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Davidson - GoldsbyThe U.S. Open, 1990.This is a game that I thought about annotating for my web pages many times, but never really got around to it. Recently, (April, 2002); a fan sent me an e-mail and asked me to annotate this game. (He and his young son were at the U.S. Open when I played this game.) I replied I was too busy, that I had many other projects I was working on, and that I would have to charge him at least $50.00 to do this chore. He wrote back, and said: "Would it help if I said please?" I laughed, and passed it off, thinking he was making a joke. Later, when I got a check for fifty bucks, I thought it was a general contribution to my web sites and simply deposited it. (I should have noted who the sender was.) A few days ago, he sent me an e-mail that said: "I see you have cashed the check, and that the check has cleared the bank. When you will you get around to annotating my game?" Hmmm. A mis-communication. And much egg on A.J.'s face. I really feel bad about this - it is NOT my normal habit to take advantage of anyone. Especially not in this manner. My apologies. Here is the game, annotated as well as I know how. This
is a game that is mainly TEXT
score, with just a few diagrams. Therefore you will Click
HERE
to see an explanation of the symbols that I normally use when annotating Click HERE to see this game in a java-script re-play format. (NO annotations.) J.
Davidson (2100) - A.J. Goldsby I
(2150)
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(The position immediately following Black's move, ...Ne5.)
***************
White should probably now play
the "main line," which was made
(the most) famous
by the contest: GM A. Karpov - GM V. Korchnoi; Second Match
Game, (Game # 2)
(FIDE) Candidates Match;
Moscow, U.S.S.R. (RUS); 1974. (Click here
to replay.)
White can now play many moves,
h4, g4, and Kb1 being the most
popular lines for
White in this
particular position.
12.Bh6!?; (Maybe - '?!')
{Diagram?}
A common theme, as anyone who
plays these lines can tell you. The
first player wants
to remove Black's
dark-squared Bishop, and
immediately begin his K-side
attack.
[ The main line here is:
>/= 12.h4!, {Diagram?}
which is definitely better than
the text move in this game.
See any good book on the Dragon.
Also see MCO-14, pages 269 - 273. ]
12...Bxh6!;
I felt - and still feel - this is the
correct move in this position.
(Several Masters strongly criticized
this move after the game.)
The idea is to force the Queen to
move and thus weaken White's
defenses around his King.
At the tournament, I (later) purchased
the (red) book:
"Sicilian Dragon,
The Yugoslav Attack. 9.Bc4!"
by (IM)
Lazlo Sapi and (IM) Attlia
Schneider.
Copyright, (by the authors); (c) 1989.
Published by: Collier Books and
The Macmillian Publishing Co.
ISBN: 0-02-029803-X
This book would be THE definitive
resource for the Dragon for many
years,
it remains a valuable reference
for me even today.
On page fifty (# 50.); the authors of
that book ALSO give this move an
EXCLAM,
in this position. Q.E.D.
[ Interesting was: 12...Nc4!?; with good play for Black.
***
Several Master said Black
should play:
</=
12...Bh8?!; ('?') 13.Bxf8 Kxf8;
14.f4, '±' (Maybe "+/-")
{Diagram?}
but most strong computers tend
to evaluate this position as being
winning
for White! ]
White continues normally ...
but is in for a little surprise.
13.Qxh6 Rxc3!!;
I spent over half an hour whether
deciding to make this move or not.
(Its a standard sack in these lines,
if I get a piece and a pawn - I
usually play it
without hesitation.)
Several masters - after the game,
during the postmortem - also
questioned this
move. (The general
feeling is that Black might not get
enough "comp.")
In any theoretical book, this gets
ONLY ONE exclam. Here I give it
two, as it is
one of the FIRST times
in my practice I have made this
specific sacrifice.
While Black sometimes only gets
a Knight for a Rook, he also
inflicts a huge
wound upon White's
pawn structure and steals the initiative.
14.bxc3,
Of course White must re-capture.
I felt I was OK here, but not really
completely comfortable --->
due
to the absence of my dark-squared
Bishop.
[ 14.h4? Rc5; "-/+" ]
14...b5!!;
(TN) {Diagram?}
A true theoretical novelty.
(I did not know any of the analysis
connected with these lines.
Bh6
in this game is considered a minor
line or a side-variant;
in those days
I rarely studied that kind of stuff.)
The main idea here is for Black to
play ...a5; and ...a4; and trap White's
Bishop
on b3. (Bd5, then ...e6.)
I also wanted to keep the option
of ...Qa5 open for one
more move.
I also felt that h4 did not really
improve White's chances.
[ Theory recommends: 14...Qa5!;
15.Kb2 Rc8; 16.Qd2,
16...Qb6!?; 17.Ka1 a5;
"~" and Black had tremendous play.
