[Event "BCCA Trophies 2D 6970"] [Site "corr"] [Date "1969.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Wise, David"] [Black "Braunton, Richard J"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "MJDonnelly"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "1969.??.??"] [EventType "game (corr)"] [SourceVersionDate "2008.05.10"] {[%evp 0,57,28,-65,-56,-77,-24,-28,-22,-29,-37,-51,25,-12,-18,-19,-31,-31,-24,-28,13,36,57,64,46,46,122,-6,32,3,33,15,42,-18,98,78,89,94,90,90,112,112,177,190,241,245,244,271,280,278,265,247,305,305,351,351,649,649,961,961]} 1. b4 {(A selection of the brief notes by DW in Correspondence Chess are given in parentheses)} e5 {This and 1...d5 are Black's main alternatives by a long way. Black may also play a Queens Indian type of structure as in the following games which show that White's pawn expansion on the queen's side is not weak at all as well as some of the resources available to each player-the other significance of the games is explained in the note to move 3.} (1... e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. a3 d5 4. e3 a5 5. b5 c5 6. c4 Be7 7. Nf3 b6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. d4 Bb7 10. Rc1 Nbd7 11. Be2 Rc8 12. Na4 Ne4 13. O-O Ndf6 14. Ne5 cxd4 15. Qxd4 Nc5 16. Nxc5 Bxc5 17. Qd2 Ne4 18. Qc2 Qe7 19. a4 Rfd8 20. Rfd1 Qg5 21. Nf3 Qh6 22. Bd4 Bxd4 23. Rxd4 f5 {D.Wise-Donnelly , 1/2:1/2 Teesside Championship 1969.}) (1... Nf6 2. Bb2 b6 3. e3 Bb7 4. Nf3 e6 5. b5 a6 6. a4 Be7 7. Be2 O-O 8. c4 Ne4 9. O-O f5 10. d3 Bf6 11. Qc2 Bxb2 12. Qxb2 Nf6 13. Nbd2 d6 14. d4 Qe7 15. a5 axb5 16. axb6 cxb6 17. Rxa8 Bxa8 18. Qxb5 Qa7 19. Rb1 Nbd7 20. Bd1 Ne4 21. Qb2 h6 22. Nxe4 Bxe4 23. Ra1 Qc7 24. Nd2 Bc6 {1/2:1/2 D.Wise-F.N.Stephenson, Teesside Congress 1972.}) 2. Bb2 f6 3. e4 {(A gambit recommended by Sokolsky). Possibly this was a reference to Chapter One in the book Die Eroffnung 1. b2-b4 by A.P.Sokolsky with a forward by Boleslawsky published in Hamburg in 1964. This was a book I obtained from B.H.Wood's CHESS stall at the British Championships held at the now nearby Warwick University, in 1970 (and have just re-glued the back on!). I can recall that David's father, Tom Wis, informed me with a chuckle that my face had a look of shock and horror when 1.b4 confidentially appeared on the board-see game above. Despite being outrated by hundereds of Elo points in each case I had beaten many times regional champions, and amongst the highest rated players in the country, Tom Wise and Norman Stephenson in round 1 and 2 of this competition but despite hard effort made no progress against 1.b4.} (3. b5 {has been played on several important occasions by Sokolsky himself. For example,} d5 4. e3 Be6 (4... Bd6 5. c4 c6 6. Nf3 (6. a4 {is also feasible and White went on to win a nice game after} Ne7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qb3 Bc7 {Bugaev-Steinitz, WS simul Moscow 1886.}) 6... Ne7 7. d4 {Sokolsky-Golovko, USR-ch corr USSR 1960.}) 5. d4 Nd7 6. dxe5 fxe5 7. Nf3 Bd6 8. Nbd2 Ngf6 9. c4 c6 10. Be2 O-O 11. Ng5 {Sokolsky-Kotov, USR Trade Union-ch Leningrad 1938.}) (3. a3 {the opening and this move was the slightly surprsising choice of the legendary J.R.Capablanca which continued} d5 4. e3 Be6 5. d4 e4 6. c4 c6 7. Nc3 Nd7 8. cxd5 cxd5 9. Nge2 {Capablanca-Pedroso, San Paulo 1927.