Lose to Win

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Just two lines by Gyro Gearloose

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Boris Vasilievich Spassky – Yasser Seirawan
Candidates Tournament; Montpellier, October 12, 1985
King’s Gambit C34

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Ne7. Not so popular. Its main purpose is to avoid the well-known theoretical variations. 4. d4. For 4. Bc4 d5 see Spassky – Averbakh, 22th USSR Championship, Moscow 1955. 4. ... d5. 4. ... Ng6? is bad due to 5. h4 Be7 6. h5 Nh4 7. Bxf4 d5 8. Nxh4 Bxh4+ 9. g3 (analysis by Kortschnoi and Zak). 5. Nc3. Another try is 5. e5 Ng6 6. Bd3 Nh4 7. 0-0 Nxf3+ 8. Qxf3 g5 9. g3 (Levenfish). 5. ... dxe4 6. Nxe4 Ng6 7. h4! More energetic than 7. Bc4 Be7 8. h4 Nxh4 9. Ne5 Nc6 10. Bxf7+ Kf8 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bb3 Bf5 13. 0-0 f3 14. gxf3 Qe8 15. Kf2 h6 with chances for both colors, Spassky – Novopashin, 30th USSR Championship, Yerevan 1962. 7. ... Qe7!? Seirawan tries to improve on the game 7. ... Be7 8. h5 Nh4 9. Bxf4 Bg4 10. h6! 0-0 11. hxg7 Re8 12. Kf2 with with great advantage for White, Kuznetsov – Boch-Osmolovsky, Moscow 1964.

8. Kf2!! This appears to be White’s best move. 8. ... Bg4. On 8. ... Qxe4 9. Bb5+ c6 (or 9. ... Kd8 10. Re1) 10. Re1 Qxe1+ 11. Qxe1+ wins. 9. h5 Nh4 10. Bxf4 Nc6 11. Bb5! 0-0-0 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Qd3 Nxf3 14. gxf3 Bf5 15. Qa6+ Kb8 16. Nc5 Bc8 17. Qxc6 Rxd4. The only way to struggle on, since White was threatening Ra1-e1-e3-b3+. 18. Rae1! Rxf4. Clearly not 18. ... Qxc5?? on account of 19. Bxc7 mate nor 18. ... Qd8 in view of 19. Re8! winning. 19. Qb5+ Ka8 20. Qc6+ Kb8 21. Rxe7 Bxe7 22. Rd1 Rf6 23. Nd7+ Bxd7 24. Qxd7 Rd8 25. Qb5+ Kc8 26. Rxd8+ Bxd8 27. Qa4! g5 28. Qxa7 Rf4 29. Qa6+ Kb8 30. Qd3 Be7 31. Qxh7 g4 32. Kg3! 1 : 0.

Boris Vasilievich Spassky vs. Robert James Fischer
Reykjavík, 1972