Adams-Ehlvest

Another short game by Mickey Adams also appeals to me: in terms of its simplicity in his play, or should I say apparent simplicity. This game was from the 2013 Gibraltar Telecom tournament.

From a Steinitz Ruy Lopez, in the last few moves black has advanced his a pawn; Mickey ignored it, instead putting all his pieces in good positions.

In the above position, I would never have dreamt of playing the move Mickey did, e5!!: I wouldn't have noticed the looseness of the black minor pieces on the e file. It is another example of LPDO (see my post about Adams-Gurevich.

The tactics all work. Taking de is positionally horrible, and white regains the pawn by Qe3-c5. So instead 1…fe 2 Ne5! and if 2…de 3 Qe3!, and either the bishop or knight fall, leaving white with a won game.

The game didn't last much longer.

The engines say that Ehlvest resigned a tad too early, there is still some play, but (having been there myself) it is very much like a boxer punch drunk by a heavy stunner.

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