My n Most
Memorable Games
1.
Sunday Times Schools Tournament.
White: Osiecki Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Pirc/Robatsch
B08
1. e4
g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bf4 Nf6 5 Nc3 O-O 6. Bc4 Nbd7 7. O-O Nb6 8. Bb3 a5 9. Re1? a4 10. Bd5 Nbd5:
[10…e6 wins more easily] 11. Nd5: Nd5: 12. ed5: b6 13. Qd2 Bb7 14. c4 b5! 15. cb5: Bd5:
16. Bh6 Bc4 17. Bg7: Kg7: 18. Qb4
Bd5 19. Re3 Qd7 20. b3 ab3: 21. a4 Rfb8 22. h3 Rb5: 23. Qb5: Qb5: 24. ab5: Ra1:+ 25. Kh2 b2 26. Nd2 e6 27. Rc3 Rd1 28. Rc2 Rd2: 29. Rd2: b1=Q 30. 0-1
2. YMCA “A” v. YMCA
“B” Board 6 Result 5-3 27/11/1970
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: S. Mallaband
Opening: Benoni A71
1. d4
Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3
ed5: 5. cd5: d6 6. e4 g6 7. Bg5 Bg7
8. Nf3 h6 9. Bh4 g5 10.
Bg3 O-O [10…Nh5 is more usual] 11. Bd3 b5 12. Nb5:
Ne4: 13. Be4: Qa5+ 14. Nc3 Re8 15. Qc2 f5 [ Regaining the piece but at a price] 16. O-O fe4: 17. Ne4:
Bf5 18 Rfe1 (At this stage, my opponent rather foolishly pointed out that I
could have played Nf6+!) Na6 19. Nf6+! Bf6: 20. Qf5:
Kg7 21. Qd7+ Kg6 22. Re8: Nc7 23. Ra8: Na8: 24 Qe8+
1-0
3.
White: P.W.H. Smith Black:
A. Weston
Opening: Blackmar-Diemer Gambit D00
1. d4
d5 2. e4 [A habit I continued throughout my chess career –
trying to annihilate my opponents using dubious opening gambits. I
actually found this one in a book called “Modern Traps in the Chess Openings” –
by Horowitz, something I found in the public library] de4: 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3
ef3: 5 Qf3: [Nf3 is probably just about playable – this is unsound, but
dangerous] Qd4: 6. Be3 Qd6 7. Nb5 Qb4+ 8. c3 Qb2: 9.
Rd1 Na6 10. Bf4 Bg4? 11. Qb7: Rb8 12 Qb8:+ ! 1-0 [12…Nb8 13 Nc7 mate]
4. YMCA “A” v
White: R.P Honan (BCF
146) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: King’s Gambit C37
1. e4
e5 2. f4 ef4: [When Richard Honan plays a King’s Gambit against a schoolkid, it is generally assumed that its
effectively all over] 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4
g4 5. O-O gf3: 6. Qf3: Bc5+ {Not mentioned in the books, but almost
certainly bad; 6…Qf6 is normal] 7. Kh1 [ 7. d4!] Qf6 8. c3 Nc6 9. d4 Bd4:! 10 cd4: Nd4: 11 Qd3 f3! [White has effectively been
outplayed in the opening] 12. gf3: d6 13. Nc3 Bh3 14 Nd5 Qe5! 15 f4? Bf1: 16 fe5: Bd3: 17 Nc7:+ Kd8 18 Na8: Bc4! 19. Bg5+ Kd7 20. b3 Be6 21. ed6: f6 22.
Be3 Nc2 23. 0-1 [At this point, I got up and some
players, including members of my own team thought I had lost]
5.
White: A.T. Hutchinson Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: French Defence Advance C02
1. e4
[A.T. Hutchinson was the father of a chess playing family that included the two
girls Susan and Mary – I had already played Susan the round before] e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 h6 [5…Qb6] 6. Be2 Nge7 7.
Be3 Nf5 8. Qd2 Be7 9. O-O Qb6 10. dc4: Bc5: 11 Bc5: Qc5: 12. b4
Qb6 13. a4 Qc7 14. Bb5 Bd7 15.
Bc6: bc6: 16. Re1 O-O 17. Qd3 a5 18
Nbd2 Rfb8 19. Reb1 Qb6 20. g4
Ne7 21. Nc4?! Qa6 22. Nfd2 Rb7 23.
ba5:? dc4: 24. Nc4: Rab8 25. Rb6 Rb6:
26. ab6: Rb7 27 a5 Nd5 28. Qd4 f6 29. f4 c5! [Easing
black’s position in one fell swoop] 30. Qc5: Nf4: 31. ef6: gf6: 32 Rd1 Ne2+ 33.
Kf2 [The start of a bizarre king walk] Nc3: 34. Rd4 e5 35. Ke3?? [Inexplicable] ed4:+ 36. Kd4: Nb5+ 37. Kd5 Nc7+ 38. Kd6 Ne6 39. Qd5 Rc7! 40. Ke7 Bc6:+ 41. bc7: Bd5: 42. 0-1
6. Sheffield ‘B’ v.
White: P.W.H. Smith Black:
Opening: Kings Gambit C35
1. e4
e5 2. f4 ef4: 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bc4 Bh4+ 5. g3 fg3: 6. O-O
gh2:+ [6…d5!] 7. Kh1 Be7 [7…d6!?] 8 Bf7:+! Kf7: 9. Ne5++ Ke8 10 Qh5+ g6 11.
Ng6: Nf6 12 Rf6:! Bf6: 13 Nh8:+ Ke7 14. Qh7:+ Ke6 15. Qf7+ Kd6 16. Qd5+ Ke7 17 Ng6+ 1-0 [in view
of 17…Ke8 18 Qg8 mate] A game straight out of the 19th century.
7. Hillsborough Club
Knockout Round 2 22/05/1972
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: J. Wild (BCF 138)
Opening: Falkbeer Counter Gambit C31
1. e4
e5 [Jack Wild was a long standing member of the Hillsborough Chess Club and I
believe was also a county player when he was younger – you could hardly hope to
meet a more pleasant person] 2. f4 d5 3. ed5: ef4: 4
Nf3 Qd5: 5 Nc3 Qf5 6 d4 Bd6 7 Be2 Ne7 8 O-O Ng6 9 Bd3 Qh5 10 Re1+ Ne7 11 Nb5
Be6 12 Nd6:+ cd6: 13 Bf4: d5 14 Be2 Qf5 15 Qd2 Ng6 16 Bg3 Nc6 17 Ng5 h6 18 Ne6:
fe6: 19 Rf1 Qg5 20 Qg5: hg5: 21 c3 Rf8 22 Rf8:+ Kf8: 23 Rf1+ Kg8 24 Bg4 Re8 25
Bh5 Kh7 26 Rf7 Re7 27 Re7: Nce7: 28 Bg4 Nf8 29 Kf1 Kg8 30 Ke2 Kf7 31 Kd3 g6 32
Bb8 a6 33 Bf3 Nf5 34 g3 Nd7 35 Bc7 Ke7 36 b3 Nf6 37 c4 Nd6 38 cd5: ed5: 39 Ba5
Ke6 40 Bd8 Nfe4 41 a4 Kf5 42 Bc7 g4 43 Bg2 Nf7 44 Ke3 Nfg5 45 Bf4 Nh3 46 Be4:+
de4: 47 d5 Ng5 48 Bg5: Kg5: 49 Ke4: Kf6 50 Kd4 b6 51 b4 g5 52 a5 ba5: 53 ba5:
Ke7 54 Ke5 Kd7 55 d6+ Ke8 56 Ke6 Kd8 57 d7 1-0 [An absorbing game that I feel I
made heavy weather of in places]
8.
White: P.W.H Smith Black M. Ruck
Opening: King’s Indian Attack A08
1 e4 e6 2 d3 d5 3 Nd2
c5 4 g3 b6 5 Bg2 Bb7 6 Ngf3 Nf6 7 Qe2 Be7 8 O-O O-O 9
Re1 Nc6 10 e5 Nd7 11 Nf1 g5 12 h4 h6 13 Nfh2 g5?! [Exposing his king] 14 Qd2 f4
15 hg5: Bg5: 16 Ng5: [Still influenced by Bobby Fischer’s Games of chess] hg5:
17 Bh3 Qe7 18 Ng4 Nd4 19 Bg2 Qg7 20 c3 f3!? 21 cd4: fg2: 22 Qg5: Qg5: 23 Bg5:
cd4: 24 Rac1 [The beginning of the fatal assault down the c file] Nc5 25 Red1
Ba6 26 b4! Nd7 27 Rc7 Bb5 28 Kg2: Kf7 29 Nf6 Kg6 30 Nd7: Bd7: 31 Rd7: Kg5: 32
f4+ Kg6 33 Rc1 Rfd8 34 Rdc7 b5 35 R1c6 Re8 36 g4 [Snaring black’s king in a
mating net] a5 37 f5+ Kg5 38 Kg3 1-0
9.
White: M. Howard (BCF 181) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: English A30
1 c4 c5 2 g3 g6 3 Bg2
Bg7 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 O-O O-O 6 d4 cd4: 7 Nd4: Nc6 8 Nc2 d6
9 Nc3 Bd7 10 Rb1 Qc8 11 Re1 Bh3 12 Bh1 Rd8 13 Bg5 Qf5 14 Qd2 Ng4 15 e4 Qd7 16
Nd5 Nge5 17 b3 Bg4 18 Qe3 f6 19 Bf4 g5 20 Be5: Ne5: 21 Nd4 e6 22 Nb4 Nc6 23
Nbc6: bc6: 24 e5 d5 25 cd5: cd5: 26 ef6: Bf6: 27 Nf3 Qg7 28 Rbc1 Rac8 29 Qd3
Rc1: 30 Rc1: e5 31 Qa6 e4 32 Nd2 Bd4 33 Nf1 Qf6 34 Qf6: Bf6: 35 Ne3 Be2 36 Rc6
Bg7 37 Nf5 d4 38 Be4: d3 39 Bd3: Bd3: 40 Ng7 Be4! 41 Rc1 Kg7: 42 [ white could resign here] f3 Bf3: 43 Rc7+ Kg6 44 Ra7: Rd2
45 a3 h5 46 b4 Rb2 47 Ra5 Rg2+ 48 Kf1 Rh2: 49 b5 Rb2 50 a4 h4 51 gh4: gh4: 52
Ra6+ Kg5 53 Ra5 Kf4 54 Ra7 Kg3 55 Rg7+ Bg4 56 a5 Rb1 mate
10
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: J. Fryer
Opening: Centre Counter B01
1 e4 d5 [J. Fryer was
an unknown quantity to me. He wasn’t rated, didn’t play for any club and yet
gave me a really difficult game – in fact at one point almost looked like
winning. I was invited round to his house, given tea and biscuits and we played
chess on a beautiful chess set and board – I almost felt bad about winning] 2
ed5: Qd5: 3 Nc3 Qa5 4 d4 e6 5 Bd2 Qb6 6 Nf3 Nf6 7 Bc4 Bd7 8 O-O Be7 9 Re1 O-O
10 a4 Nc6 11 Nb5 Na5 12 Bd3 a6 13 b4! ab5: 14 ba5: Qa6 15 Qe2 c6 16 ab5: cb5:
17 Reb1 Bd8 18 Bb5: Bb5: 19 Qb5: Qb5: 20 Rb5: b6 21 a6 [ a
pawn up with a dangerous passed pawn white should now win easily] Bc7 22 Ne5
Rfc8 23 Rb2? [This move allows black into the game] Rcd8 24 Nf3 h6 25 g3 Ne4 26
Be3 Nc3 27 Nd2 e5 28 Nf3 Ne2+ 29 Kf1 Nd4: 30 Nd4: ed4: 31 Bd2 Rd5 32 Ke2 d3+!
