David Bronstein vs Raymond Keene (1975) BritBox

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David Bronstein vs Raymond Keene
"BritBox" (game of the day Mar-29-2025)
Teesside (1975), Middlesbrough ENG, rd 1, Sep-01
Catalan Opening: Closed Variation (E01) · 1-0

White to move.

ANALYSIS [x]

1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

FEN COPIED

explore this opening	find similar games	1 more Bronstein/Keene game
sac: 24.Rxd5	PGN: download \| view \| print	Help: general \| java-troubleshooting

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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 4 · Later Kibitzing>
Jul-22-18		ChessHigherCat: Curses, foiled again! My line loses to Qxd5. Keene to lose

Jul-22-18		landshark: Ok here's a rare stab at a Sunday puzzle before bedtime on Saturday - 23.Ng5, Bxg2 24.Rxd7, Bh8 25.f3. I think this keeps the attack going nicely. Not going to bother pre-analyzing stuff - let's see how far I can get playing guess-the-move....

Jul-22-18		landshark: Cool I got the first move right. Will look at what to do after Black's .... Rc5 tomorrow (:

Jul-22-18		Walter Glattke: 23.Rxd5 Qxd5 24.Nd4 (24.Ne5 Qd6!) Qd6 25.Qxd6 Bxd6 26.Bd5+ Kh8 27.Nd6 cxb3 28.Nxc7 Rxc7 no check on c1, so failed by29.Re8+ Kg7 30.Rg8+ Kh6 31.axb3 perhaps draw.

Jul-22-18		diagonalley: i think i'll go back to bed

Jul-22-18		Walter Glattke: Black wins after 23.Ng5 fxg5 24.Bxd5+ Qxd5 25.Qxc7 Qxd1 26.Rxd1 Rxc7 28.cxb3 1 knight ahead. 24.Qd4 Nf6 (24.-Bxg2? 25.Qh8+ Kf7 26.Qxh7+ Bg7 27.Qxg7#) 25.Bxd5+ Qxd5 26.Qxf6 Bg7 27.Qxg7+ Rxg7 28.Rxd5 now 1 bishop for white.

Jul-22-18		Walter Glattke: Really hard this morning.

Jul-22-18		Honey Blend: I was trying to make <23. ♗h3> work, with the idea that 23. ... ♗xf3 24. ♗e6+ ♔g7 25. ♖xd7+! ♖xd7 26. ♕xf6+: click for larger view After 26. ... ♔h6 27. ♗c1+ and mate follows. Or 23. ♗h3 g5 24. ♘xg5! fxg5 25. ♕xg5+ ♔f7 26. ♕f5+ ♔g8 27. ♕e6+! ♗xe6 28. ♗xe6# click for larger view Probably best reply here is 23. ... c3, and after 24. ♗xc3 ♖xc3 25. ♖xd5, now Black can't recapture the ♖ because of the fork 26. ♗e6+. click for larger view The ♘d7 is attacked twice and pinned by the ♗h3, so 25. ... ♘c5 looks like the best place for it. After 26. ♕d2 (protecting the ♖) ♖xf3 27. ♗xc8 ♖xc8 28. ♖d8!, Black has to play very carefully. For example, 28. ... ♕c6 29. ♖xf8+! ♔xf8 30. ♕h6+ ♔g8 31. ♖e7! with inevitable mate. click for larger view Either that, or 28. ... ♕c7 29. ♖ee8 looks crushing.

Jul-22-18		Honey Blend: <After 26. ♕d2 (protecting the ♖) ♖xf3 27. ♗xc8 ♖xc8 28. ♖d8!, Black has to play very carefully.> Oops. That was supposed to be 26. ♕d2 ♖xf3 27. ♗xc8 ♕xc8 28. ♖d8 click for larger view

Jul-22-18		takchess: Nice tension in the position. Intuition suggested RxB or a Knight move .thats all for me.

