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Lesson
#13
Keep Your Head Up
Sometimes, in the heat of the battle, things just don’t go your way. You
thought everything was fine and then, all of the sudden, you come to the
realization that you’re in trouble. You can throw all of your plans out the
window. They won’t work anymore. You’ve been outwitted. So, what do you do
now?
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White to move
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Rather than focusing on what might have been and beating yourself up
emotionally, take a fresh look at the position. Regroup, let go of the past and
keep your head up. If you defend well other opportunities may come your way.
Today I’d like to share a great struggle that helped decide a national
title. It was played in the penultimate round of the 1970 National High School
Championship between my friend Robbie Newbold (white) and Nicholas
Ocipoff.
Robbie, Larry Christiansen and I made the trip from Riverside, California to New
York City to compete with the country’s best youths.
As you can see in the position below Robbie has a great knight outpost on c6.
But, his game is in trouble. Black has a powerful passed pawn and controls the
queening square. How can he stop the pawn?
Robbie decided to make a stand on a2
and made the tough decision to abandon his knight outpost with 1. Nb4.
Black then added more pressure with 1. … Rfc8 2. Na2 Ne4 3. Qe2 Nc3 4. Nxc3
Rxc3
The blockade of the a-pawn had been removed. It looks like black is now free
to push it. But Robbie, ever alert, has some surprises in store.
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White to move
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He played the shocker 5. Bxa4!? This kind of move is great when your
opponent is short on time and you have the weaker position. Black must
consider 5. … Rxa4 6. Rb8+ Kf7 7. Qb5 Re4 (to stop the mate on e8) 8. Ra1
Rc7 9. Ra6 or 9. Raa8 where black needs to defend carefully. Instead, black
found his own shocker with 5. … Rxe3!
The black rook is poison because 6. Qxe3 Bd4 wins the queen. Now with
two pieces hanging Robbie had to scramble with 6. Qb5
Everything is guarded and material is equal. But black uncorks another shot
with 6. … Qa7! Again, the bishop is threatened. And black is looking
forward to a most powerful discovery check that might win Robbie’s queen. How
to escape? 7. Qd7! Now if there’s a discovered check we can exchange
queens. Also, Robbie is setting a trap. Do you see what’s wrong with 7. …Qxa4?
The black rook on a8 is tied up guarding the queen. It can’t also protect the
back rank against 8. Rb8+!
Black continued to add pressure with 7. … Qd4! Facing the threat of
8. … Re7+, Robbie has nothing better than 8. Kh1.
Black has played brilliantly to this point. If he had won this game and then
avoided losing in the final round he would have been the national champion. Do
you see the winning move for black? 8. … Re7 protects his king and wins a
piece after 9. Qxd6 Rxa4. White’s attack after that isn’t strong enough.
Instead, seeing no danger, black took the poisoned bishop with 8. …
Qxa4? He fell into Robbie’s trap: 9. Rb8+! Now, to avoid mate,
black must give up his queen. Play continued with 9. …Rxb8 10. Qxa4 Rbe8.
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White to move
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Let’s take stock. With a queen for a rook and bishop, Robbie has winning
chances. He needs to watch for back rank mates, though. Also he’ll need to
find a way to create weaknesses in black’s pawns. But, in a hurry to give his
king some air, he pushes the wrong pawn with 11. h3? To restrict the
opposing bishop you should put pawns on the color of the bishop! The natural
move was 11. g3.
Now black springs back to life with 11. … Bh4! He’s hoping to
build his own mating net with 12. … Bg3 followed by 13. … Re1. Robbie
is in trouble again! What’s a chess player to do? Don’t give up. Keep your
head up. Make the other player work.
The game continued with 12.g4 Rxh3+ 13. Kg1 Rhe3?! Black would have a
very strong attack after 13. … Ree3! Or, he could have taken a draw with 13.
… Rg3+.
In control once again, Robbie finished the game nicely with 14. gxf5 gxf5
15. Qc2 Re2? (15. …Rf8 was necessary) 16. Qxf5 Kh8 17. Kh1 Re1 18. Rxe1
Bxe1 19. Qf7 Rg8 20 Qf6+ Rg7 21 Qf8+ Rg8 22. Qxd6 Bc3 23. Qe7 Bd4 24. d6 and
black resigned.
Robbie went on to win the final round and became National High School
Champion. The following year Larry Christiansen won the first of his three High
School titles! Both Robbie and Larry knew how to keep their heads up. Mistakes
are inevitable. What you do to recover from them can make all the difference.
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(c) 2001 Ross Stoutenborough
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