A Christmas Detective Story

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31. h3 Ne4 32. Rdc2 {Maybe the draw offer came with this move. Black can get two pieces for a Rook.} 32... Rxd4 33. Rc7 {Bronstein now says in Sorcerer's Apprentice Black should play 33...Nc3 here. It's good. It looks winning. This resource is not mentioned in '200 Open games' but he does say the whole line up to the coming Rook sac is a trap which perhaps should instruct the reader to examine the moves as there may be improvements.} 33... Qd5 34. Bxd4 Qxd4 {End of trap according to Bronstein. Now it's all forced.} 35. Rxg7+ {Kh8 is no good. Rg8 mate.} 35... Bxg7 36. Rc8+ Kf7 37. Qh5+ Ke7 38. Qe8+ Kd6 {Bronstein now misses mate in one (the time scramble that Gligoric hinted at.) .Qd8 mate.} 39. Rc6+ Kd5 40. Qd7+ {Black resigned.}

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1. Bh6 Bf8 {Black has missed the idea. 1...g6 had to be played.} 2. Rxg7+ Bxg7 3. Qg4 Kf8 {only try in one wants to carry on playing but....} 4. Qxg7+ Ke7 5. Bg5+ {Black losses his Queen and resigned.}

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1. Rg4 Nf6 {That is a piece dropping blunder. 1...f5 was the move.} 2. Qxf6 {Black can break the pin on the g7 pawn with 2...Qxg4 but White then plays 3.Qxd6 and he is still a piece up.} 2... Bf8 3. Bh6 {But now this is a blunder. Black can and should play 3...Qxg4 and he would have found himself the exchange up.} 3... Re6 {3...g6 4.Bxf8 and White coasts home a piece up.} 4. Rxg7+ {The theme.} 4... Bxg7 5. Qxg7

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 {A viable and solid way to play the Black side of the Lopez. It does give White a free hand (no hit on the e-pawn) but sometimes this can be his undoing as he goes wild trying to refute it. Not the case here.} 4. O-O f6 {Why this? Could it be that Black wants to play Nd4 and bring the e7 Knight to c6 to free his game. 4...f6 protects the e-pawn so the c6 Knight can move but did Black simply miss that White cannot take it because after Nd4 the b5 Bishop is attacked. 4...g6 and Bg7 was a better way to continue..} 5. c3 {That scuppers the Nd4 idea and now the weakening 4...f6 will return to haunt Black.} 5... b6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb7 8. Nc3 {Nice simple development by White is giving him a very good game.} 8... a6 9. Ba4 {White is not going chop on c6 and free the Black position.} 9... b5 10. Bb3 d6 {This creates a hole, a potential outpost at e6. White exploits this to the full. Black should have left this pawn alone and chase the Bishop some more with Na5.} 11. Be6 {I like that move. White wants to play d5 claiming e6 as an outpost for a Knight but d5 right away and the Lopez Bishop is redundant. So he looks to trade it off for an e6 defender.} 11... Bc8 {Black rushes back to get rid of that annoying Bishop. This is all part of the White plan.} 12. Bxc8 Nxc8 13. d5 {Secures the e6 square for a Knight. The Knight can get there via d4 or f4. It's important when creating Knight outposts than you can see or create a Knight path to occupy it. 13.d5 also eyes that c7 pawn on an open file. d5 stops it from moving.} 13... Na5 14. Nd4 {Having removed a defender of e6 White now occupies it with a Knight.} 14... Qd7 {Anticipating Ne6 and clearing d8 for a Knight to defend e6,} 15. Ne6 {Black should have played c6/c5 here to get that weak c7 off the target list. It's a wretched task defending such positions, you have to cover or get rid of as many weak spots as you can.} 15... Nb7 {Again Black is making backward moves to plug the gaps. This Knight is headed for d8 to trade off the e6 Knight.} 16. Ne2 {This Knight takes up it's station ready for the d4-e6 leap.} 16... Nd8 17. Nxd8 Qxd8 18. Nd4 Qd7 19. Be3 {No rush to get onto e6. the only other defender of that square, the c8 Knight will take at least 3 moves to cover e6. Also Ne6 allows Black to get that c7 pawn onto c5. White sets about cementing the c-pawn to c7.} 19... Nb6 20. b3 {To stop any form of counter play with Nc4 and keeping the c-file open.} 20... Be7 21. Rc1 {The backward pawn on c7 trembles. It's not so much the loss of the pawn. It's the fact that if it is taken soundly then something coloured white will be on that c7 square and that can only be bad news.} 21... O-O 22. Rc6 {Excellent play. White bides his time and fixes the c-pawn. Black will not be playing c5 or c6 when the Knight eventually goes to e6.} 22... Rfb8 {Seeing what is coming and getting ready to hold c7 with everything Black can muster.} 23. Ne6 {That Knight is the proverbial tower strength. The rest of the game revolves around that Knight and the squares it attacks.} 23... Rb7 24. Qg4 {The Queen makes an appearance after 24 moves and she threatens mate in one. (that Knight on e6 is causing mayhem). You early Queen movers take note. She only gets into the fray after the other bits and pawns have done the spade work.} 24... Bf8 {Stopping the mate and setting up this weeks theme. (Rxg7+ with a Bishop on f8). 24...Bd8 bolstering support for c7 looks better but the Black Queen is then tied to defending g7 and with a Bishop on d8 the Black Rooks are marooned on the Queenside.} 25. Rfc1 {Simple. Every White fighting bit is on an aggressive square. The roof over Black's head is about to cave in} 25... Rc8 {White cannot improve his position any further so he strikes. Always an important moment. Your pieces are all perfectly working , you play your combination and when it's over some have been exchanged or gone to different squares. It's here you must check to see if there is possibly a stinger in the tail.} 26. Bxb6 {White wins the c7 pawn as this move drags away one of it's defenders. There is a very slight sting in the tail but it's just a joke.} 26... Rxb6 27. Rxc7 {Black could have tried 27....Rbb8 here. If 28.RxQ Rxc1 mates. (the joke) But in answer to 27...Rbb8 White has the simple 28.h3 and Black is still in the soup.} 27... Rxc7 28. Rxc7 Qe8 {And now...} 29. Rxg7+ {The Theme of the Week!} 29... Bxg7 30. Qxg7 {Wonderful. Bravo.}

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35. Qd3 Rxg2+ 36. Rxg2 Rxg2+ 37. Kh1 Rh2+ 38. Kg1 Qg2