In the following game, Gonzalo Castillo demonstrates the iron nerves that are sometimes required to win games at the highest level. Would you have been cold-blooded enough to play White's 33rd move? White: Gonzalo Castillo Black: Vince Charlett Extra Chance Open, round 5 October 24, 1995 Alekhine's Defense 1 e4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 e5 d4 4 Nb1?! 4 exf6 dxc3 5 exg7 cxd2+ 6 Qxd2 or 6 Bxd2 is about equal. 4 ... Nd5 5 Nf3 Nb6 The immediate 5 ... c5 was OK. The knight on b6 is useless for a long time. 6 a4 a5 7 Na3 e6 8 b3 Be7 9 Bb2 A bad square for the bishop. 9 ... c5 10 Bb5+ Preparing to exchange the "good" bishop. Instead, 10 Bd3 followed by 11 c3 and 12 Nc2 looks like a plausible development. 10 ... Bd7 11 O-O O-O 12 d3 Nc6 13 Qe2 Na7 Black should play, or prepare to play, ... f6. On the queenside, he's only fooling around. 14 Nd2 Nxb5 15 axb5 Qe8 16 Nac4 Saving the apparently doomed b-pawn. 16 ... Nxc4 17 dxc4 b6 18 Ne4 18 c3 was logical. After 18 ... dxc3 19 Bxc3 White would have a clear advantage. The text move is too slow. Black has time to defend his d-pawn and even gets a formidable counterattack. 18 ... Qb8 19 f4 f5 20 exf6 Of course, 20 Nf2 locks things up, but White still hoped for an advantage. 20 ... gxf6 21 c3 f5 22 Ng5 Bxg5 Not 20 ... Bf6? 21 Qh5. 23 fxg5 e5 It looks bad for White. Black's protected passed pawn is very dangerous, and White's bishop, which looked for a while as if it might break out, is entombed again. 24 cxd4 exd4 25 Qf3 Qd6 26 Bc1! The most urgent problem was the bad bishop. With this piece relocated to a decent square, White can hang tough. 26 ... Rae8 27 Bf4 Qg6 28 h4 Re4 29 Rad1 Rfe8 30 h5 Qe6 31 Rd3 Bc8 Black goes for mate--understandable given the bishops of opposite colors. Alternatively, now would have been a good time for 31 ... a4!, landing a body blow to White's queenside. After 32 Rc1 axb3 33 Rxb3 Ra8, White would be defenseless against ... Ra4. 32 Qg3 Bb7 33 Qh2!?? Re1 33 ... Re2 leads to similar play after 34 Rd2. But not 34 Rg3 Re1, or 34 Rf2 Re1+ 35 Rf1 Rxf1+ 36 Kxf1 Qe1 mate. 34 Rd1 Rxd1 35 Rxd1 Qe2 36 Rf1 d3 37 g6 d2 38 gxh7+ Kxh7?? Starting to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. 38 ... Kh8 would avoid the following shot. 39 Bxd2! So that if 39 ... Qxd2 40 Qc7+ regains the material. Even then, Black has no worse than a perpetual after 40 ... Kh8 41 Qxb7 Qd4+ 41 Kh2 Qh4+. Even after his blunder, Black does not lose his head, but continues to play for a win, and his position is so good that it is justified. 39 ... Rg8 40 g3 Qd3 41 Bf4 Qxb3? This starts to give White dangerous counterplay, and either now or in the next two moves, the position slips from a win to a loss. The correct way to assess the position is to note that White's helpless queenside isn't going away. Black doesn't have to munch on it right away, but can take the time to put every piece on its best square. For instance, 41 ... Re8 (threatening 42 ... Re2) 42 Qd2 Qe4 43 Qh2 Rd8, and White hardly has any playable moves. 42 Re1 Be4 43 h6 a4 44 Qh4! Finally Black must pay for neglecting to mobilize his rook. 44 ... Qxc4 45 Qe7+ Kg6 46 Rd1 Bd5 Or 46 ... Bd3 47 Qd6+. 47 Qg5+ Kf7 48 Qxf5+ Ke8 49 Rxd5 Rxg3+ 50 Bxg3 Qc1+ 51 Kg2 Resigns Jim Cummings submits a game against a computer, or to be precise, against the Chessmaster 3000 software running on a 486-based PC. Naturally the element of human drama is missing, but I think that readers can learn from the interesting twists and turns of this game. White: Chessmaster 3000 Black: Jim Cummings 1 c4 Nf6 2 d4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 Nf3 O-O 5 e4 d6 6 Be2 Bg4!? The more common alternative is 6 ... e5. By exchanging White's knight, Black hopes to increase his control over the black squares. 