[blind-chess] Annotated Game #034: Mikhail Chigorin-Siegbert Tarrasch, St. Petersburg 1893

  • From: "Roderick Macdonald" <rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Blind-Chess Mailing List" <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 16:28:35 -1000

Annotated Game #034:
Mikhail Chigorin - Siegbert Tarrasch, St. Petersburg 1893
Adapted and Condensed from
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Contents:

++1.    Mikhail Chigorin
++1.A   Chess career
++1.B   Style and demeanour
++1.C   Later life
++1.D   Legacy
++1.E   In popular culture
++2.    Siegbert Tarrasch
++2.A   Chess career
++2.B   Chess teachings
++2.C   Clash with hypermodern school
++2.D   Contribution to opening theory
++2.E   Famous Tarrasch combinations
++3.    Mikhail Chigorin - Siegbert Tarrasch, St. Petersburg 1893

++1.    Mikhail Chigorin

++1.    Mikhail Chigorin

Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (also spelled Tchigorin or Tschigorin)
(November 12, 1850 - (October 31 old style), Gatchina, Russia -
January 25, 1908, Lublin, Poland) was a leading Russian chess
player. He served as a major source of inspiration for the "Soviet
school of chess", which dominated the chess world in the middle and
latter parts of the 20th century.

++1.A   Chess career

Chigorin was born near Saint Petersburg and moved to the city some
time later. His father worked in the Okhtensk gunpowder works.
Chigorin's parents died young and Chigorin entered the Gatchinsk
Orphans' Institute at the age of 10. He became serious about chess
uncommonly late in life; his schoolteacher taught him the moves at
the age of 16, but he did not take to the game until around 1874,
having first finished his studies before commencing a career as a
government officer.

Once smitten with the game, he terminated his employment and
started life as a chess professional. In 1876, he started a chess
magazine, Chess Sheet, which he edited until 1881 (only 250
subscribers in all of Russia). He played a series of matches with
established masters Emanuel Schiffers (1878-1880) and Semyon Alapin
(1880) and notched up a large plus score against each. It was not
long after that he was regarded as the best player in the city and
possibly the whole of Russia.

His first international tournament was Berlin 1881, where he was
equal third (+10-5=1) with Simon Winawer, behind Johannes Zukertort
and Joseph Henry Blackburne. There were 17 master competitors in
this event.

At the great London tournament of 1883, he finished fourth (+16 -10
=0) behind Zukertort, Wilhelm Steinitz and Blackburne. There were
14 competitors in this double round robin event. The tournament
included practically all the best chessplayers in the world.

At the very strong tournament of New York 1889 he was equal first
with Max Weiss. Following this great success he challenged the
world champion Steinitz for a match with the World Championship at
stake.

The match was played at Havana in 1889, but he lost 10.5-6.5
(+6-10=1). A second match was played also at Havana in 1892, but he
still lost 12=-10= (+8-10=5). His overall record against Steinitz
was very close (+24-27=8). He also played a much publicised
'telegraph match' against Steinitz in 1890, devised to settle a
theoretical argument. Chigorin had the slight advantage of choosing
the openings in advance from a list supplied by Steinitz and duly
won both games.

Towards the end of the century, his standing at home and abroad
continued to rise, and he joined the ranks of the world's top four
or five players. His reputation as a match player too, continued to
grow. He drew an 1893 match with Siegbert Tarrasch in Saint
Petersburg (+9-9=4) and in his lifetime, maintained a narrow plus
score against the German (+14-13=8), who was a fearsome player in
his own right. He had a strong plus score against Richard Teichmann
(+8 -3 =1), but a poor record versus Dawid Janowski (+4 -17 =4).
Most of his losses to Janowski occurred late in Chigorin's life,
when he was past his best.

In all likelihood, his best performance occurred at the Hastings
1895 chess tournament, where he placed second, ahead of reigning
world champion Emanuel Lasker, Tarrasch and former world champion
Steinitz. All of the greatest players of the time participated in
the event and Chigorin's outstanding result included winning his
individual encounter with tournament victor, Harry Nelson
Pillsbury. Pillsbury had great respect for Chigorin's ability and
for good reason, as Chigorin had a marginal lifetime plus score
against him (+8-7=6). Although Chigorin had a poor record against
Lasker in serious play (+1-8=4), he was victorious with the black
pieces in their first game of this 1895 tournament, in which he
outplayed Lasker in a classic two knights versus two bishops
ending.

