0301 FRENCH DEFENSE
Wendy's XLV, RD:5, 5-28-03, Charlotte
Bobby Waddell (1763)  Patrick McCartney (1925)
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Bd3 c5 6 c3 Nc6 7 Ne2 Qb6 8 Nf3 cd4 9 cd4 f6 10 ef6 Nf6 11 O-O Bd6 12 Nc3 O-O 13 Na4 (The best continuation here is 13 Bg5 where play normally continues 13...Kh8 14 Na4 {d4 was threatened} Qc7 15 Rc1 and then Black has 2 choices:  A) 15...Ng4 16 h3 Nh2 lead to a crazy draw in Akopian-Ulibin, Minsk 1990 after 17 Ne5 Be5 18 de5 Nf1 19 Qh5 h6 20 Bf6 gf6 21 Qh6 Kh8 22 ef6 Rf6 23 Qf6 Qh2 24 Kf1 Qh1 25 Ke2 Qc1 26 f4 Qg1 27 Bh7.  B) 15...Qf7 16 Re1 Qh5 17 h3 Nd4 18 Nd4 Qg5 19 Ne6 Be6 20 Re6 Rad8 and the position is roughly equal.) 13...Qc7 14.Re1?!(This move loosens the f2-pawn) 14...Kh8 15 Bg5 (We have now transposed to the line given in the notes to White's 13th move with 1 exception.  White has moved his f-rook to e1 rather than his a-rook to c1.  This poses a major problem for White in that here, White has no pressure on the Black queen and lacks the pin on Black's knight while at the same time, his f2-pawn is very loose.  Here, Black doesn't have 2 choices, but rather 1, but it's a very good one.) 15...Ng4 -/+ (With the rook on e1, 15...Qf7 isn't good due to 16 Ne5 and Black no longer has the h5-square to place his queen on to prepare for a kingside attack.  Instead, Black stares that the f2-weakness created by White on move 14.) 16 h3 Bh2 17 Kf1 Nf2! 18 Kf2 Qg3 19 Ke3 (White's alternatives are worse.  19 Kf1 Nd4! 20 Re3 e5 and White's in big trouble.  No better is 19 Ke2 as Black still has 19...Nd4+ since 20 Nd4 Rf2 is mate.)19...e5 20 de5 Qg2 21 Be2 (White must do something to block the 2nd rank as Black was threatening mate in 6 with 21...d4 22 Ke4 Be6 23 Be2 {Anything else allows 23...Rf4 24 Bf4 Qg6 mate} 23...Rad8 {Threatening 24...Bf5 mate} and now 24 Kd3 Nb4 25 Kd2 Qg5 26 Ng5 Bf4 and 24 Qd4 Rd4 25 Ke3 Rf3 26 Bf3 Qd2 are both mate.) 21...d4! 22 Kd3 Bf5 23 Kc4 Ne5 24 Ne5 Be5 (Once again, Black sets up a mate threat, this time in 7, starting with 25...b5 and then A) 26 Kb3 Qd5 27 Ka3 b4 28 Kb4 Bd6 29 Nc5 Qc5 followed by 30...Qb4 mate.  B) 26 Kb5 Qd5 27 Nc5 Rab8 28 Ka4 Qb6 29 Ka3 Qc5 30 Ka4 Qb4 mate.  C) 26 Kc5 Rfc8 27 Kb5 Qd5 28 Nc5 Bd7 29 Kb4 a5 30 Ka3 Qc5 31 b4 Qb4 mate.  D) 26.Kb4 {The most complicated of the 4 mates} Qd5 and Black threatens 27...Bd6 leading to mate and so White must try 27 Be7, but that still fails to 27...Bd6 and then both 28 Bd6 a5 29 Ka3 Qd6 30 Nc5 Qc5 31Kb3 a4 and 28 Ka5 ba4 29 Bb5 a6 30 Qe2 ab5 31 Kb6 Rfb8 mate.) 25 Be7 (Given all the threats in the above note, only this move or 25 Nc5 make any sort of sense of trying to avoid the mates by either attempting to temporarily block the flow of Black's pieces with the knight move or else do as White did in the game by trying to make the dark squares around the White King be unavailable to Black.  However, no matter what move White makes, Black is winning in all lines.) 25...b5 26 Kb4 a5 27 Ka3 Qg3 28 Bf3 Rfc8 (This is probably the one spot where Black could have improved with the immediate 28...b4 29 Bb4 {29 Kb3 Be6 30 Kc2 Rf3 is also crushing} ab4 30 Kb4 Bd6 31 Kb5 Qg5 32 Kc4 Rfc8 33 Bc5 Rc6 34 Kd5 Qg2 35 Kd4 Ra4 36 b4 Rb4 37 Ke3 Bf4 Mate. However, Black is still winning all the same.) 29 Re5 (White's best attempt to mix things up is 29 Nc5.  Then 29...Bd6 30 Rc1 Rc5 31 Rc5 Bc2 32 Qc2 Qe1 33 b3 Qe7 is winning for Black.) 29...b5 30 Kb3 (Black now has mate in 5) 30...Qf3!! 31 Nc3 (31 Qf3 Bc2 mate) 31...Rc3 32 bc3 (or 32 Ka4 Bd7 33 Rb5 Ra3 leads to the same thing)32...Qc3 33 Ka4 Bd7 0-1 (Notes by McCartney)