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C19 French Winawer (Advance)

French Defense: Winawer. Positional Variation

Bill Melvin vs Robert Cunningham, 1994

1-0, 25 moves ("The Immortal Mr. Magoo")

[Event "Atlanta Action Tournament"]
[Site "Atlanta, Georgia"]
[Date "1994.05.09"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Bill Melvin"]
[Black "Robert Cunningham"]
[ECO "C19"]
[WhiteElo "2170"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[PlyCount "50"]
1. e4 {Notes by Bill Melvin.} e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. Nf3 c5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Bd7 8. Bd3 Ba4 {Okay, I admit it, I was out of book with 8. Bd3. Looks like I do not have too good a feel for this position as 8. ... Ba4 took me totally by surprise. Turns out I was supposed to play 8. a4. Why? I am not sure...perhaps to stop 8. ... Ba4? My danger sense went off around here and I felt that I was about to receive a lesson.} 9. O-O Qa5 10. Bd2 Nbc6 11. c4 Qc7 {This is action chess and I do not care to get crushed positionally by some French guru. The problem with big centers is: the bigger they are the harder they fall. Mine is about to fall. Unfortunately for my opponent, someone should have posted a sign that read: Danger: Beware of Falling Centers.} 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. dxc5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 {My position does not inspire confidence. Pawn structures do not get a lot worse than mine. But, I have a development lead and not a whole lot to lose so...} 15. Qg4 Bc6 16. Rae1 Qc7 17. c4 Nf6 {It looked necessary to kick the Knight back to f6 before taking the g-Pawn. Otherwise, black simply castles Queenside and mauls me down the g-file.} 18. Qxg7 {No turning back now!} 18... Rg8 19. Rxe6+ fxe6 {Well, shoot. I cannot play 20. Qxc7 because of 20. ... Rxg2+ 21. Kh1 Rg7+ 22. Qxc6 bxc6 when I am down an Exchange. I did not see this when I played 18. Qg7 or 19. Rxe6+. If only I could block the g-file...} 20. Bg6+ Kd8 21. Qxf6+ Qe7 22. Ba5+ b6 23. Rd1+ Bd7 {Yikes. Everything is hanging with no way to break through. If 24. Qf3 then 24... Kc7 and I will soon be down a full Rook. Not exactly a storybook ending. If only Mr. Magoo were here. Wait... what is that? It is--it is Mr. Magoo!} 24. cxb6 Qxf6 25. b7+ {Get a look at that final position! I am down a Queen and an exchange, but it is forced checkmate. The ending would have been 25... Ke7 26. Bb4+! (another move I did not see until move 24) Kd8 27. bxa8=Q Kc7 28. Ba5#. This was easily the best combination I have ever played. Incredibly, I still had around 15 of my original 30 minutes left on my clock. Somewhere, Mr. Magoo is smiling.} 1-0

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