In other major competitions, he was joint winner at Budapest 1896,
and beat Rudolf Charousek (+3 -1) in the playoff. At Cologne in
1898, he was equal second with Charousek and Wilhelm Cohn after
Amos Burn. His 7th place finish at London 1899 was disappointing in
comparison, but this was another tournament notable for its
impressive list of participants. At Monte Carlo 1901, he placed
equal third after Janowski and Carl Schlecter.
A highly skilled exponent of gambit lines, he won the King's
Gambit-themed Vienna Tournament of 1903 and defeated Lasker (+2 -1
=3) in a sponsored Rice Gambit tournament in Brighton. The latter
was however something of a hollow victory, as it was emerging that
the Rice Gambit was unsound and so, playing the black side in each
game gave him a distinct advantage. At Lodz 1906, in a four-person
event, he finished second to Akiba Rubinstein.

Alongside these international events, he also entered and won the
first three All-Russia Tournaments of 1899, 1900-01 and 1903. These
prestigious successes further cemented his reputation as Russia's
best player. Upon losing the fourth such event in 1906, he
challenged the winner Gersz Salwe to a match and came out the
victor (+7=3-5).

++1.B   Style and demeanour

His playing style featured a well honed tactical ability and an
imaginative approach to the opening. He rejected many of the
inflexible doctrines put forward by Tarrasch and Steinitz, but
accepted Steinitz' teachings about the soundness of the defensive
centre. Indeed, he went on to add to the development of the concept
through the work he carried out with closed variations of the Ruy
Lopez. He also pioneered some variations of the Slav Defense.

Although a large bearded man, Chigorin was also described as
'decidedly handsome'.

Frank Marshall once commented on the highly agitated state that
would possess Chigorin when faced with difficult positions. Aside
from the usual frantic foot-tapping and crossing of legs, he would
occasionally become "a bundle of nerves", at which point his
temperament could turn "quite fierce".

++1.C   Later life

As an ambassador for Russian chess, Chigorin was a shining example;
he gave many lectures, wrote magazine articles and chess columns
and subsidised or otherwise supported a number of periodicals to
keep them afloat despite low readership levels. He also founded a
chess club in Saint Petersburg and tried for many years to
establish a chess association, an attempt that finally succeeded
just a few years after his death.

According to the Canadian International Master Lawrence Day,
Chigorin travelled with the young Fedor Bohatirchuk to Russian
events in the 1905-1907 period, helping to train him. After moving
to Canada following World War II, Bohatirchuk then trained Day.

In 1907, Chigorin failed badly in a chess tournament and clearly
not in good health, was diagnosed by doctors in Carlsbad with an
advanced and untreatable case of diabetes. This prompted a
prediction that he had only months to live, whereupon he returned
to his estranged wife and daughter in Lublin and died the following
January. In 1909, a Chigorin Memorial tournament was played in St.
Petersburg, after that many more followed, from 1947 onwards mainly
in Sochi and from 1990 back in St. Petersburg.

++1.D   Legacy

Through his original talent, lively games and prolific teachings,
many Russians regard Mikhail Chigorin as the founder of their
'School of Chess', later to become known as the Soviet School of
Chess. Overshadowed to some extent in the 1920s by the exciting new
theories of the hypermodern movement, Chigorin's influence
nevertheless demands a prominent and permanent place in the Soviet
chess hegemony of the 20th century.

Chigorin has several chess openings or variations of openings named
after him, the two most important being the Chigorin Variation of
the Ruy Lopez (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7
6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5) and the Chigorin Defense
to the Queen's Gambit (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6). Whilst the former has
remained popular through the 1900s, the latter struggled to attract
a great many devotees until relatively recently. Igor Miladinovic
has used the Chigorin Defense with great regularity, but its
current revival owes much to the efforts of Alexander Morozevich,
who has championed the opening both in play and in his book - The
Chigorin Defense According To Morozevich (published 2007).

Another opening line invented by Chigorin is 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 in the
French Defense. It is now generally regarded as a forerunner of
King's Indian setups, but Chigorin also played it with other ideas
(such as b2-b3) in mind.

++1.E   In popular culture

A famous Chigorin game played against Steinitz in 1892 is used as
the base for the plot of The Squares of the City, a 1978 science-
fiction novel by John Brunner.