7 h3 Bxf3 8 Bxf3 Nfd7 9 Be3 Nc6 10 O-O 10 d5!? and 10 Ne2!? are serious alternatives. We'll see shortly what is the point of these peculiar-looking moves. 10 ... e5 11 e5 Ne7 Black could now have played 11 ... Nd4, which would be the logical culmination of his dark-square strategy. White can't get an advantage by 12 Bxd4?! exd4 13 Ne2 Ne5, or 13 Nb5 a6 14 Nxd4 Qf6. So the position would be roughly equal, and the advanced knight would be quite annoying. This is why White's 10th move alternatives were important. By playing 11 ... Ne7 Black follows a well-known plan of kingside attack. This is understandable, but he isn't getting his money's worth for the exchange of bishop for knight. 12 Qa4?! To give the computer credit, it sees that it should be attacking on the queenside. But its method of doing so is unorthodox. 12 Rc1, planning a pawn storm by b4 and c5, suggests itself. 12 ... f5 13 Qb5 f4 This is premature. Simply 12 ... b6 was OK. 14 Bg4 White elects to plant a bishop on e6. Will it be strong or weak? Only time will tell. And so we see that both players are aggressively speculating. Are computers really that different from human chess players? 14 ... Nf6 15 Be6+ Kh8 16 Bd2 Rb8 17 Qa5 a6 18 f3 Neg8 By a roundabout route, Black's knight will exchange itself for the bishop. Is there time to do this before White's attack crashes through? 19 Rfc1 Nh6 20 b4 Nf7 21 Bxf7 Black was threatening to play ... Ng5 and ... Nxe6, but perhaps White should have allowed this. For instance, after 21 c5 Ng5 22 cxd6 cxd6 23 Qxd8 Rxd8 24 Na4 Nxe6 25 dxe6, a nice queenside invasion is shaping up, which will give White real compensation for the potential loss of the pawn on e6. 21 ... Rxf7 22 a4 g5 23 b5 h5 Up to now Black has been defending his queenside pawns, but he senses that the time is right to let White have 'em. This decision turned out well, but 23 ... axb5 seems reasonable. 24 bxa6 bxa6 25 Qxa6 g4 26 fxg4?? Black's counterattack begins, and the computer comes completely unhinged. White should not touch his f-pawn, but should shove his king to d3 with both hands: 26 hxg4 hxg4 27 Kf2. 26 ... hxg4 27 Rab1 Rxb1 28 Rxb1 gxh3 29 gxh3 Nd7 The most direct route to White's king was via h5, but this move has its points. For example, if Black moves his queen away, and White plays Qc8+, the knight blocks the White queen's path back to the kingside. 30 Be1 Now the quickest way home must be 30 ... f3, threatening ... Qg5+ and ... Qg2+. After 31 Rb2 Bh6 32 Qa7 Qg5+ 33 Kf1 Nb6!, the threat of ... Rg7 and ... Qg1 mate is hard to stop. 30 ... Bf6 31 Bf2 Rg7+ 32 Kh1 Bh4 33 Rf1 Bxf2 34 Rxf2 Nc5 If 34 ... Qh4 35 Rg2! Qxh3+?? 33 Rh2, or 35 ... Qe1+ 36 Kh2 Rxg2+ 37 Kxg2 Qxc3 38 Qc8+. 35 Qb5 Qh4 Now Black is not threatening ... Qxf2, because White would get a perpetual check, or ... Qxh3+, because White would answer Rh2. However, 36 ... Nd3 is a real threat. For instance, 36 a5 Nd3 37 Re2 Qxh3+ 38 Rh2 Nf2 is mate. 36 Re2 36 Rg2 is instructive, becaus Black must carefully avoid perpetual check or loss of all his queenside pawns: 36 ... Rxg2 37 Kxg2 Qg3+ 38 Kf1 Qxh3+ (but not 38 ... Nd3 39 Qe8+ Kh7 40 Qd7+ Kh6 41 Qe6+ Kh5 42 Qg4+) 39 Kg1 Qg3+ 40 Kf1 Nd3 41 Qb8+ Kh7 42 Qxc7+ Kh6 43 Qxd6+ Kh5 44 Qb6 (or 44 Ke2 Qe3+ 45 Kd1 Qc1+ 46 Ke2 Qc2+ and 47 ... Qf2 mate) f3 45 Qg1 Qe1 mate. 36 ... f3 37 Rf2 Kh7 38 Qe8 Nd3 39 Nd1 Nf4 Of course 39 ... Qg5 is quickest. 40 Qf8 Nxh3 41 Qf6+ Kh6 42 Qxh3 Qxh3+ 43 Rh2 Qxh2+ 44 Kxh2 Black went on to win the endgame.