Hebden’s good fortune
Malcolm Pein reports on the climax of the 89th Hastings Masters
By Malcolm Pein, Chess correspondent
5:53PM GMT 07 Jan 2014
Mark Hebden demonstrated that you can’t keep a good man down as he won his last three games and shared first with six others at the 89th Hastings Masters, which climaxed on Sunday. Hebden suffered a gruesome defeat in his favourite King’s Indian in the sixth round but was undeterred. Hebden was the only winner on the top boards in the last round, although he had a slice of good fortune, as we shall see.
M. Hebden – J. Kipper
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 d5 4.Bg5 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qb3 c5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.e3 0–0 10.dxc5 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 12.bxc3 Be6 13.Nd4 Rc8 14.Rb1 Nd7 15.c4 (15.Rxb7 Nxc5 16.Rb4 Ne4 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.c4 Rab8 gives Black play for the pawn) 15…Nxc5 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.cxd5 exd5 18.Be2 Ne4 19.Bf3 Rc2 20.0–0 Rxa2 (20…b6!) 21.Rxb7 Rc8 22.Rd7 Rc5 23.h4 Nf6 24.Rb7 Rcc2 25.h5 Kf8 26.g3 (26.Bd1!? Rcb2 27.Bb3 a5 28.Rc1!) 26…Kg8 27.Kg2 a5 28.Ra7 Rd2 (White has no realistic winning chances, but Hebden battles on) 29.g4 a4 30.Kg3 Ne4+ 31.Bxe4 dxe4 32.Re7 a3 33.Rxe4 Rab2 34.Ra4 a2 35.f3 Kf7 (35…Rb1?? allows 36.Rxa2! Rxa2 37.Rxb1 but 35…Rg2+ 36.Kh4 Rh2+ 37.Kg3 Rhg2+ draws. Clearly neither player had realised that Kf4 is potentially a fatal error) 36.Kf4?? See board above.
Answer 1:
36…Rb1! 37.Rxa2 Rb4+ 38.Kg3 Rxa2 wins. The game continued: 36…Rdc2? 37.Rd1 Ke7 38.Ra7+ Ke6 39.Rd4 (and Black lost on time, although, now he is struggling) 1–0
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
What a lucky dude