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ANNOTATED GAME
The Boa Constrictor in action
Petrosian (?) vs. Wolfgang Unzicker (?)
Annotated by: nyctalop (2166)
Chess opening: Queen's pawn (A46), Torre attack
Petrosian (?) vs. Wolfgang Unzicker (?)
Annotated by: nyctalop (2166)
Chess opening: Queen's pawn (A46), Torre attack
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36... Qb7 |
Black needs to activate his pieces before it's too late. | |||||||
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37. Rc2c1 |
Preparing to swing the Rook to the other side of the board. | |||||||
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37... Kg7 38. Qb5 |
Offering a Queen swap that Black dare not accept. This is another advantage to having the King on the Q-side, he can act as a blockader to Black's pawns in case an endgame is reached. | |||||||
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38... Qa8 |
Forced, after 38...Qxb5 39. axb5 a4 40. b6 Rad7 41. Nc5 Bxc5 42. dxc5, the endgame is won particularly because White can hold off the passed pawns with his King. Here is an instructive sequence: 42...b3, trying to limit the White King, 43. Rd1, with the notion of coming to d4 and b4, and also making room for the King, 43...e5, stopping one idea, 44. Kc1, but not the other and the King marches to b4 and wins the Black pawns. | |||||||
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39. f4 |
Gaining space on the K-side. | |||||||
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39... Kh7 |
Black has to stay passive, trying to blockade the pawns with 39...f5 fails to 40. Rb6 Kh6 41. Rcc6 Bc7 42. Ra6 Rxa6 43. Rxa6 Qb8 44. Nc5 and Black's Q-side crumbles | |||||||
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40. Qe2 Qb7 41. g4 |
Probably the sealed move. Back in those days, games were adjourned at move 40 and play would continue the next day. This also explains why Petrosian didn't hurry before with his plan, he wanted to analyze at home before playing it on the board. | |||||||
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41... hxg4 |
Black is forced to open the lines around his King. | |||||||
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42. Qxg4 Qe7 |
I'd like to take this moment to commend Unzicker's defensive play. Many modern Grandmasters would have lost their temper by now and blundered away their position. But in those days, defending was an art, alongside attacking. Modern Grandmasters have lost the capability to defend positions like this, they don't like to suffer in passivity and would rather risk an unsound counterplay than submit to shuffling their pieces around. | |||||||
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43. h5 |
The second assault on the Black King. | |||||||
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43... Qf6 |
Good defensive move, Black intends to exchange Queens with Qf5+ or Qxg6+ in case White exchanges pawns. | |||||||
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44. Ka2 |
The King is now secure and attack can continue. | |||||||
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44... Kg7 |
Removing the King from the dangerous h-file. | |||||||
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45. hxg6 Qxg6 46. Qh4 |
White has no intentions of swapping Queens. This retreats with tempo, hitting the Rd8. | |||||||
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46... Be7 |
Black brings another piece into the defense of his bare King. | |||||||
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47. Qf2 |
Threatening Rg1. Black's pieces don't coordinate well and his King is still very exposed. | |||||||
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47... Kf8 |
Trying to find a secure refuge out of the two open lines on the K-side. | |||||||
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48. Nd2 |
A slight inaccuracy, 48. Qh2 would have been more forceful. It's very instructive that because of the weak King, Black can't defend the Q-side properly, for example 48. Qh2 Ke8 49. Rc7 Rxc7 50. Rxc7 Ra8 (defending a5) 51. Qe2! Kf8 52. Qb5 Bd8 53. Rc1! Be7 (forced, or else Qb7, winning the Rook) 54. Qb7 Re8 55. Rh1! (taking another poke at the Black King) Bf6 (making room and defending h8) 56. Nxa5 Qg2 57. Qxb4+ Kg7 58. Rc1 and White is two pawns up. | |||||||
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48... Rb7 |
With the idea of b3+. | |||||||
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49. Nb3 Ra7 |
Repeating the position, but there is no other way of defending a5. | |||||||
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