Jul-22-18		mel gibson: I considered the text move but saw that White would lose it's Bishop. Stockfish 9 disagrees with the text - it says 23 Bh3. 23. Ng5 (23. Bh3 (♗g2-h3 c4-c3 ♗b2xc3 ♖c7xc3 ♖d1xd5 ♕a8xd5 ♗h3-e6+ ♕d5xe6 ♖e1xe6 ♖c3-d3 ♔g1-g2 ♖c8-c3 ♘f3-d4 ♗f8-c5 ♖e6-e8+ ♔g8-f7 ♕f4-e4 ♘d7-e5 ♖e8xe5 f6xe5 ♕e4-d5+ ♔f7-f8 ♘d4-e6+ ♔f8-e7 ♕d5xe5 ♗c5-d6 ♕e5-e4 ♔e7-d7 ♘e6-d4 ♖d3xd4 ♕e4xd4 ♖c3-c7 ♕d4-d5 ♔d7-e7 b3-b4 ♖c7-d7 f2-f4 ♗d6-c7 ♕d5-e4+ ♔e7-f6 ♔g2-f3 ♗c7-d6 ♕e4-c6 ♔f6-e6 ♕c6-c8 ♔e6-e7 ♕c8-h8 ♔e7-e6 ♕h8-d4 ♖d7-c7 a2-a3 ♖c7-d7 g3-g4 ♔e6-f7 ♕d4-c4+ ♔f7-f6 g4-g5+ ♔f6-e7 ♔f3-g3) +3.49/35 133) score for White +3.49 depth 35 forcing Stockfish to look at the text move 23.Ng5 we have: (23.Ng5 .. Bxg2 (♗d5xg2 ♖d1xd7 ♗g2-h3 ♘g5xh3 ♖c7xd7 ♕f4xf6 c4-c3 ♗b2xc3 ♖c8xc3 ♕f6xc3 ♗f8-h6 ♕c3-e5 ♕a8-f8 ♘h3-g5 ♗h6xg5 ♕e5xg5 ♕f8-d6 h2-h4 ♖d7-f7 ♕g5-c1 ♕d6-d4 ♖e1-e8+ ♔g8-g7 ♕c1-e1 ♖f7-d7 ♔g1-h2 ♖d7-f7 ♖e8-e2 ♔g7-g8 ♔h2-g1 ♖f7-d7 ♔g1-g2 ♖d7-f7 ♖e2-e8+ ♔g8-g7 ♕e1-e2 h7-h5 b3-b4 ♔g7-h6 b4-b5 ♕d4-d5+ f2-f3 ♖f7-d7 ♖e8-h8+ ♔h6-g7 ♕e2-b2+ ♕d5-d4) -1.07/39 97) score for Black -1.07 depth 39

Jul-22-18		WorstPlayerEver: First I tried to make 23. Ne5 Bxg2 24. Nxd7 Rxd7 25. Rxd7 work, but it fails: 25... Bh3, wot a disappointment! Looked briefly at other solutions. Then I gave up. However, when I peeped at the real solutions, it gave me new hope. Not bad, not bad.

Jul-22-18		malt: I got 23.Ng5 B:g2 24.R:d7 Black has (24...fg5 25.Qf7# ) (24...R:d7 25.Q:f6 Bg7 26.Qe6+ Kh8 27.Q:d7 c3 28.B:c3 R:c3 29.Re8+ ) Struggling with 24...Bh3 looking at 25.Ne4

Jul-22-18		agb2002: White is one pawn down. Black threatens cxb3 and c3. The black castle looks weak and White's LSB x-rays the black queen. These details suggest 23.Ng5: A) 23... fxg5 24.Qd4 A.1) 24... Bxg2 25.Qh8+ Kf7 26.Qh7+ Bg7 27.Qxg7#. A.2) 24... Nf6 25.Qxf6 Bg7 26.Bxd5+ Qxd5 (26... Kh8 27.Bxa8 Bxf6 28.Bxf6+ wins decisive material) 27.Rxd5 Bxf6 28.Bxf6 + - [B vs p]. B) 23... Bxg2 24.Rxd7 B.1) 24... Rxd7 25.Qxf6 B.1.a) 25... Bg7 26.Qe6+ Kh8 (26... Kf8 27.Qxd7 wins) 27.Qxd7 Rg8 (27... Bxb2 28.Qxh7#) 28.Bxg7+ Rxg7 29.Re8+ wins. B.1.b) 25... Rg7 26.Qe6+ Kh8 27.Nf7+ Kg8 28.Nh6+ Kh8 29.Qg8#. B.1.c) 25... c3 26.Qe6+ Kh8 (26... Kg7 27.Qxd7+ Kh6 28.Qxh7+ Kxg5 29.Qh4+ Kf5 30.Qf4#) 27.Qxd7 Bg7 28.Bxc3 Rxc3 (28... Bxc3 29.Qxh7#; 28... Rg8 29.Bxg7+ as in B.1.a) 29.Re8+ and mate in two. B.2) 24... f5 25.Qd4 wins. B.3) 24... fxg5 25.Qf7#. B.4) 24... Bh3 25.Nxh3 Rxd7 26.Qxf6 B.4.a) 26... Bg7 27.Qe6+ B.4.a.i) 27... Rf7 28.Ng5 Rcf8 29.Nxf7 B.4.a.i.1) 29... Rxf7 30.Bxg7 Kxg7 31.Qxc4 wins a pawn. B.4.a.i.2) 29... c3 30.Nh6+ Kh8 31.Qg8+ Rxg8 32.Nf7#. B.4.a.i.3) 29... Bxb2 30.Ng5+ Kh8 (30... Kg7 31.Qe7+ Kh6 32.Qxh7+ Kg5 33.Qh4+ Kf5 34.Qf4#) 31.Qxc4 wins a pawn. B.4.a.ii) 27... Kh8 28.Qxd7 Bxb2 29.Re7 Rf8 30.Rxh7+ Kg8 31.Ng5 looks winning due to the double threat Qe6+ and Rh8+ followed by mate in both cases. B.4.b) 26... Rg7 27.Qe6+ Kh8 28.Bxg7+ followed by bxc4 wins a pawn at least. B.4.c) 26... c3 27.Bxc3 wins a pawn at least (27... B(R)g7 28.Qe6+ as above). C) 23... Rc5 24.Rxd5 C.1) 24... fxg5 25.Qd4 wins. C.2) 24... Rxd5 25.cxd4 fxg5 26.Qe4 Rcc5 (26... Ne5 27.Bxe5 wins decisive material) 27.Qxd5+ Rxd5 28.Qxd5+ Qxd5 29.cxd5 + - [R vs n].