++2.    Siegbert Tarrasch

Siegbert Tarrasch (March 5, 1862 - February 17, 1934) was one of
the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of
the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Tarrasch was born in Breslau, Prussian Silesia. Having finished
school in 1880, he left Breslau to study medicine in Halle. Later
he lived most of his life with his family in Nuremberg, Bavaria,
and later in Munich. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish,
converted to Christianity in 1909, and a patriotic German who lost
a son in World War I. Yet he faced antisemitism in the early stages
of Nazism.

Tarrasch was a highly esteemed chess writer. It was Tarrasch who
wrote in his Preface to The Game of Chess (1931) that oft repeated
line: " Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men
happy. "

++2.A   Chess career

A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best
player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against
the aging Steinitz in tournaments, (+3-0=1), but refused an
opportunity to challenge for the world title in 1892 because of the
demands of his medical practice. Soon afterwards, Tarrasch drew a
hard-fought match against Steinitz' challenger Mikhail Chigorin
(+9-9=4). Tarrasch also won four major tournaments in succession:
Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, Dresden 1892, and Leipzig 1894.

However, after Emmanuel Lasker became world chess champion in 1894,
Tarrasch could not match him. Fred Reinfeld wrote: "Tarrasch was
destined to play second fiddle for the rest of his life." For
example, Lasker scored much better against common opponents, e.g.
vs. Chigorin, Tarrasch had +2 over 34 games while Lasker scored +7
in 21; vs. Akiba Rubinstein Tarrasch was -8 without a single win,
while Lasker scored +2-1=2; vs. David Janowski Tarrasch scored +3
compared to Lasker's huge +22; vs. Giza Marsczy, Tarrasch was +1
over 16 games while Lasker scored +4-0=1, vs. Richard Teichmann
Tarrasch scored +8-5=2, while Lasker beat him all four tournament
games. However, Tarrasch had a narrow plus score against Harry
Nelson Pillsbury of +6-5=2, while Lasker was even +5-5=4. However,
Tarrasch remained a powerful player, demolishing Frank Marshall in
a match in 1905 (+8-1=8), and winning Ostend 1907 over Schlechter,
Janowski, Marshall, Burn, and Chigorin.

There was no love lost between the two masters. The story goes that
when they were introduced at the opening of their 1908 championship
match, Tarrasch clicked his heels, bowed stiffly, and said, "To
you, Dr. Lasker, I have only three words, check and mate" -- then
left the room. When Lasker finally agreed to a title match in 1908,
he beat Tarrasch convincingly +8-3=5.

Tarrasch continued to be one of the leading players in the world
for a while. He finished fourth in the very strong Saint Petersburg
tournament of 1914, behind only World Champion Lasker and future
World Champions Jose Razl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, and
ahead of Marshall, Ossip Bernstein, Rubinstein,
Nimzowitsch, Blackburne, Janowski, and Gunsberg. His win against
Capablanca in the 19th round, though much less famous than Lasker's
win against Capablanca the round before, was essential to enable
Lasker to achieve his famous come-from-behind victory over
Capablanca in the tournament. This tournament was probably
Tarrasch's swan song, because his chess career was not very
successful after this, although he still played some highly
regarded games.

++2.B   Chess teachings

Tarrasch was a very influential chess writer, and was called
Praeceptor Germaniae, meaning "Teacher of Germany." He was editor
of the magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1897 and wrote several
books, including Die moderne Schachpartie and Three hundred chess
games. Although his teachings became famous throughout the chess
world, until recently his books had not been translated into
English.

He took some of Wilhelm Steinitz's ideas (e.g. control of the
center, bishop pair, space advantage) and made them more accessible
to the average chess player. In other areas he departed from
Steinitz. He emphasized piece mobility much more than Steinitz did,
and disliked cramped positions, saying that they "had the germ of
defeat."

Tarrasch stated what is known as the Tarrasch rule, that rooks
should be placed behind passed pawns - either yours or your
opponent's. Andrew Soltis quotes Tarrasch as saying
" Always put the rook behind the pawn.... Except when it is
incorrect to do so."

