By Karel van der Weide

Before you start laughing your heart out because of this ludicrous title, please give me a minute to explain. Of course I realize I am a coffehouse player with no understanding of chess whatsoever. Never, ever would I arrogantly claim having thought of something that could be called a "contribution to opening theory." Moreover, in life I have never been original, always I tried to walk along in the footsteps of others. So why this title? Because the two contributions I DID make to opening theory, were by coincidence; fingerfehler as the Germans nicely call them.

Some years ago I switched from closed to open Sicilians. My guideline was BEATING THE SICILIAN 3 by Nunn and Gallagher, a book that can not be praised enough. In order to beat the Dragon, one line they advised to play was: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.g4 Rfc8 13.h4 Qa5 14.Qg5 (the full details of this position are given in my article in NIC Yearbook 64) 14...Qxg5 15.hxg5 Nd7

In their main game, Ilya Gurevich beat Chris Ward easily: 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Rh4 f6, etc. But 17...Rh8!, intending to get rid of the backward pawn, worried me. For the moment I decided to lay the problem aside, as there were other nuts to crack in the open Sicilian.

Some weeks later I faced this line in a blitz game. I won easily and Black never got the chance to eliminate his h-pawn. I wondered why. At home I found the answer; I had forgotten to exchange Bishops on g7. Because of this fingerfehler, a new idea was born! For the sake of completeness, my novelty was 16.Rh4!?, the move they used to play only after the Bishop-swap. Usually, my opponents now exchanged Bishops themselves, but there were two other ideas:

16...Be5 was played by the dangerous Rudy van Wessel. I erred by surrendering the dark squares at once: 17.Bxe5?! dxe5 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 and Rudy could have equalized with 19...Rd8!. Therefore I think that after 16...Be5 White should play 17.Be2 Nf8 (17...Bc4? 18.Bxe5 Nxe5 19.Rdh1 h5 20.Bd1 ±) and only now 18.Bxe5 dxe5 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.Rxd5 f6 21.gxf6 exf6 22.g5 fxg5 23.Rg4 with an edge.

The other idea keeps the dark-squared Bishop on the board:

16...Ne5 17.Be2 Nc4

White gains a big advantage after 17...Bc4 18.Bxe5! Bxe5 19.Rdh1 Bxc3 20.Bxc4 Bg7 21.Bb3.

18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.f4

The alternative grants Black counterplay: 19.Rdh1?! Rh8 20.Bxc4 Bxc4 21.b3 Be6.

19...Nb6 20.Kc1!?

In the ending, you should bring your King closer to the center. Moreover, it's a useful waiting move, and it solves the back rank problem. Black will die from strangulation.

20...Rh8 21.f5 Bd7 22.Rf1 f6 23.gxf6+ Kxf6 24.Rfh1 Kg7 25.Bd3 e6 26.Ne2 d5 27.Nd4 exf5 28.exf5 Raf8 29.Rh6 g5 30.Ne6+ Bxe6 31.fxe6, 1-0.

My other opponents decided to exchange Bishops immediately:

16...Bxd4 17.Rxd4

The aforementioned blitz game was against my trainer Genna Sosonko: 17...Rc5 18.f4 Rac8 19.Rd2 Bc4 20.Bd3 Bxd3 21.cxd3 (Now White has a slight advantage because his center is strengthened.) 21...e6 22.Rdh2 Nf8 23.a3 d5 24.e5 a5 25.a4 d4? (With time-pressure, these things happen.) 26.Ne4 Rc1+ 27.Ka2 R8c2 28.Nf6+ Kg7 29.Rxh7 +-.

Joost Baljé, who also lost in the second example to me, tried ...Ne5 again, only this time after the Bishop-swap: 17...Ne5 18.Be2 Bc4 19.Bd1! (This Bishop helps to advance the kingside. 19.f4?! Bxe2 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.Rd7 Ba6 is unclear.) 19...Nd7 (An interesting line is 19...b5 20.f4! b4 21.Na4 Nd7 22.b3 ±) 20.f4 f6? 21.gxf6 Nxf6 22.g5 (+-) 22...Ne8 23.Bg4 Kg7 (23...Rc7 24.Rxc4 Rxc4 25.Be6 +-) 24.Bxc8 Rxc8 25.Rd2 Bg8 26.Nb5 Rc4 27.Nd4 Nc7 28.b3 Rc3 29.Rd3 Rc5 30.Kb2 a5 31.Rc3 Rxc3 32.Kxc3 b5 33.Nc6, 1-0.

