By Larry Tamarkin

Tim Mirabile (2211) - Tamarkin (2078) [B89]
Nassau Championship, NY 2006
[Some notes are excepted from the excellent book, WINNING WITH THE FISCHER-SOZIN ATTACK by Gary Lane].
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nc6?!

Only doubtful in that it shows my inadequate preparation for this game -- and of course I was very well aware of the brilliancy Tim played against Novikov in 2002: 7...b5 8.Qf3 Qb6 9.Be3 Qb7 10.0–0 Be7 11.Qg3 Nbd7 12.Nf5!

 
A well known thematic sacrifice in such positions, and the same shot that gets me in this game!

12...exf5 13.Qxg7 Rf8 14.Nd5 fxe4 15.Nxe7 Kxe7 16.Rad1 Qc6 17.Bg5 Bb7 18.Rd4 d5 19.Bxd5 Qxd5 20.Rxd5 Bxd5 21.Qxh7 Rac8 22.Rd1 Rxc2 23.Qf5 Be6 24.Rxd7+!? (Equally good is the simple, 24.Qxe4) 24...Kxd7 25.Qxf6 Kc6 26.h4 Rc5 27.Qe7 Rg8 28.Qa7 Rcxg5 29.hxg5 Rxg5 30.Qxa6+ Kc7 31.Qa7+ Kc6 32.Qe3 Rg4 33.b4 Kb7 34.Qc5 Bd7 35.Qd5+ Kc7 36.Qxf7 e3 37.fxe3 Rxb4 38.Kf2 Ra4 39.Kf3 Kd6 40.Qf8+ Ke6 41.e4 Bc6 42.Qf5+ Kd6 43.Kf4 Rc4 44.g4 b4, 1–0, T.Mirabile (2204) - I.Novikov, (2719), Mineola 2002, in which I provided annotations in Chess Base Magazine #92. It's still hard to believe that it was the player of the black pieces that was the top-rated grandmaster!

8.Be3 Be7 9.Qe2 Qc7 10.0–0–0 Na5 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nxb3+ 13.axb3 Nd7 14.Nf5!
 
 
Though I was vaguely familiar with this move introduced by Velimirovic, I didn't remember any of the details.

14...b4

Probably not the best response, 14...exf5! is the best move despite how inviting it is to white's knight: 15.Nd5 Qd8 (15...Qb7? 16.exf5 Ne5 17.f4 Bxf5 18.fxe5 Be4 19.exd6 Bxd5 20.Bc5! Bxh1 21.d7+ wins -- Boleslavsky) 16.exf5 Bb7 (If Black tries to castle out of trouble then White starts a stampede towards the king: 16...0–0 17.f6! gxf6 18.Bd4 Ne5 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.Rhg1+ Bg7 [20...Kh8 21.Bb6] 21.Bxe5! dxe5 22.Qxe5 f6 23.Ne7+ Kf7 [23...Kh8 24.Rxd8 fxe5 25.Rxf8+ Bxf8 26.Rg8 mate] 24.Qh5+, 1–0, Velimirovic -Sofrevsky, Titograd 1965. 24...Kxe7 25.Rxg7+ Ke6 26.Qe2+, 1-0, was the sad end of P.Vavra (2275) - C. Faria, Guarapuava 1991. Sometimes people never learn!) 17.f6 (17.Rhg1 Bxd5 18.Rxd5 0–0 19.f6 Nxf6! 20.gxf6 Bxf6 is fine for Black) 17...gxf6 18.Rhe1 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 Rg8 20.gxf6 Nxf6 21.Rf5 and now 21...Rb8 is a main line, but why bother if Black can play 21...Nd7! (or 21…Ng4!, which leads to the same position) 22.Bg5 Ne5 23.Bxe7 Qxe7 24.f4 Nd3+ Yurtaev-Korzubov, USSR 1983, when Black has no problems at all in the ending that arises after 25.cxd3 Qxe2 26.Rxe2+ Kf8.

