This is my game versus Larry Christiansen from round two of the 1990 New Jersey Open. I hope you can use it in your column.
In the game, I caught Christiansen napping on move 30. From my "sham" pawn sacrifice on move 31 to the conclusion of the game, I felt confident that my position was fine.
As a result of my 2-0-4 record, I am once again in master territory.
Larry Epstein
NM Larry Epstein - GM Larry Christiansen, New Jersey Open 1990
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6
At the 1990 Manila Interzonal, DeFirmian played 4...c5 5.dxc5 Na6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 Nxc5 twice.
Ivanchuk proceeded 8.b4 Nce4 9.Qd4 d5 10.c5 b6!? 11.f3 bxc5 12.bxc5 Qa5+ 13.Qb4 Qc7!? 14.fxe4 Rb8 15.Qa4+ Bd7 16.c6! O-O 17.Bd2 Bxc6 18.Qa5, and here DeFirmian suggests 18...Qe5!? with interesting complications.
Instead Miles-DeFirmian continued 8.f3 d5 9.cxd5 b6 10.b4 Na4 11.Qb3 b5 12.e4 a6 13.Ne2 O-O 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 exd5 16.e5 Re8! 17.f4 g5 18.Bf2 Ne4 19.Bd4 Be6 20.Qf3 Rc8 21.f5 Bd7 22.Ng3? Rxe5!, and Black went on to win. [West]
5.Nf3 d6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 Qe7 8.Bg5
ECO gives only two lines, each of which results in a slight advantage for White:
a) 8.b4 e5!? 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Qxe5 11.Qxe5 dxe5 12.e3 O-O 13.Be2 Be6 14.Bb2 Nd7 15.c5 f6 16.O-O Rfd8 17.Rfd1 Nf8 18.Kf1 Bb3 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20.Ke1;
b) 8.g3 e5 9.d5 Nb8 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Bg2 h6 12.Bxf6 Nxf6 13.O-O O-O 14.b4. [West]
8...h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.e3 e5 11.d5 Ne7 12.Be2 O-O 13.O-O Bd7 14.Rfd1 Qg6 15.Nd2 Kh8 16.f4 exf4 17.exf4 Rfe8 18.Re1 Ng8 19.Bf3 Nf6 20.Qd4 Bg4 21.Bxg4 Qxg4 22.Qf2 a5 23.g3?
Necessary was 23.b3. [Epstein]
23...Qf5 24.Qd4 a4 25.Nf3 Nd7 26.Re3 Rxe3 27.Qxe3 Nb6 28.Qe2 c6 29.dxc6 bxc6 30.Rc1 Rb8?
Black could have earned the edge for his delicate maneuvering from 15...Kh8 through the knight tour by playing 30...Nd7. [Epstein]
31.c5! dxc5 32.Qe5 Qxe5 33.Ne5 Nd5 34.Rc2 f6 35.Nxc6 Rc8 36.Na7 Ra8 37.Rxc5 Nxf4 38.gxf4 Rxa7 39.Rb5 Kh7 40.Kf2 Kg6 41.Kf3
More aggressive is 41.f5+. [Epstein]
41...Rc7 42.Rb4 Rc2 43.Kg3 Rd2 44.Rxa4 Rxb2 45.Ra7 h5 46.a4 Rb3+ 47.Kg2 Ra3 48.a5 Kf5 49.Rxg7 Rxa5 50.Rf7 Ra3 51.Rf8 h4 52.Rh8 Ra2+ 53.Kh3 Kxf4 54.Rxh4+ Kf3 55.Ra4!
Black can now take the stalemate or give White the tempo he needs to draw easily. [Epstein]
55...Re2 56.Ra3+, draw.
{This article originally appeared in Atlantic Chess News in 1991}
