(33) Donald Byrne - James Sherwin U.S. Championship New York 1958/59 English [A23] American international master Donald Byrne (1930-1976) was the brother of Robert Byrne (see game 32). He is probably best known for being on the losing side of Bobby Fischer's "Game of the Century" played in the 1956 Rosenwald Tournament. 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.g3 c6 4.
Bg2 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 Qb6 and 4.d4 exd4 5.Qxd4 Na6 are two popular variations in the English. 4.d5 5.cxd5?! 5.
d4 transposes into well-known lines after 5.exd4 6.Qxd4 Be6 or 6.Na6. 5.cxd5 6.Qb3? After this move, Byrne is struggling. His last chance to avoid a serious disadvantage was with 6.
d4 although after 6.exd4 7.Qxd4 Nc6 8.Qa4 d4 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Bxe4 Bb4+, Black is already doing well. 6.Nc6! [diagram] Black has done well with this gambit offer, scoring over 70 percent in the 300 games in which it was played.
The present encounter is among the first times it was essayed. 7.Nxd5 7.d3 d4 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.Bxd5 Bb4+ and Black was already better in Petersons-Tal, Riga 1958. 7.Nd4 8.
Qc4? 8.Nxf6+ Qxf6 9.Qd3 (or 9.Qd1 Bf5 10.d3 Rc8 11.Kf1) 9.Bc5 10.e3 Bf5 11.
Be4 Rd8 12.Qb1 0-0 13.Bxf5 Nxf5 14.Ne2 Rfe8 are positions the engines evaluate as only slightly better for Black but in practice are difficult to play for White. That said, they were better tries than the game continuation. 8.Nxd5 9.Bxd5 [diagram] 9.
b5! 10.Bxf7+ Ke7 11.Qd5 Nc2+ 12.Kd1 Nxa1 13.d4 The best try. 13.Qxa8 Qc7! wins on the spot. 13.
Qxd5 14.Bxd5 Rb8 15.dxe5 15.Bg5+ is slightly better but after 15.Ke8 16.Nf3 Bb7 17.Bxb7 Rxb7 18.Kc1 (18.
Kd2 e4 19.Ne5 Bb4+) 18.Rc7+ 19.Kb1 Nc2 20.Rc1 Na3+ 21.bxa3 Rxc1+ 22.Bxc1 exd4 23.Nxd4 Bc5 Black is still winning.
15.Be6 16.e4 Rc8 17.h3 Nc2 18.Ne2 Nb4 19.Nf4 Nxd5 20.exd5 Rd8 21.d6+ Kf7 22.
Be3 Bxa2 23.Kd2 [diagram] 23.Bxd6! Black returns material to complete development and wins in straightforward fashion. 24.exd6 Rxd6+ 25.Kc3 a5 26.b4 a4 27.Bc5 Rd7 28.
Nd3 Re8 29.Rd1 Rd5 30.Bd4 Bc4 31.Nc5 a3 32.Ra1 a2 33.Be3 Red8 34.Nb7 R8d7 35.Nc5 Rd1 36.
Bc1 Re7 37.Kc2 Ree1 0-1.