Penrose Pummels Barden

     Finally! After three days of a cold, dripping rain (with a few snow flurries in some locations), a 300 mile wide front stretching 1,300 miles from Ontario, Canada to southern Ohio, is finally clearing out and a warm up (maybe near 70 degrees!) is on the way. 

     The gloomy weather meant the last couple of days allowed for some time playing blitz on line, but my play was as wretched as the weather. Ergo, I spent some time looking through Ludek Pachman's old book, Modern Chess Tactics, which was first published in English in 1970. It was a companion to Modern Chess Strategy which I also have. Pachman, I should mention, was an excellent writer.

     One game that I came across was the following fantastic game by Jonathan Penrose (October 7, 1933 - November 30, 2021, 88 years old). He won the British championship a record 10 times, yet he always remained an amateur whose chess career was fitted into vacations at Middlesex University, where he lectured in psychology. 

     In 1960, at the Leipzig Olympiad Penrose defeated Mikhail Tal and Max Euwe then caught Bobby Fischer’s King in the middle of the board, forcing him to settle for an endgame a Pawn down. Short of time, Penrose offered a draw. Fischer replied “Sure!” then demonstrated a forced win for Penrose. 

     By the age of 17, Penrose was acknowledged as a top prospect. At Southsea in 1950, defeated both Efim Bogoljubov and Savielly Tartakower. Playing in Hastings for the first time in 1950/51, he beat the French champion Nicolas Rossolimo and in 1952/1953, he shared the first place at Hastings with Harry Golombek, Antonio Medina and Daniel Yanofsky. 

     Penrose earned the IM title in 1961 and was the leading British player for several years in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was widely considered to be of GM strength, but did not achieve the title during his active playing career. He also held the GM title in correspondence chess. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2610 on the February 1969 rating list placing him at number 57 in world. 

     One of the primary goals, starting right in the opening, is to invest the pieces with a greater degree of effectiveness. Even moves like 1.e4 and 1.d4 open lines for the pieces while a move like 1.Nf3 brings the N into play. Later, in the middlegame this goal can include such things as the opening of a diagonal for a B, transferring a N to an outpost, the opening of a file for a R, etc. 

     In the following game played at Hastings 1957/58, Penrose's tactical shot 15.Bf4 was played with the realization that at the end of the sequence at move 19 his Queen would be much stronger than the combined forces of his opponent's Rook and two Bishops. So said Pachman. 

     Unfortunately (?), today we live in an age where laptops coupled with chess engines enable any armchair Grandmaster to poke holes in the play of guy's like Nezhmedinov, Tal, Bronstein or any other great player you can name because engines find the defects no matter how small or deeply hidden. 

     That's what happened when analyzing this game...Penrose's 15.Bf4 was found wanting by the engines. It doesn't matter because we humans can still delight in such a move. The concept was brilliant and in practical play it was crowned with success. 

     His opponent, Leonard Barden, is an English master, writer, journalist, organizer and promoter. His weekly Guardian chess column began in September 1955 and continued for sixty-one years. Barden was born on August 20, 1929, and as far as I know he is still among the living and that would make him 93 years old. Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to have been 2497 on the January 1958 rating list and his best tournament result to have been in this Hastings event. 

