Raymond Keene vs Vlastimil Jansa (1974)

Notes by Raymond Keene. In 1974 the Dutch Defence had enjoyed a new wave of respectability, mainly in those lines where Black fianchettoes his king’s bishop. Favoured by Huebner, Petrosian and Korchnoi. 7 Nc3 Nc6 8 d5 Ne5 9 Nxe5 dxe5 doesn’t promise too much for White.Against 7...c6 White has 8 Nc3 e5 9 dxe6 Bxe6 10 Qd3¿ (see game 63). The text leads to a kind of Yugoslav King’s Indian where Black has the extra move ...f7-f5 which gives him increased central control, but which could also be construed as a loosening of his kingside.Less good is 9...Nc7 10 a4 a6 11 b4! ± (Petrosian).A superfluous preparatory move. He could have played 11...b5 at once, since White would hardly contemplate 12 cxb5? After 11...b5 I would have played 12 Qc2 bxc4 13 bxc4 Ba6 14 Nd2 with a slight edge.A new move. I had reached this identical position on three prior occasions. Keene - Hindle, English Counties’ Team Ch. 1970, continued 13...Qe8?! 14 Bc3 b4 15 Bb2 h6 16 a3 bxa3 17 Bxa3 g5 18 b4 cxb4 19 Bxb4 Qh5 20 Ned4 f4 21 exf4 gxf4 22 Nc6 ±, while Keene - Ree, Paignton 1970 (game 20), saw 13...Bd7 14 Bc3 Na8 15 Ng5 while also not bad is 15 Nf4 as in Keene - Matulovic, Siegen Olympiad 1970.Threatening Ng5 in conjunction with h4-h5, so Black must release the tension on the opposite wing in order to inaugurate instant counterplay.Here I declined the offer of a draw.The same advance as in the Ree game, although the circumstances in this case are by no means so favourable. Black’s hold on the central dark squares gives him definite hope of retaliation.28 Bh3 looks most attractive, but it fails to 28...Qb7! 29 exf5 Qb2 or 29 Rb1 Qxb1+! 30 Nxb1 Rxb1+ followed by ...fxe4 or ...Bxc4 and Black has a powerful initiative plus adequate material compensation for the queen.Coming round to reinforce the dark squares. With both sides short of time, the play loses its cohesion. Correct was 33 Qe4! and if 33...fxg3 34 fxg3 Qc3 (which I feared) simply 35 Qf4! ±.He should have captured on g3, and next move I should have captured on f4. The d-pawn clings to life by a miracle. If 39 Bxd3 Rb2! threatening ...Rxd2 and ...Nxd5 exploiting the pin.After the game Jansa advocated 40...Kh8, but it doesn’t look convincing after 41 Rd4.The sealed move. 41...Ke5 is impossible (42 Nf3 mate!) so Black must retreat. It transpired that the Czechs had spent most of the adjournment pause analysing 41 Bxd3, so the text enjoyed a certain surprise value.Many hours of adjournment analysis convinced me that the forcing 42 Re4 did not achieve much, so I decided to try this very quiet king move as the possibility least likely to have been analysed by my opponent. Here 44...Kh8 really does draw, e.g. 45 Bxd3 d5 (threatening to liquidate the queenside) 46 Bf5 Ng7! 47 cxd5? Rb2! or 45 Re4 Nc5 46 Rd4 Rb2! 47 Ke3 Rxd2 48 Kxd2 Nb3+ 49 Kxd3 Nxd4 50 Kxd4 Bb7! with a drawn ending. The pawn minus doesn’t mean anything, since White cannot successfully surround Black’s d-pawn.This is a win for White who will soon annex the black c-pawn.After 47...Nc5 White plays 48 Rg6+ followed by Rc6, but not 48 Bg8? c3!! 49 Rxb4 c2 50 Ne4+ Nxe4 51 Rb6+ Kg7 52 Rc6 Kxg8 53 Rxc2 Bb7 with excellent drawing chances for Black. Winning the pawn much earlier than anticipated. Black could now have resigned - the more so after his next move.It was lucky for me that there were no adjudications in international tournaments!1-0