Hans Berliner: Fernschach-WM und Programmierer - ein Nachruf

[Event "Correspondence World Cup"] [Site "?"] [Date "1965.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Estrin, Yakov"] [Black "Berliner, Hans"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C57"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "84"] [SourceDate "2017.01.17"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {To play such a move in Correspondence chess is not a great idea. Mainly because this line could work in a tournament game due to the constraint of available time. However, in correspondence chess it is a completely different world.} d5 5. exd5 b5 $5 6. Bf1 $1 {This paradoxical move is the best in the position. The idea is to keep g2 pawn defended so that Qxd5 can be met with Nc3, developing with a tempo.} (6. Bxb5 Qxd5 {[%cal Gd5b5,Gd5g2] is completely fine for Black.}) 6... Nd4 7. c3 Nxd5 8. Ne4 (8. cxd4 Qxg5 9. Bxb5+ Kd8 10. O-O Bb7 {The position remains unbalanced and complicated.}) 8... Qh4 9. Ng3 {This move not only saves the knight but also blocks the h4-e1 diagonal. Now Bg4 can be met with f3.} (9. d3 Bg4 { is not so easy to meet.}) 9... Bg4 10. f3 {The bishop on g4 is attacked and so is the knight on d4. What must Black play?} {[%tqu "When two pieces are attacked, what do you do?","","",e4,"",10]} e4 $3 {You put the third one under attack as well! How many pieces can White take in one move!} 11. cxd4 (11. fxg4 Bd6 {already gives Black excellent play.}) 11... Bd6 {It's not about how many pieces you have on the board. It's all about how many pieces are actively taking part in the game.} 12. Bxb5+ (12. Qe2 $5 O-O (12... Bxg3+ 13. hxg3 Qxh1 14. Qxb5+ (14. Qxe4+ Be6 $17) 14... Bd7 15. Qxd5 $18) 13. fxg4 Bxg3+ (13... Nb4 14. Qxb5 Nc2+ 15. Kd1 Nxa1 16. Nxe4 $18) 14. Kd1 $5 {The computer thinks that this position is winning for White. I have my doubts. You can try to analyze this deeper.}) 12... Kd8 13. O-O exf3 14. Rxf3 (14. gxf3 Bxg3 $19) {[%tqu "Black has all of his pieces into the attack. What must he do now?","","",Rb8, "The way Berliner gets all his pieces into the game is quite inspiring. It doesn't matter if you are a piece down, as long as the number of forces playing in the game is to your favour.",10]} 14... Rb8 $1 {The way Berliner gets all his pieces into the game is quite inspiring. It doesn't matter if you are a piece down, as long as the number of forces playing in the game is to your favour.} 15. Be2 $2 (15. Bf1 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Qxd4+ 17. Kh1 $16) 15... Bxf3 16. Bxf3 Qxd4+ 17. Kh1 Bxg3 18. hxg3 {Black is better now because he brings in the rook into the attack now} {[%tqu "Threaten a mate!","","",Rb6,"A strong move threatening Rh6#",10]} Rb6 $1 {A strong move threatening Rh6#} 19. d3 Ne3 20. Bxe3 Qxe3 {Once again Rh6 is a big threat and there is only one way to stop it.} 21. Bg4 h5 22. Bh3 g5 23. Nd2 (23. Bf5 h4 24. g4 h3 $19) 23... g4 24. Nc4 Qxg3 25. Nxb6 gxh3 26. Qf3 hxg2+ 27. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 28. Kxg2 {After all the complications, the material sanity has been restored. However, it is black who now has an extra pawn. How would you recapture the knight on b6?} {[%tqu "With which pawn would you recapture?","","",cxb6,"Capturing away from the center, but now White has no way to create a passer on the queenside.",10,axb6,"looks logically, but in endgames it is better to not allow the opponent to get outside passed pawn, which White can do with a4,b4 and a5.",0]} cxb6 $1 { Hans Berliner in his book The System wrote: Here Black is a pawn ahead, but it is difficult to utilize it. Black's f7 pawn is attacked and he must decide what to do. If he defends it with Rh7 planning to advance the h-pawn, he ruins the dynamics of his position, as the h-pawn will not get very far. And in the meantime White will attack and exchange the pawns on the queenside. Ke6 is useless as it will be met with Re1+. Black must recognize that his assets consist of outside passed pawn on the kingside. And the fact that White's pawn on d3 can be captured anytime. The plan becomes clear. Black will sacrifice his f7 pawn and activate his rook and attack the queenside pawns. This will make the white rook passive and the black king will enter the position as the white king will have to take care of the h-pawn. Thus the next move becomes clear:} (28... axb6 {looks logically, but in endgames it is better to not allow the opponent to get outside passed pawn, which White can do with a4,b4 and a5.} 29. a4 Kd7 30. b4 Kc6 31. Rh1 $17) 29. Rf1 (29. Kh3 $5 $17) 29... Ke7 30. Re1+ Kd6 31. Rf1 Rc8 $1 {I like this decision very much. You give up a pawn and get all your pieces co-ordinated.} 32. Rxf7 Rc7 33. Rf2 Ke5 {The h5 pawn ensures that all pawn endings are winning. Now Black uses his king to inflict the damage.} 34. a4 Kd4 35. a5 Kxd3 36. Rf3+ Kc2 37. b4 b5 38. a6 Rc4 39. Rf7 Rxb4 40. Rb7 Rg4+ 41. Kf3 b4 42. Rxa7 b3 {A great game by Hans Berliner. The way he brought all his pieces into the attack is something to learn from.} 0-1