Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.The domestic season came to a close in Edgbaston, Birmingham, last weekend with the finals of the County Championship and National Club Championship. Kent, who have been consistently the most successful in the counties event in recent years, added another to their list of victories by beating Essex 10-6. Wood Green ran away with the Club title by beating Ilford 51/2-1/2. Today's game is the top-board encounter from that match. It demonstrates the danger of playing a sharp opening line against grandmaster.
White's sacrificial play with 13.Nf5 and 15.Nxg7 has been tried in a number of recent games and its assessment has been fluctuating wildly. A couple of months ago, theory favoured Black as it was thought that after 18...Nh5! White had insufficient compensation for his piece. Then Michael Adams won a fine game with 19.Bc1 and seemed to have proved that Black's problems were far greater than had been thought. The white attack does not lead to anything like a forced win, but the vulnerability of Black's king seemed to make it impossible for him to organise his defences in the long-term.
With 19...Bf4! and 20...Ng3+! however, Levitt demonstrated a way to return the extra piece that slowed down White's attack enough for Black to gain the initiative. The result was an endgame in which Black was always on top. Now it is White's turn to come up with a new idea in this complex variation.
White: Karl Bowden
Black: Jonathan Levitt
1 e4 e6 31 Rexe4 Rbd8
2 d4 d5 32 Rb4 b5
3 Nd2 c5 33 Kg1 Kg6
4 exd5 Qxd5 34 Rf1 R8d5
5 Ngf3 cxd4 35 Rf2 Rxf2
6 Bc4 Qd6 36 Kxf2 a5
7 0-0 Nf6 37 Rg4+ Kxf6
8 Nb3 Nc6 38 Ke3 h5
9 Nbxd4 Nxd4 39 Rf4+ Rf5
10 Nxd4 a6 40 Rh4 Rg5
11 Re1 Qc7 41 Kf3 Rf5+
12 Bb3 Bd6 42 Ke3 Kg5
13 Nf5 Bxh2+ 43 b4 Re5+
14 Kh1 0-0 44 Kd3 Rd5+
15 Nxg7 Rd8 45 Ke3 axb4
16 Qf3 Kxg7 46 Rxb4 f5
17 Bh6+ Kg6 47 a3 e5
18 c3 Nh5 48 c4 bxc4
19 Bc1 Bf4 49 Rxc4 e4
20 g4 Ng3+ 50 Rc8 Rd3+
21 fxg3 Bxc1 51 Kf2 Rxa3
22 Raxc1 b6 52 Rg8+ Kf6
23 Bc2+ Kg7 53 Rh8 Ra2+
24 Be4 Rb8 54 Kg1 Ke5
25 Rf1 Qe7 55 Rxh5 e3
26 g5 Bb7 56 Rh8 Ke4
27 Rce1 Rd2 57 Rf8 Ra1+
28 Qf6+ Qxf6 58 Kg2 e2
29 gxf6+ Kh6 59 Re8+ Kd3
30 Rf4 Bxe4+ 60 White resigns
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