15.Nxe7!

The safest and best way to maintain some advantage now that black has turned down the sacrifice. 15.Nxg7+?! Kf8 16.Qh5 Kxg7 17.Bd4+ (17.Qh6+ Kg8) 17...Kg8! (A big improvement on 17...Ne5 18.f4 bxc3 19.fxe5 cxb2+ 20.Bxb2 d5 21.exd5± Zaichik-Korsunsky, USSR 1969.) 18.Rhg1 Ne5 19.f4 Ng6 20.Bxh8 Kxh8 21.Ne2 Bb7 22.Rd4 Rc8 23.Rc4 Qb6 24.f5 Rxc4 25.bxc4 Qe3+ 26.Kb1 Bxe4! 27.fxg6 Bxg6 28.Qg4 e5 29.Nc1 b3 30.Rg2 bxc2+ 31.Rxc2 Qd2, 0–1, Wahls - Rechlis, Bern 1990.

15...bxc3 16.Nxc8 cxb2+ 17.Kb1 Rxc8 18.Bd4!

This move taking over the long diagonal is a fine concept which gives white a winning bind.

18...0–0 19.Bxb2 Nb6

19...a5 20.Rd4 Nc5 21.Rhd1 a4 22.b4 a3 23.Ba1 a2+ 24.Kxa2 Ra8+ 25.Kb2 Qa7 26.Kc3 e5 27.Rc4 Qa3+ 28.Kd2 Ne6 29.Qd3 Qa6 30.Bb2 Nxg5 31.Kc1 Ne6 32.Rc3 Qa4 33.Qxd6 Nd4 34.Rxd4 exd4 35.Qxd4 Rfd8 36.Rc8, 1–0, N.Borge (2455) - S.Sanden (2330), Stockholm 1996.

20.Rhe1 d5?!

My intuition let me down here as I thought this would lead to a position with equal chances on both sides (It doesn't). Junior 10 likes 20...a5! 21.f4 a4 22.f5 axb3 23.cxb3 Nd7 and Black has succeeded in weakening White's king position enough to insure an equal battle.

21.exd5 Nxd5 22.c4!

Now White is for choice in every line.

22...Nf4?!

After this move I get a completely lost position, but it's not clear that other moves are better. For example 22...Nb4 fails to 23.Qe5! (23.Qe3 Qa5 24.Qe5 Qa2+ 25.Kc1 Rxc4+! with a draw by perpetual.) 23...Qxe5 24.Bxe5 Rfd8 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8 26.Bc3 Nc6 27.Kc2 a5 28.Ra1 Nb4+ 29.Bxb4 axb4 30.Ra4 Rb8 31.Kd3 and White wins.

23.Qe3 Ng6 24.h4 Qh2

24...Nxh4 25.Rh1 gives White a winning attack.

25.Qg3?

This gives Black a chance to get back into the game.

25...Qxg3?

Which I blow partly because I was getting my usual bad migraine headache. Here are some interesting lines found with the assistance of Junior 10: 25...Qxh4!? 26.Qc3 e5 27.Rxe5 Nxe5 28.Qxe5 f6 29.Qe6+ Kh8 30.gxf6 gxf6 31.Rd6 (31.Rg1 Qxf2 32.Rg8+ Rxg8 33.Bxf6+ Qxf6 34.Qxf6+ Rg7 35.Kc2 is much stronger) 31…Rb8 32.c5 (32.Bxf6+ Rxf6 33.Qxf6+ Qxf6 34.Rxf6 Rxb3+ 35.Kc2 Kg7! 36.Rf4 Rb7 37.c5 Rc7 38.Rc4 h5 39.Kd3 h4!, =) 32...Qxf2 (32...a5 33.Bxf6+ Rxf6 34.Qxf6+ Qxf6 35.Rxf6 Rxb3+ 36.Kc2 Rb5 37.c6 Rc5+ 38.Kb3 Kg7, =) 33.c6 Rb5 34.Bxf6+ Rxf6 35.Qxf6+ Qxf6 36.Rxf6 Rc5 37.b4 Rc4 38.Ka2 Kg7 39.Kb3 Rc1 40.Re6, =.

