[Event "New York City ch"]
[Date "1972"]
[White "W. Browne"]
[Black "D. Heisman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B00"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]{ <sub><em>Click or tap on a move in the game text for a popout display board.</em></sub></br>[#]}
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6
{<br /> You have to hand it to Heisman for playing the Najdorf against one of the authorities on the Najdorf — on both sides. Around move 25, this game follows games Browne played as White and as Black.<br />}
6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7
{<br /> I used to know a ton of theory about two sidelines here. Polugaevsky’s 7…b5 was “my favorite”, I used to say, though I always found that I hated my positions when my book knowledge ran out (Black’s game hangs by threads for falling so far behind in development).<br />}
8. Qf3 Qc7 ( {[#]<br /> Browne and I both played } 8... h6 9. Bh4 g5 10. fxg5 Nfd7 {. Black’s tactic is that 10…Nfd7 pins the white pawn, so the sacrificed pawn can be recovered with the open h-file as interest. The strategic idea is that for deflecting the f4-pawn, Black makes e5 a beautiful square for his knights. One of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2005/08/15/russia-once-the-most-powerfu/c7a42f5c-ba08-4e7d-bfd5-dc53ce96276a/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">most memorable days in chess history</a> came at the Gothenburg Interzonal in 1955 when threee Argentinian grandmasters (Panno and Pilnik playing the Najdorf in honor of their compatriot Najdorf) played this at the same time against three Soviets (Keres and Geller, two of the best who never won the world championship; plus a young Spassky). On all three boards, the Russians played } 11. Nxe6! fxe6 12. Qh5+ Kf8 {, with 13. Bb5!! lurking in their preparation. Black wants to play one or both knights to e5 to prevent checkmate at f7. Bh4-g3 takes care of one knight, while Bf1-b5!! aims to capture another. It was a remarkable triumph for the Soviet braintrust — the kind we talked about back then; in the ’20s, there are no opening surprises. The story even got better. A team of Soviet analysts hatched 13. Bb5!! in a lab, but one <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/crosswords/chess/19fischer.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American kid</a> working alone rescued Black’s game with 13…Rh7!.<br /> } )
9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. g4 b5 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. g5 Nd7 13. f5 Nc5
{<br /> The ‘main’ move, though I’d play 13…Ne5 because that’s what the Najdorf is built for.<br />}
14. f6
{<br /> 8…h6 was a specialty of Browne’s, and so is 14…Bxg5+ in the ‘main’ line (experience determined that Black doesn’t have time for that pawn grab, even when it comes with check.)<br />}
14... gxf6 15. gxf6 Bf8 16. Qh5
{<br /> White has many moves here. I once played 16. Rg1 against NM Becker, and we spent about two minutes on the clock to get there. Keep that in mind for a few moves down the road.<br />}
16... Bd7 17. Bh3 b4 18. Nce2 O-O-O 19. Qxf7 Bh6+ 20. Kb1 Rdf8 21. Qh5 Rxf6 22. Rhf1 Rhf8 23. Rxf6 Rxf6 24. Qh4
{ <br /> Here we are at move 24, and Heisman’s book ran out *here*. That’s how far theory had progressed in 1972! Heisman tells this story on <a href="https://webcast.chessclub.com/icc/c/Heisman/2015_08_01/Heisman.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube</a>: The old master Mengarini was on board 2, and he headed for original positions. He and his opponent were on move 6 after 25 minutes, whereas Browne and Heisman rattled this off after Browne arrived 20 minutes late. Mengarini said: “You kids.” Heisman laughs at that now, since he’s 70, and Browne has been dead for five years. Back then, in Mengarini’s eyes, they were kids reciting theory, and not playing chess (like me vs. Becker). [#]}
