Time for a game. And why not a miniature? Here is an entertaining and instructive game between Keith Allen and Tom Clarke, event and date unknown (possibly a club game?) from a club game around 1988. Source: James O’Fee’s blog (plus extra details from David McAlister in the comments here).
Keith Allen – Tom Clarke
Belfast and District League Div. 1 (Ulster Trophy), c. 1988
Fisherwick – Civil Service
1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. dxe5 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 Bg4 8. Bf4 O-O-O+ 9. Kc1 Nge7 10. e3 Nd5 11. Bg5 f6 12. exf6 gxf6 13. Nxd5 Rxd5 14. Bxf6 Rc5+ 15. Bc3 Rd8 16. Be2 Bf5 (diagram) 17. Rd1? Rxc3+ 0-1.
[Click to replay the full game.]
I thought the diagrammed position was hopeless anyway (it would have been different if White had interposed 16. a3 Ba5 before playing Be2, when it’s very much all to play for). But the computer comes up with the strange-looking line 17. e4 Bxe4 18. Nd2 Bf5 19. Nb1 Nd4 20. Bd1, when it thinks Black’s better but White is hanging on.
Updated 24 August 2012.
I can supply some information that narrows down date and event. After James O’Fee published the game, I spoke to Tom about it. He couldn’t remember precisely when it had been played, but could clearly recollect it being a Belfast & District League match played at Civil Service Chess Club.
There were a number of things that then allowed us to narrow down the date. First of all Keith Allen never played for Civil Service, so Tom (who had a number of clubs down the years) must have been the home player. Tom only joined Civil Service in the 1987-88 season and played there for three seasons. In the 1990-1991 season he was living in England and when he returned to Northern Ireland, he never played for Civil Service again.
I can add to this that Keith Allen went to live and work in the Isle of Man about the end of the decade, probably 1989. I haven”t found any record of him playing League chess in Belfast after the 1988-1989 season. Other than in the early 1980s (when he was at Queen’s University) Keith played for Fisherwick.
So on the basis of this information, I can state with reasonable certainty:
Keith Allen (Fisherwick) – Tom Clarke (Civil Service)
Civil Service Chess Club, Maynard Sinclair Pavilion
Belfast & District League Division 1 (Ulster Trophy), circa 1988.