In the world of Correspondence Chess, Thematic tournaments are still a thing. Players start with a set opening and play each opponent with both White and Black. The idea is to extend current opening theory, or just to see who handles specific positions better.
One recently completed event concerned my favourite opening, the Traxler (or Wilkes-Barre). Despite the whole opening being under a cloud, two interesting things emerged from this event. Firstly, no one dared play Nxf7, which shows that this line is considered better for Black in the CC community. Secondly, despite Bxf7+ being considered the refutation of the Traxler, Black in fact won a few games. Below is one of these games.
WSTT/5/17/F ICCF, 05.05.2019
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Bxf7+ Ke7 6. Bb3 I went horribly wrong with (6.Bc4 Rf8 7.O-O d6 8.Nc3 h6 9.Nh7!! Rh8 10.Nxf6 gxf6 11.Nd5+ Kf8 12.Qh5 Kg7 13.Nb6 Qe7 14.Nxa8 Nd4 15.c3 Ne6 16.d4 exd4 17.b4 1-0) Schreuders,A-Press,S Australia v Netherlands 2018 6... Qe8 7. Nc3 d6 8. d3 Rf8 9. O-O h6 10. Nf3 Bg4 Pinning the knight is the main idea in this variation. 11. h3 Bh5 12. Be3 Nd4 13. Bxd4 Bxd4 14. a4 c6 15. a5 Qc8 16. Kh2 Nh7 17. g4 No other move will do here. ( 17. h4?? Rf4 ) -+ 17... Bxg4! 18. hxg4 Qxg4 19. Nxd4 Qh4+ 20. Kg2 Qg5+ 21. Kh2 Black could now take the draw, but decides to play on. 21... exd4 22. Ne2 Rf3! 23. Be6 Raf8 ( 23... Kxe6? 24. Nxd4+ ) 24. Bf5 Qh4+ 25. Kg2 R8xf5! 26. exf5 Qh3+ 27. Kg1 Ng5 28. Ng3 Kf8! An amazingly calm move in the middle of a raging attack. 29. Qe2 Rf4 30. Rae1 Nf3+ Winning the queen in return for rook and knight 31. Qxf3 Rxf3 32. Re6 h5 33. Rfe1 Re3! 34. R1xe3 ( 34. fxe3 allows Black to win one of the rooks 34... Qxg3+ 35. Kf1 Qf3+ 36. Kg1 Qg4+ 37. Kh2 ( 37. Kf1 Qxf5+ ) 37... Qh4+ ) 34... dxe3 35. Rxe3 h4 and the queen will prove strong in the coming endgame. 0-1
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