[Event "Hastings 1957/58"] [Site "Hastings ENG"] [Date "1958.01.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Jonathan Penrose"] [Black "Leonard W. Barden"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B56"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "1957.12.28"] {Sicilian Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 { [%mdl 32]} g6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. e5 {This is the goal of white's opening strategy, but he has not accomplished much as black has sufficient play.} (9. Qf3 {was the main alternative. In that case black equalizes easily with} Qb6 10. Nb3 Bg7 11. Be3 Qa6 12. Bd4 (12. Nd4 Nxe4 {Instead of this tricky line black could also play 13...O-O or 13...Rc8} 13. Nxe4 f5 14. Nxc6 fxe4 15. Qxe4 bxc6 16. Qe6 Bxb2 {The position is approximately equal.}) 12... O-O {Black is slightly better.}) 9... dxe5 {The correct reply.} (9... Bxg2 { is not so good because after} 10. Rg1 dxe5 11. fxe5 Nd7 {white gain the advantage with} 12. e6 fxe6 13. Rxg2 Qb6 14. Nb3 {Black is a piece down with only two very weak Ps to show for it.}) 10. fxe5 Ne4 {Taking the g-Pawn is still a bad idea.} 11. Nxe4 (11. Nxc6 {was more accurate, but it allows black easy equality.} Qxd1+ 12. Nxd1 bxc6 13. Nf2 Nxf2 14. Kxf2 Bg7 15. Re1) 11... Bxe4 12. O-O {In the book, Pachman wrote that white has come out of the opening with a considerable lead in development (which I am not seeing), but he has a weak pawn at e5 and in addition, black has the two Bishops. White's task, therefore, will consist in creating effective threats as quickly as possible and thereby preventing black from completing his development. Komodo 14 gives black a slight edge here of less than half a Pawn.} Bg7 13. Re1 Qd5 { Pachman was critical of this move because black falls in with his opponent's plan and difficult complications arise. Both Komodo 14 and Stockfish 15 prefer Barden's move and evaluated the position as slightly in black's favor.} (13... Bc6 {was tried in Kavalek,L-Jansa,V Jablonec 1962 and after} 14. Bg5 Qb6 15. c3 Rd8 16. Qe2 Rd5 17. Bf6 O-O 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 {the position is about equal.}) 14. c3 Qxe5 {This is the best here, since other continuations failed to give black a satisfactory game.} (14... Bxe5 {is a mistake because after} 15. Qa4+ Kf8 16. Rxe4 Bxh2+ (16... Qxe4 17. Ne6+ {wins the Q}) 17. Kxh2 Qxe4 18. Bd2 {White's B+N should prove superior to the R. This is one of those positions which theoretically favors white, but in practical play among amateurs, the stronger player is the more likely to win with either side.}) (14... Bxg2 15. c4 Qxc4 16. Kxg2 Rd8 17. Re4 Bxe5 18. Rxe5 Rxd4 {This materially unbalanced position (B vs 3Ps) favors white according to the engines. In practice things probably wouldn't be so clear. That said, in Shootouts Stockfish won 5-0.}) (14... O-O { is reasonable, but after} 15. Qe2 Bf5 16. Nxf5 gxf5 17. Qf2 Bxe5 18. Bf4 Bf6 19. Rad1 {White has equalized.}) 15. Bf4 {A very pretty move even if the engines don't like it! The unprotected position of the black Q and B give white very good practical chances. Black cannot well decline the sacrifice and. indeed, doing to would definitely favor white.} (15. Qe2 {This is hard to evaluate. Komodo thinks the position is ablut equal while Stockfish prefers black by about a P after} f5 16. Nf3 Qc7 17. Ng5 Bd5 18. Bf4 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Bf6 { But even here things are not so clear after} 20. Ne6 Bxe6 21. Qxe6) 15... Qxf4 (15... Qd5 16. Qa4+ Kf8 17. Rad1 {and white has reason to be well satisfied with his position.}) 16. Qa4+ {And this is where Barden starts to go wrong. Without the help of engines the move that keeps the advantage is too hard to find...obviously, or pre-engine annotators would have found it!} Bc6 {After this what's going to happen is that black will get two Bs and a R for his Q, but his situation will be extremely bad owing to the lack of any real co-ordination among his pieces.} (16... Kf8 {was recommended by Pachman who thought the position favored white, but it does not. After} 17. Ne6+ fxe6 18. Rf1 Qxf1+ 19. Rxf1+ Bf5 20. g4 Bf6 21. gxf5 exf5 {Fritz 17, Stockfish, Komodo all have the same 0.00 evaluation...anything can happen!}) (16... b5 {What a move!} 17. Nxb5 {Best.} O-O 18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Rxe4 Rab8 20. Nxa7 Rxb2 {There are multitudinous possibilities, but the best line is} 21. Nc6 Bxc3 22. Rc4 Bd2 23. a4 e6 {and black is, theoretically at least, better, scoring +4 -0 =1 in Shootouts.}) 17. Rxe7+ {[%mdl 512] A beautiful move! After this white has equalized, but, and this is important, he has an active position and black must watch his step.} Kf8 {Taking the R would be bad.} (17... Kxe7 18. Nxc6+ bxc6 19. Qxf4) 18. Ne6+ {[%mdl 512] Another terrific move, in fact it's the only move.} fxe6 (18... Kxe7 19. Qxf4 fxe6 20. Qc7+ {favors white}) 19. Qxf4+ Kxe7 20. Qc7+ {This is the same position as in the note to move 18.} Bd7 21. Rd1 Rad8 {Black could not protect the B with the other R because then the R on a8 would be lost.} (21... Rhd8 22. Qxb7 Be5 23. Rxd7+ Rxd7 24. Qxa8) 22. Qxb7 Rhf8 23. Qxa7 {All of a sudden things are looking very gloomy for black.} Rf5 24. a4 {[%mdl 32] The Ps are destined to decide the game.} Be5 25. a5 Ke8 26. a6 Bc6 27. Rxd8+ Kxd8 {Now 28.Qxh7 puts the game away, right?} 28. Qe3 (28. Qxh7 {Wrong!! Things aren't so simple.} Bb5 {Threatening mate.} (28... Bc7 29. Qh4+ (29. Qxg6 Bb6+ 30. Kh1 Rf1#) 29... Kc8 30. Qh8+ Kd7 31. Qd4+ Rd5 32. Qg7+ Kd6 33. c4 Bb6+ 34. Kf1 Rf5+ 35. Ke1 Rf4 36. Qc3 Bf2+ 37. Ke2 Bxg2 {White should be able to squeeze out the win.}) 29. g4 Rf1+ 30. Kg2 Bxa6 31. Qxg6 Re1 32. Qg5+ (32. Qxe6 Bb7+ 33. Kf2 Bg3+ {wins}) 32... Ke8 {and white may or may not win even though he can claim to have the advantage.}) 28... Bc7 29. b4 { [%mdl 1024]} Re5 (29... Bb5 {is more resistant.} 30. g4 Re5 31. Qd4+ Kc8 32. a7 Re1+ 33. Kf2 Re2+ 34. Kf3 Ra2 35. c4 Bc6+ 36. Ke3 {and in a few more moves black can throw in the towel.}) 30. Qd4+ Kc8 31. c4 {The remaining mvoes require no comment.} Re4 32. Qh8+ Kd7 33. Qxh7+ Kd8 34. Qh8+ Kd7 35. Qg7+ Kc8 36. Qf8+ Bd8 37. Qc5 Kd7 38. b5 Ba8 39. Qa7+ {Stockfish, Komodo and Fritz notwithstanding, a brilliant performance by Penrose!} 1-0