Harvard-Yale 1995 Harvard-Yale Match 1995

For the fourth year in a row, the Harvard chess team was victorious in the annual Harvard-Yale match, played on the morning of the Game. Like the football game, the match was a real nailbiter, with Harvard just edging past by a score of 4.5-3.5. Part of the reason for the close score was a late bus that robbed Harvard of its fourth board; with only three players, Harvard had to forfeit two games out of eight. However, the remaining team of Dan Benjamin '99, Matt Bengtson '96 and Jeremy Martin '96 was able to score 4.5/6 to win the match. Benjamin rebounded from a loss in the first round to win the second game against his Yale counterpart on first board, while Bengtson won his first game and drew his second. Finally, on third board, Martin won both games, including a come-from-behind victory in the second round, to clinch the match for Harvard. Bengtson and Martin, the seniors on the team, will leave Harvard with four match victories, having compiled individual records of 5.5/6 and 7.5/8 respectively in the last four matches.

All annotations by Jeremy Martin unless otherwise stated.

Board 1, Round 1
White: Matt Gross (Yale, 2118)
Black: Dan Benjamin (Harvard, 2310)

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 Nc6 7. O-O cxd4 8. cxd4 e6 9. h3 Bh5 10. Nc3 Qd6 11. Qb3 Qb4 12. Rd1 Qxb3 13. axb3 Be7 14. d5 exd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Rxd5 Bg6 17. Be3 Be4 18. Rb5 O-O 19. Nd2 Bc2
and eventually 1-0

Board 1, Round 2
White: Dan Benjamin (Harvard, 2310)
Black: Matt Gross (Yale, 2118)

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. e3 Be7 6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O Qe8 8. d3 Bd8 9. c5 dxc5 10. Bxb7 Bxb7 11. Qb3+ Kh8 12. Qxb7 Qc6 13. Qxc6 Nxc6 14. b3 Nb4 15. d4 exd4 16. exd4 Nc2 17. Rb1 cxd4 18. Rb2 d3 19. Nf4 Nb4 20. a3 Nc2 21. Nxd3 Nd4 22. Be3
and eventually 1-0

Board 2, Round 1
White: Matt Bengtson (Harvard, 2266)
Black: Ashish Mukharji (Yale, 2009)

1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+?!
A weird, rare line of the King's Gambit which nonetheless has a few fanatical adherents.
3. g3 Qe7 4. Qe2?!
4. Nc3! is a promising gambit (4... exf4 5. Bf4.) 4. fe is also good enough for an advantage. The text is okay but not very ambitious.
4... Nc6?!
Here and on the next few moves, White should capture on e5 and Black should defend his e-pawn with d7-d6, for the simple Tarraschian reason of keeping pawns in the center!
5. c3?! Nf6?! 6. d3? d5!
Black finally strikes in the center, ensuring near-equality.
7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Bg2 Qe6?
This move is just too unnatural to be good. Perhaps 8... Nb6.
9. Nh3?!
Although this move retains a slight advantage for White, HCC member Raphael Maiopoulos found a much stronger move for White: 9. d4! The immediate point is that Black cannot play 9... exd4?? or 9... exf4?? on account of 10. Bxd5. The only move for Black appears to be 9... f6, but then 10. c4 sets up a fork on d5. If 10... Nxd4 11. cxd5 Nxe2 12. dxe6 Nxc1 13. Kd2 wins a piece for White, while if 10... Ndb4, White plays 11. d5 Nd4 12. dxe6 Nxe2 13. Nxe2 Nc2+ 14. Kd2 Nxa1 15. f5! The Knight will undoubtedly go lost on a1, leading to an easily winning position for White.
9... Be7 10. O-O O-O?
Black had to play 10... exf4 here, with a slight advantage to White after 11. Qxe6 Bxe6 12. Nxf4 Nxf4 13. Bxf4. The text cedes too much on the Kingside.
11. f5! Qd6 12. Nd2 Nf6?! 13. Nc4 Qd8 14. g4 Re8?
The e-pawn is the least of Black's worries. Actually it gets in the way of Black's queen, KB, QN and KR, so White certainly doesn't want to take it! White's pawn steamroller absolutely had to be stopped with 14... h6.
15. g5 (+-) Nd5 16. Be4 f6 17. Qf3 Nb6 18. Nxb6 axb6 19. Qh5 Bf8 20. Nf2 fxg5?!
Some slight groveling chances were offered by 20... Qe7, but White's game plays itself: Nf2-g4, Kh1, Be3, Rag1, etc.
21. f6 g6 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kh8 24. Qh5+ Kg8 25. f7+
1-0