33 Kd1 Be5 34 c3 Ra5 35 Ra5: ba5: 36 Rb6 Kf8 37 Kc1 Ke8 38 Kb2 Bc7 39 Rb7 Bd6
40 a7 g5 41 Be3 Rd8 42 Bd6 d2 43 Kc2 Bc7 44 Kd1 Bb6: 45 Rb6: Kd7 46 Rb8 1-0 [An
absorbing struggle that I was somewhat fortunate to win after gaining the
advantage in the early stages of the game]
11. Sheffield II v
Bradford II Board 1 4 ½ - 3 ½ 5/5/1973
White: A. Wittwer (BCF
148) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez C77
1. e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 b5 6 Bb3 Be7 7 O-O O-O 8 c3 d6
9 h3 h6 10 Be3 Re8 11 Nh2 Bd7 12 f4 Na5 13 Bc2 c5 14 b4 cb4: 15 cb4: Nc6 16 a3
Rc8 17 f5 Qc7 18 Ra2 d5 19 Kh1 Red8 20 Qe2 de4: 21 de4: Be8! [A subtle
preparatory move, preparing for a combination on the c2 bishop] 22 Nf3 Bb4! 23
ab4: Nb4: 24 Bb3 Na2: 25 Qa2: Ne4: [collecting 3 pawns and a rook for the two
pieces] 26 Rc1 Qd6 27 Rd1 Qf6 28 Rd8: Rd8: 29 g4? [ a
blunder in a difficult position – but I included the game partly because of the
combination and partly because of the last move in the game] Rd3 30 Kg2: Re3:
31 Bd5 Bc6 32 Bc6: Qc6: 33 Ne5: Rg3+ 34 Kh2 Qc7 35 Qb2 Rc3! [
white faces a ruinous simplification into a hopeless endgame] 36 0-1
12. BCCS Continuous
Tournament August 1973
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: P.Lonergan
Opening: Trompovsky A45
1 d4 Nf6 [My opponent
was someone I had recently faced over the board and lost to and it was this
game more than anything else that convinced me I would be a far stronger
correspondence player than OTB where I tended to suffer from lapses of
concentration, boredom at some openings and a poor memory for opening theory] 2
Bg5 [My opening theory books were almost non-existent at this time] e6 3 Nd2
Be7 4 e3 O-O 5 Nfg3 b6 6 c3 Bb7 7 Bd3 d6 8 Qc2 h6 9 h4 [White has already built
up a dangerous king side initiative] Ba6 [of course 9…hg5 would be suicidal] 10
Bf6: Bd3: 11 Qd3: Bf6: 12 g4 [the attack continues] g5?! [
this looks dubious but it is hard to see how white’s initiative can be
stopped] 13 hg5: Bg5: 14 O-O-O Nd7 15 Ng5: Qg5: 16 f4 Qg7 17 g5 h5 18 Rh5: Qg6
19 Qe2 Kg7 20 Rh6 Qf5 21 Rdh1 Rg8 22 Rh7+ Kf8 23 e4 1-0 [ black is mated in a
few moves]
13. BCCS Continuous
Tournament 22/08/1973 – 29/01/1974
White: D. Williams Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack C89
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 [I discovered the
Marshall Attack and apart from a couple of setbacks and the feeling that by the
time I retired from chess it had been over-analysed, it served me
well. I also felt at home with its tactical potential and understood it
strategically.] 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5: 11 Re5: c6 12 d6 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3
Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18 a4 f5 19 f4 [19 Qf1 is usual here]
Rfe8 20 Nf1 [ 20 ab5: - Black now demonstrates the
potential of the Marshall Attack] Bf3 21 Qd2 Bf4!! 22 Qf2 Be3: 23 Re3: Re3: 24
Ne3: Re3: 25 ab5: ab5: 26 Ra8+ Kf7 27 Rd8 Re1+! 0-1 [in view of 28 Qe1: Qg2
mate]
14.
White: P.J. Beckett Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack C89
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 Bd5: cd5: 13 d4 Bd6 14 Re1 Qh4 15 g3 Qh3 16 Be3 Bg4 17 Qd3 Rae8
18 Nd2 Re6 19 Qf1 Qh5 20 a4 f5 21 f4 Rfe8 22 Bf2 Re2 23 Qg2 Rd2!? [This move is
not mentioned by theory – but appears to win for black] 24 Re8: Qe8: 25 Qd5:+
Kh8 26 Qd6: Rf2:! 27 ab5:? [A
blunder, but white is lost anyway] Re2 0-1 [Black wins after 27 Kf2: Qe2+ 28
Kg1 Qe3+ 29 Kg2 Bf3+! 30 Kh3 Qe8! 31 g4 Bg4:+ 32 Kh4 Qh5+ 33 Kg3 Qh3+ 34 Kf2
Qh2:+ 35 Kf1 Qh3+ 36 Kg1 Qe3+ 37 Kh2 Qf2+ 38 Kh1 Bf3 mate]
15. BCCS Continuous
Tournament 16/10/1973 – 14/05/1974
White: R.B. Eastwood Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Two Knights Defence, Fritz C57
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 d5 5 ed5: Nd4 [The Fritz was one of my favourites, it is obscure
and also immensely complicated] 6 c3 b5 7 Bf1 Nd5: 8 Nf7: Kf7: 9 cd4: ed4: 10 Qf3+
Nf6 11 Qa8: Bc5 12 Bc4+ [This sensible move allows to castle and maintain a
material advantage] bc4: 13 O-O Qd6 14 Qf3 Bg4 15 Qg3 Qd7 16 d3 Nh5 17 Qe5 Bb4
18 f3 Bf5 19 g4 [Weakening the king’s side, but winning a piece] Bd3: 20 Qh5+
g6 21 Qe5 Re8 22 Qf4+ Kg8 23 Rf2 Be1 24 Rg2 c3 25 Nc3:! dc3: 26 bc3: Bc3: 27
Bb2 Bb2: 28 Rb2: Qg7! [The only way to maintain the
initiative] 29 Qb4 c5 30 Qb7 Qd4+ 31 Kg2 Ba6! 32 Qb3+ Bc4 33 Qa3 Re3 34 Rb8+
Kg7 35 Qa7:+ Kh6 36 g5+ Kg5: 37 Rg1 Bd5 38 Qh7: Qg4+ 39 Kf2 Rg3:+ 40 0-1 [ 40 Ke2 Rg3+! – A game of which I was quite proud]
16. BCCS Annual
Championship Tournament Reserves ‘A’ 19/02/1974 – 30/06/1974
White: J. McLaughlin Black:
P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez,
Marshall Attack C89
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Re4 g5 [This variation was very
popular around this time because an article published in Chess claimed that
this refuted the Marshall Attack] 16 Qf1 Qh5 17 Bd1 [Not mentioned in theory]
Qg6 18 Nd2 Bf5 19 Re1 Rae8 20 Nf3 Re1: 21 Qe1: f6 22 b3 Re8 23 Be3 Bf4!! 0-1
17 BCCS Continuous
Tournament 12/02/1974 – 01/07/1974
White: M.J. MacKenzie Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez,
Marshall Attack C89
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 g3 Bf6 13 Re1 Bf5 [Not mentioned in theory, but a natural
response] 14 d4 Qd7 15 Bd5: Qd5: 16 Bf4 Bh3 17 f3 Rae8 18 Kf2 c5 19 Be3? cd4:
20 Bd4: Re1: 21 Ke1: Bd4: 22 cd4: Qc4! 23 Kf2 Rd8 24 Na3 Qb4 25 Nc2 Qb2: 26 g4
Rc8 27 Kg3 Rc2: 28 Kh3: Rh2:+ 29 Kg3 Qf2+ 30 Kf4 h5 31 Rc1 hg4: 32 Rc8+ Kh7 33
Qd3+ g6 0-1
18 British Junior
Correspondence Chess Championship Section “B” 11/10/1974 – 10/03/1975
White: P.W.H.
Smith Black: M.J. Orr
Opening: King’s Indian Defence
1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 f3
g6 4 c4 Bg7 5 Nc3 O-O 6 Be3 e5 7 d5 c6 8 Bd3 cd5: 9 cd5: Ne8 10 Qd2 Na6 11 Nge2
Bd7 12 O-O f5 13 Bb5 Nc5? 14 b4 Na6 15 a3 Nac7 16 Bd7: Qd7: 17 a4 f4 18 Bf2 g5
19 b5 g4 20 Qd3 Rf6 21 fg4:! Qg4: 22 Qf3 [Stopping
Black’s king side attack dead] Qd7 23 Rfb1 Rf8 24 b6! Na6 25 ba7: Nc5 26 Nb5
Nc7 27 Nce3 Nca6 28 a5 Rfc8 29 Na4 Na4: 30 Ra4: Nc5
31 Rc4 Qd8 32 Qg4 Kh8 33 Rbc1 Bf8 34 Nd6:! [ The decisive breakthrough] Bd6: 35 Bc5: Bc5:+ 36 Rc5: Rc5:
37 Rc5: b6 38 Rc6 ba5: 39 Qe6 1-0
19 British Junior
Correspondence Chess Championship Section “B” 11/10/1974 – 10/04/1975
White: P.W.H.
Smith Black: C. Forwood
Opening: Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 Nc6 8 Qd2 O-O 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 h4 Rc8 11
Bb3 Ne5 12 O-O-O Nc4 13 Bc4: Rc4: 14 h5 Nh5: 15 g4 Nf6 16 Nde2 [This move was
unleashed by Anatoly Karpov against Korchnoy in their World Championship Match] Qa5 17 Bh6
Bh8!? [I can’t quite remember who suggested this rather pathetic attempt, but
it is clearly bad] 18 Bf8: Kf8: 19 g5 Nh5 20 f4 Qb6 21 e5 Bf5 22 ed6: ed6: 23
Qd6:+ Qd6: 24: Rd6: Nf4 25 Rd8+ 1-0 [My opponent rather ungraciously resigned
silently at this point – not allowing a very pretty finish; 25…Kg7 26 Nf4 Rf4:
27 Nd5 Rd4 [The deadly Nf6 was threatened] 28 Rh4!! Bg4! 29 Nf6!! Rd8: 30 Rh7:+
Kf8 31 Rh8:+ Ke7 32 Rd8: Kd8: 33 Ng4: winning easily.]
20 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Reserves “C” 9/10/1975 – 23/03/1976
White: P.W.H. Smith (BCCS) Black: T. Archer (PCC)
Opening: Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Qd4: [I had some notable successes with this opening. At the time, I had
next to no books on openings, so this rather off-beat approach to the Sicilian
suited my purposes.] Nc6 5 Bb5 Bd7 6 Bc6: Bc6: 7 Nc3 Nf6 8 Bg5 e6 9 O-O-O Be7
10 Rhe1 O-O 11 e5 de5: 12 Qh4 [The opening was not without venom, white rapidly
builds up an attack, but overall, I couldn’t help feeling the whole line was
inadequate] Qd7 13 Ne5: h6 14 Bh6:! gh6: 15 Qh6: Nh7
16 f4 Bf6 17 Re3 Bg7? 18 Rg3 f6 19 Rd7! Qd7: 20 Nd7: Rf7 21 Nc5 Kh8 22 Qg6 Be8
23 Rh3 Bf8 24 Ne6: Rg7 25 Qf5: Kg8 26 Rh7: Kh7: 27 Qf8: Rg2: 28 Ng5+ 1-0
21
White: A. Jackson (BCF 156) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Two Knights Defence, C56
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 ed4: 5 O-O Ne4: 6 Re1 d5 7 Bd5: Qd5: 8 Nc3 [I had several notable
successes with this opening in correspondence chess] Qa5 9 Ne4: Be6 10 Neg5 O-O-O
11 Ne6: fe6: 12 Re6: Bd6 13 Bg5 Rdf8 14 Bh4 [14 Qe2!?] Qf5 15
Qe2 Qg4? 16 Re4 Qf5 17 Nd4: Nd4: 18 Rd4: Rfe8 19 Qc4? Re6 20 Rad1 Rhe8
21 Rf1 Be5 22 Rd3 Bh2:+! 23 Kh2: Re4 24 Rd4 Qe5+ 25 Bg3 Rd4: 26 Qc3 Qh5+ 27 Kg1
Rd7 28 Re1 Re1:+ 29 Qe1: Rd1 0-1
22 ICCF WT/I/278
02/02/1976 – 11/01/1977
White: P.W.H. Smith(
Opening: Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Be7 8 O-O-O a6 9 f4 Nd4: 10 Qd4: Qh5 11
Bf6: gf6: 12 f3 b5 13 fe6: fe6: 14 e5! fe5: 15 Qg4 b4 16 Ne4 d5 17 Qh5+ Kd7 18
Qe5: Rf8 19 Ng5 Bg5:+ 20 Qg5: Qa2: 21 Qg7+ Ke8 22 Be2 1-0
23 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Candidates “B” 08/10/1976 – 25/03/1977
White: J.H. McLardy
(BCCA) (BCF 174) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Kings Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3
Bg7 4 e4 d6 [I read somewhere that it was a good idea to model your own opening
repertoire on that of a grandmaster. I chose Bobby Fischer – not unnaturally,
though I couldn’t get on with the Sicilian Defence. The Kings Indian Defence
however was a defence for black that I took to. It was something of a mystery
to me now why I gave up playing it.] 5 Be2 O-O 6 f4 c5 7 Be3 cd4: 8 Bd4: Nc6 9
Be3? Qa5 10 Kf2!? [I was stunned by this move when it
arrived] Be6 11 h3 Nd7 12 Na4 Nc5 13 Nc5: dc5: 14 Qc1 Nd4 15 Bf1 Qb6 16 Bd2 Qc6
17 Bd3 Rad8 18 Bc3 Nb3! 19 ab3: Rd3: 20 e5 Rfd8 21 Ne2 a6 22 Ng3 h5 23 Re1 Bh3:! 24 Ne4 Bf5 25 Ng3 Bg4 26 Nf1 h4 27 Ne3 h3 28 Rg1 hg2: 29
Nd5 R8d5:! 30 ed5: Qd5: 31 Rg2: Bh3 0-1
24 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Candidates “B” 08/10/1976 – 04/04/1977
White: D. Graham (BCCA) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 a4 Bb7 9 d3 d6 10 Bd2 b4 11 c3
d5 [Well it’s a Marshall Attack after all – sort of] 12 cd5: Nd5: 13 Ne5: Ne5:
14 Re5: Bf6 15 Re1 c5 16 Qg4 Qd6 17 c4 Nc7 18 Bf4 Qd3: 19 Qd1 Qg6 20 g3 Bb2: 21
Ra2 Qc6 22 f3 Bd4+ 23 Kg2 Ne6 24 Bc1 Rad8 25 Qe2 Rfe8 26 Qf1 Nf4+! 0-1 [ in view of 27
Bf4: Re1: 28 Qe1 Qf3:+ -+]
25 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Candidates “B” 08/10/1976 – 07/05/1977
White: P.W.H. Smith Black P.H. Newing
Opening: Alekhine’s Defence
1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4
d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 f4 de5: 6 fe5: Bf5 7 Be3 e6 8 Nc3 Bb4 9 Nf3 c5 10 Be2 O-O 11 O-O
cd4: 12 Nd4: Bc3: 13 bc3: Bg6 14 a4 Na6 [After the game, my opponent told me
that he was convinced he was winning because of my weak pawns – however, most
of the play centres on open lines, rather than pawns.] 15 a5 Nd7 16 Bf3 Rb8 17
Nb5 Ne5: 18 Ba7: Qd1: 19 Rfd1:! [Realising the importance of controlling the d
file] Nf3:+ 20 gf3: Rbd8 21 Rd6 Bd3 22 Bb6 Rd6: 23 Nd6: Rb8 24 Ra2 Kf8 25 Rb2
Ke7 26 c5 f6 27 Kf2 e5 28 Ba7 Rd8 29 Nb7: Rd5 30 c6 Bc4 31 Bb6 Ke8 32 Rb1 Rd2+
33 Kg1 Be2 34 Be7 Rd3 35 Kf2 Rd1 36 Rb6 Bf1 37 Nd6+! Kd8 38 c4 Nc7 39 Bc5 1-0
26 British
Correspondence Chess Championship 24/09/1977 – 28/03/1978
White: J.S. Hart (SCCA) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: English
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 g3
c6 4 Nf3 e4 5 Nd4 Qb6 6 e3 d5 7 Qc2 Nbd7 [An extremely dubious opening] 8 cd5:
cd5: 9 Ncb5 Bc5 10 b4? Bd4: 11 Nd4: O-O 12 a4? Ne5 13 Bb2 Bg4 14 Bc3 Rac8 15 h3
Nf3+ 16 Nf3: Bf3: 17 Rg1 d4! [Creating space for the knight on d5] 18 ed4: Nd5
19 Qb2 Rfe8 20 Be2 Qh6 21 h4 Be2: 22 Ke2: e3! 23 Kf1 Qf6 24 Rg2 e2+ 25 Ke1 Qf3
26 Rg1 Re6 0-1 [27…Rf6 is unstoppable]
27 British
Correspondence Chess Championship 24/09/1977 – 28/04/1978
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: P.C. Robertson (SCCA)
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Delayed Exchange Variation,
deferred.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Bc6: dc6: 7 Nc3 Bg4 8 h3 Bh5 9 g4 Bg6 10 Ne5: Ne4!
