William James Lombardy vs Raymond Keene (1975)

William James Lombardy vs Raymond Keene
Teesside 1975 · Queen's Indian Defense: Spassky System (E14) · 0-1

[Event "Teesside"]
[Site "Teesside"]
[Date "1975.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "William James Lombardy"]
[Black "Raymond Keene"]
[ECO "E14"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "84"]

1. d4 { Notes by Raymond Keene. } Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. e3
{The main line with 4 g3 is very drawish, though whenever I
reached this position I tried to inject life into the game
with Nimzowitsch's 4...Ba6!? as in Browne - Keene, Orense
1977: 4 g3 Ba6 5 Nbd2 Bb7 6 Bg2 c5 7 O-O Be7 8 e4! O-O (not
8...Nxe4? 9 Ne5!+-) 9 d5 exd5 10 cxd5 d6 11 Re1 Nbd7 with a
difficult and unbalanced situation.} 4...Bb7 5. Bd3 d5
{Botvinnik's favourite, with which he defeated Filip at Varna
1962.} 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 O-O 8. Bb2 Nbd7 9. Nc3 a6 {To prevent
Nb5 after ...Qe7.} 10. Rc1 Ne4 {The Botvinnik plan; Black
stakes out a good central square to emphasise the power of the
fianchettoed queen's bishop. Meanwhile, the remainder of his
army will mobilise in the general direction of White's king,
but now Lombardy discovers an excellent counter-measure. In
fact 10...Qe7! would have been superior.} 11. Ne2 {! Simple
and strong. White will make sure of the e5 outpost.} 11...Qe7
12. Ne5 Bxe5 13. dxe5 Ndc5 14. cxd5 {! Another star move. If
14 Bb1 (which, to be honest, I expected) then 14...dxc4
followed by ...Rad8!-/+.} 14...Nxd3 15. Qxd3 exd5 16. f3 Nc5
17. Qd4 {? One careless decision forfeits the entire
advantage, although it does not become clear for some time
that Black has survived the worst. White's idea is to transfer
the queen to a point where it attacks g7 in unison with the
Bb2, and the obvious square is g4. However, as played, Black
gains one crucial tempo, so the most effective course would
have been 17 Qc3! This also aligns the queen and bishop
battery towards g7, while introducing pressure in the c-file
against c7, and one threat would be 18 Ba3. But the most
important difference is that Black is deprived of the
defensive tempo ...Ne6.} 17...Ne6 18. Qg4 g6 {Apparently
loosening, but resolute action is called for. Black has to
fortify the light squares.} 19. Ng3 Ng7 20. e4 {Trying to
obtain e4 for his knight. Against the more forthright 20 f4
there is a defence with 20...h5! followed by ...h5-h4, gaining
control of f5.} 20...c5 21. exd5 Bxd5 22. f4 h5 {! The same
resource as mentioned above, but the unexpected renascence of
Black's queen's bishop lends it greater force.} 23. Qe2 h4
{Quite suddenly the picture has changed in Black's
favour. After 24 Ne4 Bxe4 25 Qxe4 Nf5 or 24 Nh1 h3! 25 gxh3
Bxh1 26 Kxh1 Nf5 Black has by far the more valuable minor
piece, since the square f5 is inviolate. In view of this
Lombardy seeks complications - the time-honoured remedy when
one's positional affairs have gone awry.} 24. f5 {!?} Qg5 {!}
25. f6 Ne6 26. Rcd1 {I was now seriously short of time, and
Lombardy soon fell into a similar condition. I recall
overhearing one spectator comment on how calm I looked, but he
would have been disillusioned if he could have seen into my
tortured mind over the next fifteen moves.} 26...hxg3
{Doubtless there is something better, but I wanted, above all,
to simplify and reduce White's tactical chances. If I could
stay afloat until move 40, I reasoned, then my knight, firmly
established on e6, would probably outgun White's bishop,
obstructed by its own pawns.} 27. Rxd5 gxh2+ 28. Kh1 {If 28
Kxh2? Nf4 29 Qd2 Qh5+ -+.} 28...Rad8 29. Rd6 b5 30. Bc1 {Not
30 Rxa6? Rd2.} 30...Qh4 31. Qe3 {Thinking, perhaps, of an
eventual Qh6. White avoids 31 Rxa6 since he must have been
expecting much from the rook at d6.} 31...Rxd6 {Black has to
free his pieces somehow.} 32. exd6 Rd8 33. Rd1 {? A
time-trouble blunder, letting go of his trump card on
f6. after 33 Qe5! any result would have been possible,
especially in view of the nervous state we were both in.}
33...Qxf6 34. d7 Qe7 35. Bb2 {White's last hope is the long
diagonal, conveniently opened by the loss of his e- and
f-pawns.} 35...Rxd7 36. Rxd7 Qxd7 37. Qe5 Qd1+ 38. Kxh2 Qh5+
{In a way it was sheer luck that this resource was available.}
39. Qxh5 gxh5 40. Kg3 Kh7 41. Kf3 Kg6 42. Ke4 Kg5 {Adjourned,
but White resigned without resuming. A scraggy and
unsatisfactory encounter from a purist's or a theoretician's
standpoint, but a typical case of practical, hard-fighting
tournament chess.} 0-1

To move:

Last move:

Annotations by Raymond Keene. [404 more games annotated by Keene]

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Jun-30-05		aw1988: Wow, wonderful notes. A humerous touch is <White's last hope is the long diagonal, conveniently opened by the loss of his e- and f-pawns.>.

Jun-30-05		euripides: 31...Nd4 with the idea of Nd4-f5-g3 is an alternative way for Black to try to reduce White's resistance. White could try for e6 or for an exchange sacrifice on f5 but they don't seem to work. If 32 Rd1 then 32...Rxd6 33 ed Nf5 34 d7 (Q moves lose to Ng3+) Nxe3 35 d8=Q Rxd8 36 Rxd8+ Kh7 37 Bxe3 Qe1+ wins, avoiding 32 ...Nf5 ? 33 Rxd8! Nxe3 34 Rxf8 + Kh7 (Kxf8 ?? 35 Rd8 mate) 35 Bxe3 when White is a piece up. However, White can sustain the attack by exploiting Black's weakened hold on f4 to eliminate the knight: 32 Rf4 Qh5 33 Rfxd4 (Qg3 is met by Ne2 and Qf2 by Nf5) cxd4 34 Qxd4. Now after 34...Rxd6 35 exd6 White's advanced pawn may be worth the exchange, e.g. 35...Re8 36 Bd2 Qe5 37 d7 ! or 36...Rd8 37 Ba5 ! and White's reduced forces start to look alarmingly well coordinated. 35...Rd8 looks a bit glum for Black. 35 ...Qf5 36 Bh6 is interesting. Black might be able to do better in this line by moving his rook off the d file; 31...Nd4 32 Rf4 Qh5 33 Rfxd4 cxd4 34 Qxd4 Rc8. This resembles the position that would have arisen after 33 Qe5 in the game, with an exchange sacrifice inserted - not clear which side benefits from the difference. Very hairy.

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