Game of the week January 29, 2023 by Robert Huntington Unfortunately, grandmaster Sherzer passed away recently. [Event "US Junior Championship 1988"] [Site "Amherst, MA"] [White "Patrick Wolff"] [Black "Alex Sherzer"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C07"] [Annotator "ATH"] [PlyCount "90"] [EventDate "1988.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceTitle "Chess Horizons?"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1998.11.10"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1998.11.10"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nc6 5. Bb5 $6 (5. exd5 {transposes to the main line}) 5... a6 6. exd5 $6 (6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. O-O (8. c4 $5) 8... Nf6 $1 (8... Ne7 9. Nb3 Bb6 $11 {Kellmann-Meyer, Fuerth 2016}) 9. e5 Nd7 $11) 6... axb5 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. dxc5 (8. c3 $5 Nf6 9. O-O cxd4 10. cxd4 c5 $15) 8... Bxc5 9. O-O Nf6 10. Nb3 Bd6 11. Be3 $6 (11. Bg5 O-O 12. Bxf6 gxf6 13. Nfd4 f5 $15) 11... O-O (11... Nd5 $1) 12. Bc5 Nd5 13. Re1 Re8 (13... Bxc5 $1 14. Nxc5 Qe7 $15 {Perez Marco-Calonge Gonzalez, ICCF email 2009}) 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Qd3 e5 16. c4 bxc4 17. Qxc4 Ba6 (17... h5 $1 18. a4 Bg4 19. Nbd2 f6 20. Ne4 Qc7 $11) 18. Qc5 Qf6 19. Rac1 $2 (19. Nbd2 h6 20. a4 Bd3 21. Ne4 Qf4 $11) 19... Nf4 20. Nxe5 $2 (20. Qe3 Nd3 $19 {puts up more resistance}) 20... Ne2+ (20... Be2 $1 21. Nd7 Nh3+ 22. Kh1 Qxf2 23. Qxf2 Nxf2+ 24. Kg1 Nd3 $19 {is even stronger}) 21. Rxe2 Bxe2 22. Nxc6 Qxb2 23. Nb4 (23. Ne7+ Kh8 24. Nf5 {is a minimal improvement}) 23... h6 (23... Ba6 $1) 24. h3 Qe5 (24... Rad8 $1) 25. Qc6 (25. Nd4 Qf4 $19 {is another small (and meaningless) improvement}) 25... Bb5 26. Qb7 (26. Qc2 $5) 26... Ba4 (26... Ra4 $1) 27. Nd3 (27. Qc7 $5) 27... Qb8 (27... Qd6 $1) 28. Ndc5 (28. Qxb8 Rexb8 $19 {is an insuffiicient improvement}) 28... Qxb7 29. Nxb7 Bxb3 (29... Re2 $1 $19) 30. axb3 Rec8 (30... Ra2 $1 $19) 31. Re1 (31. Nc5 {is yet another insufficient improvement}) 31... Rab8 (31... Ra6 $1 $19) 32. Nd6 (32. Na5 $5) 32... Rd8 33. Nc4 Rxb3 34. Re7 $6 (34. Ra1) 34... Rf8 $6 ( 34... Rb4 $1 35. Ne5 Rd1+ 36. Kh2 f6 $19) 35. Ne3 (35. g3 Rd8 $19) 35... g6 ( 35... Rb1+ 36. Kh2 Rb2 $19) 36. Nc4 (36. g4 {is irrelevantly better}) 36... Rbb8 (36... Rb4) 37. g3 Rbc8 38. Nd6 Rcd8 39. Ne4 Kg7 40. Nc5 (40. Rb7 $5) 40... Rd1+ 41. Kg2 Rc8 42. Ne4 $2 (42. Rd7 Rxd7 43. Nxd7 Rd8 $19 {would prolong the game}) 42... Rc2 $6 (42... Re1 $1 $19 {is the quick method}) 43. Rb7 Rc4 (43... Rd4 $5) 44. Kf3 Rdd4 45. Re7 Kf8 0-1 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