24... Rg6 25. Nf3
{<br /> At this point in his video, Heisman says grandmaster Nunn’s book on the Najdorf disapproved of his choice at move 25. I stopped the video, and thought about what I’d play as Black. White has Ne2-f4 coming to hit the rook and bring more pressure to bear on e6. On the other wing, Black hasn’t built an initiative yet, so some players would look right away at …-a6-a5-a4 on the march toward breaking up White’s king position.<br />
Other players will think: ‘I don’t want to have to play …Bh6xf4 to relieve the e6-pawn, because the bishop pair is one of my trumps here.’ They’d contemplate …e5, a game-changer for the weakness it creates on the d-file (and if the light-squared bishops are traded, the dark-square bishop that Black wanted to preserve is on the wrong color, hindered by friendly center pawns).<br />
All should consider 25…Bd7-c6 to hit the e4-pawn. The problem there is 26. Ne2-f4 plus 27. Nxg6 removes the h6-bishop’s guard (though 26…Bxf4 27. Qxf4 Bxe4 is good). <br />
Black would like to move the h6-bishop in order to free the rook from its defense, but Qh4xh7 captures a pawn and hits the rook. With all the time in the world, it would be convenient to play …Kb7 ahead of …Bc6, and if things got too hot for the e6-pawn, Black could just move it. <br />
I’ve settled on …Bc6. Resume the video to find what Heisman played, and what Nunn said. <br />}
25... a5
{ <br /> Heisman says “solidifying my queenside”, but at the time, I imagine he though that secondary to pursuing a queenside initiative. And what did Stockfish say:} (25... Bc6 $2 26. Ned4 -/+) ( {<br /> Oh! Stockfish makes} 25... Bf8 {work:} 26. Qxh7 Rh6 $1 27. Qg8 Qd8 28. Qg2 Nxe4 $10 {<br /> If I’d seen 26… Rh6, 25…Bf8 would’ve been my choice. And if I’d looked at 26. Ned4, 25…Bc6? wouldn’t’ve been.<br />
At the Church’s Fried Chicken tournament in ’72, six months after this game was played, grandmaster Mecking also went for 25…a5. In the ’70s, Mecking was considered a Fischer-like talent, until he got sick with myasthenia gravis, and disappeared for almost 10 years (most of us thought he died, because Mecking didn’t have Twitter). He pulled through, though his chess aspirations were lost.<br /> } ) 26. Ng3 {“!” — Browne, though today’s computers disagree. <br />} 26...Be8 $2 ({<br />
}
26...Qd8! 27.Rxd6?? Qf8 -+)
({<br />
}26...Qd8! 27.Qxd8+ Kxd8 28.Rxd6? Bf4 -/+)
({<br />
}26...Qd8 27.Qh5 Bf4 28.Ne2 Qf8 29.Nfd4 Be5 30.Nf3 Bh8 31.Nfd4 Be5 32.Nf3 Qh6 33.Qxh6 Rxh6 34.Bg2 Rg6 35.Bh1 Bc6 36.Re1 Bh8 37.Ng3 Kc7 38.Nd2 Be5 39.Re3 Bf4 40.Re2 Bxg3 41.hxg3 Rxg3 42.Re1 e5 43.Bf3 Ne6 44.Kc1 Ng5 45.Bd1 Rg2 46.Rh1 a4 47.a3 bxa3 48.bxa3 Kb6 49.c3 Rg3 50.Kb2 Rd3 51.Kc2 Nxe4 52.Kxd3 Nc5+ 53.Kc4 d5+ 54.Kb4 Na6# {<a href="https://www.365chess.com/game.php?gid=2410283" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>“>Browne-Mecking, San Antonio 1972</a>.<br /> } )
27. e5 dxe5 28. Nf5 exf5 29. Bxf5+ Nd7 $2 ({<br />
}29... Ne6 {<br /> }
) 30. Qe7 Qd8 31. Qxh7 Rf6 32. Bxd7+ Bxd7 33. Nxe5 Qe8 34. Qxd7+ Qxd7 35. Nxd7 Rf2 36. Nb6+ Kb7 37. Nc4 a4 38. h3 Rh2 39. a3 bxa3 40. Nxa3 Rxh3 41. Rd4 Bf8 42. Rxa4 Rh2 43. c3 Bg7 44. Rg4 Bh6 45. Ka2 Bd2 46. Kb3 Bh6 47. Rg6 Bf8 48. Nc4 Bh6 49. Rf6 Bc1 50. Rf1 Bh6 51. Rf7+ Ka6 52. Rh7 0-1
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