Orestes Rodriguez Vargas vs Raymond Keene - Alicante 1977.01.??

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Orestes Rodriguez Vargas vs Raymond Keene
Alicante Alicante ESP 1977.01.??
Dutch Defense: Krause Variation 0-1

[Event "Alicante"]
[Site "Alicante ESP"]
[Date "1977.01.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Orestes Rodriguez Vargas"]
[Black "Raymond Keene"]
[ECO "A10"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "64"]

1. d4 { Notes by Raymond Keene. As a Grandmaster I was now
flooded with invitations from around the world. I participated
in tournaments from Australia to Argentina and was often
described at this time as 'England's Ambassador for chess,'
for example, organising the first ever Pan-African Junior
Chess Championship at Lagos, Nigeria in 1980. During much of
1978 I was also occupied as Viktor Korchnoi's chief assistant
in his controversial World Championship match in the
Philippines against Anatoly Karpov.} 1...e6 2. c4 b6 {The pure
Owen's Defence consists of 1 e4 b6, but in the 1950s the
English player P.N. Wallis experimented with ...b7-b6 defences
against a white pawn centre on d4, e4 and c4. Over the
previous two years it had been taken up and infused with new
life by myself and Miles, the two current English
Grandmasters. Since this deferred kind of Owen's Defence
existed in no works of opening theory (apart from my book on
the Nimzowitsch/Larsen Attack) Leonard Barden suggested that
this modern extension of Owen's idea be christened the
'English Defence', an opinion on nomenclature which soon
prevailed.} 3. Nc3 {After 3 e4 Bb7 4 f3 Black can try the
gambit 4...e5!? or 4...Qh4+ 5 g3 Qh5 or even 4...f5!? 5 exf5
exf5 6 Nh3 Bb4+ 7 Nc3 Qh4+ 8 g3 Qe7+ 9 Kf2 Bxc3 10 bxc3 Nc6 11
Bf4 O-O-O 12 d5 Ne5 13 Qd4 Re8 14 Bg2 Qc5!= Sosonko - Keene,
Bad Lauterberg 1977.} 3...Bb7 4. e4 Bb4 5. Bd3 {After 5 f3
there is 5...f5 (as above) or 5...Qh4+. More testing is 5 Qc2,
but against this Black has the startling stroke 5...Qh4!
putting pressure on White's centre from an oblique angle. I
suggested this to the English Olympic Team at Haifa 1976 and
Miles later used it in his game v. Farago from Hastings
1976/77: 5...Qh4! 6 Bd3 f5 7 g3 (if 7 Nf3 Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 Qg4!)
7...Qh5 8 Be2 Qf7 9 f3 fxe4 10 fxe4 Nf6 11 d5 O-O 12 Nf3 Qg6
13 Bd3 Qh5-/+. Apparently Wallis was also aware of such ...Qh4
possibilities but he tended to retreat the queen to f6 rather
than h5. This whole strategy of an early queen assault against
a white pawn centre was an exciting new idea which soon found
its proper place in chess literature along with the
established defences.} 5...f5 6. Qh5+ {Alternative evidence: 6
d5 fxe4 7 Bxe4 Qh4! 8 Qd3 exd5 9 cxd5 Nf6 10 Bf3 Ba6 11 Qe3+
Kf7-/+ Whiteley - Keene, National Club Championship, Cambridge
1976 (game 59); or 6 Qe2 Nf6 7 Bg5 fxe4 8 Bxe4 Bxe4 9 Bxf6
Qxf6 10 Qxe4 Bxc3+ 11 bxc3 Nc6 12 Nf3 O-O 13 O-O Sosonko -
Keene, Haifa Olympiad 1976; continuing now with 13...Qf4! 14
Qe2 Rf5! Black could have obtained an excellent position.}
6...g6 7. Qe2 {The point of the queen check was to weaken
Black's kingside dark squares, but the effect is minimal.}
7...Nf6 8. Bg5 {After 8 f3 it is too dangerous to snatch the
pawn with 8...fxe4 9 fxe4 Bxc3+ 10 bxc3 Nxe4 11 Nf3! etc. (not
11 Bxe4? Qh4+). However, 8...Qe7! or 8...Nc6 would give a
position remarkably similar to Keene - Martin (see next game)
where White has the extra, and not very useful, move c2-c4.}
8...fxe4 9. Bc2 {?! A dubious gambit, but Rodriguez wanted to
avoid the kind of positional inferiority arising out of my
Sosonko game from Haifa (see above).} 9...Qe7 10. O-O-O Bxc3
11. bxc3 Nc6 12. f3 Qa3+ {!? Vigorous but risky. The sober
counter-sacrifice 12...e3! would have taken all the fire out
of White's game.} 13. Kb1 O-O 14. Bc1 {! The only way to gain
counter-chances is to sacrifice a second pawn.} 14...Qxc3
15. Bb2 Qa5 {Threatening ...Nb4.} 16. a3 e5 17. d5 Nd4
18. Rxd4 {Again the only chance. White has to sacrifice the
exchange to stay in the game.} 18...exd4 19. fxe4 b5 {?! After
the game this was criticised as oversharp. The sensible
procedure would have been 19...c5!} 20. Nf3 Ba6 21. c5 b4
22. Qd2 Rab8 {My violent effort to blast open the queenside
files against White's king could have led to some confusion if
Rodriguez had now found the subtle 23 Rc1! Even then, 23...Bc4
planning ...Qxc5 is -/+. Pressed for time my opponent made the
obvious capture, and his game soon collapsed.} 23. Nxd4 Qxc5
24. Nb3 Qc4 25. a4 Nxe4 {The rest is a short, forced
conclusion.} 26. Bxe4 Qxe4+ 27. Ka2 Qd3 28. Qh6 Rf7 29. Nc1
Qe4 30. Rd1 Re8 31. Rd4 Qe3 32. Qh4 Rf1 0-1

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Updated: 5 February, 2022
Created: 5 February, 2022