Mystery game #53: A convincing Closed Sicilian victory

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  • Mystery game #53: A convincing Closed Sicilian victory

    Here is the text of an interesting game. You can discuss the game, player strengths, setting, era, time controls, etc. I will reveal all data in a few days. Enjoy!!

    1.Nf3 g6 2.g3 Bg7 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.O-O O-O 5.d3 c5 6.Nc3 d6 7.e4 Nc6 8.Bd2 h6 9.Ne2 e5 10.c3 Ne8 11.Nh4 Ne7 12.f4 f5 13.exf5 Bxf5 14.Nxf5 Nxf5 15.Bxb7 Rb8 16.Bd5+ Kh7 17.Rb1 Nf6 18.Bf3 h5 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.Bg5 Qb6 21.c4 Rbd8 22.Nc3 Rd6 23.Bxf6 Ne3 24.Qe2 Nxf1 25.Bxg7 Nxg3 26.hxg3 Kxg7 27.Qe5+ Kh6 28.Qe3+ g5 29.Ne4 Rg6 30.Kg2 Rf5 31.Bxh5 Rg8 32.Bg4 Re5 33.b3 Qa5 34.Qf2 Rd8 35.Qf6+, 1-0.

  • #2
    Wayne Coppin (2053) -- Jeff Towers (1728), Kingston 2004, Whig-Standard Championship (5), played 1994-11-07. Time controls: 30/90', SD/60', TD: Chris Hargreaves.
    Both had 4/4 coming into the game. Jeff had upset #2 seed Geoff McKay (1978) in the first round; that surprise was just the start of what proved to be a veritable cavalcade of upsets during the event.
    Wayne catches Jeff between variations here. In his notes, distributed at the time through Kingston Chess Club channels, Wayne, who normally favours 1.e4, stated he wanted to avoid Jeff's well-prepared Caro-Kann, as faced in previous head-to-head battles. Wayne does maneuver Jeff into something Jeff probably hadn't planned -- a Closed Sicilian. Wayne's comment after 12.f4 that 'Black is doomed of course' was rather self-serving, insulting, and short on specifics; Black could have played more quietly, defended better, and potentially held the position. However, precise play from White and and a few Black inaccuracies led to a fine win for White.
    With this win, Wayne, highest-rated by 75 points, had 5/5, with only three rounds left; it was good for a full point lead. But the event's field of contenders was quite deep, with nine players between ratings of 2053 and 1728, in an overall field of 26. The three rounds remaining gave opportunities for other contenders to catch up. Interestingly, Jeff went on to win the event with 6.5/8. With tenacious play, he drew a pawn-down rook ending against me in round six, then won his last two games. Wayne was only able to make one draw and two losses to finish, to tie for 3rd-6th, at 5.5/8. He lost in round 8 to Gerald de Lugt, a player more than 25 years older and 195 rating points lower. I finished with 2.5/3 for clear second, on six points. Wayne had defeated both Jeff and me (his fine win from round 3 over me can be found in EP February 1995), the top two finishers.
    And that set of circumstances set off a ten-year 'memo war' at the Kingston Chess Club, with Wayne both initiating and sustaining the memo avalanche. His thesis was that the Swiss system event, at eight rounds for 26 players, had too many rounds, and that, as the top-rated player, this situation penalized him unfairly. He said that five rounds should have been the limit. Not coincidentally, after five rounds this time, Wayne was in the clear lead! While claiming that he possessed a published mathematical paper which proved his point, Wayne nonetheless failed to produce this paper for KCC members, when requested to do so by me, a professional scientist! I saw it at the time as the ultimate 'sour grapes' whine! His conduct was completely at odds with the friendly culture at KCC, which featured strong chess competition combined with collegiality.

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