a clear strategic advantage. 5...d6 6.♘f3 ♗e7 7.♗d3 a6 Black's plan to fianchetto his B on b7 is a poor plan that leaves him with a passive position.
7...O-O is a much better idea. 8.O-O ♘a6 9.♖e1 Capturing the N would only open lines for black on the Q-side. 9...♘c7 10.♗c4 ♖e8 11.h3 a6 12.a4 b6 13.♗f4 ♖b8 14.♕d3 ♕d7 White should now play 15.b4 with about equal chances. Instead he erred with... 15.♘g5 b5 16.axb5 axb5 17.♗a2 c4 18.♕f3 ♗b7 19.♖ad1 ♘cxd5 20.♘xd5 ♘xd5 21.♖xe7 ♕xe7 22.♖xd5 h6 23.♗xd6 ♗xd5 White resigned. Jahncke,G (2340)-Bischoff,K (2504)/Apolda GER 2017
8.a4 b6 9.♗f4 ♗b7 10.♗c4 ♕d7 This looks promising because white has three undefended units (the two Bs and the g-Pawn) and so ...Qg4 is a seriosu threat. However, Purdy had an adequate defense. 11.h3 ♕f5 12.♗h2 h5 Necessary if he wants to play ...Nbd7 because of the reply g2-g4. 13.♕d2 Black still can't play ...Nbd7 because of the reply Bd3. Already black is nearly (if not completely) lost. Having advanced his h-Pawn it is now too dangerous to play 13...O-O. Stockfish evaluates this position as slightly over 3 Ps in white's favor. 13...♘e4 As bad as black's position is, this is a blunder. 14.♕d3 ♖h6 The N can't be saved, but this clever move gives white a chance to go wrong. This is especially true because Purdy has spend a lot of time on his moves plus he was confused about how much time he had left, thinking he had to make 6 moves in 5 minutes. 15.♕xe4 White is still winning, but this wasn't his best move.
15.♘xe4 was the best move. Black has no good move. 15...♕g6 16.O-O ♘d7 17.♖fe1 and black is simply a piece down with no play whatsoever.
15...♖e6 This looks clever, but it isn't sufficient to save the game. 16.♘e5 Taking the N is no help at all. 16...♕g5 After this move Purdy realized he wasn't in time trouble at all and so he spent a lot of time looking at the possibility of playing an immortal sacrifice...his Q and both Rs! He came to the incorrect conclusion that, unfortunately, the immortal sacrifice doesn't work. He had a double misfortune here though because it meant he rejected the best line!
16...♖xe5 17.♗xe5 ♕xe4+ 18.♘xe4 dxe5 19.O-O-O ♘d7 20.♖he1 and white is the exchange up with a strategically won position.
17.h4 One can forgive Purdy for not being able to correctly calculate all the different possibilities aring from 17.dxe6 over the board and playing it safe. Actually, even after 17.h4 he still has a huge advantage.
17.dxe6 ♗xe4 18.exf7+ ♔f8 (18...♔d8 19.f8=♕+ ♗xf8 20.♘f7+) 19.♘xe4 ♕xg2 20.♗d5 Here is where Purdy rejected the whole variation; black can play 20...dxe5 20...♕xh1+
20...dxe5 21.O-O-O and white still winsd. For example... 21...♖a7 22.♗xe5 ♖d7 23.♖hg1 ♕xg1 (23...♕f3 24.♗xg7#) 24.♖xg1 ♖xd5 25.♗xb8 and white wins.
21.♔e2 ♕xa1 22.♘g6#
17...♕f6 Here Purdy went into another long think considering 18.dxe6 and again incorrectly rejected it because it was too murky to calculate. 18.♕e2
18.dxe6 ♗xe4 19.♘xe4 ♕f5 20.exf7+ ♔f8 21.♘xd6 ♗xd6 22.O-O-O ♗c7 23.♖he1 g5 24.♘g6+ ♔g7 (24...♕xg6 25.♖e8+ mates in two) 25.f8=♕+ ♕xf8 26.♘xf8 ♗xh2 27.♘e6+ wins easily
18...♖xe5 19.♗xe5 dxe5 20.♕xh5 ♘d7 21.♕e2 Preventing black from castling. 21...♕h6
21...O-O-O 22.♗xa6 ♗xa6 23.♕xa6+ ♔b8 24.♘b5 ♗d6 25.a5 with a mating attack.
