From the "Missing" Championship, Round 1

As noted in the previous post, I am now in the process of putting the "missing" Israeli championship into chessbase format. In the process, as expected, we find some interesting and instructive games. From the first round, first, a lesson in cool defense, from the game David Bernstein - Shimon Kagan (13-14.5.1976):

Pilpel,Avital 9.3821 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 c6 5.Be3 a6 6.a4 a5 7.Be2 Na6 8.Nf3 Bg4 9.0–0 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Nf6 11.Be2 Nd7 12.Qd2 0–0 13.Rad1 Qc7 14.f4 Rad8 15.f5 Rfe8 16.Bh6 Nf6 17.Rf3 Qb6 18.Rh3 Bh8 19.fxg6 hxg6 20.Qe1 Nh7 21.Be3 Bg7 22.Qh4



22. ... Nf8 23.Kh1 Rd7 24.Bh6 Bf6 25.Bg5 Bg7 26.Bh6 Bf6 27.Qg4 Qd8 28.Rf1 e5 29.Bxf8 Rxf8 30.Rxf6 Qxf6 31.Qxd7 exd4 32.Nd1 Nc5 33.Qg4 Re8 34.Rf3 Qe5 35.Nf2 Nxa4 36.Nd3 Qxe4 37.Qxe4 Rxe4 38.Bf1 f5 39.Kg1 Kg7 40.Kf2 Kf6 41.Rh3 Kg7 42.Be2 Re7 43.Rh4 Re4 44.Rh3 Re7 45.Rh4 drawn.

Another example of an amusing game from the first round is the game Shlomo Giterman - Yehuda Gruenfeld (13-14.5.1976):

Pilpel,Avital 9.3821

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Be2 0–0 9.0–0 Re8 10.Qc2 Na6 11.Re1 Nc7 12.Bf4 Ng4 13.Rad1 f6 14.Bg3 a6 15.a4 Rb8 16.a5 b5 17.axb6 Rxb6 18.Nd2 Ne5 19.f4 Nf7 20.Nc4 Rb8 21.Bd3 Nb5 22.Qf2 Nd4 23.Ne2 Nb3 24.f5 g5 25.Nc3 Na5 26.Ne3 Qb6 27.Ra1 Bd7 28.Ra3 Bb5 29.Qd2 Nb7 30.Rea1 c4 31.Bc2 Nc5 32.Bf2 Ne5 33.Ned1 Qc7 34.Bd4 Ned3

Not the kind of position one sees too often:

35.Bxd3 Nxd3 36.Nf2 Nc5 37.Nxb5 Rxb5 38.Bxc5 Qxc5 39.Rxa6 Rxe4 40.Rc6 Rd4 41.Ra8+ Bf8 42.Qe3 Qxd5

White now wins with a clever combination. Can you spot it?

Solution (highlight area below):

43.Rxf8+ Kxf8 44.Rc8+ Kg7 45.Rc7+ Kh8 46.Qe8+ Qg8 47.Qxb5 1–0