Where I live we had tornadoes, wind gusts up to 90 mph (145 kph), trees down, power outages, drenching downpours and flooding. We were blessed that I was able to get my gasoline powered water pump that sucks up 9,500 gallons (3,600 liters) per hour up and running in time to keep the water that was flowing into the garage from coming into the house.
Cecil J. S. Purdy 1906-1979) was born in Port Said, Egypt.\ where hus father was a government official for England on the board for the Suez Canal. Until the age of nine Purdy was living in Hobart and then he moved to Sydney and remained there the rest of his life.
He did not take up chess somewhere between the ages of 13 and 15 which he first learned from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. By other accounts he received instruction from L. S. Crakanthorp, the father of Spencer Crakanthorp (Purdy’s father-in-law) who had been champion of New South Wales, New Zealand and Australia. Within a year of learning the moves Purdy was encouraged to enter tournament play.
Awarded the IM title in 1951 and the Correspondence GM title in 1953, he won the first Correspondence World Championship (1950-1953). He won the New Zealand Championship twice (1924-25 and 1935-36 and was Australian Champion four times (1934-35, 1936-37, 1948-49 and 1951. He was also Australian Correspondence Champion in 1940 and 1948. He was the founder, editor, and publisher of a chess magazine from 1929 to 1967.
While playing at a tournament in Sydney in 1979 he suffered an aneurysm that lead to his death.
Purdy was an excellent analyst and one of the finest writers on chess ever and his analysis was always filled with great practical advie for non-Masters.
Chessmetrics estimates his OTB high rating at a modest 2346 on the June 1980 rating list, but it's hard to say how accurate that rating really is because he never played in any European tournaments. For that reason Chessmetric's rating is against opponents mostly from Australia and New Zealand. In 1946 Purdy held Tartakower to a draw in a radio match and in 1947 he drew with Harry Golombek, also in a radio match.
Purdy advised that a single open file will often result in a drawish position because the heavy pieces are likely to be exchanged on it which normally leaves a balanced minor piece ending. Any attempt to win such an ending is likely to involve taking risks.
He advised that if you are trying to win, then you have better chances by opening a second file. He added that bringing about the second P-exchange necessary to create the second open file without compromising your position can be difficult as seen in this game.
We see him putting his advise on open files to use in this game. As usual, it turns out that analyzing with an engine renders some of Purdy's observations questionable, but that's not important. What's important are ideas. You can use the ideas in your own games to develop a reasonable plan and create winning chances.
My advice is that if you have the opportunity to purchase a book by Purdy by all means buy it! My second piece of advice is...study it!
Purdy’s opponent was Michael Woodhams (born 1948). He represented Australia in the Olympiads at Nice, Haifa and Buenos Aires. He was Australian Junior Champion in 1966, and 1972 and 1975 Australian Correspondence Chess Champion.
[Event "Australian Championship, Brisbane"]
[Site "Brisbane, Australia"]
[Date "1967.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "C.J.S. Purdy"]
[Black "Michael Woodhams"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E75"]
[Annotator "Purdy/Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "1967.??.??"]
{E74: King's Indian: Averbakh Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6
5. Be2 {Thusm along with 6.Bg5 is the Averbakh Variation.} O-O 6. Bg5 {This
move prevents the immediate 6...e5.e Averbakh Variation of the King's Indian
Defence.} c5 (6... e5 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Bxd8 {winning
the exchange.}) 7. d5 Qa5 {Purdy did not have a high opinion of this move.
Statistically, he is correct as black does not score well with it. 7... h6 is
the most popular move here., but it involves the sacrifice of a P that
doesn’t appear to offer black much.Probably best is 7...e6} 8. Bd2 e6 9. Nf3
exd5 10. exd5 a6 11. O-O Bg4 (11... Qc7 {This is the most frequently played.}
12. h3 Nbd7 13. a3 Re8 14. Rc1 b6 15. b4 Bb7 16. Bd3 Rac8 17. b5 a5 {And in
Pietzsch,W-Bilek,I Harrachov 1966, white agreed to a draw even though he
stands better.}) 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Nbd7 14. Be2 {Purdy intends f4 followed
by f5. and with nis next move black prepares to meet f4 with ...f5} Ne8 {
Instead of this pirely defenside move the more active 14... Rfe8 seems better.}
(14... Rfe8 15. f4 Qd8 {renders Pursy's intended f5 ineffective and so white
will play 16.Qc2, but then 16...b5 gives black sufficient counterplay.} 16. f5)
15. Qc2 {Purdy criticized this move in his analysis stating that he didn’t
follow his own advice and open up a second file. Actually, it;s the engine's
first choice.} (15. f4 f5 16. g4 {According to Purdy this move would threaten
to either open up the g-file or to advance the P to g5 followed by opening up
the h-file by advancing the h-Pawn. If black captures 16...fxg4 then white can
choose which open file he wants to operate on by playing either 17. Bxg4 or 17.
Pxg4. n this line white has no more than a slight advantage.}) 15... f5 {
Played as plannedm but this only serves to weaken his K-side. Nore solid would
have been 15...Qd8 followed by ...Bd4} 16. Rfe1 (16. Ne4 {brings the N to a
strong position with a gain of time.} Qd8 17. Ng5 {Threatening Ne6, so} Nc7 18.
