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Michael Adams vs Jan Smeets
Staunton Memorial (2007), London ENG, rd 3, Aug-09
Spanish Game: Open. Bernstein Variation (C80)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Aug-10-07  mrbiggs: What an exciting game.
Aug-10-07  Capablanca44: Adam demonstrates the significance of getting your King in the center first!!
Aug-10-07  TommyC: I thought it was space and most of all the better pawn structure that won this one <C44>?

I watched the latter half of this one yesterday. I thought it was a really impressive technical win by Adams.

Aug-10-07  MadBishop: Very nice! But the reason it is termed (A00) Uncommon opening eludes me?! It is obviously the Ruy Lopez, Open
Aug-10-07  TommyC: I think because it's a brand new PGN <MadBishop>, the game was only played yesterday. I think they consolidate these details a bit later.
Aug-14-07  kingsindian2006: 36. kf3? seems like a good time to take the c pawn .. who knows
Aug-16-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Mateo: A lucky win for Spider. He got a small edge in the ending but the game seemed to be heading for a draw. Suddenly, after the time control, Smeets made a blunder, although it was not clear at first sight.

41...Kf7? loses. What can he do after 42.Rca4?

42...Be7 43.Kd5 Re6 44.R8a6 Rxa6 45.Rxa6 Bf6 46.Ra7, White wins a pawn.

42...Re6 43.R4a7 Re7 44.Kd5, White invades.

42...Ke6 like in the game loses after 43. Rh8 g6 44. Rh6 Kf7 45. Kd5 Rcxc5+ <45...Re6 46.Rh7+ Bg7 47.Rxg7+!.> 46. Bxc5 Kg7 47. Ra6! <47...Rxc5+ 48.Kxc5 Be7+ 49.Kd5 Kxh6 50.Kxe5.>

It appears that Black lost a very important tempo with 41...Kf7?.

41...Be7 should hold. For instance, 42.Rh8 g6 43.Rh6 Kf6.

Aug-19-07  dhotts: Why didn't Smeets take the pawn at c5 with 40...Bxc5? Dlack has a 3 on 2 advantage and seems to have an adequate defense even with 41.Bxc5 Rxc5 42.Rxc5 Rxc5 43.Ra6+ Kf7. Maybe the answer is this position is lost, but is there something more direct?
Aug-21-07  sharkw: After 40...Bxc5 the Black bishop is pinned to the rook on c6, so White can try to exploit it tactically by 41. Rd2 followed by 41. Rd5 winning a piece or exchange. However, 41...Rd6! seems to be a defence which is just adequate!

Another try is 41. Rac2 Kd6 (forced) and 42. Rd2+ doesn't work because of 42...Bd4. Black is nearly in zuzwang, but won't quite run out of moves because of ...Ra5-b5. So another plan is to gain control of the d4 square to make Rd2+ and Rd5 work; however it looks like Black can throw a spanner in the works: 42. f4 exf4 43. Bxf4+ Kd7 (43...Ke6 44. Be3 Kd6 45. Rd2+) 44. Rd2+ (44. Be3 Rb4!) Ke6 45. Rd5 Rb4! and it appears White may have nothing better than 46. Rxb4 Bxb4 47. Rxh5.

To be honest I don't trust my calculation here at all (I probably missed some obvious tactic somewhere), my gut feeling says White should be able to exploit the pin in some way. Given that it was Black's 40th move, it's understandable that he didn't play 40...Bxc5 since he would need to calculate it fully to confirm that it is playable, in view of the variations given above.

Aug-09-09  Winter: The Wealth of Nations...Part 2

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