High Season in Nice

Roberto Cosulich – Unto Eevert Venäläinen
21st Chess Olympiad Qualifying Group 3; Nice, June 14, 1974
Spanish Game C73

Comments in quotation marks by International Master Giorgio Porreca, L’espresso, No. 39, September 29, 1974, p. 135.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+. “The simplest continuation. After 5. d4 b5 and 5. c3 f5 major complications can arise”.
5. ... bxc6 6. d4 f6. A move attributed to Semyon Zinovyevich Alapin. Less sound is 6. ... Bg4 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8+ Rxd8 9. Be3! Bd6 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Nc4 f6 12. Nfd2! Kf7 13. c3 Rb8? 14. b4 Rhd8 15. Nb3 Nc8 16. Nba5± Cosulich – Unzicker, 2nd International Tournament, Bari 1970.
7. Be3 g6. Intending ... Ng8-h6-f7 (Capablanca’s manoeuvre).
“It is worth recalling a trap into which even some strong players fell: 7. ... Rb8 8. Nc3 Rxb2 9. dxe5 fxe5 10. Nxe5! dxe5 11. Qxd8+ followed by castling with check!”.
8. Qd2! (8. Nc3 Nh6 9. h3 Nf7=)
8. ... Bg7 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. 0-0-0 0-0

11. Rdg1!? In this position a new move, if in line with the strategic policy of the variation. Only two months earlier at the tournament in celebration of 600th anniversary of Solingen city, 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky continued 11. Bh6 Qe8 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Ne1 Be6 14. f4 exf4 15. Qxf4 Rb8 16. Nf3 Qc8 17. Rhe1 Qb7 18. b3 Qb4 19. Qe3 a5 20. d5 Bf7 21. Kb2 Rfe8 22. a3 Qb7 23. Qd3 with the upper hand, Spassky – Westerinen, International Tournament, Solingen 1974.
11. ... d5? “The decisive strategic mistake”.
11. ... exd4 12. Nxd4 c5 is the way Black should play.
12. dxe5 fxe5 13. Bh6. “White immediately singled out the e5-Pawn as the critical point of his opponent’s position”.
13. ... Qd6 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qg5 Qf6. “Hoping to ease up the position through the exchange of Queens”.
16. Qxe5 Qxe5 17. Nxe5 Rxf2 18. Rf1 Rxf1+? “Thus he loses a Pawn by force. The lesser evil for Black would have been now 18. ... Rf6 with an unpleasant ending for Black after 19. Nd3 or 19. Rd1”.
19. Rxf1 Be6

20. Nxc6! ”Typical of Cosulich’s play is the switch from positional to material advantage through simple and elegant moves”.
20. ... Nxc6 21. exd5 Bd7 22. dxc6 Bxc6 23. g3 Re8 24. Rf2 Re1+. “Black wants to defend actively and ends up worsening the situation”.
25. Kd2 Rh1 26. Ke3 g5 27. Kd4 h5 28. Kc5. “White sent the King itself to the front line and it is well known as in endgame such an intervention is decisive”.
28. ... Bb7 29. Nd5 h4 30. gxh4 gxh4 31. Nxc7 h3

32. Nd5! a5 33. c4. “The technical solution is not of exceptional difficulty, however White’s moves are exemplary for calm and precision. A trivial blunder would have been 33. Nf4 Bg2 34. Nxg2 Rxh2”.
33. ... a4 34. b3 a3 35. Kb4 1–0,