Raymond Keene vs William Hartston - London U-18 Championship 1964.??.??

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Raymond Keene vs William Hartston
London U-18 Championship London ENG 1964.??.??
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Grünfeld Formation 1-0

[Event "London U-18 Championship"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "1964.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Raymond Keene"]
[Black "William Hartston"]
[ECO "A07"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "53"]

1. e4 { Notes by Raymond Keene. } c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d3 {I have
never very much enjoyed playing the white side of open
Sicilians.} 3...Nc6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 {For some time the
paradoxical 5 d4!? enjoyed a vogue here, but Black can obtain
a playable position with 5...cxd4 6 Nxd4 a6 followed by ...Bg7
and ...Nge7.} 5...Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. Nbd2 d6 8. a4 O-O 9. c3
e5 10. Nc4 f5 11. b4 {!? A thrust inspired by the opening of
Smyslov - Botvinnik, USSR Championship 1955, which I had been
studying the night before this important game. Smyslov's
victory had made a deep impression on the 15-year-old admirer
of ... Botvinnik! I therefore decided to follow his strategy
as closely as I could. Here is what I had been examining: 1
Nf3 Nf6 2 g3 g6 3 Bg2 Bg7 4 O-O O-O 5 d3 c5 6 e4 Nc6 7 Nbd2 d6
8 a4 Ne8 9 Nc4 e5 10 c3 f5 11 b4! cxb4 12 cxb4 fxe4 13 dxe4
Be6 14 Ne3 Nxb4 15 Rb1 a5 16 Ba3 Nc7 17 Bxb4 axb4 18 Rxb4 Bh6
19 Rb6! +/- and Smyslov went on to win.} 11...cxb4 12. cxb4 d5
{!? To be honest I had overlooked that this was possible when
I boldly employed the Smyslov stratagem on move 11. If now 13
exd5 I was worried, rightly or wrongly, by 13...e4, hitting my
queen's rook, so I swiftly decided to retreat. Note, by the
way, that 12...Nxb4 fails to 13 Qb3, a resource which is
helpful to White in a number of lines.} 13. Ncd2 {In spite of
the surprise availability of 12...d5!? Black's position is not
that wonderful, for he has in a sense undermined his own
centre (especially the a3-f8 and a2-g8 diagonals) by his
aggressive treatment, which involves playing both ...e6-e5 and
...d6-d5 in the first 12 moves. Quite a substantial time
investment in Black pawn moves!} 13...fxe4 {Black has a
complicated alternative at this point, and it's interesting
for me now to realise that at that time I could calculate the
tactical variations much more easily than I could grasp the
positional niceties of the situation. If 13...Nxb4 14 Ba3 Nbc6
(or 14...Nxd3 15 Qb3 fxe4 16 Nxe4!, while 14...a5 15 Qb3 gives
White good play for his pawn) 15 exd5 e4 16 dxe4 fxe4 (or
16...Bxa1 17 dxc6 Bg7 18 Qb3+) 17 dxc6 Bxa1 (or if 17...exf3
18 Re1!) 18 Qb3+ +/-. In this kind of position White can often
sacrifice his queen's rook for Black's king's bishop since he
then obtains decisive pressure along the weakened diagonals to
Black's king.} 14. dxe4 dxe4 {If 14...Nxb4 15 Ba3 or 14...d4
15 Qb3+ Kh8 when 16 Ng5 is annoying. In the latter variation
White's active piece-play more than compensates for Black's
passed d-pawn.} 15. Ng5 Nd4 {Once again Black dare not accept
the 'Smyslov pawn' on b4: 15...Nxb4 16 Qb3+ Nbd5 17 Ba3 Kh8 18
Bxe4 +/-. One factor which complicated Black's defensive task
was that he only had about 15 minutes left for 21 moves (time
limit: 36 for 11/2 hours) which, nowadays, I would regard as
unacceptable clock pressure for practical purposes.} 16. Ngxe4
Nd5 17. b5 Bf5 18. Ba3 Re8 19. Rc1 {Not 19 Nd6? Nc3!-+.}
19...Bf8 20. Nd6 {!} Bxd6 21. Bxd5+ Be6 22. Bxe6+ Rxe6 23. Bb2
{! After the game I succeeded in rationalising and verbalising
my form of advantage: Black's e-pawn is isolated, the e4
square is weak and can be dominated by a dominating white
knight; White's queenside pawns are mobile and he still exerts
diagonal pressure towards Black's king. During the game I had
no clue as to any of this. I could just see that my opponent
was getting into terrible time-trouble and also that
'something' had gone badly wrong with his position.} 23...Rc8
{Losing material to the a2-g8 pin which now arises, but to
step into the diagonal of White's bishop with 23...Kg7 could
hardly be described as an improvement.} 24. Bxd4 Rxc1 25. Qxc1
exd4 26. Qc4 Qf6 {? 26...Qe7 loses, but more slowly.} 27. Ne4
{27...Qe5 28 Ng5! wins the rook. Probably the most important
national junior game I played, since it was decisive in
gaining my first significant junior championship
title. Although the infamous '30 move rule' (which prohibited
draws in less than 30 moves) came in for a lot of criticism it
certainly added an artificial stiffening to my resolve. Had it
not been for the existence of this short-lived FIDE (World
Chess Federation) regulation we would certainly have
'chickened out' during the complicated middlegame.} 1-0

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Updated: 27 January, 2022
Created: 27 January, 2022