The real challenge to my novelty might be 17...f6!?. I had to work very hard in these games and did not even manage to win them both. 18.gxf6 Nxf6 19.f4

(The only move. After 19.g5 Nh5 20.f4 Rf8 the f4-pawn is a clear target.) Here (after 19.f4), my opponents went their own way. The German Gunnar Mutz chose a typical Sicilian move to obtain the e5-square for his Knight: 19...g5 20.fxg5 Nd7 21.Rd1 (21.Rh6 Bf7 22.Rd1 Ne5 23.Be2 was interesting as well.) 21...Rf8 22.Be2 (22.Nb5!? Rxf1 23.Rxf1 Bc4 24.Rfh1 Bb5 25.Rxh7 gives White a certain initiative.) 22...Ne5 23.Rdh1 Rf7 24. Nb5 Bd7 (24...Raf8 25.Nd4 Bxg4 26.Bxg4 Nxg4 27.Nf5 e6 28.g6! Rf6 29.Ne7+ Kg7 30.Rh7 is called checkmate!) 25.Nd4 e6 26.b3 Raf8 27.Rh6 Ng6 28.Bc4 Re8

Now it is my turn to play a typical Sicilian move: 29.Nf5! d5 30.Nd6 (30.Rxg6 hxg6 31.Nh6+ Kg7 32.Nxf7 dxc4 33.Ne5 should lower the curtains as well.) 30...dxc4 31.Nxf7 Re7 32.Nd6 cxb3 33.axb3 Bc6 34.R6h2 (34.Rf1 Rd7 35.Rxg6 hxg6 36.e5 +-) 34...Ne5 35.Rh4 Nf3 36.Rh5 Ne5 37.Kb2 a6 38.Kc3 Ng6 39.Kd4 Nf4 40.Rh6 Ng6 41.Rxg6+ hxg6 42.Ke5 Kg7 43.Rf1 a5 44.Rf3 a4 45.bxa4 Bxa4 46.Rc3 Bc6 47.Ra3 Rc7 48.Ra7 Re7 49.c4, 1-0.

This brings me to the only, I repeat only, draw, I ever allowed in this line. My opponent was the beautiful young Linda Jap Tjoen San, one of the strongest women in Holland. She decided to go for (from DIAGRAM 4):

19...Rc5 20.g5

The only move. Now Black certainly threatened to play 20...g5 and 20.f5 does not look like an option.

20...Nd7

20..Nh5?! 21. Be2 Ng3 22.Bd1 ±

21.Rd1

21.Nd5!? Bxd5 22.exd5 Rac8 23.c3 Nf8 24.Bd3 was an interesting alternative, with f5 or an advance of the queenside in mind. 21.Bh3?! Bxh3 22.Rxh3 Nb6 23.Rd1 Rf8 24.Ne2 e5 on the other hand only gives Black counterplay.

21...Rf8

22.Bg2

Much better would have been 22.Nb5! Bc4 (22...Nb6 23.Nd4 Bc8 24.Bh3 Bxh3 25.Rxh3 Rxf4 26.Ne6 Rxe4 27.Nxc5 dxc5 28.Rdh1 ±) 23.Nd4 Bxf1 24.Rxf1 Rxg5 25.Ne6 ±.

22...Nb6 23.Ne2 Bc8 24.Rdh1 Rf7 25.Ng3 Nc4 26.f5 gxf5 27.exf5 Bxf5 28.Nxf5 Rfxf5 29.Bxb7 Rxg5 30.Ba6

30. Rxh7 Na3+ is unsound.

30...Ne3 31.Rxh7 Rg1+ 32.Rxg1+ Kxh7 33.Bd3?!+

Missing my last chance with 33.b4. The "man with the plan" indicated Bd3, activate the Rook and march with the King!.

33...Kh6!

Now Linda will answer 34.b4 by ...Rg5!

34.Rg6+ Kh5 35.Re6 Re5 36.Rxe5+

The active black King guarantees Linda a certain draw.

36...dxe5 37.c4 Kg4 38.c5 Kf3

38...Kf4 followed by ...e4/...Ke5 would have secured the draw at once.

39.c6 Nd5 40.Bc4 Nc7 41.Kc2 e4 42.b4 e3 43.a4

Make no mistake: 43.b5? Kf2 44.Kd1 Nd5 45.a4 Nc3+ and Black wins!

43...Ke4

43...Kf2? 44.Kd1 Nd5 45.a5 Nc3+ 46.Kc2 Nd5 47.Bxd5 e2 48.c7 is winning for White now.

44.Kc3 Ke5 45.b5 Kd6 46.Kd4 Na8 47.Be2 Nb6 48.a5 Na8 49.Kxe3 a6

Linda spots the final trick: 49...Kc5? 50.Ke4 a6 51.c7 Nxc7 52.b6 +-.

50.Kd4 axb5 51.Bxb5 Nc7 52.Ba4 Na6 53.Kc4 Nb8 54.Bb5, 1/2-1/2.

My notes indicate White is on top after my novelty 16.Rh4!?. Besides, play is very easy: double the Rooks, push f4/f5, put your Knight on d5 and win! A well-timed Nb5/Nd4 might also do the trick.