London 1919
The future world champion played against future prime minister Andrew Bonar Law, who was consulting with two other MPs (I have not been able to discover their names).
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5
Bonar Law is said to have been a strong amateur (Edward Winter has a fair bit of chess information about him: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/bonarlaw.html), so it is not surprising the MPs should play what is probably Black's sharpest line.
4.Qa4 dxe4!?
Black has a lot of choice here, eg 4...f6, 4...Bd7, 4...Nf6, but the text is the one move against which White scores a high percentage. Stockfish10 and Komodo10 reckon ...dxe4 is a mistake (they flash red), but engines' early-opening assessments are much less reliable than their middlegame judgments.
5.Nxe5 Qd5 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bc4 Qd7 8.d3!?
Chigorin played 8.0-0 in wins against Steinitz and Bird at London 1899.
8...exd3 9.0-0
9.Bxd3 is also possible as 9...Qxd3? loses the exchange to 10.Qxc6+ etc.
9...Bd6 10.Bg5
The engines much prefer 10.Nd2, which was Ljubojevic's choice in a draw against Karpov at the 1975 Vidmar Memorial.
10...Ne7 11.Nd2 0-0 12.Bd3 f6
Not 12...Bxh2+? 13.Kxh2 Qxd3 14.Bxe7 Re8 15.Nf3 Rxe7? 16.Rad1 (threatening a back-rank mate) Qe2 17.Rfe1.
13.Qc4+ Kh8 14.Be3 a5 15.Bc2 Nf5
If 15...Ba6, then 16.Qh4.
16.Bxf5 Qxf5 17.Qxc6
White has won a pawn but Black has active play.
17...Ba6 18.Rfe1 Rfb8 19.Ne4 Be5 20.Nc5 Bb5
White found a way to defend the b pawn without a) weakening the c pawn by playing b3, or b) playing the passive Rab1.
21.Qf3 Qxf3 22.gxf3 Bc6 23.f4 Bd6 24.b3
White's c pawn cannot easily be attacked in this position, and so is not weak.
24...Rb5 25.Ne6 Rh5
Vigorous play by the MPs. White is still a pawn up, but the bishops are powerful and White has kingside weaknesses.
26.c4 Rh4 27.c5 Rg4+ 28.Kf1
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| Can you find a good move for Black? |
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28...Bb5+?!
Tempting, but wrong. Black wins the exchange, but at too high a cost. It was better to retreat the dark-square bishop.
29.Re2 Bxe2+ 30.Kxe2 Be7 31.Nxc7
White's passed c pawn is very powerful, not least because the black rook at g4 cannot easily get to the queenside to help combat the passer.
31...Rc8 32.Nd5 Bd8
Not 32...Bxc5? 33.Rc1, but the engines much prefer 32...Bf8.
33.Rc1 Rh4 34.c6 Rh5
34...Rxh2 loses a piece to 35.c7.
35.Rc5 Bc7 36.a4 Rxh2?
This loses quickly, but the engines' 36...h6, removing a possible later back-ranker, is met by 37.Rb5, eg 37...Rxh2 38.Nxc7 Rxc7 39.Rc5, followed by Kd3-c4-b5 etc, when White's queenside play is quicker than Black's kingside counterplay, although it is still a game.
37.Nxc7 Rxc7 38.Rxa5
Possible as 38...Rxc6?? loses to 39.Ra8+.
38...h5 39.Rc5 g6?!
This is slow, but 39...h4 would make no difference to the outcome, eg 40.b4 Rh1 41.b5 Rb1 42.Kf3, when the h pawn is stopped and White wins easily on the queenside.
40.b4 Rh1 41.b5 Rb1 42.a5 h4 43.b6 Rxc6 44.Rxc6 h3 45.a6 h2 46.a7 1-0
Black can queen first, but White is mating, so the MPs resigned.
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