Sunday, September 12, 2010

The opening trap that wasn't

Page 271 of Tony Miles' posthumously published biography, It's Only Me (an anagram of "Tony Miles"), mentions an opening trap in the Semi-Slav Defense with which Miles won a piece at move 9, but almost lost the game! The game is given below. It's very wild, and major improvements are doubtless possible for White. One possibility is 14.Bg5, which won quickly after 14...Ne4 15.Qxg8+ Kd7 16.Qxf7+ Kc6 17.Qe8+ 1-0 in Dimitar Marholev (2419)-Miroljub Lazic (2493), Cutro Open 2006. Unfortunately, Black gets to deviate too. Instead of 6...Bb4, as Jelling played against Miles, Black has scored 88% (+10 =1 -1) with 6...Qb6.

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