Board 2, Round 2
White: Ashish Mukharji (Tale, 2009)
Black: Matt Bengtson (Harvard, 2266)

1. c4 b6 2. Nf3 Bb7 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nf6 5. O-O g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. d3 O-O 8. e4 d6 9. Ng5!? Nc6 (9... h6!?) 10. f4 Nd7?!
10... Nd4! 11. e5!? Bxg2 12. exf6 exf6 13. Kxg2 fxg5 14. fxg5 f5!, =/+. (Bengtson)
11. Ne2 Nd4?
While this move isn't good, I (JLM) don't think it merits the ?? that Bengtson gives it. Better alternatives were 11... e6, 11... Rb8, 11... a6, 11... h6.
12. Nxd4 Bxd4+?! 13. Kh1 Rb8 14. f5 Bg7 15. Rf4 Nf6 16. fxg6?
White has a considerable initiative, but this is just antipositional. Almost anything else was better. Bengtson gives 16. g4 h6! 17. Nh3 g5 18. Rf1 Nh7 or 17. fxg6!? hxg5 18. gxf7+ Kxf7!?, both unclear.
16... hxg6 17. b3?
Better is 17. Bd2, but Black can mix things up with 17... b5.
17... Nh5! 18. Rh4 Bxa1 19. Rxh5 Bf6??
Black should be winning with the exchange up, but this move cramps the King too much. The simple 19... e6 would make breathing room, planning to meet 20. Qg4 with 20... f5! Strangely enough, the Bishop is a better defender on a1 than on f6!
20. Qg4!
Now White's threat of 20. Qh4 is too strong, and a draw by perpetual check is unavoidable.
20... gxh5 21. Qxh5 Bxg5 22. Qxg5+ Kh7 23. Bh3 Bc8
1/2-1/2

Board 3, Round 1
White: Alex Marchione (Yale, 1888)
Black: Jeremy Martin (Harvard, 2221)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Qa5 11. h4 Rfc8 12. Bb3 Ne5 13. g4?!
All book up to here, but this is most likely a waste of time. The caveman chess approach, 13. h5, seems the most promising.
13... Nc4 14. Bxc4 Rxc4 15. Nb3 Qa6 16. Kb1 Rac8 17. h5
Black to move and win!
17... Bxg4!
This sacrifice, fairly standard in the Dragon, just has to be right!
18. fxg4 Rxc3! 19. fxg6?
Equivalent to resignation. The only way to try to refute the sacrifice is to accept it, but Black emerges with a large advantage after the forced 19. bxc3 Nxe4 20. Qd3 Nxc3+ 21. Kc1 Qa3+ 22. Kd2 Nxd1 23. Rxd1 Qxa2. Black has four pawns for a piece, White's king is naked, and Black's pieces are all active. Still, White may be able to hang on. With the move played, there is no chance.
19... Rxc2 20. gxh7+ Kh8 21. Qxc2 Rxc2 22. Kxc2 Qe2+
Showing up the weakness of White's King and his many loose pawns.
23. Bd2 Nxe4 24. Rde1 Qc4+
There's no hurry to grab the g-pawn; it's more important to get rid of White's QB.
25. Bc3? Nxc3 26. bxc3 Qxc3+ 27. Kd1 e6 28. Ref1 Qd3+ 29. Kc1 Qc4+ 30. Kd1?! Qxg4+ 31. Kc2 f5 32. Rfg1 Qe2+ 33. Kc1 Qe5 34. Nd2 f4 35. Nc4? Qc3+ 36. Kb1 Qxc4 37. Rxg7 Qd3+ 38. Kb2 Qd4+ 39. Kc2 Qxg7 40. Kd3 Qxh7 41. Rxh7+ Kxh7
0-1

