coffee time
Now 11 Bxg7 Rg8 is less happy for White. 11 … O-O 12.Nc3 Ng6 13.Ne2 c5 14.Qd2 f6 The game has crystallized into a race between Black’s massive superiority in pawns on the queen's flank, and White’s slow build up of pieces on the other wing. Black's last move is designed to blunt the power of White's queen’s bishop operating on the long diagonal. 15.Kh1
master Louis Paulsen. In the later game Anderssen improved Black’s play with the immediate 18… c4, which gains a vital tempo to activate Black's pawns by attacking White’s bishop. Anderssen, in fact, went on to win that game too. 18… b4 19.Rg1 Bb6 20.g4 Now we see the full point of White's king retreat on move 15. White’s g-pawn now acts as a battering ram, while its advance also creates the space for White to double his rooks on the g-file. 20… Ne5 21.Bxe5 It is better to trade this piece for Black's valuable knight on e5 White needs all of his forces in the vicinity of Black's king to stay at their posts. 21… dxe5 If 21...fxe5, White can consider both 22 g5 and 22 Ng5. With the recapture in the text, Black hopes to strike directly at White's centre with his newly liberated queen.
The start of a deep attacking plan. White needs the square g1 for his rook. 15… Bc7 16.Rac1 Rb8 17.Ng3 b5 18.Nf5 Two days later, in the very same tournament Anderssen, now playing with the black pieces reached substantially the same position against the German GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021
22.Rg3 Rf7 23.g5 Bxf5 24.exf5 Qxd5 25.gxf6 White avoids the tempting 25 Bc4 Qxd2 26 Bxf7+ Kxf7 27 Nd2, when White's attack has vanished and Black's dangerous pawns are more than sufficient compensation for the loss of the exchange. 25 … Rd8
Black would like to play 25 ...Rxf6, to eliminate the dangerous white pawn but then 26 Bc4 does not just win the exchange, it picks off the black queen. 26.Rcg1 A brilliant move planning to meet 26 ...Qxd3 with 27 Qh6 Qxf5 28 Rxg7+ Kh8 29 Ng5, exploiting the full murderous concentration of white force in the g-file. 26 … Kh8 27.fxg7+ Kg8 28.Qh6 Qd6
Puzzle: The puzzle this month is the conclusion to this game.
This is the position before White’s 29th move.
Answer on page 91
11.Bd3
Anderssen announced mate in five moves with the final move of the game. Can you find the winning conclusion? 97