Bf5 big mistake - should have played Qg4+ trapping both the black queen and Rook on e3.

35.Rf7 Kxf7 36.Qxh7+ Kf6 37.Qxg6+ Ke7 and here I had <38.Rf3> (whereas the game line continues 38.Qg7)

Its incredible that Browne would follow the brilliant move 35.Rf7 with such a blooper 39.Bf5+???, but I guess we've all done it at some time

But the lose queen on c8 makes this much easier, not only is blocking the king's escape, but it is a worthy prize if we should ever need to trade...

<35 Rf7 ...>

35 ... Rh5
36 Qf6 mating

<35 ... Kxf7>
<36 Qxh7+ ...>

So now we have infiltrated the black position and we have done it with tempo, but what is black's response?

Option 1
--------
36 ... Kf8

37 Qh8+ Kf7 (Ke7 38 Rxe5+ Rxe5 39 Qxc8 )
38 Rf3+

Option 2
--------
36 ... Ke8

37 Qxg6+ ...

37 ... Kd8/Ke8
38 Qg8+ Kd7 (Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Qxc8 )
39 Bf5+! Rxf5 (Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Bxc8 )
40 Qe6+ Kd8
41 Qe8#

37 ... Kd7
38 Bf5+! Rxf5 ((Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Bxc8 or Kd8 39 Qg8+ Ke7 40 Rxe5+ Rxe5 41 Bxc8 ) 39 Qe6+ Kd8
39 Qe8#

37 ... Kf8
38 Rf3+ Rf5
39 Bxf5 Rxf5
40 Rxf5+ Ke7
41 Rf7+ Kd8/Ke8
42 Qg8#

Option 3
--------
36 ... Ke6

37 Qxg6+ Ke7 (Kd7 38 Bf5+! Rxf5 ((Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Bxc8 or Kd8 39 Qg8+ Ke7 40 Rxe5+ Rxe5 41 Bxc8 ) 39 Qe6+ Kd8 39 Qe8#) 38 Qg7+ Ke8/Kd8
39 Qg8+ Kd7
40 Bf5+! Rxf5 ((Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Bxc8 or Kd8 39 Qg8+ Ke7 40 Rxe5+ Rxe5 41 Bxc8 ) 41 Qe6+ Kd8
42 Qe8#

<36 ... Kf6>
<37 Qxg6+ Ke7>
<38 Qg7+ ...>

38 ... Ke8/Kd8
39 Qg8+ Kd7 (Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Qxc8 )
40 Bf5+! Rxf5 (Ke7 39 Rxe5+ Rxe5 40 Bxc8 )
41 Qe6+ Kd8
42 Qe8#

<38 ... Ke6>
<39 Rf3 ...>

White threatens Qf7# and Rf6#, black must give up the house to survive as Re1+ fails