Jul-22-18		OhioChessFan: I don't say this very often, but this was a rather easy Sunday. I concede I wasn't as thorough as <agb> but that's the advantage of knowing it's a puzzle move.

Jul-22-18		chessgames.com: We stuck the computer on this one for 6 hours last night, knowing well there would be a difference of opinion: analysis of move 23.? Ironically, SF would award a question-mark (or at least a “better is...”) to 23.Ng5, ranking it as only the third best option in a winning position. We believe that Bronstein, one of the original John Henrys of the man-vs-machine era, would have had it no other way.

Jul-22-18		Howard: This was one of three strong tourmanents that Geller won in 1975-76, when he was getting a "second wind" despite turning 50 during that time. The big one that he won during this time was undoubtedly Moscow 1975--exceptionally tough event!

Jul-22-18		landshark: Next day guess-the-move I chose 24.Qd4 instead of the game continuation Rxd5. So much for my Sunday fun! I wonder how much weaker my move was...

Jul-22-18		landshark: One of the nice things about 24.Qd4 is it prevents any hanky-panky with ....c3 because 25.Bxc3 Rxc3 loses to 26.Bxd5+. Maybe 24....Bc6 25.Bh3 could follow with pressure -

Jul-22-18		ray keene: The analyses using modern engines are fascinating and show the amazing resources concealed in the position. I guess Bronstein played instinctively to a great extent ....the concrete variations found more recently were not even thought of at the time.

Jul-22-18		Cheapo by the Dozen: Wow. I correctly guessed that the answer would involve a discovered attack against d5 with the hope of pivoting to an attack along the a2-g8 diagonal. But I didn't come close to seeing the actual game-winning ideas.

Jul-23-18		stst: White is a pawn down, to open up and break in, the f6 pawn is target. Noted also the virtual pin of the Black Q-B and White B, after the N darts out.... so try this line: 23.BxP NxB 24.QxN Rf7 25.QxR+ (Q-sac to gain control) KxQ 26.Ng5+ .... Then variations ... (A)Kg7 (B)Kg8 (C)Kf6 .... will see....

Jul-24-18		Honey Blend: I couldn't imagine a human player would dare go for 25. ... ♕xd5!, but SF somehow picked it to avoid all the mating tricks: 25. ... ♕xd5 26. ♗e6+ ♕xe6 27. ♖xe6 ♖d3 (I am not 100% sure about ♖d3 but I feel this is to prevent ♕d4) and evaluates it only at a little above +2, which should give White a slight edge in this complicated-looking ♕ vs ♖♗ position, but nothing tangible at the moment. Black has eliminated White's dangerous Bishop pair. White has no direct attack nor passed pawns, and the ♗f8 defends the dark squares well. The center files are open with Black's rooks having some control; it looks like Black can hold the game quite a bit with fair chances of counterplay. click for larger view I wonder if during that time, Bronstein saw 23. ♗h3 and the 25. ... ♕xd5! line above, and avoided it altogether because of that!

Feb-04-20		Howard: Interestingly enough, CL&R gives 23.Ng5! and exclamation point even though it wasn't the best move !

Mar-29-25		An Englishman: Good Evening: Mr. Keene defended well for some time, avoiding traps like 20...Be6; 21.Rxe6,fxe6; 22.Qxe6+,Kh8; 23. Ng5 with a strong attack. But defense is hard...

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