My opponent in this game was Rod Guehn, a resident of Paoli, Indiana. Paoli is in the hilly and beautiful, southern part of that state, about 50 miles south of Bloomington.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Nxc6 Qg5 8.Qe2 Nf6 9.f4

This is widely considered to be the main line.

But a very critical callenge to Black's conception is 9.Nxa7+ Bd7 10.Bxd7+ Nxd7! 11.f4!

A) The main point is that 11...Qxf4?! 12.Nb5 0-0-0 13.d4 (13.d3 Qh4+ 14.g3 exd3 15.gxh4 dxe2 is all right for Black) 13...Qf6 (13...Qf7 14.Rf1 Nf6 15.Bf4 c6 16.Na7+! Kd7 17.d5 Nxd5 18.0-0-0 and White's game was extremely promising in Kristov-Angelov, corr 1982.) 14.Be3 (14.Rf1 is also excellent) 14...c6 15.Nc3 Bb4 16.Qc4 Bxc3+ 17.Qxc3 Nb6 18.Qb3 Nd5 19.0-0-0 and White, intending c2-c4, had a substantial advantage in Ruderfer-Agzamov, USSR 1966.;

B) 11...Qa5 12.Nb5 Bc5 13.c3 (or 13.Qxe4+ Kd8 14.Qxb7 Re8+ 15.Kd1 Rb8 16.Qxc7+ Qxc7 17.Nxc7 Kxc7 (Ivanov and Kulagin) and in spite of Black's superb activity, a minor piece is not worth five pawns.) 13...c6 14.Nd4 Bxd4 15.Qxe4+ Kf7 16.Qxd4 Rhe8+ 17.Kd1 and Black is without compensation -- Ivanov and Kulagin.;

C) 11...Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 13.Nb5 0-0-0 14.b3

C1) In Sevestre-Nouveau, corr 1996, Black tried 14...h5

C1a) Most consistent is 15.Bb2 c6 (15...h4 16.g4) 16.Nc3 Nf6 17.Nxe4 and what, after all, does Black have?;

C1b) The cited game continued 15.Qf1 Qg4 16.Nc3 h4 17.Ne2 and here Black should've tried 17...Bc5 with advantage to White but with at least some practical chances;

C2) 14...e3 (highly principled but insufficient) 15.dxe3 Nf6 16.Bb2 (Ivanov and Kulagin say that 16.Bd2 c6 17.Nc3 Ba3 is unclear, but even here, White is better: 18.e4 Rhe8 19.e5 and there is scant hope of breaking through) 16...Bc5 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Rd1 was played in Koch-Marciano, French Championship 1992, with a big and safe material advantage, in view of 18...Bxe3 19.Rxd8+ Kxd8 20.Qd3+ according to Ivanov and Kulagin;

D) The most intuitive is 11...Qc5 12.Nb5 but 12...Qxc2 13.d4! Bb4+ 14.Kf2 Qxe2+ 15.Kxe2 0-0-0 16.Be3 c6

Black's chances in this pawn-down ending can hardly be good cause for playing 3...f5. Surely Black has better chances against the Spanish than this! I have a possible improvement in mind for Black, but its being discussed in "Hard Chess" must await its appearance in practice!

9...Qxf4 10.Ne5+

10.d4 see Fischer-Matulovic.

10...c6 11.d4 Qh4+ 12.g3 Qh3 13.Bg5

White plays an extraordinary, unbooked move, with strange echoes of Fischer-Matulovic. White sacrifices a piece with almost enough compensation.

13...cxb5

Nothing else is good.

14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Qxb5+ Bd7!

My first plan was 15...Ke7 16.Qc5+ Kd8 17.Qa5+

A) 17...b6 18.Qd5+ Kc7 but White has 19.Qc4+! (I originally counted on 19.Qxa8 Bb7 20.Qxa7 Bb4+ 21.c3 Ra8 with a big advantage for Black) 19...Kb8 (19...Kb7 20.Qf7+ Ka6 21.Qc4+ Kb7=) 20.Nc6+ Kb7 21.Nd8+ Kb8=;

B) Useless is 17...Ke8 18.Qb5+=

16.Qxb7 Rd8 17.Qd5 Qe6

17...Qh5 18.Nxd7 Qxd5 19.Nxf6+ is the same.

18.Nxd7 Qxd5 19.Nxf6+ Ke7

19...Kf7 20.Nxd5 Rxd5 21.0-0+ Kg6 22.c3 Bh6 23.Rae1 e3.

20.Nxd5+ Rxd5

21.0-0-0

During the game, I believed that 21.0-0 gave sufficient compensation for the piece, for example 21...Rxd4 22.Rae1 intending c3, but now I doubt it. Thus, 22...Kd7! 23.c3 (23.Rf7+ Ke6 24.Rxa7 Bc5 25.Rc7 Kd6 is better for Black) 23...Rc4 and Black's bishop is worth more than the pawns. Still, I think there is more hope along this path than along that chosen by White.

21...Bh6+ 22.Kb1 Rhd8 23.c3 Rf5 24.c4

24.Rhe1 e3 25.Re2 Rf2 is likewise good for Black.

24...Rf2 25.Rhe1 e3 26.h3 Rh2 27.Rd3

27.h4 Rg2

27...Rb8

Giving White a little more play, but seemingly also sufficient for the point, is 27...Rxh3 28.Ra3 Rxd4 29.Rxa7+ Kd6 30.Rxh7 Rxc4.

28.b3

28.Rdxe3+ Bxe3 29.Rxe3+ Kd6 30.b3 Rf8 and Black soon wins.

28...Rxh3 29.Rd2

29.Rdxe3+ Bxe3 30.Rxe3+ Kd7 31.Rf3 Re8 and Black doesn't have enough pawns to make up for the rook.

29...Rg8 30.c5 Kd7 31.Rc2 Kc6 32.Rd1 Kd5 33.a4

33.c6 Rc8 and Black preserves the point.

33...Rhxg3 34.c6 Rg1 35.Rxg1 Rxg1+ 36.Kb2 Bf4 0-1