39 ... Re1+ 40 Kf2 Re2+ 41 Kf1! Re1+ 42 Kxe1 Re5+ 43 Kf1 etc

<39 ... Rf5>
<40 Qg6+ Ke7>
<41 Bxf5 Rxf5>
<42 Rxf5 ...>

42 Ne5 Qg7+ mating

42 Qe6 Qg7+ winning

42 Qe8 Qg7+ (43 Ke6 Ke5 44 Rf8+ )
43 Kd8 Rf8

~~~

Black threatens 35... Rxe3.

The black castle looks very weak and the black queen is defenseless. This invites to play 35.Rf7 Kxf7 (35... Rh5 or 35... h5 36.Qf6 wins) 36.Qxh7+:

A) 36... Ke8 37.Bxg6+ Kd8 (37... Kf8 38.Qf7#) 38.Qg8+

A.1) 38... Kd7 39.Bf5+ Ke7 (39... Rxf5 40.Qe6+ Kd8 41.Qe8#) 40.Rxe5+ Rxe5 41.Bxc8 + - [Q+B+P vs R+N].

A.2) 38... Ke7 39.Rxe5+ Nxe5 40.Qxc8 Nxg6 41.Qxa6 + - [Q+2P vs R+N].

A.3) 38... Re8 39.Qxe8#.

B) 36... Ke6 37.Qxg6+

B.1) 37... Kd7 38.Bf5+

B.1.a) 38... Ke7 39.Rxe5+ Nxe5 (39... Rxe5 40.Bxc8 as in A.1) 40.Qg7+ (40.Bxc8 Nxg6 - +) 40... Ke8 (40... Kd8 41.Qf8#) 41.Bxc8 as in A.1.

B.1.b) 38... Kd8 39.Qf6+ Ke8 (39... Ne7 40.Qf8#; 39... Re7 40.Qf8+ Re8 41.Q(R)xe8#) 40.Rxe5+ and 41.Bxc8 as in A.1.

B.1.c) 38... Rxf5 39.Qe6+ Ke8 40.Qe8#.

B.2) 37... Ke7 38.Qg7+

B.2.a) 38... Ke6 39.Qg4+

B.2.a.i) 39... Ke7 40.Rxe5+ Kd8 (else 41.Qxc8 wins) 41.Re8+ Kxe8 42.Qxc8 wins.

B.2.a.ii) 39... Kf6 40.Qxc8 Rxe8 41.Qf8+ and the next check, on f4 or h6, wins the rook on e3.

B.2.a.iii) 39... Kf7 40.Rf3+ Rf5 41.Bxf5 with a winning attack.

B.2.b) 38... Ke8 39.Qg8+ Kd7 40.Bf5+ transposes to A.1.

B.2.c) 38... Kd8 39.Qg8+ Kd7 (39... Re8 40.Qxe8#) 40.Bf5+ transposes to A.1.

C) 36... Kf6 37.Qxg6+ Ke7 38.Qg7+ transposes to B.2.

D) 36... Kf8 37.Bg6 (probably better than 37.Qh8+)

D.1) 37... Rxe3 38.Qf7#.

D.2) 37... Rf5 38.Qh8#.

D.3) 37... Qe8 38.Qh8+ Ke7 39.Qxe8+ Kf6 40.Qf7+ Kg5 41.h4+ Kg4 (41... Kh6 42.Qh7#) 42.Bh5+ Rxh5 (42... Kh3 43.Qf1#) 43.Qf4+ Kh3 44.Re2 and 45.Rh2#.

Unfortunately I also suffered the same hallucination as Browne - without the effect of time trouble - thought that

40. Bf5 was a brilliant move and that

41 Qg4 would be mate.

Browne briefly mentions this game on page 48 in his massive (464 pages) book "The Stress of Chess... and its Infinite Finesse", which I purchased at a tournament in Reno in April last year, and had Browne autograph. He writes:

"I then played first board for Australia in the Olympiads of Siegen 1970 and Skopje 1972. The Aussies gave me paid tickets, that's all, but I was happy to represent them and the very positive team unity dwarfed that of the US teams that I played. In October 1970 I played in Siegen, a beautiful quiet German town, where almost every store had a poster up about the Chess Olympiad. The organizers made the competitors feel welcome, giving a box of chocolates to each player before every round. I love chocolate, however after accumulating ten boxes even I had enough!

"During the Finals there was an epic confrontation beween World Champ Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, which unlike the other boards was quardened [sic - cordoned] off, with plenty of room for Bobby's extra table, with all kinds of food and drinks on it. I never saw so many spectators for a chess event -- at least ten thousand, and the hall was jam-packed.

35.Rf7!!

The mate threat gives black no time to get organized.

A) 35... Kxf7 36.Qxh7+ Kf6 37.Qxg6+ Ke7 38.Qg7+ Ke6 39.Qg4+ Kf6 (Ke7 40.Rxe5+ Kd8 41.Re8+ wins the Q) 40.Qxc8 Rxe3 41.Qf8+ Ke6 (Ke5 42.Qf4+) 42.Qh6+ wins the Re3 and the game.

A.1) 36... Ke6 37.Qxg6+ Kd7 (Ke7 38.Qg7+ transposes to main line) 38.Bf5+! Rxf5 39.Qe6+ Kd8 40.Qe8#

A.2) 36... Kf8 37.Qh8+ Kf7 (Ke7 38.Rxe5+ Kd7 39.Qh3+ Kd8 40.Re8+ wins the Q) 38.Rf3+ Rf5 39.Rxf5+ Qxf5 (otherwise 40.Qxc8) 40.Bxf5 Rxf5 41.Qh7+ followed by Qxc7 with a winning position.

A.3) 36... Ke8 37.Bxg6+ Kd8 (Kf8 38.Qf7#) 38.Qg8+ Kd7 39.Bf5+! Rxf5 40.Qe6+ Kd8 41.Qe8#

B) 35... Rh5 36.Qf6 mates next.

C) 35... Rh5 36.Qf6 mates next.

D) 35... h6 36.Qxh6 Kxf7 37.Qh7+ transposes to A

However, in this Chess version of the plan, things go terribly wrong. The White Rook has done its part in making the "ultimate sacrifice" with 35. Rf7!! to force the enemy King out into the open and expose Black's forces to a decisive attack.