Board 3, Round 2
White: Jeremy Martin (Harvard, 2221)
Black: Alex Marchione (Yale, 1888)

This game is a shining example of the lack of justice in this world.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 a6 6. N5c3?!
The main line, and probably better, is 6. Nd6+.
6... Nf6 7. Bg5 Be7 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. Nd5 O-O 10. Be2 d6 11. Bg4??
A wholly stupid idea. Of course the trade of white-squared bishops is a good idea in the abstract, but Black's simple reply makes it impossible.
11... Be6
Of course. Now the whole plan of establishing the good d5 knight against Black's bad KB fails, because the trade on e6 is clearly bad for White. So my last move was just a gratuitous waste of time.
12. Nbc3?
Compounding the error by ceding d4 to Black's Knight. Comparatively better was 12. c3, although Black is much better than usual in this line because the Bishop on g4 is totally stupid.
12... Nd4! 13. Be2
Forced to "un-overload" the Queen -- if 13. Rc1?! Bg5 when the "bad" KB isn't so bad after all!
13... Rc8 14. Bd3
Once again forced because of the threat 14... Bxd5 with a central pawn steamroller. So the White KB has taken four moves to get from f1 to d3!
14... Bg5 15. O-O f5 (-/+)
Black's Kingside attack has begun, while White has basically nothing to do.
16. a4?!
Trying to find Queenside counterplay, but it was probably better to play 16. f3, intending to meet 16... f4 by 17. g3, gaining some small measure of Kingside air.
16... f4 17. a5
Now if 17. f3? Bh4, White is as good as mated after ...Bg3 and ...Qh4. 17. g3 f3 sucks as well, so the only thing left to do is counterplay on the Queenside, for whatever it's worth!
17... Bh4 18. Nb6 Qg5 19. Nxc8 Bh3 20. Ne7+!
This zwischenzug saves White temporarily, the idea being that after 20... Kh8 21. g3 fxg3 22. fxg3, Black must give up his strong QB by 22... Bxf1 because of White's (!) mate threat. I didn't look any farther than this; of course, Black is still probably winning!
20... Kf7 21. g3 Kxe7 22. Nd5+ Kd8?!
Better would have been 22... Kd7, when the King is less exposed to checks (and even less exposed after 23. Nb6+? Kc7 24. Nd5+ Kb8.)
23. Kh1 fxg3 24. fxg3 Bxf1 25. Bxf1 Nf3?
Pointless. The clear path to victory was the obvious 25... Bxg3, with 26. hxg3 Qxg3 27. Qh5 Nf3 28. Bg2 Nh4 29. Rg1 Nxg2 or similar carnage to follow. Now I began to breathe a little easier. Of course, we each had less than three minutes left at this point, so the remainder of the game was played extremely badly. Nevertheless, it is of some interest (in about the same way that the Harvard-Yale football game later that day was interesting.)
26. Bg2 Nxh2?! 27. Qg1 Qxg3? 28. Qb6+?
I had this in mind when I played 27. Qg1, but the trivial 28. Qxh2 was obviously much better!
28... Kd7 29. Qc7+?
And again, 29. Qxb7+ is stronger here than on the next move.
29... Kf6 30. Qxb7 Rf2 31. Nc7+ Kf6 32. Ne8+ Kg6 33. Rg1?
Yes, sports fans, I missed 33. Qxg7+ entirely! But for some reason, I had an unexplainable hunch that my opponent would see ghosts and blunder in time pressure. It turned out that I was right, I exactly predicted his move! There's no rhyme or resaon to that; luck was just on Harvard's side.
33... Rxg2??? 34. Rxg2
And suddenly Black is dead lost! I received a further undeserved break when Black played the illegal 34... Qe1+?? and I played rook takes king. Well, king-taking isn't allowed in sudden-death (even though it is in blitz), but I did get an extra 2 minutes on the clock as a result of his mistake, which of course was more than enough time to win the position. The rest of the moves are lost to the mists of time, and it's probably better that way. Another slimy win for Jeremy.
1-0

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