Randomly on the first rank

Sandor Lorinć – Péter Lékó

1st International Fischerandom Tournament; time control: 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game; Kanjiža, 1996

bbrqkrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBRQKRNN w FCfc - 0 1

Position #880

1. b3 Nf6. The g7-Pawn was attacked. 2. Bxf6. White voluntarily cedes the Bishop-pair, in the hope that his unbroken Pawn formation may tell in the ending. Other lines of play are 2. f4 c5 or 2. c4 c5 (2. ... b5!?). 2. ... exf6 3. c4 Ng6 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 0-0 6. d4 c5 7. d5 b5 8. 0-0. If 8. cxb5 then 8. ... Qa5+ regaining the Pawn with interest, thanks to the weakness of d5. 8. ... bxc4 9. bxc4 Ne5 10. Ng3 g6 11. h4. Unnecessarily weakening his position. We would have preferred 11. Nd2 f5 and, on the whole, chances are about even. 11. ... Ng4 12. Ne4 f5 13. Neg5 Bd6 14. h5 Be7 15. Nh3 d6 16. g3 Bf6 17. Kg2 Re8 18. Qd2 Rb8 19. hxg6 hxg6 20. Nf4 Bb7 21. Rh1 Ba6 22. Qd3. A pointless move. Better was 22. Bd3, whereupon Black could answer 22. ... Re7 (intending ... Re7-b7). 22. .. Rb2 23. Rc2 Qb6 24. Nd2 Ne5 25. Qe2 Qb4 26. Rxb2 Qxb2. Black’s preponderance of power on the a-side will soon become decisive.

27. Nd3. White’s last hope was 27. Ne4!, although – luckily enough – after 27. ... Nxc4 28. Nxf6+ Qxf6 29. Bd3 Qc3 it appears that Black can hold his own. 27. ... Bxc4 28. Nxb2 Bxe2 29. Rc1 Rb8 30. Nd1 Nd3 31. Bxd3 Bxd3 32. Nb3 Be4+ 33. Kh3 Kg7 34. g4 Rh8+ 35. Kg3 Bh4+ 0 : 1. Just one move before checkmate: 36. Kh2 Bxf2 mate or 36. Kf4 g5 mate.