Jim Brennan's Correspondence Games

Ian Rout (Aus)- Jim Brennan(Can)

1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. Nc3 axb5 6. e4 b4 7. Nb5 (this initiates the Zaitsev variation of the Benko gambit) d6 8. Bf4 Nbd7 ( this is an old line played in the late eighties. I beleive g5 is the current theory move to allow Nx e4 after Bxg5) 9. Nf3 Ba6 10. e5 Qa5 11. a4 bxa3+( this move may not be good. A few games in my database have this move and all games black lost.I however played a better move in Bc6 on move 16 instead of a queen move which loses quickly.) 12. Bd2 Qb6 13. Rxa3 Nxd5 14. Bc4 Bb7 15. Rxa8+ Bxa8 16. Qa4 Bc6 17. e6 ( this is really a great move as well as being gutsy I realy didn't consider it much as I didn't figure white could give up another pawn but this moves freezes the black kingside which never completely recovers) 1 7...fxe6 18.0-0 h6 ( this was the hardest decision of the game to play h6 as it furthers weakens the light squares and is played with the realization that the b and rook won't move for a long time.The idea is simply to stop the f3 knight from reaching e6 via g5 as my analysis and instinct told me would be deadly)19. Ba5 Qa6 ( I almost played Qb7 which loses to a nice attack on the light squares after Bxd5 followed by Qg4. On a6 it attacks the a5 bishop which stops the same idea) 20. Re1 Kf7 21. Rxe6 N7b6 22. Ne5+(diagram)

diagram1

.I found the surrounding of the b5 knight to be quite remarkable. Whites play has been excellent up to this point in my opinion) 22....Kxe6 ( I felt I had to capture the impudent rook but considered N7f6 as well where white would retreat the rook and play b4 next with advantage) 23. Bxd5+ ( but here with Nc7+ after extensive analysis I beleive white has a won game.The main line goes 23. Nc7+ Kxe5 24.Bc3+ Nxc3 25.QxQ a possible continuation is ...Nxc4 26.Qxc4 Ne4 27.Qe6+ Kd4(diagram)

diagram 2

and white gets one more piece right away and recovers another in a few more moves giving approximate material equality but keeping a crushingly better position as the black king rook and bishop are spectating while the king is out on a walk. Its seems appropriate that Zaitsevs B5 knight finally breaks out of the quadrupal pin to win. White doesn't have enough compesation after Bxd5+ as the game shows) 23...Nxd5 24. Nxc6 Kf7 25. Nd8+ Kg8 26. Qa2 Kh7 27. Ne6 Qxb5 28. Qxd5 Qxb2 29. g4 g6 30. h4 Qa1+ 31. Kg2 Qxa5 32. h5 Rg8 33. hxg6+ Kh8 34. g5 Rxg6 35. f4 Rxe6. 0-1 ( the f8 bishop never moved! not reccomended strategy)

Jim Brennan - Ian Rout

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8. Qxc3 Be4 O-O 9. O-O Be4 10. Bf4 Nc6 11. Rfd1 d5 12. cxd5 Qxd5 13. Ne1 Bxg2 14. Nxg2 Bf6 15. Ne3 Qe4 16. Qc2 Qxc2 17. Nxc2 Rfd8 18. Bxc7 Rd7 19. Bf4 Rad8 20. Be3 Kf8 21. Rd3 Nxd4??( this game should have been drawn ) 22. Bxd4 Bxd4 23. Rad1 1- 0

Jim Brennan - Rommel Dizon

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 d6 4. f3 Nf6 5. e4 g6 6. Qd2 Bg7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bh6 e5 9. Bxg7 Kxg7 10. Nge2 c5 11. d5 a6 12. a4 b6 13. g4 h5 14. h3 Bb7 15. Qg5 Nbd7 16. Ng3 Nh7 17. Nf5+ Kh8 18. Qxd8 Raxd8 19. Nxd6 Ba8 20. gxh5 Ndf6 21. Nxf7+ 1-0

Rommel Dizon - Jim Brennan

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. c5 e5 7. Bb5 exd4 8. Qxd4 Be7 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. O-O Re8 12. b4 a5 13. b5 cxb5 14. Nxb5 Ne4 15. Bf4 Bxc5 16. Qb2 Ba6 17. a4 Rc8 18. Rad1 Qb6 19. Bg3 Nxg3 20. hxg3 Re4 21. Ng5 Rxa4 22. Qb1 g6 23. Qb3 Bxb5 24. Qxd5 Bc4 25. Qd7 Qc6 26. Qh3 h5 27. Rfe1 Bxf2+ 28. Kh2 Bxe1 29. Rxe1 Ra2 30. Ne4 Re8 31. Nf6+ Qxf6 32. Rxe8+ Kg7 33. Qc8 Rxg2+ 0-1