++2.C   Clash with hypermodern school

He was a great target of the hypermodern school, led by Richard
Reti, Aron Nimzowitsch, and Savielly Tartakower, all of whom
criticized his ideas as dogmatic. However, many modern masters
regard Tarrasch's actual play as not dogmatic. For example,
Tarrasch annotated his victory on the Black side of the Advance
French against Paulsen (Nuremberg 1888):

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4
(Tarrasch gives this an exclamation mark, and points out that 6 ...
Bd7 allows 7. dxc5 with a good game. However, most accounts credit
Nimzovitch with such anti-dogmatic hypermodern inventiveness when
he played 7. dxc5 against Gersz Salwe almost a quarter of a century
later (Karlsbad 1911) in this game) 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. Be2 Nge7 9. b3
Nf5 10. Bb2 Bb4+ 11. Kf1 Be7 12. g3 a5 13. a4 Rc8 14. Bb5 Nb4 15.
Bxd7+ Kxd7 16. Nc3 Nc6 17. Nb5 Na7 18. Nxa7 Qxa7 19. Qd3 Qa6 20.
Qxa6 bxa6 21. Kg2 Rc2 22. Bc1 Rb8 23. Rb1 Rc3 24. Bd2 Rcxb3 25.
Rxb3 Rxb3 26. Bxa5 Rb2 27. Bd2 Bb4 28. Bf4 h6 29. g4 Ne7 30. Ra1
Nc6 31. Bc1 Rc2 32. Ba3 Rc4 33. Bb2 Bc3 34. Bxc3 Rxc3 35. Rb1 Kc7
36. g5 Rc4 37. gxh6 gxh6 38. a5 Ra4 39. Kg3 Rxa5 40. Kg4 Ra3 41.
Rd1 Rb3 42. h4 Ne7 43. Ne1 Nf5 44. Nd3 a5 45. Nc5 Rc3 46. Rb1 Nxd4
47. Na6+ Kd8 48. Rb8+ Rc8 49. Rb7 Ke8 50. Nc7+ Kf8 51. Nb5 Nxb5 52.
Rxb5 Ra8 53. f4 a4 54. Rb1 a3 55. f5 a2 56. Ra1 Ra4+ 57. Kh5 Kg7
58. fxe6 fxe6 59. Rg1+ Kh8 60. Ra1 Kh7 61. Rg1 a1=Q 62. Rg7+ Kh8
0-1

++2.D   Contribution to opening theory

A number of chess openings are named after Tarrasch, with the most
notable being:
*       The Tarrasch Defense, Tarrasch's favorite line against the
        Queen's Gambit.
*       The Tarrasch Variation of the French Defence (3. Nd2),
        which Tarrasch considered refuted by 3...c5, although this
        is certainly not thought so today.
*       The Tarrasch Variation of the Ruy Lopez, also sometimes
        known as the Open Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
        Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4).

++2.E   Famous Tarrasch combinations

Diagram:
White:  King at g1, Queen at f3, Rooks at c1 and c2, Bishop at e5,
        Pawns at a5, b3, d3, f4, g2, h2
Black:  King at b5, Queen at d7, Rooks at c8 and g8, Bishop at h6,
        Pawns at a6, b4, c5, d4, h7
Tarrasch versus Allies, Naples 1914

In the game Tarrasch versus Allies, Black seems to be holding here
(at least against immediate catastrophe), because the black queen
guards against Qb7+ (followed by Kxa5 Ra1#), while the black rook
on c8 defends against Rxc5#. Tarrasch played the ingenious
interference move 31. Bc7! (known as a Plachutta interference
because the pieces both move orthogonally). This blocks off both
defences, and whatever piece captures becomes overloaded. That is,
if 31. ... Rxc7, the rook is overloaded, having to look after both
the key squares, since the queen is blocked from b7. So White would
play 32. Qb7+ Rxb7, deflecting the rook from defence of c5,
allowing 33. Rxc5#. But if Black plays instead 31. ... Qxc7, the
queen blocks off the rook's defence of c5 and becomes overloaded:
32. Rxc5+ Qxc5 deflects the queen from defence of b7, allowing 33.
Qb7+ Kxa5 34. Ra1#. Black actually resigned after this move.