11 Re1 [A line recommended by Len Pickett – but black has an unpleasant
surprise waiting] Nc3: 12 bc3: O-O 13 Rb1 Bd6 14 Rb7: [The point of Len
Pickett’s analysis – white wins a pawn, but his king’s side is seriously
compromised] Qf6! 15 d4 Rae8 16 f4 Qh4! 17 Kg2 c5 18 Qe2 f5! [and white is in serious trouble] 19 Qc4+ Kh8 20 Nf3 Qd8 21
dc5: fg4: 22 hg4: Re1: 23 cd6:!? [mixing it and
leading to unfathomable complications] Rc1: 24 dc7: Rc2:+ 25 Kg3 Qa8 26 Qb4 [A
whole rook down, but white’s position is not without hope because of the
menacing pawn on c7] Rc3: 27 Kh4!! [This is one of the most extraordinary moves
I have ever played – Paul later told me that he was quite shocked to discover
that his next move was the only one that didn’t lose] Rg8! 28
Ng5 a5 29 Qb2 h6 30 Ne6 Rc2 31 Qb6? [31 Qb3! Bf7 32 Qc2: Qb7 33 Nd8!] Qe8 32 Qd6?? Rc6 0-1 [My thanks to Paul for making this extraordinary
game possible]
28 ICCF World Cup IV
Round 1 31/8/1977 – 13/07/1978
White: L. Passeri (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack C89
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18
a4 f5 19 Qf1 Qh5 20 f4 ba4: 21 Ra4: g5 22 Ra6: gf4: 23 Rc6: fg3: 24 hg3: f4 25
Qg2 f3 26 Qh2 Re3:! 27 Re3: f2+ 28 Kg2 Qf7! 29 Qh1 Ne3:+ 30 Kh2 Be6 31 Qf3 Qf3: 0-1
29 British
Correspondence Chess Championship 24/09/1977 – 22/07/1978
White: M.P.F. Singleton Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening:
1 d4 d5 [Looking back
now, it is not exactly clear to me why I turned my back on the King’s Indian Defence,
which served me well in the early days. I did have some measure of success with
a line in the Nimzo Indian however – see below] 2 c4
e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 cd5: ed5: 5 Bg5 Be7 6 e3 h6 7 Bh4 O-O 8 Bd3 b6 9 Nge2 Nbd7 10
Bg3 Bb7 11 Nf4 c5 12 Rc1 Re8 13 O-O c4 14 Bb1 a6 15 f3 b5 16 e4 de4: 17 fe4: b4
18 Ncd5 Nfd5: 19 Nd5 Bd5: 20 ed5: Nf6 21 Rc4: Qd5: 22 Qd3 Bd6 23 Bh4 Ne4 24 g4
g6 25 Bc2 a5 26 Bd1 g5 27 Bg3? Bg3: 28 hg3: Ng3:! 29
Rd2 Rd5 30 Rf2 Qe1+ 31 Kg2 Ne4 32 Be4: Qe4:+ 33 Qf3 Rad8 34 Rd2 Rd5 35 Rc7 f5
36 ef5: Qf3:+ 37 Kf3: Rf5:+ 38 Kg4 Rf4+ 39 Kg3 Ree4 40 d5 Rd4 41 Re2 Rf7 42 Rc5
a4 43 Ra5 b3 44 ab3: Rd3+ 45 Kg4 ab3: 46 Rb5 Kg7 47 Re4 Rf6 48 Rb8 Rd5: 49 Re7+
Rf7 50 Rf7:+ Kf7: 51 Rb3: Rd4+ 52 Kf5 Rf4+ 53 Ke5 Kg6 54 Rb8 Kh5 55 b4 Kg4 56
b5 h5 57 b6 Rb4 58 Kd5 h4 0-1
30 Postal Chess League
Division 1 Board 6 23/03/1978 – 10/11-1978
White P.W.H. Smith (BCCS) Black:
J. Coleby (
Opening: Centre-Counter
1 e4 d5 2 ed5: Nf6 3
d4 Nd5 4 Nf3 c6 5 c4 Nf6 6 Bg5 Ne4 7 Nc3 Ng5: 8 Ng5: e5 9 Nf3 ed4: 10 Nd4: Be7
11 Qd2 O-O 12 O-O-O Re8 13 Bd3 c5 14 Nf3 Nc6 15 Qc2 Nd4 16 Bh7:+ Kh8 17 Nd4:
cd4: 18 Nd5 Qd6 19 Be4 Bg5+ 20 Kb1 g6 21 h4 Bh6 22 f3 f5 23 Bd3 b5 24 h5 bc4:
hg6: cd3: 26 gh6:+ Kg7 27 Qd2 f4 28 Rdh1 Qd5: 29 Qf4: Bf5 30 Rh7+ Kf6 31 Ka1
Qe5 32 Qh4+ Ke6 33 Re1 d2 [This pawn proves extremely troublesome] 34 Re7+!
Re7: 35 Re5:+ Ke5: 36 Qe7:+ Kd5 37 Qb7+ Ke5 38 g4+ Ke6 39 Qc6+ Ke7 40 Qc5+ Ke6
41 Qe5+ 1-0
31 BPCF Grand Open
Round 1 24/10/1978 – 16/05/1979
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: P.H. Clarke IM
Opening: Evans Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb4: 5 c3 Bc5 6 d4 ed4: 7
O-O d6 8 cd4: Bb6 9 Nc3 [The so-called Normal position] Na5 10 Bg5 Ne7 11 Nd5
f6 12 Bf6: gf6: 13 Nf6:+ [A line dating back to Chigorin
and thought to be a draw] Kf8 14 Ng5 Nc4: 15 Qh5 Kg7 16 Qf7+ Kh6 17 Ngf7! [17
Qh5 is of course a draw – but I had spotted some faulty analysis in Tim
Harding’s book on the Evan’s Gambit] Bd4: 18 g4 Bf6: 19 Nf6: Rg8! [19…Qf8?? 20
g5+ Kg5: 21 Nh7+ +-] 20 f4?! [but 20 Qh7+ finished the
job, e.g. Kg5 21 Ng8: Qg8: (Ng8 22 f4+
Kf6 23 g5+ Ke6 24 f5+ Ke5 25 Qg7+ Ke4: 26 Rad1+-) 22 f4 Kg4: 23 h3+ Kg3 24 Qh5
Nd2 25 Rac1! +-] Rg4: 21 Kh1 Qh8 22 f5 Ne5 23 Ng8:+? [The last chance was 23
Qe7:! +-] Ng8 24 Qe5 Qf6 25 Qc7: Nf2!+
26 Kg1 Nf4: 27 Qa5 Bd7! 0-1 [The one that got away]
32 BPCF Grand Open
Round 1 24/10/1978 – 13/06/1979
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: P.H.Tibbert
Opening: Evans Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb4: 5 c3 Ba5 6 d4 ed4: 7 O-O Bc3:!? 8
Nc3: dc3: 9 Qb3 Qf6 10 e5 Qg6 11 Qc3: Nge7 12 Ba3 O-O 13 Rad1 a6? 14 Rfe1 b5 15
Bd3 Qh5 16 Be4 Rb8 17 Bc6: Nc6: 18 Bf8: Kf8: 19 Qc5+ Ke8 20 e6!! [A devastating
finish] 1-0 [After 20…Qc5 21 ed7:+ mates rapidly]
33 British
Correspondence Chess Championship 16/10/1978 – 31/07/1979
White: F.J. Kwiatkowski Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Reti
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 g3 g6 3
Bg2 Bg7 4 O-O O-O 5 c4 d6 6 Nc3 Nbd7 7 d3 d5 8 a3 a5
9 Rb1 Re8 10 Nd2 c6 11 b4 ab4: 12 ab4: Nf8 13 b5 d5 14 dc6: bc6: 15 Qb3 Be6 16
Bb2 Qd7 17 Na4 Rfb8 18 Qc2 Qa7 19 Ra1 Nf8d7 20 Nf3 dc4: 21 Ne5: cd3: 22 Qd3: Rb2:!!
[The start of a long tactical sequence in which white is comprehensively
outplayed] 23 Nd7: Rb4 24 Ndb6 Rb6: 25 Nb6: Qa1: 26 Bc6: Bh3! 27 Rd1 Ra3 28
Qd8+ Bf8 29 Nc4 Nd7!! 30 Ne3 Qf6 31 Qc8 Ne5 32 Qb3: Qc6: 33 Qh4 Ra4 [a piece
down, white could resign now] 34 Qd8 Ra8 35 Qd2 Bh6 36 Qh4 Be3: 37 Qe5: Bh6 38
Qd5 Qd5: 39 Rd5: Ra2 40 Rd8+ Bf8 41 Re8 Kg7
[Ludicrously – here white claimed a draw on adjudication – the result] 0-1
[After the British Correspondence Chess Championship concluded for that year, I
received a short note from the eventual winner of the event, Steve Cunliffe, who said of this game: “It was for my money the
most spectacular game of the event, and I’ve played through them all. It was
one sledge hammer blow after the other.” Thanks Steve, I never forgot that and
I still have the letter]
34 BPCF Grand Open
Round 1 24/10/1978 – 29/08/1979
White: T.D. Harding Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: English
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3
Nf3 Nc6 4 d4 [I adopted this opening as something active against the English
which I found about as interesting as watching paint dry.] ed4: 5 Nd4 Bb4 6 g3
Ne4 7 Qd3 d5! 8 Ndb5 O-O! 9 Bg2 Bf5 10 Qd5: Nc3: 11
bc3: Qf6 12 Bb2 Rad8 13 Qf3 Ne5 14 Qf4 g5 15 Qc1 Nd3+! 16 ed3: Bd3: 17 Nc7:
Qe5+ 18 Be4 Bc5 19 f3 Be4: 0-1 [It gave me immense pleasure to demolish the
author of many openings books in under 20 moves.]
