I am submitting this postal game for publication in Atlantic Chess News. It was played in the Correspondence Chess League of America national team championship. It features the gambit variation of the Cambridge Springs Defense and shows how center control and general pressure compensates for a pawn minus. The loser played imprecisely, but I challenge anyone to find a smooth course for Black in any case. This is one of the better Queen's Gambits I've ever played, and I hope you like it.
Peter Radomskyj
Peter Radomskyj (CCLA 2095) - Joseph Merritt (CCLA 2252)
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 Qa5 7.cxd5!? Nxd5 8.Qd2 N7b6 9.Bd3
In game 47 of their 1985 world championship match, Karpov played 9.Nxd5 Qxd2+ 10.Nxd2 exd5 against Kasparov and lost in 32 moves. [West]
9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 Nd5 11.O-O Qxc3 12.Qe2 Bd6 13.Nd2 Qa5 14.Nc4 Qc7 15.Qh5
So far this is all book. In a game between grandmasters Vaganian and Torre in 1985, Black now played 15...Be7 16.f4 Nf6 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Rac1 where, according to Polugaevsky, "White has sufficient compensation for the gambit pawn." [Radomskyj]
15...h6?!
This move threatens 16...Bxh2+, but it weakens the kingside. [Radomskyj]
16.f4 Ne7 17.Ne5
If now 17...Nf5, then 18.g4 Nxe3 19.Nxf7 looks crushing since 19...O-O is met by 20.Qg6!. [Radomskyj]
17...Rf8 18.Bh4 Nf5 19.Bf2 g6 20.Qe2 Bd7 21.Rab1!
Now Black can't castle queenside as 21...O-O-O 22.Ba6! wins. [Radomskyj]
21...Bxe5 22.fxe5 h5?
Black is running out of constructive moves, but this is definitely a mistake. Since the knight can be kicked by e4 anyway (the weakening of the d-pawn is insignificant), 22...h5? merely concedes the h4-d8 diagonal to White's unopposed bishop. [Radomskyj]
23.Rfc1 Ne7 24.e4 b6 25.Bh4 Rb8 26.Qb2
This creates the possibility of 27.d5!. [Radomskyj]
26...Qd8?
Either 26...Qb7 or 26...b5 would have held out longer. [Radomskyj]
27.Qa3 Rb7 28.d5 cxd5 29.exd5 exd5 30.e6!
Now 30...fxe6 loses to 31.Bxg6+, while 30...Bxe6 loses to 31.Bb5+ Bd7 32.Qxe7+! Qxe7 33.Rc8+. [Radomskyj]
30...f6 31.exd7+, Black resigns.
{This article originally appeared in Atlantic Chess News in 1991}
