Scottish Centenary Tournament

Last updated 22 February 2004

Anton,V (2610) - Vukcevic,B (2495) [D85]
SCCA-100, 1984
[Notes by John Hawkes]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 Nc6 [We will not discuss the well-known 9...Qa5 lines this time, but a couple of not so well-documented divergences are: ; 9...b6 10.0-0 (10.Be3 Bb7 11.e5 cxd4 12.cxd4 e6 13.h4 h5!? 14.Ng5 Qd5 with an intense battle, Singleton-Hurdle, British CC Championships, 1981-82.) 10...Bb7 11.Qd3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qd7 13.Rd1 e6 14.Bf4 f5!? 15.exf5 Rxf5 16.Qe3 Bd5 17.Ne5! punishing Black's impatient 14th in Anton-Kilgour, X OLympiad Prelims.; 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 Bg4 11.Rxb7 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Bxd4 13.0-0 Na6!? 14.e5 Nc5 15.Rb4 Nd3! with exciting play in Gefenas-Nesis, Keres Memorial CC Tournament.]

10.d5 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe5 12.Qd2 e6 [We've seen an example of 12...Qa5 13.Rb3 Rd8 14.f4 Bg7 15.c4! Qxd2+ 16.Bxd2 b6 17.e5 Bf5 18.g4 Be4 19.0-0+- Haag-Guner.; Also playable is 12...b6 13.f4 Bg7 14.c4 e5 15.0-0 exf4 16.Qxf4 Qe7 Khalifman-Olafsson, New York, 1990.]

13.f4 Bg7 [The quirky retreat 13...Bh8?! has been tried against Anton before. 14.c4 Re8 15.e5 f6 16.f5! gxf5 17.Rb3 Re7 18.Qh6 fxe5 19.Bg5 Qf8 Anton-Uogele, XIII WC 3/4 Finals. White exchanged, played Rh3, and won in 32.; More serious is 13...Bc7!? with some stimulating play: 14.0-0 exd5 15.exd5 Rb8 16.c4 Ba5 17.Qc2 b5! 18.Rxb5 Rxb5 19.cxb5 Qxd5 20.Rd1 Bf5 21.Rxd5 Bxc2 22.Kf1 (22.Be3+/= (ECO)) 22...c4 23.Ba3 Re8 24.Rd7 Re4 25.g3 Bb6 26.Bb2 Ba4 27.Rb7 Bxb5 28.Rb8+ Re8 29.Rxe8+ Bxe8 30.Bxc4 Bd7 Donchenko-Perelstein, USSR, 1985, drawn.]

14.c4 Re8 [There's a fascinating variation: 14...exd5 15.cxd5 Bd4 16.Bb2 Qb6 17.Bd3 c4 18.Bxc4 Re8 19.Bd3 Bf5 20.Ba1 Qf6 21.e5 Bxd3 22.Qxd3 Bxa1 23.0-0!= (Schussler)]

15.e5 f6 16.d6 fxe5 17.Bb2 e4 [The power of the White line is shown in: 17...exf4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.0-0! Rf8 20.Rxf4 Rxf4 21.Qxf4 Qf6 22.Qe3! b6 23.Kh1! Tukmakov-Ftacnik, Hastings, 1982-83. (23.Rf1 Tal-Vaganian, USSR Championships, drawn.)]

18.Be5 Now White gives his opponent a thorough testing with a move originating from Gavrikov.

18...b6 19.h4! [Superior to 19.0-0 Rf8! with the idea Rf5 (Ghinda).]

19...Rf8 One can assume the players are on their own now.

20.Qe3 Bb7 21.Bg4 Qd7 22.Rd1! Another strong move. White is going to play the game uncastled.

22...h5 23.Bh3 Rf7 24.g4! hxg4 25.Bxg4 Bxe5 26.fxe5 Kg7 27.h5 Rh8 28.Rg1 Rh6 Black seems to have held things together, but now comes a stunning simplification.

29.Bxe6! Qxe6 30.Qxh6+ Kxh6 31.Rxg6+ Qxg6 32.hxg6 Rf8 33.e6 Bc8 34.d7 Rh8 35.Rd6! Logical and decisive. [35.d8Q? Rxd8 36.Rxd8 Bxe6 is impetuous, and not the way.]

35...Kg7 36.dxc8Q Rxc8 37.e7 Re8 38.Re6 1-0