35 Camberley v.
White: T. Williams Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: English
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3
Nf3 Nc6 4 g3 Bb4 5 Bg2 O-O 6 O-O Re8 7 d3 bc3: 8 bc3: e4 9 Ng5 ed3: 10 ed3: h6
11 Ne4 d6 12 Rb1 Ne5 13 f4 Ne4: 14 Be4: Nc4: 15 f5 d5! 16 Bg2 Ne3 17 Be3: Re3:
18 Qd2 Qg5 19 g4 Qe7 20 Kf2 Re5 21 d4 Qh4+ 22 Kg1 Re8 23 h3 b6! 24 Rfe1 Bb7 25
Re5 Re5: 26 de5: Qg3 27 Re1 d4 28 Rc1 Bg2: 29 Qg2
Qe3+ 30 Kh2 Qf4+ 0-1
36 Camberley v.
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: S. Cranmer
Opening: Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 Nc6 8 Bc4 O-O 9 Qd2 Bd7 10 O-O-O Rc8 11
Bb3 Ne5 12 h4 Nc4 13 Bc4: Rc4: 14 g4 Qa5 15 Nb3 Qa6 16 h5 Rfc8 17 hg6: fg6: 18
Bh6 Be6 [18…Bh8 19 e5 Ne8 20 Bf8!] 19 Bg7 Kg7: 20 Qh6+ Kg8 21 g5 Nh5 22 Rh5:!!
gh5: 23 g6 hg6:? [23…Rc3!?]
24 Qg6+ Kf8 25 Qe6: Qb6 26 Qf5+ Kg7 27 Qg5+ Kf8 28 Rg1 Ke8 29 Qh5+ Kd7 30 Qf5+
e6 31 Rg7+ Kf6 32 Qd5+! [ a pretty little finish which
my opponent sportingly allowed] ed5: 33 ed5: mate [Dragon slaying was another
of my favourite pastimes]
37
White: P. Sokolowski (
Opening: Max Lange Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 ed4: 5 O-O
Bf5 6 e5 d5 7 ef6: dc4: 8 Re1+ Be6 9 Ng5 Qd5 10 Nc3 Qf5 11 Nce4 O-O-O 12 Nc5:
Qc5: 13 Re6: fe6: 14 Ne6: Qd5 15 Nd8: Nd8: 16 f7 Nf7: 17 Qg4+ Kb8 18 Qg7: Qf5 19
g3 Rd8 20 Bf4 h5 21 h4 Rd7 22 Re1 b6 23 Re7 d3 24 Rd7: Qd7: 25 cd3: cd3: 26 Qc3
Nd8 27 Kf1 Ne6 28 Be3 Qd5 29 Ke1 Qa2: 30 Kd2 Qb1 31 b4 Ng7 32 b5 Qa2+ 3 Kd3:
Qd5+ 34 Kc2 Nf5 35 Qh8+ Kb7 36 Qe8 Nd6 37 Qc6+ Qc6:+ 38 bc6:+ Kc6: 39 f3 Nf5 40
Bf2 Kd5 41 Kc3 c5 42 g4 Ng7 43 Be3 b5 44 Bh6 b4+ 45 Kb3 Ne6 46 Be3 Nd4+ 47 Kb2
Nf3: 48 gh5: Nh4: 49 Bg5 Nf3 50 Be3 Ne5 51 h6 Ng6 52 h7 a5 53 Bh6 Kc4 54 Bg7
Kd3 55 h8=Q Nh8: 56 Bh8: c4 57 Bf6 Kd2 58 Bg5+ Kd1 59 Bf6 a4 60 Bg7 a3+ 61 Kb1
c3 0-1 [An absorbing struggle]
38 Simultaneous
Display – Camberley,
White: M.F. Stean GM
Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Anti-Marshall
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 a4 [Shame, I was hoping for a
Marshall Attack] Bb7 9 d3 d6 10 Bd2 b4 11 a5 Rb8 12 Bg5 Nd7 13 Be3 Nc5 14 Bc5:
dc5: 15 Nbd2 Bf6 16 Bd5 Nd4 17 Bb7: Rb7: 18 Nc4 Re8 19 c3 Nb5 20 Qc2 Nd6 21
Nfd2 Bg5 22 Nd6: cd6: 23 Nc4 d5 24 Nb6 de4: 25 de4: Qd2 26 Re2 Qc2: 27 Rc2: Bd8
28 Nc4 Rd7 29 Rd2 Rd2: 30 Nd2: bc3: 31 bc3: Bc7 32
Kf1 Rb8 33 Ke2 Rb2 34 Kd3 c4+ 35 Nc4: Rf2: 36 Rb1 f5 37 Rb7 fe4:+ 38 Ke4: Rf7
39 Ra7 Kf8 40 Kd5 Bd8 41 Rf7:+ Kf7: 42 Ne5:+ Kf6 43 Nc6 Bc7 44 h3 Kg5 45 c4 Kh4
46 Ke6 Kg3 47 Kd7 Bf4 48 Nb4 Bd2 49 Na6: Ba5: 50 c5 Kg2: 51 c6 Kh3: 52 Nc5 g5
53 Nb7 Bb6 54 Nd6 g4 55 Nc4 g3 ½-1/2 Draw offered by Michael – the last few
moves had been played on a one-one basis, mine being the last game to finish –
I almost refused as I sensed I had a slight advantage, although not enough to
win – especially since I was playing against a grandmaster.
39 BPCF Grand Open
Round 2 25/11/1979 – 02/06/1980
White: P.W.H. Smith Black B. Martin
Opening: Evan’s Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb4: 5 c3 Ba5 6 d4 d6 7 Qb3 Qd7 8 de5: de5: 9 O-O Bb6 [One of the
toughest defences against the Evan’s] 10 Rd1 Qe7 11 a4 Nh6 12 a5 Ba5: 13 Ba3
Qf6 14 Bb5 Bd7 15 Rd5!? [A theoretical novelty] Bb6 16 Bc6: Qc6: 17 Re5:+ Be6
18 Nd4 Bd4: 19 cd4: Ng4 20 Qb4 O-O-O 21 Rc5 Qe4: 22 Nc3 Qf4 [22…Qd4: 23 Rc7:+!
Kc7: 24 Nb5+ wins the queen] 23 Nb5 b6 24 Rc7:+ Kb8 25 Qe7 Qa2:+ 26 Kf1 Rd7 27
Rd7: Bc4+ 28 Ke1 Qb1+ 29 Kd2 Qf2:+ 30 Kc3 Qg3+ 31 Kc4: Rc8+ 32 Nc7 Qf2 33 Qe4!
[Holds everything and threatens black with instant annihilation] 1-0
40 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Candidates ‘B’ 12/10/1979 – 09/06/1980
White: A.J. Stoker Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening; Scotch Game
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4
ed4: 4 c3 d5 [This was a line that I studied quite deeply and had considerable
success with] 5 ed5: Qd5: 6 cd4: Bg4 7 Be2 O-O-O 8 Nc3 Qa5 9 O-O Bf3: 10 Bf3:
Nd4: [A chance to grab a pawn – but white gets pressure] 11 Bd5 Rd5: 12 b4!?
Bb4: 13 Nd5: Qd5: 14 Bb2 Bc5 15 Qg4+ Ne6 16 Bg7: f5! 17 Qg3 Ng7: 18 Qg7: Bd4 19
Qf8+ Qd8 20 Qf5:+ Kb8 21 Rad1 Ne7 22 Qe4 Nc6 23 Kh1 h5 24 f4 h4 25 Rf3 Re8 26
Qg6 Qe7 27 f5 Ne5 28 f6 Qd8 29 Rd4: Ng6: 30 Rd8:+ Rd8: 31 g4 hg3: 0-1
41 ICCF WT/H/254
17/05/1978 – 19/06/1980
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: J. Turczynomicz (
Opening: Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 b5 5 Bb3 d6 6 O-O Bg4 7 h3 Bf3: 8 Qf3: Nf6 9 c3 Be7 10 Rd1 Qc8 11
d4 O-O 12 d5 Na5 13 Bc2 c5 14 Nd2 h6 15 Nf1 Kh7 16 Ne3 g6 17 Bd2 Kg7 18 Rf1 c4
19 Qe2 Nb7 20 f4 Nc5 21 Qf3 ef4: 22 Qf4: Ncd7 23 Nf5+! [A combination that I
found most pleasing] gf5: 24 Qh6:+ Kg8 25 Rf5: Ne5 26 Rg5+ Ng6 27 e5! Qc5+ 28
Kh1 Ne4 29 Rg6:+ fg6: 30 Qg6:+ Kh8 31 Be4: 1-0
42 ICCF WT/M/199
31/5/1980 – 13/05/1981
White: G. Niemand (
Opening: Nimzo-Indian Defence
1 d4 e6 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3
Bb4 4 e3 O-O 5 Nf3 d5 6 Bd3 c5 7 O-O Nc6 8 a3 Bc3: 9 bc3: dc4: 10 Bc4: Qc7 [I
took up the Nimzo-Indian Defence, and did have
considerable success with this line] 11 Ba2 e5 12 h3 e4 13 Nh2 Rd8 14 Ng4 Ng4: 15 hg4: Ne5 16 f3 Nf3:+! 17 gf3: Qg3+ 18 Kh1 Rd6 19
Bf7:+ Kf7: 20 fe4:+ Ke7 21 g5 Qh4+ 22 Kg1 Bh3 23 Rf3 Qg4+ 24 Kf2 Rf8 25 Qh1
Qh4+ 26 Ke2 Rf3:+ 27 Kf3: Bg4+ 28 Kg2 Bf3+! 0-1
43 ICCF WT/M/GT/108
31/05/1980 – 06/10/1981
White: C. Teichmann (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18
a4 f5 19 Qf1 Qh5 20 f4 ba4: 21 Ra4: g5 22 Ra6: gf4: 23 Rc6: fg3: 24 hg3: f4 25
Rd6: fg3: 26 Qg2 Rd6: 27 Bd5:+ Rd5: 28 c4 Rd6 29 d5 Bh3 30 Qe2 Qe2: 31 Re2: Rdf6 32 Re1 g2 33 Kh2 Rf1 34 Rb1 Re8 0-1
44 ICCF WT/M/198
23/05/1980 – 25/05/1982
White: R. Diener (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Bd5: cd5: 16 Be3 Bg4 17 Qd3 Rae8
18 Nd2 Re6 19 a4 f5 20 Qf1 Qh5 21 f4 Rfe8 22 Qf2 h6 23 ab5: ab5: 24 Ra5 g5 25
Raa1 Qh3 26 Nf1 gf4: 27 gf4: h5! 28 Bd2 Re2 29 Qg3 h4 30 Qh3: Bh3: 31 Rad1 Kh7
32 Ne3 Rg8+ 33 Kh1 Rf2! 34 Rg1 Bf4: 35 Rg8: Kg8: 36 Bc1 Re2 37 Nf1 Bc1: 38 Rc1:
Bg2+ 39 Kg1 Be4! 0-1
45 British
Correspondence Chess Championship 17/10/1981 – 12/06/1982
White: C. Woodford BM (BCCA) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d4 ed4: 6 O-O Be7 7 Re1 b5 8 e5 Ne5: 9 Re5: d6 10 Re1 ba4:
11 Nd4: Bd7 12 Qf3 O-O 13 Nc6 Bc6: 14 Qc6: Nd7 15 Nc3 Bf6! 16 Bd2 a3 17 b3 Bd4
18 Re4!? Ne5 19 Qa4 c5 20 Rae1 f5! 21 Rf4 g5 22 Rd4: cd4: 23 Qd4: Qf6 24 Qa4
Rac8 25 f4 Nc4! 26 bc4: Qd4+ 27 Kf1 Qd2: 28 Nd5 Kh8 29 Qd7 Qc2! 30 Re7 Qc4: 31
Kf2 Qd4+ 32 Kg3 Rc3+! 0-1
46 ICCF WT/M/GT/108
31/05/1980 – 21/06/1982
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: J. Schmidt (
Opening: Sicilian, Najdorf
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Be7 8 Qf3 Qc7 9 O-O-O Nbd7 10 Bd3 h6 11
h4 Nc5 12 f5 Bd7 13 fe6: fe6: 14 e5! de5: 15 Bg6+ Kd8 16 Bf6: Bf6: 17 Ne6:+!!