Diagram:
White:  King at g1, Queen at d3, Rooks at f2 and f4, Bishop at b2,
        Knights at d2 and f5, Pawns at a4, b3, c2, g3, h2
Black:  King at h8, Queen at e5, Rooks at g5 and g8, Bishops at d5
        and d8, Knight at h5, Pawns at a6, b4, c5, d4, h7
Tarrasch versus Walbrodt, Hastings 1895

In the game against Walbrodt, Tarrasch played rather poorly, and
his opponent had the better of it for a long time. But the game is
redeemed by the following startling combination:

34. Rxd4 seems obvious, because 34. ... cxd4 allows 35. Bxd4
winning the queen. But Black has a seemingly strong counterattack
which had to be foreseen ... 34. ... Nxg3 35. Nxg3 Rxg3+ 36. hxg3
Rxg3+ 37. Kf1! Rxd3 and now the startling 38. Rg4!! with
devastating threats of 39. Rf8+ mating and Bxe5 not to mention cxd3
to follow. Black resigned.

++3.    Mikhail Chigorin - Siegbert Tarrasch, St. Petersburg 1893

St. Petersburg 1893, Round 4
White: Mikhail Chigorin
Black: Siegbert Tarrasch
Result: 0-1
C00: French ECO: Defense, Chigorin Variation
Notes by R.J. Macdonald

1. e4 e6

(The French Defense. Black is planning 2.... d5 to contest white's
control of the center. A similar idea is the Caro-Kann Defense,
where black plays 1. ... c6 and then 2.... d5.)

2. Qe2

(This theoretical oddity is known as the Chigorin Variation.
White's second move prepares to advance the e-pawn, but raises the
question of how to develop the white bishop on f1, since it is now
blocked by the queen. Playing g3 and positioning the bishop on g2
is the most logical plan.)

2. ... c5

(Black has already reached equality. Other possibilities here are
(a) 2. ... d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nxd5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. 0-0
0-0 8. Nc3 b6 9. d4; (b) 2. ... e5!? 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Qc4 Nf6 5. Nf3
a6 6. d4 b5 7. Qd3 Bd6 8. Be2 Bb7 9. Bg5 exd4 10. Nxd4; or (c) 2.
... Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 Bc5 5. Qc4 Be7 6. e5 d5 7. Qf4 Nd7 8. Bb5
0-0 9. 0-0 f6, in each case giving black full equality. With the
text move there is the potential for transposition into the
Sicilian Defense.)

3. g3 Nc6
4. Nf3 Be7
5. Bg2 d5
6. d3 Nf6
7. 0-0 0-0
8. Nc3 a6

(A dubious alternative is 8. ... dxe4 9. dxe4 Nd4 10. Nxd4 cxd4 11.
e5 dxc3 12. exf6 Bxf6 13. bxc3 Bxc3 14. Rb1 Qc7 15. Rd1 Rb8 16. Ba3
Rd8 17. Qe3 Bf6 18. Qxa7 Be5 19. Qxb8 1-0, as in the game E. Ghaem
Maghami (2604) - M. Manninen (2377), ICC INT 2009)

9. Bg5!?

(Also playable is 9. a4 d4 10. Nd1 (10. Nb1 e5 11. h3 Bd7 12. Na3
b5 13. Bg5 Qb6 14. Bd2 Rfc8 15. Nh2 c4 16. axb5 0-1, as in the game
I. Galant (1869) - W. Sobierska (2004), Wroclaw 2008) 10. ... Bd7
11. Ne1 b5 12. axb5 axb5 13. Rxa8 Qxa8 14. f4 Qa1 15. Bd2 e5 16. f5
Ne8 17. b3 f6 18. Nf2 Nd6 19. g4 Be8 20. h4 Bf7 21. g5 Ra8 22. Qg4
Kf8 23. h5 Ke8 1-0 in 48 moves, as in the game K. Hromadka - S.
Alapin, Bad Pistyan 1912. Another possibility is 9. e5 Nd7, with
equality.)

9. ... h6

(9. ... d4 10. Nb1 is slightly advantageous to black.)

10. Bf4 b5

(10. ... d4 11. Nb1 gives black a slight edge.)

11. Rfe1

(11. exd5 exd5 12. Ne5 Bb7 gives black a slight advantage.)

11. ... d4

(Black threatens to win material: d4xc3.)

12. Nd1

(12. Nb1 Qb6 gives black a slight advantage.)

12. ... Nd7
13. Kh1

(13. e5 Bb7 is strong for black.)

13. ... Re8

(13. ... e5 14. Bd2 gives black a moderate advantage.)

14. Rg1

(14. e5 Bb7 gives black a moderate advantage.)

14. ... e5
15. Bd2 Nf8

(15. ... Nb6 16. b3 gives black a moderate advantage.)

16. Ne1 Ne6

(16. ... Qc7 17. f4 and again black has a moderate advantage.)

