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Hello Chess Community! Today let's examine a game by Brazil's first grandmaster, Henrique Mecking. He was a strong player in the 70s and ranked third in the world in 1977 behind Karpov and Korchnoi. At that time, he was a World Championship contender. Mequinho, as he was known in Brazil, was a teen prodigy and often compared to Bobby Fischer since he was a non-Soviet top player in an era where chess was dominated by the Soviets. Unfortunately at the age of 27, a critical illness interrupted his career. He made a comeback in the 90s but he never regained his form.
The game was played in Mar del Plata in 1969 between a 17 year old Mecking and a compatriot IM, Antonio Rocha.
[Event "Mar del Plata Zonal"]
[Site "Mar del Plata ARG"]
[Date "1969.04.09"]
[Round "17"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Henrique Mecking"]
[Black "Antonio Rocha"]
[ECO "C69"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6
The exchange variation, White gives up the Bishop pair but doubles Black's pawn on c6. White's idea is to play the endgame where his pawn propenderance in the Kingside gives him a slight edge. This opening was played by Lasker against Capablanca in a must-win game in a St. Petersburg tournament.
5.O-O f6 6.d4 Bg4 7.c3 Bd6 8.Be3 Qe7 9.Nbd2 Nh6 10.h3 Bd7 (The Bishop is somewhat misplaced in Bd7 better is 10. ...Be6 or Bh5)
11.Qb3 b6 12.dxe5 fxe5 13.Nc4
Stockfish recommends 13. Bxh6 gxh6 but no human will offer to open up the g file in this position 😀
'13. ...Nf7 14.Rfd1 Bc5? (a blunder which White quickly took advantage of)
15.Bxc5 Qxc5 (15. ...bxc5 16.Qb7 Rc8 17.Rd2 0-0 18.Rxd7! Qxd7 19.Nb6 is also winning)
16.Rxd7! (The start of a nice tactical combination)
'16. ...Kxd7 17.Nxb6+ Qxb6 18.Qxf7+ Kc8 19.Nxe5
After the exchanges White has a decisive position. Ideas like b4, Nc5 and running the passed e pawn come to mind.
'19. ...Qxb2
Hastens Black's demise. 19. ...Qc5 or Qb5 is better.
20.Qd7+ Kb8 21.Qd1
A powerful retreat. Now White threatens Rb1 winning Black's Queen.
'21. ...Qxc3 22.Rb1+ Ka7 23.Qd4+
Giving up White's Queen but deflecting Black from the defense of c6. Black is a good sport by allowing the mate. 😀
'23. ...Qxd4 24.Nxc6# 1-0
The final position is pattern known as the Arabian mate which I wrote about before.
I used Chessbase and Stockfish to analyze, an old 2011 Powerbook to check the bookmoves and https://database.chessbase.com/ and https://old.chesstempo.com/game-database.html for an updated database.
Thanks for reading and have fun playing Chess!