A Three-Minute Phone Call From Nowhere

Alla Shulimovna Kushnir – Larry Melvyn Evans
5th Statham Masters’ Tournament; Lone Pine, April 13, 1975
Modern Benoni A61

“The real surprise of the [first] round was the game between Alla Kushnir and Larry Evans. Evans later told me that ‘[...] Bobby [Fischer] even called Benkö to ask how I could lose to a woman’”, David Neil Laurence Levy wrote in Chess Life and Review, No. 7, July 1975, p. 416. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. Bg5 Bg7 8. e3 h6 9. Bh4 0-0? Larry is playing a bit carelessly. The “book” line 9. ... g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Nd2 Nxg3 12. hxg3 a6 gives Black much better prospects to get counterplay. 10. Nd2! b6 11. Be2 Ba6 12. a4! Qe7 13. 0-0 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Nbd7 15. f4! “Now Black can do nothing to prevent the joint advance of White’s e- and f-Pawns”, writes Levy. 15. ... Rfe8 16. Rae1 Nf8 17. e4 Qd7. Not 17. ... g5? 18. fxg5 N6h7 because of 19. g6! winning immediately. 18. Qf3 N6h7 19. Nc4 Bxc3. The idea of ceding the dark-squared Bishop for grabbing the a4-Pawn well reflects Black’s desperation. If, instead, 19. ... f5 there might follow 20. e5 with a White’s overwhelming preponderance. 20. bxc3 f6

21. f5! The decisive breakthrough. 21. ... g5. After 21. ... gxf5 22. Qxf5 Qxf5 23. Rxf5 Black’s position falls apart anyway. 22. Bg3 Qxa4 23. Nxd6 Re7 24. e5! Rxe5. Just for proud display. After 24. ... g4 25. Qd3 Ng5 26. e6 Black is stuck in a valley of tears. 25. Bxe5. Here 25. Rxe5! fxe5 26. f6 was even stronger, but tactical nuances are just a nuance. 25. ... fxe5 26. f6 Qd7 27. Nf5 Kh8 28. Nxh6 Re8 29. Qh5 e4 30. Nf7+ Kg8 31. Nh6+ Kh8 32. c4 e3 33. Nf5 a6 34. Ne7 b5 35. Rxe3. Or 35. Qf7! at once. 35. ... bxc4 36. Qf7! 1 : 0. “Also included in the field was one woman international master, Alla Kushnir, who played several matches for the women’s world chess championship. She beat me in the first round”, Evans wrote in Boy’s Life, No. 10, October 1975, p. 18. However, he then came back to finish second, a half-point behind Vladimir Mikhailovich Liberzon.

Alla Shulimovna Kushnir
Photo: whychess.com