South Norwood v Kingston, Lauder Trophy, West Thornton Community Centre, 5 October 2023
This was a tremendous game played in the Lauder Trophy first-round match between Kingston and South Norwood. It was later described by a veteran Kingstonian as “one of the most amazing games I’ve ever seen”, and features three occasions when queens are trapped in the corner of the board. Peter Lalić’s win was enough to secure a 3-3 draw in the match, and to help Kingston through to the next round on board count. Since this was the board 1 match-up, winning here was crucial in securing the tie-break by 12-9.
Oozeerally, Tariq2171
Lalić, Peter D2229
South Norwood v Kingston; Lauder Trophy
October 5, 2023
Annotated by Peter Lalić
Each player was allotted 75 minutes, plus an increment of 10 seconds per move.1.e4d52.exd5c6!?Wikipedia names this opening the Blackburne Gambit of the Scandinavian Defence. However, as of 11.10.23, the only source is the following: “Harman, Ron & Taulbut, Shaun (1993). Winning with the Scandinavian. New York: Henry Holt. p. 28”. Furthermore, according to the Mega Database 2023, Joseph Henry Blackburne played only one game that arose from this position: Beniamino, V – Blackburne, J; Hastings International Masters (14), 1895. Therefore, I hope to pioneer this opening such that it becomes the Lalić Gambit.3.d4cxd5By transposition, this is the Exchange Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence. It has featured in 81,600 games of the Mega Database 2023, which has a total of approximately 9.8 million. Basically, on average, every hundredth game of chess is an Exchange Caro. “You learn something new every day.”4.Bd3[30,729 games]4…Nf6[6,648]5.c3[3,792]5…Bg4[880]6.Qb3[590]6…Qc7These developments are not as unnatural as they might appear to a newcomer to the Caro-Kann. Indeed, 303 games have reached this position.7.f3?![12]7…Bd7![3] I used the process of elimination. h3, f3, and f5 are unsafe; h5 is offside; c8 is regressive; and e6 suits a pawn; not a bishop.8.Bf4??NWhen I see such an inspired novelty, I feel guilty about a double question mark. When I see a computer evaluation of -5, at a depth of 35 plies, I feel less guilty. Admittedly, I thought for at least 25 minutes before accepting the sacrifice, so it undeniably had shock value. I had not foreseen 8.Bf4 at all, despite having met the same idea, with reversed colours, in the London System.I expected only8.Ne2Nc69.Bf4. I had calculated the forcing variation9…e5!10.dxe5Nxe511.Bxe5Qxe512.Qxb7Rb813.Qxa7Rxb2I was excited to sacrifice a pawn for the initiative, as usual.In the post-mortem, Oozeerally said that he regretted omitting8.Na3!a6. We agreed that the bishop sacrifice would have been improved, yet Stockfish confers on Black an advantage of 1.5 pawns, at 35 plies, after9.Bf4?Qxf410.Qxb7e6.8…Qxf49.Qxb7Qc1+10.Ke2e5!!In order to attack White’s stranded king, Black should open the e-file at practically any cost.11.Qxa811.dxe5would let in the dark-squared bishop, to which White would have no counterpart.11…Bc5!12.Nd2Qxa113.exf6O-O11…Bd6The queen is cornered. Although White is up an exchange and a pawn, he is hopelessly lost. His bishop has no safe moves, and his knights are both pinned to his rooks, which have no legal moves. Afterwards, Oozeerally said that he was going to resign on move 12, but he had a funny idea.This is the only winning move.11…Qxb2+??12.Nd2would equalise after12…Bd613.Rb1Qxc314.Rxb8+.12.Qb7O-O13.Nd2Qxa114.Bb1A queen is cornered for the second time.14…exd415.Nh3d3+Black would still win after even15…dxc3??16.Bxh7+!Kxh717.Rxa1Re8+.16.Kf2Nc617.Bxd3Qxh118.Nf1A queen is cornered for the third time! Oozeerally has a great sense of humour.18…Bc5+19.Kg3Ne70–1
