In the May 1994 and September 1994 issues, not long after Charlie Nowe's death, I presented two of his interesting games against Pittsburgh area players. But this month I have a real "find": his game with GM Joel Benjamin in the New York State Championship of 1993, with notes by Charlie himself. He won this last-round game and the tournament--every amateur's fantasy! I would like to thank Jim Castine and Kimball Nedved for getting this to me. Charlie's comments were written for the benefit of a New York news reporter. I have added comments of my own, which are enclosed in brackets, and followed by my initials, like this: [comment --BWL] All other comments are Charlie's. White: Charles Nowe Black: Joel Benjamin New York State Championship, round 6 September, 1993 King's Indian Defense 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 O-O 6 Nf3 Nbd7 7 O-O e5 8 Re1 It is White's intention not to play P-Q5 unless he has to. Black's game becomes easier when the center is closed. After P-Q5, Black moves his king knight to play P-KB4, giving him a good king-side game. 8 Re1 overprotects e4 in case of 8 ... exd4 9 Nxd4 Nc5 10 Bf1. 8 ... c6 9 Rb1 This removes the rook from the dangerous diagonal, enabling White to play P-QN4, a good middle game pawn structure for a queen-side attack. 9 ... h6 10 Bf1 Nh7 11 Be3 Developing the last minor piece. 11 ... Ng5 [The point of Black's last couple of moves, which otherwise looked strange. Black gets to exchange a pair of pieces, which might lighten his defensive load. --BWL] 12 Be2 White does not want the KR file to be open [after 12 Nxg5 hxg5 --BWL] so he defends the knight, threatening 13 Qd2. 12 ... Nxf3+ 12 ... f5 13 exf5 gxf5 14 dxe5. [Now 14 ... dxe5 15 Nxg5! hxg5 15 Qd6! shows how White can play to neutralize Black's aggressive advanced pawns. Black becomes helpless, showing that his expansion was premature. --BWL] 13 Bxf3 exd4 14 Bxd4 Ne5 15 Be2 Qf6 16 Kh1 Black threatened 16 ... Nf3+ 17 Bxf3 Qxd4 gaining the two bishops. 16 ... Be6 17 b3 a6 Possible was 17 ... c5 18 Be3 Nxc4 19 bxc4 Qxc3 20 Rxb7. [It isn't obvious to me that Black should have rejected this. --BWL] 18 Rc1 g5 19 f3 b5 20 c5 Rfd8 21 Qc2 dxc5 22 Bxc5 Rd7 23 Red1 Rxd1+ 24 Nxd1 Rc8? I think 24 ... Nd7 is better. Now White pins the knight. 25 Bd4 c5 [The pin is surprisingly hard to escape. For instance 25 ... Qe7 26 Qc3 forces 26 ... f6 , and after 27 Nf2 White has a noticeable edge. Better is 25 ... Qd8, to answer 26 Qc3? with 26 ... Nd3! (27 Bxg7 Nxc1 28 Bxh6 f6 29 Qxc1 Kh7). After 26 Bb2 Ng6 (or 26 ... Nd7) Black is safe, but the exchange of bishops is not necessarily in his favor. --BWL] 26 Bb2 Qf4? Bad move. White will now advance his kingside pawns threatening to win a piece. Black cannot stop it. 27 g3 Qf6 28 Ne3 Qg6 Another bad move. I can't explain it. He puts the queen in the path of the P-KB5 fork. [But what else is there? If 28 ... Qe7 29 f4 gxf4 30 gxf4, and now 30 ... Ng6 loses to 31 f5 which is a fork, 30 ... Nd7 also loses to 31 f5 because the bishop is trapped on e6, and 30 ... Nc6 just hangs the c-pawn. And if the queen doesn't move, White needs only one more move to prepare f4. Benjamin's desperate choice at least gets him a few traps and a long, dour endgame. --BWL] Diagram: 2r3k1/5pb1/p3b1qp/1pp1n1p1/4P3/1P2NPP1/PBQ1B2P/2R4K 29 f4 gxf4 30 gxf4 Ng4 [Threatening mate! --BWL] 31 Nxg4 Bxb2 If 31 ... Bxg4 32 Bxg7. 32 Qxb2 Qxe4+ 33 Kg1 Qxf4 34 Rf1 Qg5 35 Qf6 Qxf6 36 Nxf6+ Kg7 The game goes to move 93. The remaining moves are too interesting to leave out, but to save space I will use a more condensed format. 37 Nh5+ Kf8 38 Nf4 Bf5 39 Nd3 Be6 40 Rc1 c4 41 Nf4 c3 42 Nxe6+ fxe6 43 a3 c2 44 Bd3 Rc3 45 Bxc2 Ke7 46 Kf2 Rh3 47 Rh1 Rc3 48 Bd1 Rc1 49 Re1 Ra1 50 a4 Ra2+ 51 Re2 Ra1 52 Bc2 bxa4 53 bxa4 Ra3 54 Ke1 (Wrong plan.) Kd6 55 Kd2 Rh3 56 Bd3 a5 57 Kc3 Rh4 58 Bc4 Rh3+ 59 Kd4 Rh4 60 Kc3 Rh3+ 61 Kd2 e5 62 Ke1 [Back on track. --BWL] Rh4 63 Bb5 e4 64 Kf1 Ke5 65 Kg2 Rg4+ 66 Kf2 Rf4+ 67 Kg3 Rf6 68 h3 [Zugzwang! If 68 ... Rf4 69 Bc6 Rf3+ 70 Kg4 Rf4+ 71 Kh5 Rf3 72 Rxe4+ Kd6 73 Re6+ --BWL] 68 ... Kd4 69 Kg4 e3 70 Kh5 Re6 71 h4 Ke4 72 Rg2 Kf3 73 Rg6 [White has to sacrifice the bishop to win. He had to make this decision as part of the plan started on move 62. --BWL] 73 ... Re5+ 74 Kxh6 e2 75 Bxe2 Kxe2 76 h5 Kd3 77 Rg5 Re6+ 78 Kg7 Re7+ 79 Kf8 Ra7 80 h6 Kc3 81 Rg7 Ra8+ 82 Ke7 Kb3 83 Rg4! [Not 83 h7? Kxa4 84 Rg8?? Ra7+ --BWL] 83 ... Ra7+ 84 Kf6 Ra6+ 85 Kg5 Ra7 86 Rh4 Rc7 87 h7 Rxh7 88 Rxh7 Kxa4 89 Rb7 Ka3 90 Kf4 a4 91 Ke4 Ka2 92 Kd3 a3 93 Kc3, Black resigns.