Turbulent Times
Mike Basman October 2020
This victory in the last game clinched victory for Sebastian Mokhber-Garcia of Sheen in the Elite Telex Tournament. Scroll to the bottom for full tournament results.
Here is a game between Pratyush Joshi of Wilson’s School, Wallington, and Sebastian Mokhber-Garcia of King’s House School, Richmond.
White: Pratyush Joshi Black: Sebastian Mokhber-Garcia
Opening: King’s Gambit Accepted
- e4 e5
- f4
The King’s Gambit is an excellent way to fight for the advantage from move 2.
2… exf4
3. Nf3
Guarding against a possible queen check on h4.
3… d6
4. Bc4 Be6
5. Bb3 Nf6
6. Nc3 Nbd7
7. d4 Bxb3
8. axb3 Be7
9. Bxf4 0-0
10. 0-0
White has all he might dream of in the opening- good development, the half open f file for his rook, and two pawns side by side controlling the centre. But black does not want to take this lying down!
10… Nh5
11. Be3 f5?
Alas, this aggression is misplaced. If white now plays 12.exf5, Rxf5 13. g4! black loses material.
12. Nd2? Bg5!
Now black takes the initiative.
13. Qe2 Bxe3+
14. Qxe3 f4!
15. Qe2 Qh4!
16. Nd5 Ng3?!
A stunning blow. Black intends to checkmate white if the knight sacrifice is accepted. But wait – is it all a bluff? After 17. hxg3, fxg3 18. Nf3! Rxf3 19. gxf3, white defends the h2 square laterally with the white queen, and black is a piece down with no mate in sight.
17.Qc4?!
Bluff on bluff. White intends to uncork a deadly discovered check if black captures the white rook on f1. However, it’s not so deadly: after 17… Nxf1! 18. Nf6, (or Nxc7+) Kh8 19. Nxd7 Qxh2+ or Nxd2, black is well on top.
17… Kh8?
18. Nf3! Qh6
19. hxg3 fxg3
20. Qe2!
White has after all won his piece, and by retreating the queen to e2, he ensures that he can guard the mating square at h2 after 20… Rxf3! 21. gxf3!
20… c6
21. Ne3 g6
22. Rfd1!
White hatches a cunning plan to win the pawn – or thorn at g3.
22… Nf6
23. Nf1! Ng4
24. Nxg3
Mission accomplished. Pawn eliminated. black is staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat.
24… Qf4
Black keeps coming. Maybe he can bully his way to victory?
25. Nf1 Rfe8
26.Re1 a6
27. Qd3 Re6
28. d5 exd5
29. exd5 Rf6
It’s game over. White’s position is impregnable and now he needs to exchange the queens to ensure a win in the ending. So 30. Qd4! (or Ra4!) Qf5 31.Ng3! and now 31… Qd7 is no good after 32. Ne4!
But white has been tired out by this non-stop barrage of blows from Sebastian and commits a fatal error.
30. g3?
This careless move throws away the fruits of his fine play, and allows black to recover his piece.
30… Qxf3
31. Qxf3 Rxf3
Objectively speaking, the game is still level at this point, and now by 32. Ra4! h5 33. Rf4! white can fight for equality and even victory.
In fact, he goes rapidly downhill, due to not building up his stamina through work-outs at the gym.
32. Kg2? Rf5
33. c4 h5
34. Nh2??
White is now playing automatically and not doing enough to defend against invasion on the f2 square. This loses another piece.
34… Rf2+!
35. Kg1 Rxh2
36. Re6!
At last white begins a counterattack.
36… Rd8
37. Rxg6 Rxb2
38. Rf1 Kh7
39. Re6 Rxb3
40. Rf5 Rxg3+
White has faint hopes of an attack against the black king if he continues 41. Kh1 here. However, even then 41… Rh3+! 42. Kg1, Rd7 should win for black.
41. Kf1?? Ne3+
The knight fork finishes the game.
42. Kf2? Nxf5
43. c5 dxc5
44. Rf6 Rg5
45. Rf7+ Kg6
46. Rxb7 Rxd5
47. Rb6+ Rd6
48. Rb1
Black has no need to queen his pawns. The black rooks and knight are perfectly able to deliver checkmate.
48… Rd2+
49. Kf3 Rg3+
50. Kf4 Rd4+
51. Ke5 Re3++
The mate in mid-board is worthy of our puzzle competitions!
A fine battle. Sebastian recovered well after his early attack was refuted, and he went a piece down.
Full Results
Here are the full results of our Telex Championship: Surrey Telex Elite Championship
| Competitor | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total |
| 1. Sebastian M-Garcia | x | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | 11 |
| 2. Aarav Gupta | 1 | x | 3 | 3 | 3 | – | 10 |
| 3. Nathaniel Butcher | 2 | 1 | x | 1 | 3 | – | 7 |
| 4. Pratyush Joshi | 1 | 1 | 3 | x | 1 | – | 6 |
| 5. Rohan Bhalla | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | x | – | 6 |
| 6. Diya Dhawan | w/d | w/d | w/d | w/d | w/d | x |
If you would like to be involved in playing in an upcoming Telex Championship, please get in touch! If you want to see more results from our Telex Championships click here.
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