Averbakh’s 1950 Brilliancy

 

    When Soviet Grand master Yuri Averbakhpassed away in Moscow on May 7, 2022 at the age of 100 the chess world lost a rare, if underappreciated gem. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2715 in 1952, placing him at #8 in the world (Smyslov was #1 at 2783). Douglas Griffin has written an excellent biography on Averbakh HERE. 

    The year 1950 saw a lot of brilliant games played. For example, the inaugural Candidates Tournament that was played in Budapest was made up up of a group (Bronstein, Boleslavsjy, Smyslov, Keres, Najdorf, Kotov, Stahlberg, Szabo, Flohr and Lilientahl) of the best players in the world, so you know they played some brilliant games. 

    Today’s game was played in the 1950 USSR Championship and you just know that group must also have played some great games and Yuri Averbakh's victory over Alexey Suetin was one of them. The game is notable for its brilliant concluding sequence where Averbakh’s pieces overwhelm his opponent. 

Averbakh was born in Kaluga, a city in western Russia. He was awarded the GM title in 1952. and played in the Zurich Candidates (1953). Averbakh won the USSR Championship in 1954 and tied for first first in the 1956 championship, but lost in the playoff. He published more than 100 endgame studies and was known as an opening and endgame theorist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he co-edited a five-volume anthology on the endgame, Shakhmatnye okonchaniya. In addition to authoring numerous chess books he also edited a couple of major Soviet chess magazines.

 

    Alexey Suetin (1926-2001, 74 years old) was awarded the GM the in 1965 and became World Senior Champion in 1996. His best tournament results were in the mid-1960's. He was also an author of note. 

 

[Event "USSR Championship, Moscow"] [Site ""] [Date "1950.11.13"] [Round "?"] [White "Yuri Averbakh"] [Black "Alexey Suetin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B62"] [Annotator "Stockffish 17.1"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "1950.??.??"] {B66: Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer: 7...a6 8 0-0-0 h6} 1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O h6 9. Bf4 Bd7 10. Bg3 Be7 11. Be2 b5 {So far all of these moves have been played many times and it's possible that Averbalh's move may have been a novelty at the time.} 12. Bxd6 { Excellent! White wins the d-Pawn and establishes control of the file.} (12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Bf3 b4 14. Ne2 Bxe4 15. Bxd6 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Bxd6 17. Qxd6 Qxd6 18. Rxd6 {Gioscio,M-Dimuro,M (2248) Mar del Plata 2009. Black is slightly better/}) 12... b4 {A well played counter.} (12... Bxd6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6 Rc8 16. f3 {and white has the advantage.}) 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Qd6 Qb7 {It's advantageous to black to keep the Qs on otherwise his position would be too passive.} 16. Nd5 {[%mdl 128] This move sets a clever trap.} exd5 17. exd5 Bd7 {Suetin avoids the trap.} (17... Nxd5 {This loses outright.} 18. Rhe1 Ne7 19. Bxa6 {The B cannot be captured because of mate on either d8 or e7. } O-O 20. Bxb7 {and wins}) 18. Rhe1 {The Bxa6 idea is still a threat.} Kd8 { nother well played defensive move that gets the K off the e-file. Amazingly black's K is safe in the center.} 19. Bf3 {Threatens to win with Qe7+.} Re8 { ...meeting the threat of Qe7+} (19... a5 {A pass to demonstrate white's threat/ } 20. Qe7+ Kc8 21. d6 Qa6 22. Qxf7 Ra7 23. Qxg7 Re8 24. Qxf6 {White is four Ps up.}) 20. Qg3 g5 {[%mdl 8192] This saves the P, but loses the game...an unfortunate happening after such a fine defensive effort.} (20... Rxe1 { keeps black in the game after} 21. Rxe1 b3 22. Qxg7 {Black looks to be in serious trouble, but he has a surprising defense.} Ne8 23. Qxf7 Qb4 {and the tables have turned and it's white who who is on the defensive and must choose his moves carefully,} 24. Rxe8+ Bxe8 25. Qf6+ Kc7 26. Qg7+ Bd7 27. d6+ Qxd6 28. Bxa8 bxa2 29. b4 Qf4+ 30. Kb2 a1=Q+ 31. Kxa1 Qc1+ 32. Ka2 Qxc2+ 33. Ka3 Qd3+ 34. Kb2 Qd2+ {draw.}) 21. Qd6 {It's surprising that the Q's immediate return to where it just came from is even stroinger than taling the R.} (21. Rxe8+ Nxe8 22. d6 Bc6 23. Qe5 Bxf3 24. d7 Qxd7 25. Rxd7+ Kxd7 26. Qf5+ Kd6 27. Qxf3) 21... Ng8 {Averbakh wraps thingds up in a forceful manner.} 22. Rxe8+ Kxe8 23. Re1+ Kd8 24. Qf8+ Kc7 25. d6+ Kb6 26. Qxa8 Qxa8 27. Bxa8 {[%mdl 4096] The ending is a routine win for white.} Kc5 28. Bb7 a5 29. Re5+ Kb6 30. Bd5 Nf6 31. Bxf7 Ng4 32. Re7 Kc6 33. Be6 {Black resigned. Both players deserve credit for theor resourceful play. Black lost only because of his mistake at move 20.} 1-0