26.fxg3

Now White has an easily won position, which Tim handles quite well.

26...Rb8 27.Ka2 Rfe8 28.Rd7 h5 29.gxh6 gxh6 30.h5 Ne7 31.Red1 f5 32.R1d6 Kf7 33.Rxa6 Red8 34.Rxd8 Rxd8 35.Ra5 Rd3 36.Ra7 Ke8 37.Ra8+ Kf7 38.Ra7 Ke8 39.Ra8+ Kf7 40.Rh8 Rxg3 41.Rxh6 Nc6 42.Rh7+ Ke8 43.Rc7 Nb4+ 44.Ka3 Nc2+ 45.Ka4 Rh3 46.Bf6 Rxh5 47.Re7+ Kf8 48.Rxe6 f4 49.Re2 Ne3 50.Rf2 Rf5 51.Bd4 Ng4 52.Rg2 Rg5 53.c5 Ke7 54.c6 Rd5 55.Bb6 Ne5 56.c7 Nd7 57.Rg7+, 1-0. Of course, it was very painful to lose this game, and my dreams (after my easy round 4 game against Bonin) of winning the tournament were put back to just winning a prize. Still there were still 5 more rounds to go so I imagined anything is possible!
 
Jay Bonin (2340) - Tamarkin (2058) [E11]
Nassau Championship, NY 2006
I had even told Jay about the seminar at the Marshall Chess Club with Roman Dzindzichashvili where I had shown my game with Jay played in Queens, so it was no surprise to Jay that I would repeat the solid opening line I played in that game. The main surprise for me was how amazingly easy it was to get an equal, possibly even better position against Jay despite the fact that he could expect me to play this line. Later on Jay would beat me yet again with a relatively harmless variation where he played his Queen to a4 giving check. It was a 30-minute game at the Marshall and basically just shows that in practical play the higher-rated player will triumph for a variety of reasons.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 0–0 8.0–0 d6 9.e4 e5 10.d5 Nb8 11.Ne1 a5


12.Nd3 Na6

Our previous game a week earlier went 12...Bg4 13.f3 Bd7 14.Qc2 Na6 15.Rae1 c6 16.f4 Nb4 17.Nxb4 axb4 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.c5 cxd5 20.exd5 Rfc8 21.c6 bxc6 22.dxc6 Bxc6 23.Bxc6 Ra6 24.Qf5 Qa7+, 1/2-1/2, Bonin -Tamarkin, Queen's Championship 2006.

13.Rc1

Later on, Elizabeth Vicary would also be influenced by Roman's books or DVD's to create the following brilliancy: 13.a3 Bg4 14.f3 Bd7 15.b4 c6 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.f4 Rab8 18.Rb1 axb4 19.axb4 Rb6 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.c5 Rxb4 22.Nxb4 Qxc5+ 23.Kh1 Nxb4 24.Qb3 Rb8 25.Qc4 Qd6 26.Qe2 c5 27.Nc4 Qe6 28.Rfc1 Bb5 29.Bf1 Nxe4 30.Qe3 Bc6 31.Bg2 f5 32.Nd2 f4 33.gxf4 exf4 34.Qe1 Ng3+ 35.hxg3 Qh3+, 0-1, Camilla Baginskaite (2328) - Elizabeth Vicary (2148), Stillwater USA 2007.

13...Bg4!

It's in black's interest to get White to block in his g2-bishop with f3.

14.f3 Bd7 15.Nb1

This maneuver is also in Roman's DVD which, of course, I have watched several times. Here Roman proposed this move as the way for White to play on for a win.

15...c6 16.Nc3 cxd5 17.cxd5 b5 18.a4?!
 
