1975: Club chess

Game Hitchcock,R - Byers,T, Devon vs. Gloucestershire, 1975

Club chess

"One of the most enterprising games in the match" — Ken Bloodworth, Western Morning News , 5 March 1975

1.b4 d5 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.b5

One used to play like this then. Sokolsky was not unknown, but my friend and colleague Steve Owen was much more successful exponent of it.

3...c6 4.a4 cxb5 5.axb5 e6 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bd4 Bc5 9.Bb2 0-0 10.Nc3 Nb6 11.Na4 Nxa4 12.Rxa4 a5 13.Qa1

+-----------------+
|r+b1.4k+|
|+p+.+p0p|
|.+.+ph.+|
|0Pgp+.+.|
|R+.+.+.+|
|+.+.)N+.|
|.GP).)P)|
|!.+.IB+R|
+-----------------+

Somewhere, Reti smiled.

13...Be7 14.g4 g6 15.h4

The unusual deployment of White's pieces must have misled Black... Failing to notice the lateral action of White's Queen's Rook, he loses one of his two developed pieces, and soon feels obliged to exchange the other for White's dark-squared Bishop.

15...Nxg4?

[15...Ne8]

16.Rxg4 f5 17.Rgg1 Bf6 18.h5 Bxb2 19.Qxb2 Qf6 20.Qa3 b6 21.hxg6 hxg6 22.Rh6 Kf7 23.Rgxg6 Qd8

+-----------------+
|r+b1.4.+|
|+.+.+k+.|
|.0.+p+R$|
|0P+p+p+.|
|.+.+.+.+|
|!.+.)N+.|
|.+P).).+|
|+.+.IB+.|
+-----------------+

24.Rf6+ Kg7 25.Rhg6+ 1-0

In the event, the extra piece played remained back in barracks throughout!

[Notes by DR/Richard Hitchcock]

Legacy nid: 

432