}) 3... Bxb4 (3... d5 {declines one gambit but allows another} 4. f4 exf4 5. Qh5+ g6 6. Qxd5 Qxd5 7. exd5 Bxb4 8. Ne2 {Sokolsky-Estrin, USR-ch sf Baku 1958-a line explored much later in several correspondence games..}) 4. Bc4 Ne7 5. Qh5+ Ng6 (5... g6 {has also often been chsen here but leaves Black's king -side weakened.}) 6. f4 {Offering a second pawn is regarded by Sokolsky as a strong continuation and he provided in the above mentioned book several well annotated games to make the point that White gets significant tactical chances for the sacrifice.} exf4 (6... d5 {offers a counter-gambit to aid development. Examples inlcude} 7. Bxd5 exf4 (7... c6 8. Bb3 exf4 9. Nf3 Qe7 10. e5 {Haralambof-Minya Malano , Olympiad-16 Tel Aviv 1964.}) 8. Nf3 c6 9. Bb3 Na6 10. Nh4 {Timmermans-G.Jones, Titled Tuesday intern op 22nd June Chess.com INT blitz 2021 and now the very strong GM went astray with the same tactic as in the older game and went on to lose after} Qa5 11. e5) 7. a3 {The most direct and seemingly the strongest move here. Other games have utilised} (7. Nf3) (7. Nh3) ({or} 7. Ne2) (7. h3 {is given in certain databases but is a move without much point. The game continuation is taken from the fine paper magazine Correspondence Chess.}) 7... Bd6 (7... d5 8. Bxd5 c6 9. Bb3 Bd6 (9... Qa5 {is powerfully met by} 10. e5 Be7 11. Bf7+ Kf8 12. Bxg6 $18 {Katalymov-Illivizky, Candidate Masters Tm, Frunse 1959 and also later in Harabor-Martin, USA-ch qual 09 corr.1989}) 10. Nf3 {is one game annotated by Sokolosky (Goljak-Lilienthal, sf Spartak Moscow 1962) which ended up a draw for the more famous player after White missed a win late in the game.}) 8. Nf3 Qe7 9. Nc3 b6 {Black has also played to avoid White exploiting the pinned g6 knight by voluntarily losing castling rights early in the game:} (9... Kd8 10. d4 Nc6 {Maderer-Draeger, ICCF e-mail 1998.} (10... c5 11. O-O cxd4 {Pleschtke-Pinasco, IECG e-mail 1999.})) 10. Nh4 ({The natural} 10. O-O {would allow Black to follow with} Ba6 {and a very good game.}) 10... Qe5 11. Nf5 (11. Qxe5+ {is of course a mistake as Black should win after} fxe5 12. Nf5 Bf8) 11... Bf8 ({(If} 11... Kf8 12. O-O-O {with the threat of Nb5 is very strong).}) 12. d4 {Good play-White gains control of the centre with tempo and supports the key possibility of e5 in the future.} Qa5 13. Bd5 c6 14. Bb3 Kd8 15. O-O Ba6 16. Rfe1 Ne7 17. Qg4 ({(Despite White's advantage in development} 17. Qf7 {opening up more lines at the expense of a third pawn seems to lead nowhere as the Black king finds shelter on the queen's-side)}) 17... g5 18. Nd6 ({(Not} 18. e5 h5 $1 {).}) 18... h5 19. Qf3 Kc7 20. Ne8+ Kd8 21. Nd6 Rh7 (21... Kc7 {to attempt to repeat the position would be met very strongly with} 22. e5) 22. e5 f5 ({(If} 22... fxe5 23. Rxe5 b5 24. Rxg5 {wins or more spectacularly} (24. Ncxb5 {).})) 23. Nf7+ Kc7 24. Nxg5 Rg7 25. Qxf4 Nd5 26. Bxd5 cxd5 27. e6+ d6 ({(Here} 27... Bd6 {seems no better after} 28. Qxf5 {). Now if} Bc4 29. Nf7 Nc6 30. Nxd6 Kxd6 31. Qf4+ {wins easily.}) 28. Qxf5 Nc6 29. Nxd5+ ({(If} 29. Nxd5+ Kb7 30. e7 Rxe7 31. Rxe7+ {and Qd7+). David was 13 years old at the time this game was played and the notes and standard demonstrated preludes the forthcoming very strong player within just a few years time.}) 1-0