Fairfarren Dennis

Dennis Dawley, a veteran Hackettstown Chess Club member, has relocated to warmer climate. Dennis was also doing double duty as Tournament Director.  We certainly wish Dennis well. Dennis still plan to visit the club when he is in the area as he did recently at our recent Quick chess tournament.

I found this game in my Chess Life archives that was originally published in the October 1993 issue where Dennis as the US Amateur East Champion faced off the US Amateur West Champion David Mathys for the US Amateur title. In a pre internet era the moves of the G/60 playoff were relayed over the phone.

Dennis came back from being  an exchange down to claim the title by accepting a draw offer with not enough time left on his clock to convert a winning position.  I posted the original game with analysis provided by Dennis Dawley and David Mathys.

Mathys, David - Dawley, Dennis [A59]
US Amateur Playoff, 1993

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 g6 6.Nc3 Bxa6 7.e4 Bxf1 8.Kxf1 d6
9.g4 A move favored by Yasser Seirawan.
9...Qc8 10.h3

 [10.g5 Nh5 11.Kg2 Bg7] (Dawley)

10...Bg7 11.Kg2 h5

 [11...0–0 12.Nge2 Na6 13.Be3 Qb7 14.Qd2 Nc7 15.f3 Rfb8 16.b3 Nb5 17.Rac1 Seirawan-Gurevich, New York Open 1987]

12.g5 Nfd7 13.Nf3 Na6 14.Bf4 Rb8 15.Rb1 0–0 16.Re1 Qc7 17.Qe2 Qa5

Dennis took a 20 minutes think here trying to stop e5 which lead to his time trouble later on.

18.e5 Rb4 19.Bd2 Nxe5 20.Nxe5 Bxe5

Dennis has 15 minutes remaining and Mathys 34 minutes.

21.Ne4 Qxa2 22.Bxb4

[22.Ra1 Qxd5 23.Rxa6 Rxe4 24.Qxe4 Qxd2 25.h4 Qxb2] (Dawley)

22...Nxb4 23.Nxc5 Nxd5 eyeing f4. 24.Nd3 Qc4 25.Kf1

[25.Qe4 Qxd3 26.Qxd3 Nf4+ 27.Kf1 Nxd3] (Mathys)

25...Nf4 26.Nxf4 Qxf4 27.Qe3 Qc4+

Dennis had a minute left to White's 13 minutes.

28.Kg1 e6 29.Qe4 Qb3 30.Qe3?

[30.Re3 Qb5 31.b4 and the passed pawn gets rolling.] (Mathys)

30...Rb8

Dennis has less than a minute on his clock and David has 11 minutes.

31.Qxb3 Rxb3 32.Re2 Bf4

[32...Rxh3? 33.b4 Bf4 34.b5 Bxg5 35.b6 Bf4 36.b7 d5 37.b8Q+ Bxb8 38.Rxb8+] (Dawley)

33.h4 d5 34.Kg2 Kf8 35.Ra1 d4 36.Re4 e5 37.Rxf4? exf4 38.Rd1 d3 39.Rd2 Ke7 40.Kf3

White is hoping to win on time as Dennis only had 20 seconds left.

40...Ke6 41.Kxf4 Rb4+ 42.Ke3 Rxh4

Now Dennis has a passer as well.

43.Rxd3 Rb4

Black is now better but Dennis only has a few seconds left on his clock.

44.b3 Kf5 45.Rd5+ Kg4 46.Rd4+? Rxd4 47.Kxd4

Black will queen first but Dennis accepts the draw offer as he has no time left to convert the advantage. ½–½

You can replay the game in the game viewer below. Click the down arrow in the notation window to select a variation to play in the viewer or A to see comments.