17. f4

(The thematic attack. Now black has a slight advantage.)

17. ... Bb7

(White has a cramped position. 17. ... Qc7 18. f5 Nf8 19. Nf2 gives
black a slight edge.)

18. f5

(White threatens to win material: f5xe6. 18. Nf2 Qc7 19. f5 Nf8
would give black a slight advantage.)

18. ... Ng5

(18. ... Nf8 19. Nf3 gives black a slight advantage.)

19. Nf2 Rc8

(19. ... Nh7 20. Nf3 and black is slightly better.)

20. Qh5

(20. Ng4 Qd6 slightly favors black.)

20. ... Nh7
21. Nf3

(21. Ng4 Nf6 22. Nxf6+ Bxf6 gives black a slight advantage.)

21. ... c4

(21. ... Nf6 22. Qh3 c4 would give black a moderate advantage.)

22. Bf1

(22. Ng4 Nf6 23. Nxf6+ Bxf6 and a slight edge for black.)

22. ... cxd3

(22. ... Nf6 23. Qh3 would give black a decisive advantage.)

23. cxd3

(23. Bxd3 Nf6 24. Qh3 gives black a moderate advantage.)

23. ... Ng5

(Better is 23. ... Nf6!? 24. Qh3 Bb4, giving black a moderate
advantage.)

24. Bxg5 Bxg5

(Weaker is 24. ... hxg5 25. h4 Qd6 26. Nxg5 Bxg5 27. hxg5, where
white would have a decisive advantage.)

25. Ng4 Kf8

(25. ... Be3 26. Be2 Qd6 27. f6 offers equal chances.)

26. Be2

(this move offers both sides equal chances.)

26. ... Bf6

(26. ... Kg8 27. Bd1 offers equality.)

27. h4
(27. Nxf6 Qxf6 28. g4 would give white a moderate advantage.)

27. ... Qd6?

(27. ... Nb4 28. Nfh2 Nc2 29. Nxf6 Qxf6 30. Ng4 gives white a
slight advantage.)

28. Nfh2

(Better is 28. Nxf6 Qxf6 29. g4 with a moderate advantage for
white.)

28. ... Ne7
29. Raf1

(29. Nxf6 Qxf6 30. Raf1 gives white a moderate advantage.)

29. ... Ng8

(Now black has a moderate advantage.)

30. Bd1 Rc7
31. Bb3 Rec8

(31. ... a5 32. a3 gives black a moderate advantage.)

32. Nf2

(32. Nxh6!? is worth consideration: 32. ... gxh6 33. g4 with
equality.)

32. ... Bd8

(Black has a moderate advantage.)

33. Qe2

(33. Nfg4 a5 34. a3 Bf6 gives black a moderate advantage.)

33. ... a5

(33. ... Rc5 34. Nf3 a5 35. g4 with a moderate advantage for
black.)

34. Nf3 a4

(34. ... Rc5 35. Bd1 a4 36. g4 with a moderate advantage for
black.)

35. Bd1 Bc6

(35. ... Ne7!? 36. Ng4 Nc6 37. h5 should be decisive for black.)

36. g4
(Black has a moderate advantage.)

36. ... f6

(36. ... Be8 37. g5 f6 38. Nh3 gives black a moderate advantage.)

37. Nh3 Be8

(37. ... Bb7 38. Rg2 gives black a moderate advantage.)

38. Qh2

(38. g5 Re7 is moderately good for black.)

38. ... Bf7

(38. ... b4 39. g5 Rc5 40. Rg3 would give black only a slight
edge.)

39. a3 Bb3

(39. ... b4 40. axb4 Qxb4 41. g5 and black has a slight advantage.)

40. Nf2

(40. g5 Rc5 offers equal chances.)

40. ... Bxd1

(Black has a slim advantage.)

41. Nxd1 Rc2

(41. ... b4 42. axb4 Qxb4 43. g5 with a slight advantage for
black.)

42. Qg3 b4

(Black threatens to win material: b4xa3. 42. ... Qe7 43. g5 R8c5
44. Rf2 slightly favors black.)

43. axb4

(White has a new passed pawn: b4 and has achieved equality.)

43. ... Qa6

(Black threatens to win material: Qa6xd3.)

44. Nf2

(44. g5 hxg5 45. hxg5 Qxd3 offers equal chances.)

44. ... Rxb2
(This gives black a slight edge.)

