Hello Chess Community! I saw the above image on Facebook and I knew I had to analyze the game. It was between Rosendo Balinas, the Philippines' second grandmaster and Lev Pougaevsky, one of the strongest chess players in the 1960s. I replayed the game several times and I must admit that it's too complicated for me to understand and the opening is one I'm not familiar with. Thankfully I have tools to help me with my chess studies: Chessbase and Stockfish 😀
So let's jump into the game!
[Event "Manila"]
[Site "Manila PHI"]
[Date "1975.10.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Rosendo Carrean Balinas Jr"]
[Black "Lev Polugaevsky"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "105"]
- c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 f5 6. f4 Nf6 7. Nf3 Nbd7
More common is 7. ...Nc6. Nbd7 allows c6 later to blunt White's Bishop on g2 and prevent White from placing his Knight on d5.
'8. Bd2 O-O 9. Qc2 c6 10. O-O-O
White shows intention to fight by castling in the opposite side. Stockfish prefers 0-0 rather than the text move.
'10. ...Qe7 11. e3
Too slow and yields the initiative to Black. White must continue with e4 instead of the text move but he is probably worried that the d4 square will become weak.
'11....Nc5 12. fxe5 dxe5 13. d4 e4 14. Ne1 Ne6 15. Kb1 Bd7 16. Bf1 Rac8 17. h3
The move h3 protects g4 from possible invasion by Black's Knights but White's position seem passive with weak squares on d3 and f3. In addition, Black is ready to break through on the Queen side.
'17....c5 18. d5 Ng5 19. Be2 Nf7
Nice retreat to reposition the Knight on e5 where it will keep an eye on d3 and f3.
'20. Ng2 Ne5 21. Bc1 Ne8 22. Nf4
White has a nice outpost of his own looking at the e6 square. d6 is also a weak square in Black's camp.
'22....Nd6 23. b3 b5!
The can opener to White's position.
'24. Nxb5 Nxb5?
The wrong piece to recapture and loses the initiative. Black needs that Knight to block the d6 square. Better is 24....Bxb5 25. cxb5 c4 where White doesn't have the d6 resource.
'25. cxb5 c4 26. d6! Qf7 27. Nd5 Nd3
Black's attack looks overwhelming but White has his own threats like the fork on e7.
'28. bxc4 Bxb5 29. Ne7+ Kh8 30. Nxc8 Rxc8
Black gives up the exchange but in return he has two bishops and an exposed King for White. White must simplify to reduce the number of attacking pieces.
'31. Bxd3 exd3 32. Rxd3 Rxc4?
A blunder that cost Black the game. Bxc4! threatens Rb8 and keeps the pressure on White's exposed King.
'33. d7! gives up a pawn to distract the Bishop.
A big mistake would be 33. Qb3 Rb4! 34. Qxb4 Bxd3++
'33....Bxd7 34. Qb3 h5 35. Bb2 Ba4 36. Bxg7+ Kh7
Not Kxg7? 37. Qb2+ Kh7 38. Rd8 Be8 39. Rhd1 is decisive.
'37. Qb8 Bc2+ 38. Ka1 Qxg7+ 39. Rd4 Rxd4 40. exd4 Qxd4+ 41. Qb2 Qxb2+ 42. Kxb2
With a winning endgame for White.
'42....Be4 43. Rd1 g5 44. Rd7+ Kg6 45. Rd6+ Kg7 46. Kc3 Bg2 47. Kd4 Bxh3 48. Ke5 f4 49. gxf4 g4 50. f5 h4 51. f6+ Kf8 52. Rd8+ Kf7 53. Rh8 1-0
For our chess studies, I talked about weak squares in the game. To know more about weak squares in chess, here's a link and another for further study.
I used Chessbase and Stockfish to analyze, an old 2011 Powerbook to check the bookmoves and https://database.chessbase.com/ and https://old.chesstempo.com/game-database.html for an updated database.
Full game in chessgames.com
Thanks for reading and have fun playing Chess!
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