Ne6: 18 Nd5! Qc6 19 Nf6: Nd4! 20 Qc6: Bc6: 21 Ng4 Bg2: 22 Rhg1 Bf3 23 Ne5: Bd1:
24 Rd1: Ke7 25 Rd4: Kf6 [Everything holds for white – just] 26 Re4 h5 27 Re1
Rad8 28 Bd3 Rd4 29 c3 Rc8 30 Be4 Rc7 31 Nf3 Rd6 32 Rg1 Kf7 33 Bg6+! Kf8 34 Bh5:
Rf6 35 Ng5 [Around here, black could safely resign] g6 36 Bf3 Kg7 37 Re1 Kh6 38
Re8 Rc4 39 Rh8+ Kg7 40 Rh7+ Kf8 41 Bb7: Rf2 42 Bd5 Rg4 43 Rf7+ Rf7: 44Bf7: Rh4:
45 Bg6: Rg4 46 Ne6+ Ke7 47 Bf5 Rg2 48 Nd4 Kd6 49 Bd3 a5 50 Ne2 Kc5 51 Kc2 Rh2
52 a3 a4 53 b4+ ab3: 54 Kb3: Rh3 55 Nf4 Re3 56 Bc4 Re4 57 Ne6 Kb6 58 Kb4 1-0
47 ICCF EU/M/GT/162
28/05/1980 – 01/07/1982
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: W. Reinhardt (
Opening: French defence
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3
Bb4 [Over the years I had some titanic battles against the French defence – not
always successful either. This was one of them] 4 e5 c5 5 a3 Bc3: 6 bc3: Ne7 7
Qg4 cd4: 8 Qg7: Rg8 9 Qh7: Qc7 10 Ne2 Nbc6 11 f4 Bd7 12 Qd3 dc3: 13 Rb1 Nf5 14
g4 Rg4: 15 Bh3 Rh4?! 16 Bf5: ef5: 17 Nc3: O-O-O 18 Nd5: Ne5:!
19 Qb3! Qa5+ 20 Bd2 Qa6 21 fe5:!? Ba4 22 Qf3 Re4+ 23
Ne3 Bc2: 24 Rb4 Rd2:! [suddenly the position is
looking a bit dicey] 25 Kd2: Qd3+ 26 Kc1 Qa3:+ 27 Kc2: Rb4: 28 Qf5:+ Kb8 29 Kd2
Qb2+ 30 Nc2 Rd4+ 31 Ke2 Rd5 32 Kf3 Rd2 33 Rg1! a5 34 e6 Qc3+ 35 Ne3 fe6: 36
Qe6: Ka7 37 h4 Rh2 38 Rg6 Qb4 39 Ng2 Qc3+ 40 Kf2 Qd4+ 41 Kg3 Rh1 42 Rg5 Qc3+ 43
Qe3:+ Qe3:+ 44 Ne3: Ka6 45 Nd5 a4 46 Nb4+ Kb6 47 h5 Rg8+ 48 Kh4 Rh1+ 49 Kg4 a3
50 Re5?! [Rf5!?] Rh2 51 Kg5 Rg2+ 52 Kf5 Rb2 53 Re4 a2
54 Na2: Ra2: 55 h6 Kc5 ½- ½ [An absorbing struggle]
48 ICCF WT/M/199
31/05/1980 – 29/10/1982
White: Klaus-Michael Paul (
Opening:
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 Bb4+ 4 Bd2 Qe7 5 Bg2
Bd2:+ 6 Nd2: d6 7 Ngf3 O-O 8 O-O c5 9 e4 Nc6 10 d5 Nd4! 11 Nd4: ed4: 12 f4 e5
13 h3 a5 14 a4 Nd7 15 f5 b6 16 h4! Ba6 17 Rf3 Rac8 18 b3 Qf6 19 Qe1 h5 20 Bh3
Qh6 21 Qf2 Nf6 22 Rd3 Rc7 23 Re1 Bc8 24 Nf3 Kh8 25 Ng5 Nh7 26 Nh7: Kh7: 27 Kh2
f6 28 Rf3 Kh8 29 Rg1 g5 30 g4!? Rh7! 31 hg5: fg5: 32 gh5: Qh5: 33 Qg3 Rg8 34
Qg4 Qf7!? 35 Rfg3 Rh5 36 Qg3 Qh7 37 Kg2 Rh4 38 Bg4 Qh6 39 Kf1 Kg7 40 Ke1 Kf6 41
b4!! [Brilliantly opening up a second front on the queen’s
side. International correspondence chess is played using “battleships”
notation – a four digit number uniquely defines the move. In this case b2-b4 is
2224. Correspondence chess is such that you are often not in a position to
immediately examine a move. You may meet the postman on the way to work and
have to clutch the postcard and wonder at the move. All too often a move that
is unexpected is either a total blunder, or its something brilliant that you
have overlooked. In this case, I initially misread the move as 7274 – such was
my fixation on the king’s side and I tended to carry around in my head all my
correspondence games. I initially thought: “Is that legal” and then “Oops, he’s
made a clerical error, I wonder what he intended to play.” Then I looked at the
card again and realised that it was 2224 and not 7274 and then thought: “The
idiot’s given away a free pawn on the queen’s side”, and then I thought: “If I
take the pawn, what happens then.” Next it was, “if I take the pawn is my
queen’s side compromised because everything is over on the king’s side.” Next I
thought: “What if I don’t take the pawn?” After that I thought: “He’s a genius,
he’s opened up the game on the queen’s side, can I
defend it?” Then I thought, “God I’ve just got to look at this position – I’ve
been really stupid tying everything up on the king’s side, he’s completely
outplayed me here.” Perhaps in retrospect, I spent too long on my
correspondence games. I can remember after I was married, having just endured a
one hour (or so) telephone conversation from my sister, in which she droned on
endlessly about her ills and ailments and generally talked about herself without allowing me a word in. My wife asked me;
“What did she say?” “Oh just the usual, she’s had bubonic plague etc.” “But
what were you thinking about?” my wife asked me, “Whether I should deploy my
rook on the d file or e file in my game against X” I replied and rapidly exited
stage left.] Qh7! [After a lot of thought and anguish!] 42 ba5: ba5: 43 Qa3 Qc7
44 Rb3 Ba6 45 c5! [Now things look really bad, my very strong German adversary
has got me against the ropes. Klaus-Michael went on to at least the World
Championship Candidates and picked up an IM title along the way.] dc5: 46 Qb2
Rd8 47 Bf3! c4? 48 Rb6+ Kf7 49 Rg6 Qh7 50 Qb7:+ Bb7: 51 R1g5: [Neatly switching
play yet again] Rd7 52 Rg7+ Ke8 53 Rd7: Kd7: 54 Rg7+ Kc8 55 f6 Rf4 56 Bg4+ Kb8
57 f7 Re4+ 58 Kd1 Rf4 59 Rg8+? [Klaus-Michael finally gets impatient. The point
is that with this move, I pick up the d pawn. I was contemplating resigning
after 59 Be6! After which Rg8 cannot be avoided and white holds the d pawn] Kc7
60 f8=Q Rf8: 61 Rf8: Bd5: [Now black is a whole rook down, but has a few
dangerous pawns and manages to pull off a Houdini-like escape] 62 Kd2 Kd6 63
Rf6+ Kc5 64 Be6 c3+ 65 Kd3 e4+ 66 Kc2 Bc6 67 Kb3 e3 68 Rf5+ Kb6 69 Rf1 e2 70
Rb1 Kc5 71 Bf5 Ba4:!? [Leading to a remarkable endgame in which white has rook and
knight against a marauding mass of pawns – I even began to wonder whether I
could win the endgame] 72 Ka4: Kc4 73 Be6+ Kd3 74 Bg4 Kd2 75 Be2: Ke2: 76 Kb3
Kd2 77 Rh1 a4+ 78 Ka4: c2 79 Kb3 ½ - ½ [One of my all-time favourites]
49 ICCF EU/M/GT/162
28/05/1980 – 01/07/1983
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: A. Grahl (
Opening: Pirc/Robatsch
1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 f3
[I used to play this to invite a King’s Indian set-up] c5 [But Arvid wasn’t playing ball] 4 c3 Nbd7 5 Be3 e6 6 Bd3 Be7 7
Ne2 O-O 8 O-O a6 9 a4 Qc7 10 Nd2 Rb8 11 a5 b5?! 12 ab6: Qb6: 13 Nc4 Qc7 14 Qd2
Ra8 15 Na5 Nb6 16 c4 cd4: 17 Nd4: Bd7 18 b4 Rfc8 19 Rfc1 Be8 20 b5 Nfd7 21 ba6:
Nc5 22 Nb5 Qd7 23 a7 d5 24 cd5: ed5: 25 Be2 Qe6 26 Nd4 Qf6 27 Nf5 Bf8 28 Rab1
[Black is being set-up for something nasty] de4: 29 Ng7:!!
[completely destroying his position. The sacrifice on
the g pawn is always the most dangerous against a castled king] Bg7: 30 Rc5:
Rd8 31 Qc1 Nd5 32 Bg5 Qd4+ 33 Kh1 f6 34 Nb7! 1-0
50 ICCF World Cup IV
Round 2 25/11/1980 – 20/02/1983
White: Celso Sanchez Pouso IM
(Venezuala) Black: P.W.H. Smith
Opening: Nimzo-Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3
Bb4 4 e3 O-O 5 Nf3 d5 6 Bd3 c5 7 O-O Nc6 8 a3 Bc3: 9 bc3: dc4: 10 Bc4: Qc7 11
Bd3 e5 [Its this line again. Although I abandoned the
King’s Indian Defence, I did have some success with the Nimzo
as black] 12 Qc2 Re8 13 Ne5: de5: 14 de5: Qe5: 15 f3 Bd7 16 a4 Bc6 17 Re1 h5 18
e4 Nd5 19 bd2 Nf4 20 Bf1 h4 21 Be3 Rad8 22 a5 Rd6 23 Rad1 Red8 24 Rd6: Rd6: 25
Rd1 Rg6! 26 Kh1 h3 27 g3 Qh5! 28 Rd8+ Kh7 29 Qd1 Ne6 30 Rd2 Rf6 31 Be2 Qe5 32
Qc2 Ng5!! 33 Bf4 Rf4: 34 gf4: Qf4: 35 Kg1 Bb5! 0-1 [if 36 Qd1 Ba4! 37 Qe1 Bb5!
-+]
51 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Candidates “E” 14/10/1982 – 12/03/1983
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: J.N. Stobart
Opening: Petrov Defence
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Ne5: d6 4 Nf7: [It never
stops – show me a dodgy opening and I’ll play it] Kf7: 5 d4 g6 6 Nc3 Bg7 7 Bc4+
Be6: 8 Be6:+ Ke6: 9 f4 Kf7 10 O-O Re8 11 Qf3 Nc6 12 Be3 Nb4 13 Rf2 h5 14 f5 Qd7
15 Qg3! Gf5: 16 Rf5: Nc2: 17 Raf1 Ne3: 18 Qe3: Kg8 19 Rf6: Bf6: 20 Rf6: Qg7 21
Nd5! C6 22 Qb3! Kh8 23 Qf3 Qg5 24 h4! Qh4: 25 Qe3 1-0 [This game was awarded
the BPCF best game prize for 1983]
52 ICCF World Cup V
Group 74 21/05/1981 – 09/06/1983
White: D. Gutlich (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18
a4 f5 19 Qf1 Qh5 20 f4 ba4: 21 Ra4: g5 22 Bd5: [This little nuance is not
included in the opening books] cd5: 23 Raa1 [A surprise] Rh6 24 Qf2 gf4: 25
Bf4: Bf4: 26 gf4: Kh8 27 Kh1 Rg8 28 Re3 Bh3 29 Rg1 Rhg6 30 Reg3 Rg3: 31 Rg3:
Rg3: 32 hg3: Qd1+ 33 Kh2 Bg4 34 Kg2 Qc2 35 Nf1 Be2 36 Ne3 Qb2: 37 Nd5? a5 38
Nb6 Qc2 39 Qe3 Bg4+ 40 Kf1 Qb1+ 41 Kf2 Qb6: 42 Qe8+ Kg7 43 Qe7+ Kg6 44 Qe8+ Kh6
45 Qf8+ Kh5 46 Qe8+ Qg6 47 Qd8 Kh6 48 Qa5:? [48 Qf8+!?]
Qe6 49 Qe5 Qa2+ 50 Kf1 Qb1+ 51 Kf2 Qc2+ 52 Kg1 Qd1+ 53 Kh2 Qe2+ 54 Kg1 Kh5!! 55
c4 Qd1+ 56 Kh2 Qc2+ 57 Kg1 Bh3 0-1
53 British
Correspondence Chess Championship Candidates “C” 08/10/1983 – 22/06/1984
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: D. Parr
Opening: Sicilian Defence, Poisoned Pawn
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Qb6 8 Qd2 Qb2: [The poisoned pawn, made
famous by Bobby Fischer, primarily. I had several wins against it, as well as a
couple of losses, but was never completely comfortable with it] 9 Rb1 Qa3 10
Be2 Be7 11 O-O Nc6 12 Nc6: bc6: 13 e5 de5: 14 fe5: Qc5+ 15 Kh1 Qe5: 16 Bf4 Qa5
17 Bf3 Ra7 18 Bc6:+ Bd7 19 Rb8+ Bd8 20 Qd6! Bc6: 21 Qc6:+ Nd7 22 Bd6 f6 23 Bb4
Qe5 24 Bd6 Qa5 25 Rfb1! Qf5 26 Rd1! Kf7 27 Rb7 Rb7:
28 Qb7: Qc2: 29 Qd7:+ Kg6 30 Qc8 h5 31 Ba3 e5 [Although a piece ahead for 2
pawns white needs to play carefully] 32 Qc4 Ba5 33 Rc1 Qf5 34 Nd5! Qg5 35 Ne7+
Kh6 36 Rf1 Rg8 37 Nc6 Rd2 38 g3 h4 39 Bc1? hg3: 40 hg3: Qg3: 41 Bd2:+ Bd2 42
Qe2 Bf4 43 Rf3 Qh4+ 44 Kg1 e4 45 Rb3 f5 46 Nb4 Bg3 47 Nd5 f4 48 Rb6+ Kg5 49 Ne7
Bh2+ 50 Kf1 f3 51 Qd2+ Kh5 52 Qd5+ Qg5 53 Re6! [At last, white secures everything]
1-0
54 ICCF EU/M/GT/199
28/01/1983 – 11/07/1984
White: P.W.H.
