Tate - Shulman
(23) Tate,E - Shulman,Y [B48]
Continental Open Las Vegas, NV (2), 07.2001
[Fritz 6 (120s)]
{Excerpt from Jerry Hankin's article 'Dancing The Continental' (Chess Life, January 2002):
"In the second round Tate pulls an upset with an interesting sacrifice. It appears that he gets only two pawns for his piece, but in fact he gets a safe king and a free hand on the kingside. In the final position, Black has no prospects, as the White pawns are clearly superior to the piece." Fritz 6.32 and I contend that Black could have done much better by attacking aggressively on the queenside to refute the sacrifice. In fact, I am not convinced that Black is lost when he resigned! MB} 1.e4 c5 [ 1...e5 2.Nf3=] 2.Nf3+/= e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 [ 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qa4 Nf6=] 4...Nc6 [ 4...Nf6 5.Bd3=] 5.Nc3 {I believe this line is known as the Taimanov Variation. MB} 5...Qc7 [ 5...Nf6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5+/=] 6.f4 [ 6.Ndb5 Qb8+/=] 6...a6 7.Be3 [ 7.Nxc6 Qxc6 8.Be2 Bb4+/=] 7...b5 8.Qf3 Bb7 9.Bd3 Nf6 10.0-0-0 [ 10.a3 b4 11.axb4 Bxb4=] 10...Be7 11.g4 d6 12.g5 Nd7
{I found nine previous games with this position. White won five; Black won two; two were drawn. MB} 13.Nxc6 {This move may be new. Previously 13. Kb1,
13. h4, and 13. Nb3 have been played. MB} 13...Bxc6 14.Rhe1 Nc5 15.Kb1 Qb7 [ 15...Nxd3 16.cxd3 Rc8 17.Rc1=] 16.Bd4 [ 16.Bxc5 dxc5 17.f5 c4=] 16...b4=/+ 17.b3 [ >=17.Ne2!? Nxd3 18.cxd3=/+] 17...bxc3-+ 18.Bxg7 Rg8 19.Bxc3 19...a5 20.h4 [ 20.Ka1!? d5 21.exd5 Bxd5-/+] 20...a4 21.Bb2 axb3 22.axb3 Qa7 [ 22...Bf8 23.f5-+] 23.Qh5 [ 23.Bc4 Qa2+ 24.Kc1 Qa5-/+] 23...Qa2+ [ >=23...h6!?-+] 24.Kc1-/+ Rc8 [ ‹24...Nxd3+ 25.Rxd3 Rf8 26.f5=/+] 25.Bc4 Rf8 [ 25...Ba4 26.Re3 Nxb3+ 27.Bxb3 Bxb3 28.Rd2-+ Black has to be careful: 28..., Bc4??; 29.Ra3+-. Perhaps 28..., Qa4 is correct. MB}] 26.f5 [ >=26.Re3 Bxe4 27.Qe2-+] 26...e5?? [ >=26...Ba4 27.bxa4 Qxc4-+ ] 27.g6 [ >=27.f6!? Na4 28.bxa4 Qxc4 29.fxe7+/-] 27...hxg6=/+ 28.fxg6 fxg6 29.Qxg6+ Attacks the backward pawn on d6 29...Kd7 30.Bxe5 Kc7 31.Bb2 {White plays it safe by keeping the dark-squared bishop to defend the king. Apparently White feels that the h-pawn is unstoppable and is sufficient to win. MB} [ 31.Bxd6+!? Kb6 32.Qg1 ( 32.Bxe7 Qa1+ 33.Kd2 Qd4+ 34.Kc1= ( 34.Ke2 Rf2#) ) 32...Qa3+ 33.Kb1 Bxh4 34.Rf1= Ra8 35.Bxc5+ Qxc5 36.Qxc5+ Kxc5 37.Rxf8 Rxf8 38.Bd5+/-] 31...Kb6 {The White pawns look powerful, but I think that the game is far from over. MB} 1-0
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