Rfe1 h6 19. Ne6 Nxe6 20. dxe6 Ne5 21. Qb3 {with an active position.}) 16... Qd8
{After this move Woodhams commented that the position is equal, but Purdy
disagreed. His reason was that white is ahead in development and he can use
his lead in development to play f4 and g4 with attacking chances even though
black has withdrawn his Q and made it available to defend on the K-side. Who
is right? Both! Stocjfish and Komodo by Drahon give white no more than his
initial half-Pawn advantage, so Woodhams is correct, Howeverm practically
speaking Pursy is correct.} 17. Qc1 {Purdy still intends to play f4 but if
played at once, it would block his dark squared B. So, the idea of the text
move is to first get the B in front of the P. It;s not horrible, but 17...Bd4
was better.} Ne5 {Both Woodhams and Purdy condemned this move because it will
allow white to gain a tempo when he plays f4.} 18. Bh6 {Purdy questions this
move adding that 18.f4 was best...but then does that not call into question
his reasoning behind his last move? In any case, he is correct to seek play on
the K-side.} Nc7 (18... Bxh6 $15 {is playable. After} 19. Qxh6 {Black has a
solid defense with 19...Ng7, ot he cn be adventerous with} g5 20. f4 Nf7 21.
Qh5 Ng7 22. Qf3 Qf6 {His K-side is aolidly defended.}) 19. Bxg7 (19. g4 {
does not work out well after} Qh4 {and white’s whole idea of opening up
another file on the K-side for attacking purposes has come to nothing. In fact,
in this position black is much better.} 20. Bf4 Qxh3 21. Qe3 Qxe3 22. Bxe3 f4 {
etc.}) 19... Kxg7 {White has a small advantage mostly due to his more active
pieces, abut ctually scoring the win is problematic.} 20. f4 Nd7 21. Qd2 Qf6
22. Rad1 h6 {Here Purdy admitted that the game has taken on a drawish
character, but he (incorrectly) believed this is a mistake because now it is
black who is trying to open up another file for attack} 23. a4 {Constraining
black on the Q-side. It's clear that Purdy's attacking strategy on the K-side
is bankrupt.} g5 {Woodhams has completely misjudges the position and this
horrible move infuses white's, not black's position with new life. Challenging
on the e0file with 23...Rfe1 was correct.} 24. Bf1 {Nor bad, but there was a
stronger move.} (24. Rf1 Rae8 25. Bd3 {There is a threat to the P on f5.} g4 (
25... b5 26. fxg5 Qxg5 27. Qxg5+ hxg5 28. Bxf5) 26. Ne2 gxh3 27. Ng3 {
Threatenong to fork the Q and K} Kf7 28. Nxf5 hxg2 29. Rf3 Rg8 30. Rh3 Rg6 31.
a5 {Black's extra P is meaningless as he has been completely shout down on all
sectors and white has every prospect of winning.}) 24... gxf4 25. Ne2 Ne5 (
25... f3 {was worth a try.} 26. Nf4 Qh4 27. Qc3+ Kh7 28. Qxf3 Ne5 {with
defensive chances.}) 26. Nxf4 Qg5 27. Qf2 Kh7 {Avoiding potential threats from
white’s Re3-g3. This is an interesting position. Engines offer two winning
suggestions. A Q-side diversion with 28.b4 or the direct 28.Ne6} 28. Rxe5 {
Interesting. Purdy gave this questionable move an exclamation mark stating
that 1) it was the only chance to win and 2) he was fairly sure of not losing.
Purdy was of the opinion that that the exchange is overrated! If one can get a
P and keep one R tied up a long time it is compensation.} (28. Ne6 Nxe6 29.
dxe6 Rae8 30. Rxd6) 28... dxe5 29. Qxc5 Rac8 {All of a sudden black's pieces
are showing signs of life and he is right back in the game.} 30. d6 {Purdy now
gave Woodhams’ next move a question mark stating that he underrated
white’s position and overestimated the value of the united Ps he gets after
his next move. According to engines the position is very nearly equal.} Qxf4
31. d7 (31. dxc7 {is met by} Rf7 32. Rd8 Rcxc7 {And here the exchnge and
connected passed Ps do make all the difference; black is winning.}) 31... Rcd8
32. Qxc7 Qe3+ 33. Kh1 f4 {[%mdl 8192] In his notes Purdy make no comment on
this move. In fact he adds almost nothing in the way of notes to the ending of
the game, but it is precisely here that Woodhams goes astray and loses the
game.} (33... Qb3 {Black has to switch to the defense if he is to hold the
draw.} 34. Rd5 Qxa4 35. Qxb7 Rf7 {And it;s not surprising that in the Q and
double R ending neither side can make progress so the game can be considered
drawn.}) 34. Qxb7 e4 {Purdy was cirrect in stating Woodhams has placed too
much confidence in his e- and f-Pawns.} 35. Qd5 f3 36. c5 Rg8 37. Qf5+ Kh8 38.
Qf6+ Kh7 39. Qe7+ Rg7 (39... Kh8 {can also get tricj due to the array of
possible Q checks.} 40. Qe5+ Kh7 41. g4 f2 (41... Rgf8 42. c6 Qf4 43. Qxf4 Rxf4
44. c7) 42. Qf5+ Kh8 43. Rd6 {wins}) 40. Qxd8 fxg2+ 41. Bxg2 Rxg2 {His last
hope.} 42. Qh8+ {[%mdl 512]} (42. Kxg2 {results in a draw.} Qf3+ 43. Kg1 Qg3+
44. Kf1 (44. Kh1) 44... Qf3+ 45. Ke1 Qe3+ 46. Kf1 Qf3+) 42... Kxh8 43. d8=Q+ {
[%mdl 4096]} Kh7 {The game isn't over! White only has one way to win.} 44. Qd7+
(44. Rd7+ {would only draw.} Rg7 45. Rxg7+ Kxg7 46. Qe7+ Kg6) 44... Kg6 45.
Rd6+ Kh5 46. Qf7+ {This enables white to safely take the R.} Kh4 47. Kxg2 Qg5+
48. Kf1 Kxh3 49. Qe6+ {Black resigned.} 1-0
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