An Improvement... 28 Years Later

By IM Guillermo Rey

[C15]
Blohm,D - Rey
Wilkerson International (2), 30.11.1998
[Rey]

Playing this game and discovering afterwards that I had come up with a novelty, a novelty which seemed like the only natural move, aroused in my a cynical attitude about theory, chess literature, and chess masterpieces. A player overlooks something simple, goes on to win an outstanding game, then everybody refuses to see the obvious. Let us see:

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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ (0:02) 5.bxc3 dxe4 (0:04) 6.Qg4 Nf6 7.Qxg7 Rg8 8.Qh6 Nbd7 [Also possible are: 8...Rg6 ; 8...c5]

This browser is not Java-enabled. [9.h3 b6 10.g4 Bb7 11.Bg2 Qe7 12.g5 Qf8! 13.Qxf8+ Nxf8 14.h4 h6! 15.f4 0-0-0;

This browser is not Java-enabled. 9.Nh3 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Bb5 (11.Nf4 Ng4 12.Bxd8 Nxh6=) 11...Rg6 12.Qh4 h6! 13.Bxd7+ Kxd7 14.Bxf6 (14.Bd2 e3) 14...Qxf6 15.Qxf6 Rxf6 16.Rg1 and Black is slightly better]

9.Ne2 b6 (0:10) 10.Bg5 Qe7 (0:18)

This browser is not Java-enabled. [11.Ng3? Ng4 12.Bxe7 Nxh6 13.Bh4 (13.Bb4 a5) 13...Rg4-+;

This browser is not Java-enabled. 11.Nf4 Ng4 12.Bxe7 Nxh6 13.Bh4 Nf5 and Black stands better]

11.Qh4 Bb7 (0:20)

This browser is not Java-enabled. [12.Nf4 h6 13.Qxh6 (13.Bxh6 Ng4 -- Kovacevic gave 13-...Rh8 here with compensation,apparently overlooking the winning 13-...Ng4) 13...0-0-0!"with dangerous threats"-Kovacevic.]

12.Ng3 h6! '!' Rey. (0:29)

This browser is not Java-enabled. [13.Bxh6 Rg4 14.Qh3 0-0-0 with more than enough compensation for the pawn.;

This browser is not Java-enabled. 13.Qxh6 Ng4 14.Bxe7 Nxh6 15.Bh4 (15.Bb4 a5) 15...Rg4!]

13.Bd2 0-0-0 (0:31) 14.Be2. During the game I remembered that a very famous game had been played in this variation: Fischer-Kovacevic, Zagreb 1970 in which the Yugoslav Master (now GM) achieved a brilliant and stunning victory. I remember that Black had developed his Q on e7, the bN on d7, the B on b7 and castled long, but I did not know or remember that the position on the board now was very same as in that game, and that is why I am noting the time I used during this game. I cannot describe my amazement when after the game Blohm informed me that not only had we followed that game to here but that my next move was new as far as he knew.
14...e3! (0:43) I could not believe that this natural move was a novelty; it activates the B on b7 and prevents White from castling. But Blohm was right, 14...e3 had not been played before. I searched the databases ( The Ultimate, the Megabase, TWIC) in vain, then the books. And finally in the old Gligoric book on the French,published in 1975, I found Kovacevic's annotations to his game vs Fischer. Amazingly Kovacevic gave the move a question mark!

[On 14...Nf8 Fischer-Kovacevic, Yugoslavia,1970 continued:

This browser is not Java-enabled. 15.0-0? (15.Nh5 was suggested later and may give White a slight edge.) 15...Ng6 16.Qxh6 Rh8 17.Qg5 Rdg8 and Black went on to win in crushing style.]

15.fxe3 Bxg2 16.Rg1 Bb7 (0:45)

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[17.e4 Kovacevic, in his notes, gives this move as the reason why 14-... e3! is a mistake , and gives it an exclamation mark and claims that after it White has a very big advantage. Incredible but it seems that both during the game and analysis he rejected 14-..e3! because he overlooked 17...Bxe4 and it is Black who has a big advantage.]

17.Rf1 Rde8 (0:47) 18.a4?! Ng4 (0:57) [18...e5!?]

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[On 19.Qh3 a sample continuation would be 19...f5 20.e4 Ndf6 21.exf5 e5 22.a5 exd4 23.axb6 dxc3 24.Bxc3 Ne3 25.Rxa7 Nxc2+ 26.Kd2 Rxg3]

19.Qxe7 Rxe7 20.Bxg4 Rxg4 21.a5 Rh4 (1:10)22.axb6 axb6 23.Rf2 f5 (1:11) 24.c4 Nf6 (1:18) 25.Bb4 (1:20)

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[25...c5 26.Ba3 Ng4] 25...Rg7 26.d5? Rxc4 (1:22) 27.Bf8 Rg8 (1:26) 28.Bxh6 Ng4 (1:30) 0-1.