P. Toth - H. Angantysson; The FIDE Olympiad. (Men's Final)
Siegen, West Germany; 1970.
{This game was eventually drawn.} ]
15.h4!?,
(Maybe - '!')
Many of the masters and kibitzers
felt this was the correct move here.
(During the post-mortem analysis.)
White wishes to continue his King-side assault.
[ Maybe 15.Kb1!?, putting the King on a slightly safer square. ]
15...Qa5!;
Now I felt White's King-side
assault was too quick, and
decided to play
this move
instead.
[ Black should NOT play ...a5;
in this position:
15...a5!?;
16.h5! Nxh5;
This appears to be forced.
17.g4!,
This looks like a strong move.
( But even better is: >/= 17.Rxh5!! gxh5; 18.Rh1!, "+/-" {Diag?}
- Joe Jurjevich. )
17...Nf6; 18.Nf5!, '±'
White has a strong attack.
(One of the GM's who were
kibitzing here offered this line,
but I don't remember which
one.) ]
16.Qe3!?,
White decides to defend c3.
It is easy to criticize this move, it
is rather difficult to come up with a
line
that is substantially and verifiably
better than this.
[ Maybe a little better was: 16.Kb2!?,
{Diagram?}
but White was afraid that I
would eventually play ...Nc4+.
***
Pawn-to-Rook-five (h5) was
also playable in this position, but
the
consequences of this move
were far from clear. After the game
we
looked at many ideas, and the
following variation is just one example.
16.h5!? Nxh5;
17.g4 Nf6; 18.g5!? Nh5; 19.Rxh5?! gxh5;
20.Rh1?!,
20...Qxc3!; 21.Qxh5? Nd3+;
22.Kd1, This is completely forced.
( </= 22.Kb1?? Qb2#.)
22...Nf2+; 23.Ke2 Nxh1; 24.Qxh1 Qxd4; ("-/+")
and Black is winning easily in
this position. ]
16...Rc8!?;
('!')
While this might look like a very
obvious move here, I also spent
a great deal of time
looking at
the odd ...h5!? and the very
tricky ...Rb8!? In the end, I decided
that the most
natural move was
simply the best.
[ 16...h5!?; or 16...Rb8!? ]
17.Kd2?!,
(Maybe - '?') {See
the diagram just below.}
Initially I felt this was the correct
move, but then something VERY
strange happened.
I had a sense
of deja vu, but I cannot explain
why. Then I felt as if the heavens
opened
and a light poured into my
brain. After this, I seemed re-energized, and began to analyze
like a computer. I knew the
position of the White King was both
odd and dangerous, so I
looked for
a way to expose it.
***************
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(The position immediately following White's move, Kd2.)
***************
I eventually found what I was looking for!
[ Probably best was Kb2: >/=
17.Kb2; "~"
{Diagram?}
but it is not clear as to how
Black was to proceed. I wish
I could tell you I had analyzed
this position to a forced win
for Black - - - but I would be
lying if I did.
***
Of course not: 17.Rd3? Nxd3+; 18.cxd3 Rxc3+;
when Black's attack may crash
through here. ("/+") ]
I
now play one of the finest and
best moves of my whole chess
career.
17...Neg4!!!; (Maybe - '!!!!')
{Diagram?}
The reason for this astounding
shot is not even immediately
clear.
I remember that a very large crowd had
gathered around this game at about
this point. When I played this move, a
noisy 'hub-bub' erupted ... so much
so
that a TD ran over to try and quiet
things down a bit.
[ I analyzed this game with a friend.
We used both a chess board, his
PC,
and a hand-held computer
to analyze this game. Believe it
or not, in 2003,
Fritz 8.0 wanted to
play: 17...Rc5!?; "=/+" {Diagram?}
in this position.
(His processor is not the latest, and his RAM is rather limited.) ]
18.fxg4,
My opponent had played this game
rather quickly, but now thought for
almost an hour in this position.
In the post-mortem, my opponent felt that this move was totally forced.
[ Or White could try: 18.Qg1 Rxc3;
19.Ke2 Ne5; "/+" {Diagram?}
but Black is clearly better here. ]
18...Rxc3!;
(Maybe even - '!!') {Diagram?}
Yet another brilliant repartee'.
And without this move, Black's attack comes to a screeching halt.
[ </= 18...Bxg4; 19.Rde1, '±' ]
19.Rhe1!?,
(Probably - '?!')
This may not be the best defense,
but it is hard to criticize White in
this position ...
especially when
every move that he makes, loses!
[
The alternatives were not pretty,
some were much worse than the
actual game,
for example: 19.Qxc3? Nxe4+;
20.Ke3 Nxc3; 21.Rdf1 e6; ("-/+") {Diag?}
and Black is clearly winning.