Smith Black: Dr. J. Karafiath (
Opening: Evan’s Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb4: 5 c3 Ba5 6 d4 d6 7 Qb3 Qd7 8 de5: de5: 9 O-O Bb6 10 Rd1 Qe7 11
a4 a6 12 Ba3! Qf6 13 a5 Ba7 14 Bd5 Nge7 15 Ra2! O-O 16 Bc6: bc6: 17 Rad2 c5 18
Rd8!? Nc6 19 Rf8: Kf8: 20 Qd5 Bg4 21 Ne5:!!
[Unleashing a torrent of tactics] Rd8 22 Bc5:+ Kg8 23 Ng4: Qh4? 24 Qd8:+! Nd8:
25 g3 Qg5 26 h4 Qc5: 27 Rd8:+ Qf8 28 Rf8:+ Kf8: 29 Nd2 Ke7 30 Ne5 1-0 [A modern
Evan’s Gambit]
55 ICCF EU/M/GT/162
28/05/1980 – 14/09/1984
White: J. Kuczynski (
Opening: Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d4 ed4: 6 O-O Be7 7 Re1 b5 8 Bb3 d6 9 Bd5 Bd7 10 Bc6: Bc6:
11 Nd4: Bd7 12 Nc3 O-O 13 Bf4 Re8 14 Qd3 Nh5 15 Be3 Bg5 16 Rad1 Be3: 17 re3:
Nf4 18 Qd2 Ng6?! 19 f3 Ne5 20 b3 Nc6 21 Nd5 Nd4: 22 Qd4: Bc6 23 c4 Re6 24 Rc3
bc4: 25 Qc4: Bd5: 26 Rd5: c5 27 Rcd3 Qb6 28 Rd1 g6 29 h4 a5 30 h5 gh5:!? 31 Rh5: a4 32 Qd5 Qa7 33 Qg5+ Rg6 34 Qe3 ab3: 35 ab3:
Qa2 36 Rg5 Qa6 37 e5 Re8 38 Qf4 de5: 39 Re5: Rc8 40 Rde1 Qa2 41 g4 Qb3: 42 Re8+
Re8: 43 Re8:+ Kg7 44 Qe5+ Kh6 45 Qc5: Qf3: 46 Qh5+ Kg7 47 Qe5+ Qf6 48 Qf6:+
Kf6: 49 Kf2 Rg4: [The notorious R,RP+BP v R ending] 50 Ra8 h5 51 Kf3 Kg7 52 Ra5
Kg7 53 Ra8 Rg7 54 Ra6+ Rg6 55 Ra8 h4 56 Ra5 h3 57 Ra8 Kg7! 58 Ra2 Rh6 59 Rh2
Kf6 60 Kf2 Kg5 61 Kf3 f5 62 Kg3 f4+ 63 Kf3 Rh8 64 Kf2 Kg4 65 Kg1 Re8! 66 Ra2 f3
67 Ra7 Re1+ 68 Kh2 Re2+ 69Kg1 h2+ 70 Kh1 f2! 0-1
56 ICCF WT/M/GT/142
28/01/1983 – 08/10/1984
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: M. David (
Opening: Evan’s Gambit Declined
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb6 5 a4 a6 6 a5 Ba7 7 b5 ab5: 8 Bb5: [I am not convinced this is
very good] Nd4 9 Nd4: ed4: 10 O-O c6 11 Bc4 Ne7 12 Ba3 d6 13 Qh5 O-O 14 Bd3 f5
15 Bc4+ Kh8 16 d3 fe4: 17 de4: Ng6 18 Nd2 Ne5 19 h3 Bb8 20 f4 Ng6 21 f5 Ne5 22
Bb2 c5 23 g4 Ra5: 24 Ra5: Qa5: 25 bc1 Nc4: 26 Nc4: Qc3 [Suddenly white’s
position looks grim, but…] 27 g5!! Qc4: 28 g6 Qg8 29 Bg5! [The point of the
attack] Rf6 30 Qh4 Bc7 31 Bf6: [White has a winning attack] gf6: 32 Qf6:+ Qg7
33 Qh4 d5 34 Kh1 de4: 35 f6 Qg6: 36 f7 1-0
57 European Team
Championship Board 7 24/04/1983 – 12/07/1985
White: A. Lanc GM (
Opening: Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d4 ed4: 6 O-O Be7 7 Re1 b5 8 e5 de5: 9 Re5: d6 10 Rg5 ba4:
11 Nd4: O-O 12 Nc3 Bd7 13 Nf5 Bf5: 14 Rf5: Qd7 15 Qf3 Rab8 16 Ra5 c5 17 Ra4: d5
18 b3 d4 [Shutting white’s rook out of the game] 19 Ne2 Nd5 20 Bd2 Rb6 21 Qd3
Qb7 [Defending the a pawn but also with
an eye on g2] 22 Nf4 Nf4: 23 Bf4: Rg6 24 g3 Re6 25
Rf1 Re8 26 Rc4 Qd5 27 a3 h5 28 b4 [Not fast enough – black is building a
serious attack on the king’s side] h4 29 Bd2 Bd6 30 bc5: Bc5: 31 Ra4 h3 32 f3
Re2 33 Rf2 [This position was used in a “Sunday Times” Chess competition –
black to play and win] R8e3!! [And the Czech grandmaster bites the dust] 34
Be3: Re1+ 35 Rf1 Qf3:! 0-1 [ A
very satisfying victory and all the more so, because I was playing for
58 European Team Championship
Board 7 24/04/1983 –28/10/1985
White: A.S. Woltschok IM
(
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall
1 e4
e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 a4 [Damn! Not a Marshall Attack] Bb7 [It wasn’t much
consolation to me that my opponent was the highest rated player in the list who
wasn’t a grandmaster. His rating then was 2620] 9 d3 d6 10 Nc3 b4 11 Nd5 Nd5: 12 Bd5: Rb8 13 c3 bc3: 14 bc3: Na5 15 Bb7: Rb7: 16 d4
ed4:! 17 cd4: Qb8 18 Qd3 Nb3 [18…Rb3!?] 19 Ra2 a5 20
Bb2 Nc5 21 Qd2 Na4: 22 Ra4: Rb2: 23 Qa5: Qb3 24 Raa1 c5 25 Qa4 c4 [Around here,
I started to entertain the possibility of a win] 26 Qb3: cb3: 27 Rab1 Rb1: 28
Rb1: Rb8 29 Kf1 f5!? 30 ef5: b2 31 Ke2 d5 32 Kd2 Ba3 33 Kc2 Rb4 34 g4 h6 35 h4
Kf7 36 g5 hg5: 37 hg5: Rc4+ 38 Kb3 Rc1 39 Nd2 Rb1: 40 Nb1: Be7 41 Kb2 ½- ½
[Draw offered by my opponent]
59 ICCF EU/M/GT/240
30/05/1985 – 28/01/1986
White: Per Soderberg (
Opening: Ponziani
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c3
d5 4 Bb5 de4: [I was never one to turn down the opportunity of playing a really
sharp opening] 5 Ne5: Qg5 6 Qa4 Qg2: 7 Rf1 Bh3 8 Bc6:+ bc6: 9 Qc6:+ Kd8 10
Qa8:+ Ke7 11 Kd1 Qf1:+ 12 Kc2 Bf5 13 Qd5? [With the benefit of hindsight, Per shouldn’t have played this opening against me] Nh6 14
Nc6+ Kf6 15 Qd4+ Kg6 16 Ne5+ Kh5 17 Qe3 Bc5!! 18 Qg3 Bf2: 19 Qg7: e3+ 0-1
60 ICCF WT/M/GT/142
28/01/1983 – 01/02/1986
White: A.J. de Veij (
Opening: Catalan
1 d4 Nf6 [I couldn’t
resist this – I was actually playing two R, RP+BP v R endgames at the same time
– see the Kuczynski game above] 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 d5 4 g3
dc4: 5 Bg2 c5 6 O-O Nc6 7 Qa4 Bd7 8 Qc4: cd4: 9 Nd4: Rc8 10 Nc3 Qb6?! 11 Nc6:
Bc6: 12 Be3 Qb4 13 Qb4: Bb4: 14 Ba7: Bc3: 15 bc3: Bg2: 16 Kg2: Rc3: 17 Rfb1 Rc7
18 Rb2 Ke7 19 Rab1 Ra8 20 Bb6 Rd7 21 Bc5+ Ke8 22 Rb7: Ra2: 23 Rb8+ Rd8 24 Rd8:+
Kd8: 25 Rb8+ Kc7 26 Rf8 Kc6 27 Bd4 e5! 28 Be5: Nd7 29 Rc8+ Kd5 30 Bg7 Re2: 31 Rh8 Re7 32
Rh7: f5 33 Rh5 Rg7: 34 Rf5:+ Ke6 35 Ra5 Nf6 36 f3 Rb7 37 g4 Kf7 38 Kg3 Rb3 39
Ra4 Kg6 40 h4 Nh5+!? [I was confident that U could draw the R,BP+RP endgame
that results] 41 gh5:+ Kh5: 42 Ra5+ Kg6 43 Kg4 Rb1 44 Ra6+ Kg7 45 f4 Rg1+ 46
Kf5 Rh1 47 Rg6+ Kf7 48 Rg4 Ra1 49 Kg5 Ra8 50 h5 Rh5:+ 51 Kh4 Ra1 52 h6 Rh1+ 53
Kg5 Ra1 54 Rh4 Kg8 55 f5 Kh7 56 Rd4 Rg1+ 57 Kf6 Ra1 58 Re4 Ra2 59 Re8 Ra1 60
Re7+ Kh6: 61 Kf7 Ra8 62 Re6+ Kh7 63 f6 Kh6 ½ - ½
61 ICCF EU/M/GT/240
30/05/1985 – 22/07/1988
White: A.E.J. Kuhlmann (
Opening: Nimzo-Indian
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 O-O 5 Bd3 d5 6
Nf3 c5 7 O-O Nc6 8 a3 Bc3: 9 bc3: dc4: 10 Bc4: Qc7 11 Ba2 e5 12 h3 e4 13 Nh2
Na5 14 f3 cd4: 15 cd4: Be6? 16 Ng4?! [16 d5! Qe5 17 Rb1 with advantage to white] Ng4: 17 fg4:
Bc4! 18 Rf4 Rfe8 19 Bd2 Bd2: 20 Ra2?! [20 Ba5: was
essential here] Nc4 21 Qc1 Rac8 22 Rc2 Qc6! 23 Rf5 b6 24 Bc3 a5 25 Bb2 Qa4 26
Rf4 Rc7 27 Rc3 Qc6 28 Qc1 g6! 29 Ba1 b5 30 g3? Qd5 31
Qb3 Rb8 32 Rf2 b4 33 ab4: Rb4: 34 Qa2 Qb5 35 Bb2 a4 36 Bc1 Rb3! 37 Rb3: ab3: 38
Qa8+ Kg7 39 Qe4: Nd6!! 40 Qb1 Qd5 41 Bb2 Ne4 42 Re2! Ng3: 43 Rg2 Ne4 44 h4 Rc6
45 g5 h6 46 gh6:+ Kh6: 47 Qd3 Kh7 48 Qb1 Rf6 49 Qd1 Rf5 50 Qg4 Nd6 51 Rh2 Qe6!
