The Colorbound Clobberers versus the FIDEs -- Second ever

The Colorbound Clobberers have the White uniforms in this game, and the Fabulous FIDEs have the Black. This is the fourth game between these two teams, the second with these colors, but this time the teams have traded coaches.

This game is not prettied up yet.

The general story of the game is that White (the Clobberers) got a promising position, but Black cleverly traded a Rook for a FAD and a Pawn (probably one should say Black won material) which destroyed the White position. After many clever struggles, White tried to defend by stalemating his own King and imposing a blockade, but this failed.

The position around move 17 is well worth looking at, and the endgame is highly interesting.

Betza - Roytman, 1996, by email

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
3. e4:d5 e6:d5 4. (WA)b1-d3 Nf6
5. (WA)g1-e3 c6
6. (FAD)f1-e2 Bd6
7. O-O 0-0
8. b2-b3 a5
9. c2-c4 b6
10. c4-c5 Bc7
11. c5:b6 Bc7:b6 12. (WA)e3-c5 Re8
13. (FAD)c1-e3 Ne4
14. f2-f3 Ne4:c5 15. d4:c5 Bc7
	(j'adoube 16. (NB)d1-c3 f6 17. f3-f4 R:e3! 18. (WA)d3:e3 B:f4)
16. f3-f4 Na6
17. (BD)f1-f3 R:e3
18. (WA)d3:e3 B:f4
- I'm tempted to j'adoube to 17. (BD)a1-c3 just because I feel like
it...
- Feel free to come up with a move that convinces me I should.

J'adoube twice to avoid R:e3!  Well, I don't know if my move
convinces you;
it's not earthshaking, but I do think your FAD and f4 pawn are worth
my Rook.

19. g2-g3 Bc7
20. a2-a3 Qe7
21. (BD)a1-c3 Be5
22. (BD)c3:a5 Bd4
23. (BD)a5-d2 B:e3
24. (NB)d1:e3 Na6:c5
	( j'adoube 25. (NB)e3-d4? Ne6!  Note: if 26. (NB):c6?? Qc5+)
26. b3-b4 Nb3
- Wish I could see my way clear to j'adoubing back to move 17.

All these j'adoubes!  This is a moral victory, if nothing else; though
j'adoubes usually indicate the player is in trouble and/or doesn't
have a
good grasp of the position; I speak from personal experience :-)

27. (BD)d2-c3 R:a3
28. (NB)e3-b6 Qb7
( Note: 28. (NB)e3-c2 Ra2 29. (NB)c2:b3 R:e2 30. (BD)f3:e2 Q:e2 -+ ;
      looks winnable for Black; would have made an interesting
      endgame )
29. (NB)b6-d8 Qa7+
30. Kg1-g2 Ra6
31. (BD)f3-d3 Bh3+
32. Kg2:h3 Qd7+ 33. g4 Q:d8 34. (BD)d3:a6 d4 35. (BD)c3-e1 Qe7
	( "take back" 35..d3 36. (FAD)e2:d3 if Nb3-d4 37. (FAD)d3-e4)
36. (BD)a6-c4 c5
    (j'adoube d3! 37. (BD)c4:d3 Nd4 38. (FAD)e2-e4)
37. b4:c5 N:c5
        (Note: 37. b5 d3 38. (BD)a6:d3 Nd4 39. (FAD)e2-e4 N:b5)
	(Note: 37. b5 d3 38. (BD)a6:d3 Nd4 39. (FAD)e2-e4 N:b5)
	(Note:                             39. (FAD)e2-c4?? Q:e1)
38. (BD)e1-f2 Qd6
    (j'adoube 38. (BD)e1-h4 Qd7 )
39. Kh3-g2 Ne6
40. (FAD)e2-e4 Nf4+
41. Kg2-f3 g5
42. (BD)f2-g3 Qa3+ 43. Kf2 d3
44. (BD)g3:f4 g5:f4 45. (BD)c4:d3 Qc5+
(j'adoube 44. Kf2-e3 Qc1+ if 45. K~ d2)

46. Kf2-g2 h6
47. (FAD)e4-f5 Kf8
48. Kg2-f1 f6 49. Kg2 Qe3 50. (BD)d3-f3 Ke7
51. (BD)f3-d3 Kd6 52. (BD)d3-f3 Ke5 53. Kh3 Qf2
54. (BD)f3-d3 Kd4 55. (BD)d3-e4 Ke3 56. (BD)e4-d5 Ke2
57. (BD)d5-d3+ Ke1 58. (BD)d3-f3 Qd2!

[November 1996:] I wish I had time to pretty this up and annotate
the game. 58...Qd2 was a fine move that led to victory in a position
I hoped to draw. Things were very interesting until 58...Qd2
was played!

59. (FAD)f5-d3 Kf2 60. Kh4 Qe3
61. (BD)f3-f1 Kg1
62. Kh5 f3
63. h4 f2
64. (FAD)d3-f3(?) Kh2 65. Kg6 Kg3
66. (FAD)f3-e2 K:h4 67. K:f6 Qg5+
68. Ke6 Kg3
69. (BD)f1-g2 Kf4
And Black resigns

The Players:

Ralph Betza holds the title of FIDE master.

Vladimir Roytman is a USCF National Master.