 
Better was 18.Qd2 Rfc8 19.f4 b4 20.Ne2 Bb5, which is rated about equal by Fritz 10.
I.M. Jay Bonin is a very optimistic player, especially against much lower rated players like me, and he will often make a pawn breaking move like this even if it is not quite sound. I think this is the luxury of the higher rated player who often is "given the draw" by the lower rated ones even when their game starts going wrong. I think it is an extra luxury these players don't really deserve and we can only change it by changing ourselves!

18...bxa4 19.Nxa4 Rfb8 20.Rf2 Bb5, 1/2-1/2.

I like this move; it guarantee's that one of white's knights will be exchanged off at will. Junior 10 already gives black an advantage of (+0.71), so this is yet another game where I was currently "too chicken" to play my advantage out for the win against the higher rated player. I am annoyed at myself for many reasons, which include not having the nerve to try to beat players like Jay who have enormous plus scores against me. How can I ever hope to improve if I don't roll the dice more often and try to put the pressure on them more when given the opportunity? It's not like there is so much money available in a chess tournament that there is any good reason not to try!
 
Tamarkin (2078) - Harold Stenzel, (2000) [A40]
Nassau Championship, NY 2006
1.d4 Nc6

Because of the success of such openings as the Black Knights Tango, many players now play this way early in the game.  I've played Harold many times over the years and I know that he likes to play some unusual lines, especially if he can play moves like ...e6 and ...Bb4 and some kind of pawn doubling or tactically tricky stuff that will confuse the opponent. It works for him quite a lot and I count myself among his victims. He moves so fast in the opening and with such surety that you really do question yourself when you fall into a dubious position because of the psychological pressure that he succeeds in putting you under. I was hoping to play some odd (but reasonably sound moves) against Harold here myself, but this "anti-Harold semi-correct move approach" nearly backfired on me big-time!

2.Bg5!?

As I said, I was afraid I would handle the position worse if I played a more normal continuation, but if I had more confidence in my ability to play normal classical type moves into the middle-game, then perhaps we could have had a game like this: 2.e4 d6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.Be3 e6 6.h3 Bh5 7.Be2 Be7 8.0–0 0–0 9.d5 exd5 10.exd5 Bxf3 11.Bxf3 Ne5 12.Be2 Re8 13.f4 Ned7 14.Bf3 Nb6 15.b3 Nfd7 16.Qd2 Nc5 17.Bf2 f5 18.b4 Ncd7 19.Qd3 Bf6 20.Rae1 Rxe1 21.Rxe1 a5 22.Nb5 axb4 23.Qxf5 Nc5 24.Bxc5 dxc5 25.Kh2 Qc8 26.Re6 Nd7 27.Bg4 Qd8 28.d6 Nf8 29.dxc7 Qd2 30.Re2 Qc1 31.Nd6, 1-0, D.Moldovan (2335) - R.Kuczynski (2460), Stara Zagora 1990.

2...d6 3.e4 g6 4.Bc4

4.d5 Nb8 5.Qd4 Nf6 6.Bxf6 exf6 7.f4 Bh6 8.g3 0–0 9.Nc3 f5 10.0–0–0 Bg7 11.e5 Nd7 12.Nf3 dxe5 13.fxe5 Nxe5! 14.Nxe5 Qd6 15.Nxf7 Rxf7 16.Qc4 Bd7 is a dream for Black, A.Herzog (2345) - J.Klinger (2480), Austria 1993.

4...Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Qe2 0–0 7.Nf3 e5 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 dxe5 10.h3

10.Nd2 Bg4?! 11.Bxf6! Bxe2 12.Bxd8 Bxc4 13.Be7 Rfe8 14.Nxc4 Rxe7 15.Rd1.

10...Qe7 11.Nd2 h6 12.Bh4

12.Be3 c6 13.b4 Rd8 14.Bb3.

12...c6 13.0–0 Be6 14.Bd3

14.a4 Rfd8 15.Nf3.

14...Rad8 15.Bc2

15.Rfd1 g5 16.Bg3 Nh5!