52 Qe2 Qe4 53 Bc1 Rf3 54 h5 g5 55 Rf2 g4 56 Rf3: gf3: 57 Qf1 Qg4+ 58 Kh2 Qh4+
0-1 [My Arnhem opponent resigned in view of 59 Qh3 Qf2+ 60 Kh1 Qe1+ 61 Kh2 Qe2+
62 Kh1 f2 -+ - one of my best positional efforts – culminating from white’s
failure to eliminate his bad bishop on move 20]
62 ICCF WT/M/GT/243
23/09/1988 – 17/04/1989
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: M. Migicovsky (
Opening: French Defence, Joke Variation
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3
Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3: bc3: 6 bc3: Qc7 7 Qg4 f6?! [Introducing the joke variation of
the French Winawer; 7…f5 is playable] 8 Bb5+! Kf8? 9 Nf3 [Allowing the bishop to be “trapped”] c4 10 a4 a6 [Oblivious
of how bad his position actually is] 11 Ba3+ Kf7?? [Helpmate in 3 – this
rubbish was actually published in, I think, “Chess” as winning for black. After
11…Ne7 white wins by 12 Be8!! Ke8: 13 Qg7: Rg8 14 Qh7: Rf8 15 Qh5+ Kd7 16 ef6:
ef6: 17 Ne5+ Kd8 18 Qh8+ +-; I had been waiting for years to obliterate someone
with this line] 12 Ng5+! fg5: 13 Qh5+ 1-0 [After 13…g6 black is ignominiously
mated by 14 Qf3+ Kg7 15 Bf8 mate]
63
Ward-Higgs Cup.
White: C. Woodford (Merseyside) Black: P.W.H. Smith (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 [Poor Colin, we had
previously met (see above) and he played the Ruy
Lopez , Centre Attack which was another of my specialist openings and now, out
of the frying pan into the fire – a Marshall Attack. At least he won the
British Correspondence Chess Championship which is more than I did] 9 ed5: Nd5:
10 Ne5: Ne5: 11 Re5: c6 12 Re1 Bd6 13 d3?! Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Re4 Qd7! [I had
played this several years before. This game was to appear in Informator 47 and this move was criticised by John Nunn,
who despite the criticism, played it himself] 16 Qf3 Bb7 17 Re2 Nb6!! 18 Nd2 c5
19 Qh5 c4 20 dc4: bc4: 21 Bc2 f5 22 f3 g6 23 Qh3 Bc5+ 24 Kf1 Rae8 25 Qg2 Re2:
26 Qe2: Re8 27 Qd1 Qe6 28 Kg2 Nd5! 29 Nc4: Qe2+ 30 Kh3 Qf2 31 Bd2 Re2 32 Qh1
Nf4+! 0-1
64 ICCF EU/M/GT/240
30/05/1985 – 02/06/1989
White: Endel Maekalle (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18 a4
f5 19 Qf1 Qh5 20 f4 ba4: 21 Bd5: cd5: 22 Qg2 Rfe8 23 Qd5: Kh8 24 Bf2 Be2 25 Kg2
h6 26 Nf3 Bd3!! [My own improvement on 26…Bf4:] 27 Ne5 [27 Re6 Re6: 28 Qe6: Be4 29 Qd6: Bf3:+ 30 Kf1 Qh2! 31 Ke1 Qh1+ 32
Kd2 Qa1-+] Be5: 28 fe5: Bb5! [Threatening Bc6] 29 Qa2 Rc6 30 Re3 g5 31 Qd5 Rce6
32 Qc5 f4 33 Ree1 Rg6! 34 d5 g4 35 e6 f3+ 36 Kh1 Qh3 37 Rg1 Rg5! 38 Bd4+ Kg8 39
Bf6 Re6:!! 0-1 [40 Bg5: Re2 mates My best Marshall Attack]
65 ICCF WT/M/GT/243
23/09/1988 – 02/09/1989
White: J.M.G. Ferreira (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18
a4 f5 19 Qf1 Qh5 20 f4 ba4: 21 Bd5: cd5: 22 Qg2 Rfe8 23 Qd5: Kh8 24 Bf2 Be2 25
Ra4: [25 Kg2 Maekalle v Smith see above] Bf4! 26 gf4:
g5!! [Another improvement over the book line] 27 Qf5: [27 Bg3!?] Bg4 28 Qg5:
Re1:+ 29 Be1: Re1:+ 30 Nf1 Rf1:+! 31 Kf1: Qh3+ 0-1 [In view of 32 Kg1 Qe3+ 33
Kg2 Bh3+ 34 Kh1 Qe4 mates]
66 ICCF WT/M/GT/243
23/09/1988 – 14/02/1990
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: P.D.Spinath (
Opening: Caro-Kann
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5
Bf5 4 Nc3 e6 5 g4 Bg6 6 Nge2 c5 7 Be3 Nd7 8 h4 cd4: 9 Ned4: h6 10 f4 be7 11 Bf2
Bb4 12 f5 ef5: 13 gf5: Bc3:+ 14 bc3: Bh7 15 Bb5 a6 16 Qg4! g6 17 fg6: Bg6: 18
h5! ab5: 19 hg6: Ne5: 20 gf7:+ Nf7: 21 Bh4 Qc8 22 Qe2+ Kf8 23 Kd2! 1-0 [Black
is virtually in zugzwang and faces innumerable
threats]
67 ICCF TT/6/87 Final
14/01/1991 – 23/08/1991
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: K.A. Groeneveld (
Opening: Alekhine’s Defence, 4 Pawns attack
1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4
d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 f4 [This was a thematic tournament in which each player had to
play this opening, which suited me well, because I was desperate to unleash a
TN on the world as I was convinced that the main line of this variation was a
win for white] de5: 6 fe5: Nc6 7 Be3 Bf5 8 Nc3 e6 9 Nf3 Be7 10 d5 ed5: 11 cd5:
Nb4 13 Nd4 Bd7 13 e6 fe6: 14 de6: Bc6 15 Qg4 Bh4+ 16 g3 Bh1: 17 O-O-O [I was
convinced that this whole line was bad for black and my improvement over the
book line – the next move, throws the whole line into doubt as a viable defence
for black] Qf6 18 Bb5+! c6 [The bishop remains en prise for the remainder of
the game] 19 gh4: O-O 20 Bg5 Qe5 21 e7 Rf7 22 Nf5! Na2: 23 Na2: Bd5 24 Nh6+ Kh8
25 Nf7:+ Bf7: 26 Rd8+ Be8 27 Qh5 Qc5+ 28 Nc3 1-0
68 World Championship Semifinal XVIII Group 7 01/11/1989 – 15/05/1992
White: A. Angulo (
Opening: English
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3
Nf3 Nc6 4 g3 Bb4 5 Bg2 O-O 6 O-O Bc3: 7 bc3: h6 8 d3 e4 9 Nd4?! ed3: 10 ed3:
Nd4: 11 cd4: d5 12 Bf4 c6 13 c5?! Re8 14 Qd2 Bf5 15 Rfb1 b5 16 a4 a6 17 Ra3 Nd7
18 Rba1 Rc8 19 ab5: ab5: 20 Ra6 Qf6 21 Be3 Re6 22 Ra7 Nf8 23 Rb7 Re7 24 Rb6 Ne6
25 Qc3 Bg4! 26 h4 g5 27 hg5: Ng5:! 28 Bg5: hg5:! 29 Bd5! Re2 30 Rf1 Bh3 31 Bg2 Bg2:
32 Kg2: Ra8 0-1 [Not waiting for 33 Qc1 Raa2 34 Kh1 Qf3+ 35 Kg1 Qg3:+! 36 Kh1
Rf2-+]
69 ICCF EU/M/GT/240
30/05/1985 – 19/06/1992
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: A.J. Schestoperowa
(
Opening: Sicilian Defence
1 e4
[Little knowing that on starting this game that it would go on for seven years. If anyone has any doubts about the efficiency
of the Russian postal system, they only need to divide the number of moves
played by the number of years it took to complete this game. It was made worse
by the fact that, firstly my opponent exceeded the time limit at one stage and
seemed upset about this. This forced me, at one stage, to play every move by registered letter. It also
transpired after a while that a place in the European Championship hinged on
the result of this game.] c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 4 c3 Nf6 6 Re1 O-O 7 d4 cd4: 8
cd4: d5 9 e5 Ne4 10 Nc3 Nc3: 11 bc3: Qa5 12 Qb3 Bg4
13 Ba3?! Rfe8 14 Bc5 Rad8 15 Nd2 Bd7 16 a4 Qc7 17 Be3 a6 18 Bf1 Na5 19 Qd5: Bh6
20 Nb3 Qc3: 21 Qa5:! Qb3: 22 Be7:!
[This little manoeuvre was to win me the game] Rc8 23 Qb4 Qd5 24 Qd6 Bc6 25
Qd5: Bd5: 26 Bc5 Bf8 27 Bb6 Rc6 28 Reb1 f6 29 ef6: Rf6: 30 a5 Rc8 31 Rc1 Rfc6
32 Rc6: Rc6: 33 Rd1 Rc3! 34 g3 Kf7 35 Re1 Bd6 36 Bg2 Bg2:
37 Kg2: Rb3 38 Re3 Rb5 39 Kf3 h5 40 h3 Rb2 41 Rd3 Ke6 42 d5+ Kf7 43 g4 hg4: 44
hg4: Rb4 45 Rd4 Rb2 46 Rc4 Rd2 47 Ke4 Re2+ 48 Kd3 Rb2 49 f4 Rb3+ 50 Ke4 Rb1 51
Bd4 Rf1 52 Be2 Ra1 54 Rc2 Rb5 55 Rc1 Rb2 56 Bc3 Ra2 57 Re5 Ra4+ 58 Ke3 1-0
[Silently, which was just as well because I was making a bit of a dog’s
breakfast over winning it and with the speed of the game, we would probably
have still been playing it. I certainly didn’t include this game because of the
quality of my play, more because of is extraordinary length.]
70 ICCF TT/6/87 Final
14/01/1991 – 21/11/1992
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: Bruce F. Bernard (
Opening: Alekhine’s Defence, Four Pawns Attack
1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 c4 Nb6 5 f4
[Another thematic tournament game.] de5: 6 fe5: Nc6 7 Be3 Bf5 8 Nc3 e6 9 Nf3
Be7 10 d5 ed5: 11 cd5: Nb4 13 Nd4 Bd7 13 e6 fe6: 14 de6: Bc6 15 Qg4 Bh4+ 16 g3
Bh1: 17 O-O-O Qf6 18 Bb5+! c6
19 gh4: O-O 20 Bg5 Qe5 21 e7 Rf2 [21…Rf7 see Smith v Groeneveld above] 22 Qe6:!? Qe6: 23 Ne6: N6d5 24 Nd5: Bd5:
25 Nd8 Rc2+ 26 Kb1 Ba2:+ 27 Ka1 Bf7 28 Nf7: Re8 29 Ba4 [After 11 moves the
bishop finally moves] Re2 30 Bb3 Nd5 31 Nd6 R8e7: 32 Be7: Re7: [White has
emerged a piece ahead, further evidence for my 18th move – the
remainder of the game is simply mopping up] 33 Bd5:+ cd5: 34 Rd5: b6 35 Rd2 Re6
36 Ka2 a6 37 Kb3 Re3+ 38 Kc4 Re5 39 Rd4 h6 40 Re4 Rc5+ 41 Kb3 Rc6 42 Re8+ Kh7
43 Nf7 Rf6 44 Ne5 Rf2 45 Re6 Rh2: 46 Rb6: Rh4: 47 Ra6: h5 48 Kc3 g5 49 b4 g4 50
Rg6 Rh1 51 b5 Rf1 52 Kc4 Rc1+ 53 Kd5 Rb1 54 Kc6 Rc1+ 55 Kb6 Rb1 56 Rg5 Kh6 57
Nf7+ Kh7 58 Rh5:+ Kg6 59 Rg5+ Kf7: 60 Rg4: Ke6 61 Rd4 Ke5 62 Rd2 Ke6 63 Kc6
Rc1+ 64 Kb7 Ke7 65 b6 Rb1 66 Kc7 Rc1+ 67 Kb8 Ra1 69 b7 Ra3 69 Rd4 1-0
71 World Championship
Semi-Final XVIII Section 7 01/11/1989 – 23/02/1993
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: T.V. Tiits
(USSR/Estonia)
Opening: Evan’s Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb4: 5 c3 Ba5 6 d4 d6 7 Qb3 Qd7 8 de5: de5: 9 Ba3!? Bb6 10 Bb5 Qe6
11 Qe6:+ [The positional Evan’s Gambit] Be6: 12 Ne5: Bd7?! 13 Nd7: Kd7: 14 Nd2
a6 15 Ba4 Re8 16 O-O-O! Kc8 17 Bc6: bc6: 18 f3 Nf6 19 Nc4 Re6 20 Kc2 h5 21 Rhe1
g5 22 Bc1 Rg8 23 Be3 Nd7 24 Rd2 g4 25 Bb6:! Nb6:
[25…cb6: 26 Nd6+ +-] 26 Ne3 gf3: 27 gf3: Rd6 28 Red1?! Kd7 29 Rg2! Rg2: 30 Ng2:
Nc4 31 Rd6:+!! [Reading the knight endgame correctly in view of black’s weak h
pawn] cd6: 32 Kd3 Nb2+ 33 Ke2 Na4 34 Kd2 Ke7 35 Nf4 f5 36 Nh5: fe4: 37 fe4: Ke6
38 Ng3 Nc5 39 h4 Ke5 40 h5 Ne6 41 Ke3 Ng5 42 h6 a5 43 Nf5 c5 44 Kd3 1-0
72 ICCF World Cup
VI/VII Semifinal 29/03/1990 – 27/04/1993
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: V.A Fomin (
Opening: Sicilian Najdorf,
Poisoned Pawn
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
cd4:4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Qb6 8 Qd2 Qb2: 9 Rb1 Qa3 10 be2 Nbd7 11
O-O Qc5 12 Kh1 Be7 13 Rf3 b5 14 f5 Ne5 15 Rg3 b4 16 Bf6: Bf6: 17 Na4 Nc4 18
Qb4: Qd4: 19 Qc4: O-O 20 Nb6!? Rb8 21 Qc7 Rb7 22 Qc6 Bd8 23 Qc8: Rb6: 24 Rf1
Qe4: 25 Qc3! [Hatching up something nasty – white’s position looks dubious to
say the least] e5 26 f6! Bf6: 27 Bd3 Qf4!? 28 Qc7 Bd8 29 Qd7 Qd4 30 c3!! Qc5 31
Rf7:!! 1-0 [31…Rf7 32 Qe8+ Rf8 33 Bh7:+! Kh7: 34 Qg6+
mates]
73 ICCF WT/M/604
13/03/1993 – 05/02/1994
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: W. Schiller (
Opening: Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4
cd4: 4 Nd4: Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 g4 h6 7 g5 hg5: 8 Bg5: Nc6 9 Bg2 Be7 10 h4 Qb6 11
Nb3 Bd7 12 Qe2 Na5 13 Be3 Qd8 14 O-O-O Nb3:+ 15 ab3: Qa5: 16 Kb1 O-O-O 17 Rd4!
