Game of the week August 18, 2019 by Robert Huntington Yesterday would have been Botvinnik’s 108th birthday. [Event "Leningrad 1929"] [White "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Black "Grigory Goldberg"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D66"] [Annotator "ATH"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1929.??.??"] [SourceTitle "chesuotaku.org/games/gam"] [SourceDate "2012.01.01"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2012.01.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O dxc4 9. Bxc4 b5 10. Bd3 Bb7 11. Rc1 a6 12. a4 (12. Ne4 $1 g6 13. Rc2 Nxe4 14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Bxe4 $14) 12... Rc8 $6 (12... h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Ne4 Be7 15. Bb1 Rc8 $11) 13. Qe2 Re8 14. Rfd1 Qb6 $6 (14... h6 $14) 15. Ne5 $16 h6 (15... Rc7 $5) 16. Bh4 $6 (16. Nxd7 Nxd7 17. Bxe7 Rxe7 18. b4 $1 a5 (18... bxa4 19. Qc2 Rb8 20. Qxa4 $16) 19. bxa5 Qxa5 20. axb5 cxb5 21. Nxb5 $16) 16... Nxe5 17. dxe5 Nd7 ({Better is} 17... Nd5 18. Nxd5 exd5 19. Bg3 $14) 18. Bxe7 Rxe7 19. f4 Nc5 (19... f6 $1) 20. Bb1 (20. a5 $1 Qc7 (20... Qxa5 21. b4 $1 Qxb4 22. Na2 Qa3 23. Rc3 Nb3 24. Bb1 g6 25. Qd3 $16) 21. Bb1 $16) 20... b4 21. Qc2 (21. Ne4 $5) 21... g6 22. Ne2 Nd7 23. Rd4 (23. Kf2 $1 c5 24. Rd6 Rc6 25. Rcd1 Rxd6 26. Rxd6 $14) 23... c5 24. Rd6 Qc7 (24... Rc6 25. Rcd1 Nf8 26. Ng3 $14) 25. h4 (25. Ng3 c4 26. h4 $14) 25... f5 $2 (25... h5 26. Ng3 c4 27. Qe2 c3 28. bxc3 bxc3 29. Qd1 Qc5 $11) 26. Ba2 (26. h5 $1 {is even stronger}) 26... Kf7 $2 (26... Nf8 { is a lot better but still loses, e.g.,} 27. h5 Rg7 28. Rxe6 Nxe6 29. Bxe6+ Kf8 30. Bxc8 Qxc8 31. Qxc5+ $18 {etc.}) 27. Nd4 ({Stockfish says that} 27. h5 { is almost two pawns stronger (not that it matters; it doesn't)}) 27... Nf8 28. Qd2 Qa5 {Desperation} (28... Rce8 29. h5 Be4 30. Qe2 {etc.}) 29. Nxe6 Nxe6 ( 29... Qxa4 30. Nxf8+ Kxf8 31. Rf6+ {etc.}) 30. Rxe6 Rxe6 31. Qd7+ Kf8 32. Qxe6 1-0 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts