I'd rather have a Pawn than a finger.
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[Event "Atlanta Action Tournament"]
[Site "Atlanta, Georgia"]
[Date "1994.05.09"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Melvin, Bill"]
[Black "Cunningham, Robert"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Bill Melvin"]
[BlackElo "2200"]
[ECO "C19"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "2170"]
{ Chess players often analyze their game with their opponents afterwards, but
never have I seen any chess players discussing naming a game. Oh sure, we
have the Evergreen Game and the Game of the Century. We even have the Game
they Showered with Gold Pieces and the Immortal Zugzwang. Doubtless other
games exist which are much less famous but have been given names. Presumably
the winner or some magazine columnist comes up with the name.|I've never
played a game which has been given a name, but recently had a magical hour in
Atlanta where everything went better than planned. Hmmm... what to name it?
Kyle Therrell gave me a shiny penny for my efforts, but Game they Showered
with a Shiny Penny left something to be desired. Perhaps the character of the
game itself can be used to come up with a name? The game, which was certainly
extraordinarily brilliant, was not exactly planned. It seems that I did not
see everything at the time of the crucial combinations and I was indeed quite
fortunate that things worked out as well as they did. Yet, the combination
was evidently quite sound as a strong computer played the same moves as I did
starting with move 17 and considered me to be ahead by over a pawn at all
times.|This chess game reminds me of Mr. Magoo: the cartoon hero who is
aware of little but always comes out of dangerous situations doing just fine.
Everything that Mr. Magoo tries, no matter how reckless, turns out fine. Yet
this is no doing of Mr. Magoo, he is just consistently in the right place at
the right time. This time, the man was in the right place to get a chess game
named after him! I now present: The Immortal Mr. Magoo. } 1. e4 { C19: French:
3 Nc3 Bb4: Main line: 7 Nf3 and 7 a4 } 1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. Nf3 c5 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Bd7 8. Bd3 Ba4 { Okay, I admit it, I was out of book
with 8. Bd3. Looks like I do not have too good a feel for this position as 8.
... Ba4 took me totally by surprise. Turns out I was supposed to play 8. a4.
Why? I am not sure...perhaps to stop 8. ... Ba4? My danger sense went off
around here and I felt that I was about to receive a lesson. } 9. O-O Qa5 10. Bd2 Nbc6 11. c4 Qc7 { This is action chess and I do not care to get crushed
positionally by some French guru. The problem with big centers is: the bigger
they are the harder they fall. Mine is about to fall. Unfortunately for my
opponent, someone should have posted a sign that read: Danger: Beware of
Falling Centers. } 12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. dxc5 Nxe5 14. Nxe5 Qxe5 { My position does
not inspire confidence. Pawn structures do not get a lot worse than mine.
But, I have a development lead and not a whole lot to lose so... } 15. Qg4 Bc6 16. Rae1 Qc7 17. c4 Nf6 { It looked necessary to kick the Knight back to f6
before taking the g-Pawn. Otherwise, black simply castles Queenside and mauls
me down the g-file. } 18. Qxg7 { No turning back now! } 18... Rg8 19. Rxe6+ fxe6 { Well, shoot. I can not play 20. Qxc7 because of 20. ... Rxg2+ 21. Kh1 Rg7+
22. Qxc6 bxc6 when I am down an Exchange. I did not see this when I played
18. Qg7 or 19. Rxe6+. If only I could block the g-file... } 20. Bg6+ Kd8 21. Qxf6+ Qe7 22. Ba5+ b6 23. Rd1+ Bd7 { Yikes. Everything is hanging with no way
to break through. If 24. Qf3 then 24... Kc7 and I will soon be down a full
Rook. Not exactly a storybook ending. If only Mr. Magoo were
here...wait...what is that... it is, it is Mr. Magoo... } 24. cxb6 Qxf6 25. b7+ { Get a look at that final position! I am down a queen and an exchange,
but it is forced checkmate. The ending would have been 25... Ke7 26. Bb4+!
(another move I did not see until move 24) Kd8 27. bxa8=Q Kc7 28. Ba5#. This
was easily the best combination I have ever played. Incredibly, I still had
around 15 of my original 30 minutes left on my clock. Somewhere Mr. Magoo is
smiling... } 1-0