Kb8 18 f4! Bc6 19 b4 Qh5 20 Bf3 Qh7 21 b5 Be8 22 Ra4 b6 23 e5 Nd7 24 ed6: Bd6:
25 Ra7:!! 1-0 [25…Ka7: 26 Qc4 Nc5 (26…Kb8 27 Qc6 Nc5
28 Bc5: Rd7 29 Bd6+ +-) 27 Qa2+ Kb8 28 Qa8+ Kc7 29 Qa7+ Ke8 30 Bc5: Rd7 31 Qa8+
Kc7 (31…Bb8 32 Bb6+-) 32 Qc6+ Kd8 33 Bd6: +-]
74 48th
European Correspondence Chess Championship 27/01/1993 – 04/05/1995
White: G. Ziese (
Opening: Queen;s Gambit, Slav Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3
d5 4 Bg5 dc4: 5 Nc3 c6 [I didn’t play the Nimzo after
I got caught badly by Lennart Rydholm
in the World Championship Semi-finals] 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 Bh5 g5 9 Ng5: hg5: 10
Bg5: Nbd7 11 ef6: Bb7 12 g3 c5 13 d5 Bh6 14 Bh6: Rh6: 15 Qd2 Qf6 16 Ne4 Qf3 17
Nd6+ Ke7 18 Nb7: Rh5!? 19 Rg1 Rd5:! 20 Bg2 Rd2: 21
Bf3: Rb2: 22 Na5 Rc8 23 Nc6+ Kf6 24 Na7: Ne5!! 25 O-O-O Ra2: 26 Nc8: Nf3: 27
Kb1 Re2! 28 Rh1 c3 29 Rd3 Nd2+ 30 Kc2 b4 31 Nb6 c4 32 Nc4: Nc4:+ 33 Kb3 Ne5 34
Re3 Rb2+ 35 Ka4 Nd7! 0-1
75 World Championship Semifinal XVIII Group 7 01/11/1989 – 11/05/1995
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: B.J. Schulman (
Opening: Evan’s Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bb4: 5 c3 Ba5 6 d4 d6 7 Qb3 Qd7 8 de5: de5: 9 O-O Bb6 10 Rd1 Qe7
11 a4 a6 12 Ba3 Qf6 13 a5 Ba5:!? 14 Bc5!? B6 15 Ra5:! Ba5: 16 Ng5 Nge7! 17 Bf7:+ Kf8 18 Bd5 Bd7 19 Bc6: Bc6: 20
Ne6+ Kg8! 21 Be7: Qf7 22 Nd2?! a4! 23 Qc4? [23 Qa2!] Bb5 24 Qd5 c6 25 Qd6??
Re8! 26 Nf3 Qe7: 27 Ne5: Qd6: 28 Rd6: h5 29 f4 Rh6 30 f5 Rhe6:!
31 fe6: a3 32 c4 Re6:! 33 Rd8+ Kh7 34 cb5: cb5: 35 Nf3
a2 36 Rd1 b4!! [brilliantly played by my Russian opponent] 37 Ng5+ Kh6 38 Ne6:
b3 39 Nf8 b2 40 Rd6+ Kg5 41 h4+ [I sent this move off having decided that if he
played 41…Kh4?? 42 Rg6! b1=Q+
43 Kh2 Qb2 44 Rg3 !Qf6 45 Ng6+ Qg6: 46 Rg6: a1=Q 47 g3 mate –
then I had reason to rejoice over a miraculous swindle – unfortunately…] Kg4!,
so I resigned 0-1
76 EM/M/A002
21/02/1996 – 24/06/1996
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: Ron Oortwijn (
Opening: Two Knights
1 e4 [Well here we are
playing by email. I narrowly missed playing in the very first master class
email tournament, but at least I got into the second. However, by this point, I
also realised that my interest in correspondence chess was waining.
I was increasingly becoming aware of the impact of computers and my
coffee-house style of play, in which I relied too much on tactics and not
enough on sound strategic play didn’t stand up to modern scrutiny, plus
computer analysis, chess openings databases and other horrors of the modern
age. The ultimate indignity came when I lost to someone’s bloody mobile phone.
However, I desperately wanted to win the IM title before I gave up and my next
chance was to come up in a forthcoming World Championship semi-final] e5 2 Nf3
Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 d4 ed4: 5 e5 d5 6 Bb5 Ne4 7 Nd4: Bd7 8 Bc6: bc6: 9 O-O Bc5 10
f3 Ng5 11 f4 Ne4 12 Be3 Bb6 13 Nd2 Nd2: 14 Qd2: c5 15
Nf3 d4 16 Bf2 Bc6 17 Bh4 Qd7 18 Rad1 O-O 19 f5 Rfe8 20 e6 fe6: 21 Ne5 [Modern
age or not, this line was not without some venom] Qd5: 22 Nc6: Qc6: 23 f6! Rf8
24 fg7: Rf5 25 Qh6 Qd6 26 c4! Re8 27 g4 e5 28 Bg5 Re6 29 Qh5 Rf1:+ 30 Rf1: Qd7
31 Bf6 1-0 [Not waiting for 31…e4 32 Be5 Re8 33 Rf8: Rf8: 34 Qh7:+! Kh7: 35
gf8=N+! +-]
77 EM/M/A002
21/02/1996 – 11/02/1997
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: A.P. Borwell IM (
Opening: Centre-Counter
1 e4 d5 2 ed5: Qd5: 3
Nc3 Qa5 4 d4 Nf6 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 Bd2 Bg4 7 Nb5 Qb6 8 c4 Bf3: 9 Qf3: Nd4: 10 Nd4:
Qd4: 11 Qb7: Qe4+ 12 Qe4: Ne4: 13 Be3 e6 14 Bd3 Nc5 15 Bc2 Rb8 16 O-O-O Bd6 17
Rhe1 O-O 18 Bd2 Rfd8 19 Bc3 Nd7 20 g3 Nf6 21 Bd4 a6 22 f4 c5 23 Be5 Ne8 24 Ba4
Kf8 25 Bc3 Be7 26 Be8: Re8: 27 Rd7 g5 28 Re5 h6 29 f5 Bf6 30 Rc5: bc3: 31 bc3:
ef5: 32 Rf5: Re1+ 33 Kd2 Re7 34 Re7: Ke7: 35 Kc2 Rb6 36 c5 Ke6 37 Kd3 f6 38 g4
Re1 39 Rd5! Ke6 40 Kc4! Re4+ 41 Rd4 Rf4 42 c6 Ke7 43 Kc5 Rf3 44 c4 1-0
78 ICCF World
Championship Semifinals XXI 26/11/1997 – 22/03/1999
White: P.W.H. Smith Black: W. Sauermann IM (
Opening: Ruy Lopez
1 e4 [By this time, I had
more or less decided that I was going all out for the IM title in this
tournament – something that I achieved quite easily in the end. I also decided
that if I qualified for the World Championship Candidates, I would continue
playing, if not I would retire. Oddly enough for this tournament, I changed my
repertoire, playing the Ruy Lopez with white, and
playing the Petrov Defence with black – quite why I
abandoned the Marshall Attack, now seems a bit incomprehensible. I was also
quite disillusioned with correspondence chess – too many silent withdrawals and
other unsporting behaviour and one particularly bad incident in the European
Championship that still rankles with me. I also never won as many tournaments
as I might have. Take WT/M/GT/243 as an example, In
this, the winner, Manfred Heitmann scored a very
solid +8 =6 -0 with 11/14. I came second with 10 ½ /14 having scored a rather
less solid +10 =1 -3 ] e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3
d6 [I didn’t have to face a Marshall Attack] 8 c3 O-O 9 h3 Bb7 10 d4 Re8 11
Nbd2 Bf8 12 a4 h6 13 Bc2 ef4: 14 cd4: Nb4 15 Bb1 c5 16 d5 Nd7 17 Ra3 f5 18 Nh2
Nf6 19 g4 f4 20 Ndf3 Bd7 21 Bd2 ba4: 22 Bb4:! cb4: 23 Ra4: a5 24 Nd4 Bc8 25
Nhf3 Bd7 26 Ra1! a4 27 Nc6 Qc8 28 e5 de5: 29 Bg6 [Black’s position has crumbled
before his eyes – I was surprised how easy it was to win with the main line of
the Ruy Lopez] Bc6: 30 dc6: 1-0 [Silently]
79 World Championship Semifinals XX1 26/11/1997 – 06/07/1999
White: G.H. Lambers (
Opening: Petrov Defence
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 [See
the note above for the reasons for playing this opening] 3 Ne5: d6 4 Nf3 Ne4: 5
d4 d5 6 Bd3 Be7 7 O-O Nc6 8 Re1 Bg4 9 c4 Nf6 10 cd5: Bf3: 11 Qf3: Qd5: 12 Qd5:
Nd5: 13 Be4 O-O-O 14 Nc3 Bb4 15 Bd5: Rd5: 16 a3 Bc3: 17 bc3: Rhd8 18 Bf4 Na5 19
a4 Nc4 20 f3 b6 21 Bg3 Kb7 22 Rab1 a5 23 Kf2 c6 24 Ke2 Re8+ 25 Kd3 Re1: 26 Re1:
Nb2+ 27 Kc2 Na4: 28 Re7+ Ka6 29 Kb3 b5 30 Rf7: c5 31 Rg7: c4+ [Black reads the
position better] 32 Kc2 b4 33 Be1 b3+ 34 Kb1 Rh5 35 h4 Nb6 36 Rg5 Rh6 37 Rc5 a4
38 Kb2 Re6 39 Re5 Rg6 40 g4 Nd5!! 0-1 [After 41 Rd5: Rb6 and after a3+, the b
pawn is unstoppable]
80 European Team
Championship VI Board 11 09/10/1999 – 12/11/2001
White: Bo Wiker (
Opening: Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3
Bb3 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 c3 d5 9 ed5: Nd5: 10 Ne5: Ne5:
11 Re5: c6 12 d4 Bd6 13 Re1 Qh4 14 g3 Qh3 15 Be3 Bg4 16 Qd3 Rae8 17 Nd2 Re6 18
a4 ba4: [Look at the move order and compare it with previous games, something I
had found against 18...f5 was worrying me ] 19 Ra4: Qh3 20 Qf1 Qh5 21 f4 Rfe8
22 Qf2 g5 23 Ra6: gf4: 24 gf4: Kh8 25 Bd5: cd5: 26 Nf1 Rg8 27 Ng3 Bf3 28 Ra8
Reg6 29 Rg8:+ Rg8: 30 Ra1 Qg4 31 Ra6 Be7 32 Kf1 Bh4 33 Ke1 Be4 34 Kd2 Qh3 35
Rh6 Rb8 [suddenly switching to the queenside] 36 Kc1 Ra8 37 b4 Qg4 38 Qe2 Ra1+
39 Kb2 Rb1+ 40 Ka2 Bg3: 41 Qg4: fg4: 42 hg3: Re1 43 Bd2 Re2 44 b5 Rd2:+ 45 Kb3
Rd1 46 Kb4 Kg7 47 Rh5 h6 48 b6 Rb1+ 49 Kc5 Rb3 50 Rh2 Kg6 51 Kc6 Rc3:+ 52 Kd6
Rb3 53 Kc7 Rg3: 54 Rb2 Ra3 [Gosh even the Marshall attack was getting harder to
win] 55 b7 Ra7 56 Kd6 Rb7: 57 Rb7: g3 58 Ke5 g2 59 Rb8 Kh5 0-1 [my last game
and fittingly, a Marshall Attack. Not a bad record with the