Scottish Annotated Games

Last updated 11 July 2001

Beecham, C R - Mackintosh, I [A45]
SCCA Championship 2000-01
[Notes by Richard Beecham]

Trompowski 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Ne4 3.Bf4 d5 4.e3 Bf5 5.f3 Nf6 [In the same tournament I Reeman played 5...Nd6 but after 6.Nc3 e6 7.Qe2 Be7 8.0-0-0 Bg6 9.e4 c6 10.h4 White built up a strong initiative.]

6.c4 e6 7.Nc3 c6 8.g4 [In the game J Hodgson - R Sukharisingh from the German League 1996, John played 8.Qb3 Qc8 9.Rc1 Nbd7 10.g4 Bg6 11.h4 h6 12.Nh3 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nb6 14.Nb5 and won quickly. After 8.Qb3, Qb6 looks satisfactory for Black.]

8...Bg6 9.h4 h6 10.Qb3 b6 I was confident that Iain would not play 10...Qb6. In the last two Championship tournaments Iain had given me a lesson on how to play and literally ripped my Kings head off! I was sure he would want to keep Queens on.

11.Nh3 Be7 [11...dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd5 13.0-0-0 Bd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.e4 Nxc3 16.Qxc3 Nd7 17.h5 Bh7 18.Kb1 0-0-0 19.Ka1 Kb8 20.Nf2 f6 21.Ba6 c5 22.Qa3 Qg3 23.Rhf1 cxd4 24.Nd3 Ne5 25.Rc1 Rhe8 26.Qa4 Re7 27.Qxd4 Red7 28.Qc3 1-0 Conquest,S-Xie Jun/Premier, Hastings ENG 1996 (28)]

12.h5 Bh7 13.Nf2 0-0 [Castling into the attack. Better would have been 13...dxc4 14.Bxc4 Nd5 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Bd3 Bxd3 17.Nxd3 0-0 with at least a level position.]

14.g5 hxg5 15.Bxg5 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Nd5 17.Bxe7 Qxe7 18.e4 Ne3 19.h6 Rd8 [Probably best as after 19...gxh6 20.Kd2! Nxc4+ 21.Qxc4 Bg6 22.Rag1 White looks good.]

20.Rg1 Bg6 21.Rxg6!? [Looking back on my notes I now think 21.Ne2! was better viz. 21...Nxc4 22.Qxc4 gxh6 23.Nf4 Kh7 24.Ng4 b5 25.Qc1! In the heat of battle I felt that 21.Rxg6 would shake him up a little.]

21...fxg6 22.Bxe6+ Kh8 23.hxg7+ Kxg7 24.Ne2 Nc2+ This was a surprise. [I expected 24...Ng2+ 25.Kf1 Ne3+ 26.Qxe3 Qxe6 27.Ng4 Rh8 (27...Nd7 28.Qh6+) 28.d5 cxd5 29.Nf4 When White's position is well worth the exchange. My Q is better on c3 (as in the game) rather than on e3 as in this note.]

25.Qxc2 Qxe6 26.Qc3 Kg8 [The move 26...Kf8 leaves h8 vulnerable viz 27.d5 cxd5 28.Nf4 Qd6 29.Nxd5 Nd7 30.Qh8+ Kf7 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Nh3! Qg3+ 33.Ke2 Qe5 34.Nhf4 which is winning for White.]

27.Ng4 Rf8 [Defending f6. Developing the queenside with 27...Nd7 is no better. 28.Nf4 Qe7 29.Qc4+ Kg7 30.Ne6+ Kg8 31.Nxd8+ and the game is over.]

28.Kd2 [I was concerned that if I castled long Black would take on a2 and then play d5. 28.0-0-0 Qxa2 29.d5 Qa1+ 30.Kd2 (30.Kc2 Qa4+) 30...Qa5 31.b4]

28...Nd7 29.d5! This looked wrong initially, it appears to open up the c file for Black, but in reality it is to White's advantage with moves such as Qc7 - h2 and Rh1.

29...cxd5 30.Nh6+ Forcing the King onto the open file.

30...Kh7 31.Rh1 Nf6 [Closing the diagonal with 31...Rf6 comes up against 32.Nf4 Qe8 33.Ng4+ Kg7 34.exd5 Rc8 35.Qd4]

32.Qc7+ [And Iain resigned. If 32... Qd7 I had intended 33.Ng4+ Kg7 34.Rh7+ Kxh7 35.Nxf6 Rxf6 36.Qxd7+ Kh6 37.Qxd5. Too slow would be 32...Nd7 33.Nd4 Qe8 34.Nhf5+ Kg8 35.Qh2 Kf7 36.Qh7+ and mate in 3 moves.] 1-0