Nothing Given Back

White built an edge against a higher-rated opponent, was handed the point by a single mistaken recapture — and then did the hard part, converting it without giving any of it back.

Notes by Tilburg Chess Notes

AnalysisFritz 20, Tactical Analysis, 30 seconds per move. Evaluations in pawns from White’s perspective; marks and assessments are Fritz’s.

☛ Tap any move — or any board — to open the interactive board. It pins to the top and follows along; ←/→ step, × closes it.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 — The Steinitz Defence, the old answer to the Ruy Lopez, named for the first World Champion, who leaned on it in the late nineteenth century. The idea is to prop up e5 at once with …d6; the long-understood cost is activity — the move quietly pins Black’s own knight and cedes a little of the centre, which is why modern practice prefers livelier Spanish lines and 3…d6 now lives mostly in club play.¹ 4. d4 Bd7 — the standard freeing move, breaking the pin before White builds with d5. 5. Nc3 exd4 6. Nxd4 — White has the easier game, a small but real pull.

6… Ne5?! — The first of three inaccuracies Fritz lays at Black’s door, and the start of the drift. The knight leaps to e5 rather than developing, and White’s edge swells toward a pawn and a half.

7. Bxd7+ Qxd7 8. O-O Nf6 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Nf5 — White’s pieces find their squares, and the knight reaches f5 — the post that decides so many Spanish middlegames, eyeing g7 and e7.

10… O-O-O 11. f4 Ng6?! — The second inaccuracy: Black’s grip on the position loosens, and the evaluation climbs past +2.

12. Qd4 Kb8 13. Nxg7 — The knight takes the pawn and, more to the point, tears open the black king’s cover.

13… Ne8?! 14. Bxe7 — The third inaccuracy, the knight scrambling back to e8. White then offers a trade that should simply be taken back.

14… Nxg7? — The mistake, and the hinge of the game. Black recaptures the knight instead of the bishop. Simply 14…Qxe7 keeps Black clearly worse but in the game; the text leaves White’s bishop on e7, free to crash through.

15. Bxd8 — The bishop collects the rook.

15… Ne6 16. Bxc7+! Qxc7 17. Qf6 Qe7 18. Qxe7 Nxe7 — White steers into a position the exchange and a pawn to the good, queens off the board and no counterplay to fear.

19. Rad1 Rd8 20. Nb5 d5 21. exd5 Nxd5 22. c4 Ne3 23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Rc1 Ne6 25. Kf2 Nf5 26. g3 a6 27. Nc3 Kc7 28. Rd1 Kc6 29. Ne4 h6 30. g4 Ne7 31. f5 Nf8 32. Rd6+ — No drama, only technique: the rook and king come forward, the knights are tied to defence.

32… Kc7 33. Rxh6 Nd7 34. b3 Ne5 35. h3 Nd3+ 36. Ke3 Ne5 37. Ng5 N7c6 38. Rh7 — and Black resigned.

A model of the unglamorous virtue. White had the better of the opening, was handed the decisive advantage by one mistaken recapture on move 14 — and then did the quiet, hard part: converted it without a slip, against an opponent rated more than a hundred points higher. The win was not in a brilliancy. It was in giving nothing back.