A little while ago I came across the following article by the Dutch chess journalist Johan Hut (2002, Schakers Information). He is one of the contributors of the excellent website http://www.schakers.info/ .

I have translated and presented  the article (with permission from the author) as a token of respect,  because Ian is not only the strongest Australian chessplayer for many years, but also because of his unwavering impact and stimulus he has on the Australian chess scene as a player, a chesswriter, a coach and (last but not least) as a sounding board for many chess enthusiasts. I must say that Johan Hut's brief introduction of Ian's background is but the tip of the iceberg and I am sure that Johan would agree...   .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rogers is not afraid for dragons

                                                               (19 oktober 2002 in "Schaak Informatie")

by Johan Hut   

 

Ian RogersThe 42-old Ian Rogers is a familiar face in Hoogeveen. He won the open group in the first edition of the tournament (1997), jointly with Lev Psakhis and the late Lembit Oll. Since then, he hadn’t played again in Hoogeveen. In the programme Rogers is recorded as Dutchman, but according to the FIDE list, he still is an Australian. For many years he has been the strongest player of his country, but because very little happens in the area of chess in Australia, he often stays in the Netherlands. He is not an active tournament player anymore, but he is mainly works as a chess journalist for some newspapers in his home country .

 

He belonged to the top fifty players in the world during his best years. In Holland Rogers is mainly known as a player of the HSG (Hilversum) team, where he was the most productive player for several years. In particular, he used to defeat the somewhat weaker players quick smart with obscure opening variations. Several times In the championship matches against the Ordina team, he was paired against Jan Timman. The latter could never win against him.

 

In the first round of Hoogeveen he played a weaker opponent, Manuel Weeks, who happened to be a compatriot of him.

 

Rogers – Weeks

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6

The Accelerated Dragon. In the Dragon of the Sicilian, black mostly plays d6 quickly, sometimes followed by d5. In the accelerated version black tries to avoid this loss of a tempi and he will attack d4 as soon as possible.

5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Qa5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bb3 d6

Now one could call it a normal Dragon, although it is somewhat unusal to see whte castling kingside.

10.h3 Bd7 11.f4 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 Bc6 13.Qd3 Rad8 14.Qe3 b6 15.e5! dxe5 16.fxe5 Nd5 17.Qf2 Qa6 18.Ne4 Nf4

 

 

This is not just a joke (19.Qxf4? Rxd4), but black also threatens Rxd4 winning a piece because of Ne2. Rogers demonstrates that there is a hole in the combination.

19.Nf6+! Bxf6 20.exf6 Rxd4 21.fxe7

Black has an extra piece, but after 21...Re8 22.Bxf7+ Kxf7 23.Qxd4 white wins a knight and is the exchange up.

21...Qc8 22.exf8Q+ Qxf8 23.Rad1 Rxd1 24.Rxd1 Nxg2

So it appears that black still has a small chance, but after whites next move it is suddenly  all over.

25.Qf6 Qc5+ 26.Kh2

Black resigns.

 

 In the second round Rogers played black against  Herman Grooten, a 44-year old Dutch IM who has become active again since last year. Rogers sacrificed a bishop against tow pawns, which initially did not seem enough. However, after 60 moves he had already 4 pawns for his piece and he had the choice to give perpetual check. He was still contemplating his 61st move when the arbiter informed him that he had lost on time! Earlier, Rogers had seen the time controls for the main group and he didn’t know that the controls in his group were different. A most unfortunate loss, but a remarkable revanche followed in the next round. His third opponent was Petra Schuurman, the girlfriend of Grooten! Similar as in the first round the Accelerated Dragon appeared, but this time one move earlier, Rogers showed why that was worse.

 

 

Rogers – Schuurman

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4

This is the difference. That is why black should play Nc6 first.

4...Nf6 5.e5 (see the above game) Nc6 6.Qa4 Nd5

Black has chances in a variation like 7.Qe4 Ndb4 8.a3? d5! With the possibility of Bf5. White’s next move however is an improvement. Nb4 can be simply countered by a3.

7.Qb3 Nb6 8.Bf4 Bg7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.0-0-0

 

 

White already has such an enormous space advantage that black decides to a dubious escape action.

10...d5 11.exd6 e5 12.Bg5 Qe8 13.Ne4 Be6 14.Qb5 f6 15.Be3 Qf7

That is painful, but black is so cramped that threats are lurking everywhere. 16.Nfg5! fxg5 17.Nxg5 Nd4

After 17...Qd7 18.Nxe6 Qxe6 19.Bxb6 white has the nasty threat of Bc4.

18.Bxd4 Bd7 19.Nxf7 Bxb5 20.Nxe5

A matter of counting: white remains three pawns ahead and therefore black resigns.

 

At the end, Petra Schuurman, with some humour, reported that Rogers had told her: “Your second move was already a mistake”. When she had looked a bit dejected he then tried to comfort her: ”But your first move was very strong”.

 

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