Jim Brennan ----- Computer 5

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. Qe2 a6 7. O-O b5 8. Bb3 Bb7 9. Rd1 Nbd7 10. e4 (an interesting line of the Queens Gambit Accepted) cxd4 11. e5 Nd5 12. Rxd4 Be7 13. Rg4 Rg8 (this move surprised me and I thought it was just bad since the black king is kept in the center) 14. Bh6 (I have to say this wrong in retrospect because g5 is playable and the bishop is in danger of being trapped) g5 15. h4 Nf4 16. Qe3 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Ng6 18. Rxg5

diagram1

(I played this missing the fact that 20...Nxh4 was possible because of Black's 19th. White would have good compensation after a queen move instead. If white doesn't give up the exchange a pawn will be lost. White's position is difficult in any case.) Rc8 (this inbetween move throws a wrench in whites plan since the queen no longer attacks the rook) 19. Nc3( if white instead plays Qh5 than Rc1+ ties white up to much) Bxg5 20. Bxg5 Nxh4 21. Bxh4 Qxh4 22. Ne4 ( white appears to have some compensation but it in reality it is minimal) Ke7 23. Nd6 Rcf8 24. Qb7 Rb8 25. Qc6 Nxe5 26. Nf5+ Kf6 27. Qxe6+ fxe6 28. Nxh4 Rbc8 29. Rd1 Rgd8 30. Re1 Rd4 31. g3 Rxh4 (0-1) A brutally accurate game by the computer in a type of position that is favorable to it.

Computer 5 - Jim Brennan

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 8... Ne7 9. Nd2 a5 10. b3 ( this follows Karpov - Kasparov IV 17th match game up to the 16th move but here b3 was thought to have lost a tempo since b4 is played 3 moves later) 10.Rb1 c5 11. Rb1 Ne8 12. a3 f5 13. b4 axb4 14. axb4 b6 15. Qb3

diagram1

( this position arose in Taimonov-Kavalek,Wijk aan Zee 1970 but with white to move! There black was equal in a few moves so with an extra move black should be at least equal now . It is unusual that Karpov would play an inferior line 22 years later in a world championship match. It is also strange that this computer should play the same way, perhaps the opening book work was a little superficial) Nf6 16. Rd1( the computer starts to show signs of not knowing what is going on) Bh6 17. Bd3 Nh5 18. Nf3 f4 ( I played this move based largely on computers' infamous handling of closed positions and realizing things were not so rosy in game ones more open position .I judged that my bishop would be better than the white one even if passive so decied not to trade before f4, also a bishop trade on c1 speeds up whites play and does nothing for blacks. )19. Bb2 g5 20. h3 g4 21. hxg4 21. Bxg4 (objectively this position may be slightly better for black but considering white is a computer the closed position is strongly in favour of the human) 22. Be2 Nf6 ( the knight comes back to hold a defender to e4 and centralize) 23. Ra1(the computer grabs space on the queen side but there is nothing happening there with no targets and no pawns to advance) Qd7 24. Ra3 Rxa3 25. Qxa3 25. Kh8 (this moves starts a reorganization of blacks pieces so as to pressure the white kingside each piece clears a square for another) 26. bxc5 bxc5 27. Ra1 Rg8 28. Qa6 (this sets a trap with a threat of taking on e5 but the computer needs to think of defending the kingside) Ng6 29. Kf1 Bf8 30. Qb6 Qg7 31. Qb3 Qh6 (black has reorganized while white has accomplished nothing on the queenside) 32. Kg1
Bxf3 33. Bxf3 Nh4 34. Kf1 Ng4 35. Bxg4 Rxg4 36. Nd1 Nxg2 ( blacks patient slow build up has won a pawn but the extra rook pawn is notoriously hard to promote) 37. Qf3 (now black could force a queen trade with 37...Qh1+ 38.Ke2 Qe1+ 39.Kd3 Qf1+ 40.Kd2 Rg3! 41.Qe2 QxQ but the ensuing ending is very hard if not impossible to win.Whites pieces would be free to harass the black king and d6 pawn. With the queens still on however whites pieces are needed to defend the king and black has the resources necessary to usher the hpawn home.) Rg8 38. Ke2 Nh4 39. Qh1 Qh5+ 40. Kd3 Nf3 41. Ra8 Qg4! ( I was happy with this multipurpose one square move. The queen breaks the pin on the knight, clears the hfile for the pawn to advance, gets an iron grip on the gfile and takes control of the key f3 square) 42. Nc3 h5 43. Nb1(white is lost but a human would probably try Nb5 threatening the d6 pawn.Nb1 allows black to continue unmolested) h4 44. Nd2 Nxd2 (tempting was the idea Ng1-h3 but white can organize a blockade of sorts in this line)45. Kxd2 f3!( keeping the rook away from the hpawn, h3 right away would lose the pawn to Ra3) 46. Kd3 h3

diagram3

47.Ra1 Qh5 (a blunder now would be Qg2 allowing Rg1! drawing after Qxg1 Qxh3+ Kg7 Qd7+ with a perpetual check) 48.Bc1 h2 49.Be3 Rg2 (the computer now feels some security perhaps in stoping the pawn, black is however effectively up a rook and pawn in this position as the white queen and the bishop can't move) 50.Rb1 Kg8 (getiing off the h file to allow the queen to go in for the kill .If the queen moves now white could play Rg1 forcing defence of the hpawn) 51.Ra1 Qh7 ( a nice backward queen move preparing a transfer to the queenside) 52.Kc3 Qxe4 0-1(the computer presumably pushes some greater material loss off the horizon with the king move however the end will come quickly now since black will play e4 and activate the dormant bishop to go after the white king. White has been in near zugzwang for the last few moves with nothing constructive to do. All around probably one of my best games, accurate while steering the position well into the computers weakness. Thanks to Davd Griffith who lent his time and computer to make this match possible.