22.♖d1 Here Purdy was at a loss for a clear way to continue and resorts to a little wood shifting before settling on a course of action.
22.g4 was an idea...it stifles black's play. 22...♗xh4 is too dangerous. 23.♘e4 g5 24.O-O-O and black has no reasonable plan of action.
22...f5 23.♕d2 ♕g6 24.♔f1 ♘f6 25.♕e2 Missing the better 25.Qg5 25...♗d6 26.h5 ♕h7 27.♖d3 ♔f7 Lamparter has hatch a little plan to gets himself some small amount of counterplay. 28.♖dh3
28.g4 was ruthless. 28...fxg4 29.♖e3 b5 30.♘e4 ♘xe4 31.♗d3 ♕h6 32.♗xe4 ♗c8 33.♖g3 ♗d7 34.f3 bxa4 35.fxg4 ♗b5 36.c4 ♕c1+ 37.♔g2 ♕xc4 38.♕e3 ♖h8 39.♖f3+ ♔e8 40.g5 winning rather easily.
28...b5 29.♗a2 Refusing to give black any play whatsoever.
29.axb5 axb5 30.♗xb5 ♖a1+ 31.♘d1 c4 32.h6 c3 33.hxg7 ♕xg7 34.♖xc3 e4 35.♖c4 stopping ...f4 and black is out of ideas.
29...♕h6
29...c4 shutting out the B is tempting but it can be met by 30.axb5 axb5 31.♘xb5 ♗c8 (31...♖xa2 32.♘xd6+ ♔g8 33.♕xe5 ♗xd5 34.♘e8 and wins) 32.♘xd6+ ♔g8 33.♘xc8 ♖xc8 34.h6 g6 35.♕xe5 wins
30.♕e3
30.axb5 was better. 30...axb5 31.♘xb5 with play similar to in the previous note. 31...♗c8 32.♖a3 ♖xa3 33.♘xd6+ etc.
30...♕h7 After this black's fun is over.
30...e4 would have enabled him to play on. 31.♕xh6 gxh6 32.f3 b4 33.♘e2 ♗e5 white is still better, but black has some annoying play left in his position!
31.axb5 axb5 32.♘xb5 ♗a6 33.♗c4 ♗xb5 34.♗xb5 f4 35.♕c1 e4 36.♖a3 ♖xa3 37.bxa3 ♘xh5 38.♖h3 ♕f5 39.♗d7 ♕xd5 40.♗g4 ♘f6 41.♕d1 Here the game was adjudicated as a win for white: he has activated his R, is the exchange up and has an outside passed P.
41.♕d1 Here is how Stockfish scored the point in a Shootout at 17 plies. 41...♕e5 42.c3 ♔e7 43.a4 ♗c7 44.♗e2 ♕f5 45.♕b1 ♕d5 46.f3 e3 47.♕g6 ♕a2 48.g4 ♕a1+ 49.♔g2 ♕a2 50.♕d3 ♕d2 51.♖h1 ♕xd3 52.♗xd3 ♗a5 53.♖h8 ♗xc3 54.♖a8 ♘d7 55.a5 ♘e5 56.♗e2 ♗xa5 57.♖xa5 ♔d6 58.♖a7 g6 59.♖a6+ ♔d5 60.♖f6 c4 61.♖xf4 c3 62.♗d1 e2 63.♗b3+ ♔d6 64.♖d4+ ♔c5 65.♖e4 ♘d3 66.♖xe2 ♘f4+ 67.♔f2 ♘xe2 68.♔xe2 g5 69.♔d3 and wins.
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