MIGUEL ILLESCAS:
“A VERY BAD GAME”
PAWN ADVANCE IN FRONT OF THE
KING: ACTIVE OR WEAK?
A classical attack with pawn storm and piece
sacrifice.
Illescas,Miguel - Morozevich,Alexander
Madrid 1996
This was my first encounter with Alexander
Morozevich. At that time, he was a promising
young grandmaster, 19 years old, but when
preparing for this game I noticed that my
opponent, although his youth, had already some
clear patterns on his play. Specifically, I was
amazed to see in how many games he was
playing the bayonet attack, with both colours.
This seemingly unimportant observation became
crutial later in the game.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0–0 5.Nge2
d5 6.a3 Bd6!?
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Maybe Morozevich prepared this variation in
advance since I had a previous game: 6...Be7 7.cd5
ed5 8.b4 c6 9.Ng3 Re8 10.Bd3 Nbd7 11.0–0 Nb6
12.Rb1 Be6 13.a4 and white was slightly better in
Illescas - Slobodjan, Pamplona 95-96. I was taken
by surprise and reacted in a very principled way.
7.c5 Be7 8.b4 c6 9.Ng3!?
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I was hesitating where to play the knight. At this
point, I still didn't realize how important this
decision was going to be! Some years later, a few
strong players tried to bring the knight to the center:
9.Nf4 b6 (9...Nbd7 10.Nd3 a5 11.Rb1 ab4 12.ab4 b6
13.Be2 bc5 14.bc5 e5 15.0–0 Qc7 16.Nb4 Re8
17.Bd2 ed4 18.ed4 Bb7 19.g3 Nf8 20.Bf4 and white
was slightly better in M. Gurevich - Anand, Bastia
2004) 10.Nd3 (10.Be2 a5 11.Rb1 ab4 12.ab4 Ba6
13.0–0 Nbd7 14.Ba6 Ra6 15.Bb2 Qc7 16.Nd3
Rfa8=, Epishin - Kasparov, Moscow 2004) 10...a5
11.Bd2 Nbd7 12.Be2 Qc7 13.0–0 ab4 14.ab4 Ba6
15.Qc2 Bc4 16.f4 Qb7 17.Rae1 Ra3 18.f5, Aronian -
Jakovenko, Warsaw 2005.
9...b6 10.Bd2!?N
The text move is less commiting than the ambitious
10.f4, played by an unrated player in 1979 ... That
game continued: 10...Ne8 11.Bd3 f5 12.0–0 ½–½,
Kasparov - Kurajica, Banja Luka 1979.
10...bc5
Probably 10...Ba6 was good enough to play for
equality, but soon it will become clear that black
wants more.
11.bc5 e5!?
The standard break in the center, that black doesn't
need to prepare in this particular situation.
12.Be2
I was not impressed and with this quiet, developing
move, decided to pay no attention to the striking
break. Maybe this happened to irritate the young
Morozevich? The truth is that he played very
agressively on the next moves. After 12.de5 Ng4
black gets the pawn back with some initiative.
12...g6!?
Provocative, but not bad. The control of f5 is
important, specially if black wants to develop with
Nbd7. Here, I finally understood that my knight on
g3 was like a red cloak to my young and
belligerentopponent...
13.0–0
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Now it was interesting to play 13.de5!? Nfd7 14.f4
but I wanted to play the precise music to bring my
opponent intto the dance floor with his favourite
dance step. While he was thinking I was wondering
if he would dare to launch his favourite bayonet
attack ...
13...h5?
Yes! I was amazed and happy at the same time. This
move may be very active but it is seriously
weakening the black king's protection shield. Of
course 13...Nbd7 ; or even 13...e4 are more natural
and solid.
14.de5! Ng4 15.Bg4! Bg4 16.f3 Bd7
After 16...Be6 17.f4! is even stronger.
17.f4!
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Here we go! During the game I was sure that white
had to attack bravely on the kingside to refute the
reckless play by my opponent.
17...Qc8
It is not easy to find a good idea for black. After
17...Na6 ; or 17...Bc5 it follows 18.Nh5! and after
17...h4!? 18.Nge2 Na6 19.Nd4! Nc5 20.f5 white is
going to attack anyway.
18.e4 d4?
It was necessary to disturb white's queen by means
of 18...Bg4 where the game becomes more unclear
although I still believe in white's attacking prospects.
19.f5!
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This move is because it cuts the board in a way that
black pieces will not be allowed to help his king.
White's attack is going to prove decisive. A clear
mistake would be 19.Nh5? Bg4.
19...dc3 20.Bc3
I remeber I felt very confident at this point. White is
attacking with four pieces and three pawns, while
black's defences are quite limited.
20...Na6
Trying to develop as if nothing happens on the
kingside. But something is going on. Anyway,
subsequent analysis proved that the attack should be
winning: it was too late for 20...h4 since after
21.Nh5! white queen enters through g4. The best
practical chance was possibly 20...Qd8, with the idea
of Bxc5 and Qg5, bringing the queen to the defence.
But after 21.fg6! (of course not 21.Qf3? Bc5 22.Kh1
Qg5 and black defends. Also wrong would be
21.Nh5? Bf5! as black can try to change queens.
After 22.Qc1 Bg5! it's a mistake 23.Nf6? Qf6!)
21...fg6 22.Qb3 Kh7 23.Rf7 Kh6 24.Bd2! g5
(24...Bg5 25.Bg5 Kg5 26.Qe3) 25.Raf1 white's
attack is a killer.
21.Nh5!
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This move destroys black's castle and in fact wins
the game.
21...Nc5
There was no defence. If 21...gh5 22.Qh5 the two
extra pieces are useless, while black king is naked
under attack. After 21...gf5 22.Nf6 Bf6 23.ef6 the
threat Qh5 is fully decisive.
22.Nf6! Bf6 23.ef6
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This was the idea. Black's king is isolated and he
cannot prevent the invasion of the white queen.
23...Bf5
Despair, but what to do? After the natural 23...Ne4
24.Qc1! g5 25.Re1 Bf5 26.Re4 Be4 27.Qg5 Bg6
28.Qh6 black is mated.
24.ef5
There is no hurry anymore. White is pawn up and
black castle is in ruins: the game is over. Not so
accurate is 24.Qc1 Bg4 since after 25.Qh6? black
defends with 25...Ne6.
24...Ne4
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25.Qc1! g5
25...Kh7 26.Rf4 winning.
26.Qd1
An elegant one-two to penetrate with the queen.
26...Nc3
After 26...Rd8 27.Qg4 Rd3 28.Rae1 black is unable
to defend properly.
27.Qh5
There is no way to avoid the mate in few moves.
27...Ne4 28.Qh6
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28...Nf6 29.Qg5 Kh7 30.Rf3
Mate follows, so black resigned. After the game I
asked my opponent if he would like to join me to the
analyisis room, where he replied "No thanks, it was
a very bad game!" Bad for him, and good for me
indeed! This answer made me understand that this
young Russian grandmaster, had a strong character
and with his natural talent he would surely be soon
on the elite. I was not wrong, and Morozevich took
revenge of this game by beating me twice in
Pamplona in 1998 and 2006. But those were very
bad games ... 1–0.