45. g5 hxg5
46. hxg5 Rcc2

(46. ... a3 47. gxf6 Bxf6 48. Nxe5 Bxe5 49. Qxe5 Qh6+ 50. Kg2
offers equal chances.)

47. Ng4

Key Move Diagram:
        3b1kn1/
        6p1/
        q4p2/
        4pPP1/
        pP1pP1N1/
        3P1NQ1/
        1rr5/
        5RRK
Position after white's 47th move.

47. ... Qd6??

(releasing the pressure on white's position. 47. ... fxg5 would be
much better: 48. Nfxe5 Bc7, where Both sides would have equal
chances. In this line if 48. ... Rxb4?? Black will choke on the
pawn: 49. Qh3 Rbb2 50. Ng6+ Ke8 51. Qh8 is decisive for white.)

48. gxf6

(White now has a decisive advantage.)

48. ... Bxf6

(Or 48. ... gxf6 49. Ngxe5 Rg2 50. Ng6+ Ke8 51. Qxd6 a3 52. Rxg2
Ne7 53. Nge5 Rxg2 54. Qd7+ Kf8 55. Qxd8+ Kg7 56. Qxe7+ Kh6 57. Kxg2
fxe5 58. Rh1#)

Key MMove Diagram:
        5kn1/
        6p1/
        3q1b2/
        4pP2/
        pP1pP1N1/
        3P1NQ1/
        1rr5/
        5RRK
Position after black's 48th move.

49. Qh3??

(with this move White loses his initiative. Better is 49. Ra1. A
shame that White overlooked this excellent chance. 49. ... Rxb4 50.
Qh3 would give white a decisive advantage.)
49. ... a3

(this is a strong pawn. If instead 49. ... Rxb4?? the pawn grab
will bring Black grief: 50. Nxf6 Qxf6 51. Rg6 and a decisive
advantage for white.)

50. Nxf6 Qxf6

(50. ... gxf6 loses to 51. Qh7 Rg2 52. Rc1 Rbc2 53. Rxc2 Rxg1+ 54.
Kxg1 Qe7 55. Rc8+ Qe8 56. Rxe8+ Kxe8 57. Qxg8+ Kd7 58. Qe6+ Kc7 59.
Qc4+ Kd7 60. Kh2 Kd6 61. Qc5+ Kd7 62. Qa5 a2 63. Qxa2 Kd8 64. Qc4
Kd7 65. Qc5 Kd8 66. Qc6 Ke7 67. Qb7+ Ke8 68. Kg2 Kd8 69. Nxe5 fxe5
70. f6 Ke8 71. Qe7#)

51. Rg6 a2

Key Move Diagram:
        5kn1/
        6p1/
        5qR1/
        4pP2/
        1P1pP3/
        3P1N1Q/
        prr5/
        5R1K
Position after black's 51st move.

52. Rxf6+??

(a weak move, ruining a winning position. Better is 52. Ng5 Ke7 53.
Rxf6 Nxf6 54. Qh8 with equal chances.)

52. ... gxf6

(This gives black a winning game.)

53. Rd1

(53. Rg1 cannot undo what has already been done: 53. ... Rb1 54.
Qg4 Rxg1+ 55. Qxg1 Rb2 is decisive for black.)

53. ... Rb1
54. Qf1 Rcb2
55. Nd2 Rxd1
56. Qxd1

Key Move Diagram:
        5kn1/
        8/
        5p2/
        4pP2/
        1P1pP3/
        3P4/
        pr1N4/
        3Q3K
Position after white's 56th move

56. ... Rxd2!
57. Qc1

(Black has an easy win after 57. Qxd2 a1=Q+)

57. ... Rxd3
58. Kg2

(58. Qa1 Rd2 59. b5 Ne7 and black should win easily.)

58. ... Rc3
59. Qa1

(59. Qb2 is a last effort to resist the inevitable, but after 59.
... Rc2+!! black gives up material to nicely decide the game: 60.
Qxc2 a1=Q and black should win easily.)

59. ... Rc2+
60. Kf3 d3
61. Qd1 Rb2
62. Qa4 d2

(White resigned in view of62. ... d2 63. Ke3 Ne7 and black wins
easily.)

0-1

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  • » [blind-chess] Annotated Game #034: Mikhail Chigorin-Siegbert Tarrasch, St. Petersburg 1893 - Roderick Macdonald