The White Queen, who no doubt came up with the plan to sacrifice her Rook in the first place, fails miserably with her portion of the plan. In the critical position (39. ?), the Queen hesitates to execute the decisive attacking move 39. Qg4+! .

Instead, in the heat of battle, she falters and comes up with a hasty ill conceived idea to modify the plan and pull in extra forces to help her with the attack. She uses her charms to convince the White King that since she's sacrificed her Rook, the King should sacrifice his Bishop with 39. Bf5+?? The White King, who apparently is not much good at battle planning or resisting the lure and appeal of his lovely Queen, reluctantly agrees to this last minute chance of plans.

After 39. Bf5+?? Kxf5 , the White fortress is burning and going down in flames. The White Queen immediately sees her disastrous mistake, as the White King, who is waving the white flag of surrender, glares at her with a look of scorn and disappointment.

<35. Rf7!!>

My failed try at this Saturday puzzle solution was 35. Qf6? Qe8! (not 35... Rxe3? 36. Qf7+ Kh8 37. Qf6+ =) 36. Be4 d5 37. cxd5 Rc1+ 38. Kg2 Rxe4 39. Rxe4 Qxe4+ 40. Kh3 Qe8 41. dxc6 Rc5 .

<35... Kxf7 36. Qxh7+ Kf6>

36... Kf8 37. Rxe5 Rxe5 (37... Qg4 38. Re4 Qh5 39. Rf4+ Ke8 40. Bxg6+ ) 38. Qh8+ Kf7 39. Qxc8

36... Ke6 37. Qxg6+ Ke7 38. Qg7+ Kd8 39. Qg8+ Kd7 40. Bf5+ Rxf5 41. Qe6+ Kd8 42. Qe8#

<37. Qxg6+ Ke7 38. Qg7+ Ke6 39. Bf5+??>

Instead, White could have won with 39. Qg4+! Kf6 40. Qxc8 , when White has an easy win and the Rook is untouchable due to possibilities like 40...Rxe3 41. Qf8+ Kg5? 42. Qf4+ Kh5 43. Qh4#

After 35...Kxf7 36.Qxh7+ Kf6 37.Qxg6+ Ke7 38.Qg7 Ke6. We are here.

click for larger view

No doubt that Browne could put two plus two and saw 39.Qg4+ Kf7 40.Qxc8 Rxe3.

I'm sure Browne had enough time to see all this.

But to win the queen for two rooks looks not very attractive,he decided to save the rook with check playing 39.Bf5+ Kxf5 and 40.Rf3+.

And here he saw the nice mating pattern with white queen on g4.

click for larger view

White is a pawn down, but there are a lot of weak squares around the black king and Black's pieces are awkwardly placed for the moment. Candidate moves are 35.Ref3 (doesn't convince me after e.g. 35...Re1+ 36.Kg2 Ne5), 35.Rf7, 35.Bxg6 (looks dangerous, but not as forcing as Rf7).

After 35.Rf7, Black has not much choice, as 35...Rh5 or 35...h5 is met by 36.Qf6. So 35...Kxf7 36.Qxh7+, and now Black has a lot of choices, but whatever he does the King will get mated or has to abandon his Queen:

- 36...Ke8 37.Bxg6+ Kd8 38.Qg8+ Kd7 39.Bf5+ Rxf5 (or 39...Ke7 40.Rxe5+) 40.Qe6+ Kd8 41.Qe8#

- 36...Kf8 37.Qh8+ Kf7 (37...Ke7 38.Rxe5+ Kd7 39.Qh3+ Kd8 40.Re8+) 38.Rf3+ Rf5 39.Rxf5+ Qxf5 40.Bxf5 gxf5 41.Qc8, and Black won't be able to hold the endgame

- 36...Ke6 (or 37...Kf6) 37.Qxg6+ Ke7 (if 37...Kd7, it's the same 38.Bf5+ motive again) 38.Qg7+ Ke6 (the positions after 38...Ke8 39.Bg6+ Kd8 40.Qg8+ or 38...Kd8 39.Qg8+ Kd7 40.Bf5+ we've already seen from different move orders), and here I wanted to put the finishing touch to the last variation of the solution with 39.Bf5+ Kxf5 40.Rf3+ Ke6 41.Qf7# or 40...Ke4 41.Qg4#, when I realized that this is pretty, but not really mate ;-)

click for larger view

A real shame he didn't win the individual gold medal. This was his only loss in the whole Olympiad, and probably affected his last two games.

He played every single game (naturally on top board) finishing 6½/9 in qualifying group 1 [+4 =5 -0] and then 7½/10 in the B final [+6 =3 -1] scoring an overall result of 14/19 [+10 =8 -1]

Australia finished 4th in the qualifying group behind the Soviet Union, Spain & Poland and then 3rd in the B Final (15th overall) on 24½ points behind Israel & Poland. Heikki Westerinen’s team, Finland finished on 21½ points. So if Browne had won this game, we would have jumped Poland (on 25 points) and finished 2nd.