In the May 1994 and September 1994 issues, not long after Charlie Nowe's death,
I presented two of his interesting games against Pittsburgh area players.  But
this month I have a real "find":  his game with GM Joel Benjamin in the New York
State Championship of 1993, with notes by Charlie himself.  He won this
last-round game and the tournament--every amateur's fantasy!  I would like to
thank Jim Castine and Kimball Nedved for getting this to me.  Charlie's comments
were written for the benefit of a New York news reporter.  I have added comments
of my own, which are enclosed in brackets, and followed by my initials, like
this:  [comment --BWL]  All other comments are Charlie's.

White:  Charles Nowe
Black:  Joel Benjamin
New York State Championship, round 6
September, 1993
King's Indian Defense

 1 d4      Nf6
 2 c4      g6
 3 Nc3     Bg7
 4 e4      d6
 5 Be2     O-O
 6 Nf3     Nbd7
 7 O-O     e5
 8 Re1

   It is White's intention not to play P-Q5 unless he has to.  Black's game
   becomes easier when the center is closed.  After P-Q5, Black moves his king
   knight to play P-KB4, giving him a good king-side game.

   8 Re1 overprotects e4 in case of 8 ... exd4 9 Nxd4 Nc5 10 Bf1.

 8 ...     c6
 9 Rb1

   This removes the rook from the dangerous diagonal, enabling White to play
   P-QN4, a good middle game pawn structure for a queen-side attack.

 9 ...     h6
10 Bf1     Nh7
11 Be3

   Developing the last minor piece.

11 ...     Ng5

   [The point of Black's last couple of moves, which otherwise looked strange.
   Black gets to exchange a pair of pieces, which might lighten his defensive
   load.  --BWL]

12 Be2

   White does not want the KR file to be open [after 12 Nxg5 hxg5 --BWL] so he
   defends the knight, threatening 13 Qd2.

12 ...     Nxf3+

   12 ... f5 13 exf5 gxf5 14 dxe5.  [Now 14 ... dxe5 15 Nxg5! hxg5 15 Qd6!
   shows how White can play to neutralize Black's aggressive advanced pawns.
   Black becomes helpless, showing that his expansion was premature.  --BWL]

13 Bxf3    exd4
14 Bxd4    Ne5
15 Be2     Qf6
16 Kh1

   Black threatened 16 ... Nf3+ 17 Bxf3 Qxd4 gaining the two bishops.

16 ...     Be6
17 b3      a6

   Possible was 17 ... c5 18 Be3 Nxc4 19 bxc4 Qxc3 20 Rxb7.  [It isn't obvious
   to me that Black should have rejected this.  --BWL]

18 Rc1     g5
19 f3      b5
20 c5      Rfd8
21 Qc2     dxc5
22 Bxc5    Rd7
23 Red1    Rxd1+
24 Nxd1    Rc8?

   I think 24 ... Nd7 is better.  Now White pins the knight.

25 Bd4     c5

   [The pin is surprisingly hard to escape.  For instance 25 ... Qe7 26 Qc3
   forces 26 ... f6 , and after 27 Nf2 White has a noticeable edge.  Better
   is 25 ... Qd8, to answer 26 Qc3? with 26 ... Nd3! (27 Bxg7 Nxc1 28 Bxh6 f6
   29 Qxc1 Kh7).  After 26 Bb2 Ng6 (or 26 ... Nd7) Black is safe, but the
   exchange of bishops is not necessarily in his favor.  --BWL]

26 Bb2     Qf4?

   Bad move.  White will now advance his kingside pawns threatening to win a
   piece.  Black cannot stop it.

27 g3      Qf6
28 Ne3     Qg6

   Another bad move.  I can't explain it.  He puts the queen in the path of the
   P-KB5 fork.  [But what else is there?  If 28 ... Qe7 29 f4 gxf4 30 gxf4, and
   now 30 ... Ng6 loses to 31 f5 which is a fork, 30 ... Nd7 also loses to 31 f5
   because the bishop is trapped on e6, and 30 ... Nc6 just hangs the c-pawn.
   And if the queen doesn't move, White needs only one more move to prepare f4.
   Benjamin's desperate choice at least gets him a few traps and a long, dour
   endgame.  --BWL]

Diagram: 2r3k1/5pb1/p3b1qp/1pp1n1p1/4P3/1P2NPP1/PBQ1B2P/2R4K

29 f4      gxf4
30 gxf4    Ng4

   [Threatening mate!  --BWL]

31 Nxg4    Bxb2

   If 31 ... Bxg4 32 Bxg7.

32 Qxb2    Qxe4+
33 Kg1     Qxf4
34 Rf1     Qg5
35 Qf6     Qxf6
36 Nxf6+   Kg7

The game goes to move 93.  The remaining moves are too interesting to leave out,
but to save space I will use a more condensed format.

37 Nh5+ Kf8 38 Nf4 Bf5 39 Nd3 Be6 40 Rc1 c4 41 Nf4 c3 42 Nxe6+ fxe6 43 a3 c2
44 Bd3 Rc3 45 Bxc2 Ke7 46 Kf2 Rh3 47 Rh1 Rc3 48 Bd1 Rc1 49 Re1 Ra1 50 a4 Ra2+
51 Re2 Ra1 52 Bc2 bxa4 53 bxa4 Ra3 54 Ke1 (Wrong plan.) Kd6 55 Kd2 Rh3 56 Bd3 a5
57 Kc3 Rh4 58 Bc4 Rh3+ 59 Kd4 Rh4 60 Kc3 Rh3+ 61 Kd2 e5 62 Ke1 [Back on
track.  --BWL] Rh4 63 Bb5 e4 64 Kf1 Ke5 65 Kg2 Rg4+ 66 Kf2 Rf4+ 67 Kg3 Rf6
68 h3 [Zugzwang!  If 68 ... Rf4 69 Bc6 Rf3+ 70 Kg4 Rf4+ 71 Kh5 Rf3 72 Rxe4+ Kd6
73 Re6+  --BWL] 68 ... Kd4 69 Kg4 e3 70 Kh5 Re6 71 h4 Ke4 72 Rg2 Kf3
73 Rg6 [White has to sacrifice the bishop to win.  He had to make this decision
as part of the plan started on move 62.  --BWL] 73 ... Re5+ 74 Kxh6 e2
75 Bxe2 Kxe2 76 h5 Kd3 77 Rg5 Re6+ 78 Kg7 Re7+ 79 Kf8 Ra7 80 h6 Kc3 81 Rg7 Ra8+
82 Ke7 Kb3 83 Rg4! [Not 83 h7? Kxa4 84 Rg8?? Ra7+  --BWL] 83 ... Ra7+
84 Kf6 Ra6+ 85 Kg5 Ra7 86 Rh4 Rc7 87 h7 Rxh7 88 Rxh7 Kxa4 89 Rb7 Ka3 90 Kf4 a4
91 Ke4 Ka2 92 Kd3 a3 93 Kc3, Black resigns.