Round 7: Glickman-Mac Intyre 0-1

My hopes of making Paul work hard for his final win of the tournament were dashed when I blundered right out of the gate. Dreading the thought of having to post a 10-move loss, I came up with a plan involving a double rook sacrifice. In return for the material I was able to box Black's queen out of play, keep his king in the center and maintain a development advantage. Unfortunately, this all added up to an initiative which lasted about 5 moves. I managed to extend the game to 20 moves or so but the outcome was never in doubt.

[Event "BCC Championship"]
[Site "Somerville, MA USA"]
[Date "2004.11.03"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Glickman, David"]
[Black "Mac Intyre, Paul"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteUSCF "1937"]
[BlackUSCF "2303"]
[ECO "C23"]
[Opening "Bishop’s Opening"]
[Variation "2..Bc5"]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Qf6 5.d3

[Other ideas: 5.d4 exd4 6.Ne2 (6.e5!?) and 5.0-0 ]

5...d6 6.Bg5?!

[Better plans are 6.0-0 (Fritz) and 6.Be3 (Mac Intyre)]

6...Qg6 7.Qd2??

[A horrible blunder which effectively ends the game. 7.Qe2 is a viable continuation, e.g., 7...h6 8.Be3 Bxe3 (8...Qxg2?? 9.Rg1 Qh3 10.Bxc5 dxc5 11.Rg3 Qh5 12.Rxg7 Be6 13.Bxe6 fxe6 14.Rxb7 and White is winning) 9.fxe3=]

7...h6 8.Be3

[8.Na4 would have lost more slowly. Amazingly, this position has been reached before and White actually won! Donoso-Vallejos, Santiago 1994 continued 8.0-0-0 hxg5 9.Nxg5 Nh6 10.f4 Qf6? 11.fxe5 Qxe5 12.Nf3 Qe7 -+ but 1-0 (42). I strongly suspect that Mr. Vallejos is not a 2300 player]

8...Qxg2 9.Bxc5??

[Ever-empathetic Fritz puts it succinctly, "the position was bad, and this mistake simply hastens the end." The plan for losing slowly was 9.0-0-0 Qxf3 10.Rhg1 but I decided on the double rook sacrifice to play for complications. Regrettably, it never became that complicated]

9...Qxh1+

[9...Qxf3 10.Rg1 dxc5 takes off less material, but offers White so little counterplay that I probably would have resigned sooner]

10.Ke2 Qxa1 11.Bxd6 Bg4!

[11...Qh1 12.Nxe5 is probably o.k., but White's pieces are beginning to get coordinated. The text allows White to box in Black's queen, but the pin on f3 is so strong that White is never able to make any headway]

12.Nd1

12...Nd7 13.d4 Ne7 14.dxe5

[14.Bxe7 Kxe7 is another prospect-less plan]

14...Ng6 15.e6 fxe6 16.Qd4 e5 17.Bf7+ Kxf7 18.Qc4+ Ke8 19.Ne3 Nf4+ 20.Kd2 Bxf3 21.Nf5 Qd1+ 22.Kc3 Qe1+ 23.Kb3 Qxe4 24.Nxg7+ Kd8 0-1

[Congratulations to Paul for wrapping up at least a tie for first in the Championship]