The man who did not become a millionaire

Giuseppe Valenti – Eugene Torre
27th World Senior Chess Championship 65+; Acqui Terme, November 8, 2017
Owen Defence B00

1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 Nf6 4. f3 Nc6 5. c3 e5 6. d5 Ne7. For 6. ... Nb8 7. Be3 Na6 8. Ne2 c6 see Velimirović – Planinc, 3rd Milan Vidmar Memorial, Ljubljana/Portorož 1975. 7. Ne2 Ng6 8. Be3 a5!? 9. Qd2 Bc5 10. Bxc5 bxc5 11. Na3 0-0 12. Nc4 d6 13. 0-0 Bc8 14. Kh1. White doesn’t seem to have dominating ideas and limits himself to playing solidly waiting for his opponent to uncover himself. For a gifted player such as Eugene Torre is not too difficult to take the upper hand. 14. ... Nd7 15. Ne3 Qg5 16. Rad1 Nf4 17. g3 Nxd3 18. Qxd3

18. ... c4! Black seizes the initiative through quite a subtle Pawn pseudo-sac. 19. Qd2. White declines, for after 19. Nxc4 Ba6 (Δ ... Nd7-c5) Black would get plenty of gratifications (if b2-b3 there would follow ... a5-a4). 19. ... Ba6 20. Rf2 Nc5 21. Nc1 Rfb8 22. Nf5. Valenti hopes to increase his drawing chances by offering the exchange of Queens. 22. ... Qxd2 23. Rdxd2 Rb6 24. Ne3 Rab8 25. Nd1 h5! 26. h3 Kh7 27. Kg2 Kh6 28. h4 g6 29. Ne3 Na4!? Who knows, Torre may have been a little hasty here. 30. Nd1?! 30. b3! Nc5 31. Nxc4 Bxc4 32. bxc4 f5! leads to consequences very similar to those in the game, but at least White is (temporarily) a Pawn up. 30. ... f5 31. b3 Nc5 32. exf5 gxf5 33. bxc4 Rb1 34. Nd3 Nxd3 35. Rxd3 Bxc4 36. Rdd2 Kg6 37. Ne3 Ba6 38. f4 e4! Black stands much better, but the win is still far from being obvious. 39. c4 R8b4 40. Rc2 Re1 41. Rc3! White, in spite of being short of time, is defending stubbornly! 41. ... Rbb1 42. Kh3? White finally slips on his own tile. He ought to play 42. Rfc2! (Stockfish) keeping cool. 42. ... Rbc1! 43. Rfc2 Rxc2 44. Nxc2 Re2! White is in Zugzwang. 45. Ne3. If 45. a3 then 45. ... Rd2! 46. Ne3 Rd3 and White can resign. 45. ... Rxa2 46. c5 Be2 47. cxd6 Bg4+ 0 : 1. What a strategic masterpiece by the Filipino Grandmaster!