15...g5 16.Bg3 Nh5 17.Nb3 Nxg3?

Strategically very bad and my heart skipped a beat when Harold played it. Better was the natural 17...Nf4! 18.Bxf4 exf4 19.e5 when White is still fighting for equality.

18.fxg3 b5 19.Qe3 Qc7 20.Rf2 Rd6 21.Nc5 Bc8

21...Qb6 22.b4 Rfd8 23.Bb3±

22.Bb3 Rf6 23.a4 a5 24.axb5 cxb5 25.Bd5

Now that I achieved this optically lovely and sound position, Harold slowed down quite a bit! 25.Raf1 Rxf2 26.Qxf2 g4 27.Kh2 is pleasant but I couldn't find a clear plan.

25...Rxf2 26.Qxf2 Kh8

26...g4 27.b4 a4 28.c4!?±

27.b4! a4 28.Rf1 f6?

Harold can always see a pawn hanging even if it isn't free, but in positions that demand patient maneuvering he is much more likely to go wrong. This is just such a situation and his ...f6 move is one little step in the wrong direction. Better was 28...f5! 29.Qe2 Qb6 30.exf5 Rxf5 31.Rd1±. "And of course Black is still in the game." was recommended by Grandmaster Leonid Yudasin at the Marshall Chess Club.

29.Qe2 Qb6 30.Kh2!

After this Karpovian safety move I felt free to probe around for winning possibilities!

30...Rd8 31.Qh5! Qd6


32.Bf7?!

Another overly safe move. I was simply unable to see like the engines do: 32.Ne6!? Bxe6 33.Rxf6! Bxf6 34.Qxh6+ Kg8 35.Qg6+ Kf8 36.Qxf6+ Ke8 37.Bxe6 Rb8 38.Qf5 looks much too chancy to my human eyes. Best of all is probably 32.g4! Rf8 33.Rd1 Qc7 34.Qg6 Qb8 (to monitor possible assaults on the b-pawn with Bc6) 35.Be6! Qa8 36.Nd7! and black can resign -- Fritz 10.

32...Qe7 33.Bg6 Rf8 34.Qe2 Bd7 35.Rd1

35.Nxd7!? Qxd7 36.Rd1 Qc6 37.Qe3 Ra8 38.Qf2 is +0.52 according to Junior 10.

35...Bc6 36.Bf5

36.c4!? Rb8 37.cxb5 Bxb5 38.Qa2 Bf8 39.Qd5 a3 40.Rd2.

36...Rd8 37.Rf1 Rd6 38.c4!?

I figured that I had to take some kind of pawn breaking action if I wanted to win and black's entombed bishop on g7 gave me a lot of confidence that I would ultimately succeed in worming my way in!

38...bxc4 39.Qxc4 Rd4

39...Qe8 40.Rc1 Bb5 41.Qa2 Qg8 42.Be6 Qb8 43.Nxa4! should win, but would I have seen it?

40.Qa6 Be8 41.Qb6

41.Nxa4 Qxb4 42.Nb6 Rd8 43.Rc1+-

41...Rd6 42.Qa5 Rd4 43.Rb1 Bf8 44.Rc1!?

Even better was 44.Ne6! Rxb4 45.Rc1! (45.Rxb4 Qxb4 46.Qa8 Qe7 47.Nxf8 Qxf8 48.Bd7 a3 49.Bxe8 a2 50.Qxa2 Qxe8, =) 45...Rb2 46.Rc8 is winning according to Fritz 10.

44...Qd6 45.Qa8

45.Ne6!? Rd2 46.Qa7 also wins.

45...Qe7 46.Ne6! Rxb4 47.Rc8 and Black resigned. I stumbled along into a winning line after all. Note the extremely white king!  After this game I had 5 points out of 7 rounds and I had little doubt that I would win a decent prize by the end of the tournament. At this point only Tim Mirabile had 6 out of 7. IM Jay Bonin, Fide Master Joel Salman, Ricardo Perez Billinghurdst and myself all had 5.