***
The pawn advance g5 was
suggested by all the on-lookers,
(after the game);
but this move
also in insufficient:
19.g5!? Rxb3+!!;
Easily the best move, Black spurns
the Queen to continue the attack.
( After the moves: 19...Rxe3+!?; 20.Kxe3 Ng4+; ('/+') {Diag?}
Black is clearly better. )
20.c3 Ng4!; 21.Qg3 Qxa2+; 22.Nc2 b4;
"-/+"
Black has won material and his
assault continues unabated.
***
After the moves: </= 19.Qh6?! Rxb3+;
20.Ke2 Bxg4+; 21.Kf1 Bxd1;
22.Nxb3
Qxa2; "-/+" {Diagram?}
Black should win ... and without
any great difficulties.
***
An early version of Fritz
recommended that White play
Bxf7+ here, but this
too is
hopeless for the 1st player.
19.Bxf7+!? Kxf7;
20.Qh6, {Diagram?}
There are few decent alternatives
for White at this point.
(20.Qxc3?? Nxe4+)
20...Bxg4; 21.Kc1 Bxd1; 22.Kxd1 Qxa2; ("-/+")
{Diagram?}
and Black has a won game.
***
The best defense might be Qe1,
but after moves like: >/= 19.Qe1
Rxb3+;
20.Ke2
Bxg4+; 21.Kf1 Rc3; 22.e5 dxe5; 23.Nc6
Qa3; 24.Rd8+ Kg7;
25.Nxe5
Rxc2; ("-/+") {Diagram?}
I think Black should win without
too much difficulty. ]
19...Rxe3+!?;
Of course this is winning easily.
I had already used a huge amount
of time in this game. If there had
been more time,
I would have analyzed
...Rxb3; in some detail. But as the
game went, I simply lacked
the minutes
on the clock to conduct a decent
analysis of ...Rxb3.
[ Black can also win with: 19...Rxb3+;
{Diagram?}
This is a bit surprising, as the
capture of the Queen
looks good,
even mandatory.
20.c3 Qxa2+;
21.Nc2 b4; 22.Ra1 Qb2; 23.Reb1!?,
23...bxc3+;
24.Ke1 Qxc2; ("-/+") {Diagram?}
with a decisive advantage. ]
20.Kxe3 Nxg4+;
This appears to be a "no-brainer."
(I win a pawn, and with check too!)
[ Interesting was: 20...Qc3+!?;
{Diagram?}
which might have been a slight
improvement over the game. ]
White now races to untangle
his pieces, but it is too late.
21.Ke2 Ne5; 22.Kf1,
White felt that this was necessary,
as to prevent Black from getting in
an eventual ...Bg4+.
[ 22.Nf3 Qc3; 23.Nxe5 Qxe5; "-/+" ]
The game now concludes with just
a couple of sharp moves.
22...Qc3!; 23.Ne2!? Qe3!;
{Diagram?}
White RESIGNS.
(...Ng4 was threatened.
And if Ng1, then ...Qf4+; wins
more material.
White has two
Rooks for the Queen, but realized
that if the first player
loses any
more pawns, the heavy pieces will
never see any action.)
*************************
(The following is a comment taken from my files.)
<< After the game, an elderly fellow
who had been watching this game
said,
"Your play in this game reminds
me of the young Tal." While I feel I
did
not honestly deserve this
compliment, I enjoyed it immensely
nonetheless. >>
***
This game won the FIRST BRILLIANCY
PRIZE from one of the vendors/book-sellers at
this tournament. It was also
later voted as:
"The best game for "UNDER-2400" ...
game by a panel several judges.
(The "Best Game" {overall} prize went
to one of the participants in the U.S.
Championship ...
which - that year -
was held the same time as the Open,
that particular year.)
This game is easily one of my best
combinations I have ever played.
And to play it at so prestigious a
tournament as THE U.S. OPEN ...
well, that is just like icing,
(& ice cream w/strawberries);
on the cake!
*************************
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby I. Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby,
1990 - 2002.
Copyright (c) A.J.G; 2003.
*************************
(Both diagrams, AND game ... HTML code initially) Generated with ChessBase 8.0
This is one of the finest games I ever played. I hope you enjoyed my annotations of it. This is a version of this game that I developed specifically for this web site. In the interest of speed there is no in-depth opening survey, and I tried to cut off the variations and not make them too detailed. Contact me - if you would like me to mail you a copy of this game. (I will charge a very modest fee, mainly to cover {my costs of} paper, printing, and postage fees.)
*******
Copyright (c) {LM} A.J. Goldsby I
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 1995-2008.
Copyright © A.J. Goldsby, 2010. All rights
reserved.
*******
Page first posted: JULY, 2003. Last up-date: Friday; October 21st, 2005. Last edit or save on: 06/20/2013 11:39 PM .
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