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| May-13-07 |
| Fezzik: First things first here: This was played in 1978 before any computer could begin to calculate the possibilities of a position such as this For me, the question is how far ahead would Makarichev have to see in order to decide whether to make the sacrifice. I think (though I have no way of proving it) that Makarichev's sac was almost purely positional in nature. He saw that he was ahead in development and that Black's king was still in the center of the board. With that in mind, he saw a way to keep the attack going with only a minimum of material sacrifice. For the meager price of a Knight for 2 centralised pawns, White could open up the game for his pieces and guarantee a long term advantage. This isn't *puzzle* material so much as *practical* material. Makarichev's brilliance was not in seeing twenty moves deep, it was in sensing the possibilities of his developed side versus the limited chances for Black. Essentially, Black was playing 1-3 pieces down due to White's sac. I saw as far as Qxe6 and figured White must win. Whether I would have had the courage to play this way in a tournament as important as the USSR Championship is another matter. Kudos to Makarichev and Chessgames for providing us with such a brilliant *positional* sacrifice! (If a computer finds a flaws in the follow-up, I still consider it sound because of the long-term nature of White's advantage.) |
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| May-13-07 |
| tallinn: <Fezzik> To add to your point this position seems to be able to proof that computers do NOT play perfect chess and there are occasions where humans play better. You inspired me to let Fritz look at the puzzle. Fritz 8 (1100 KN/s, 60 min per game) played exd6 Bxg5 Bxg5 Qb4 f4 Qxd6 f5 0-0 Rae1 Nd7 fxe6 fxe6 qxe6 qxe6 Rxe6 Rxf1 Kxf1 with a slightly better endgame only as for the pair of bishops. |
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| May-13-07 |
| PAWNTOEFOUR: shredder found nxe6 in exactly one second........and i had looked at moves like e5xd6 for around 20 minutes......yeah a little too tough for me......is it monday yet? |
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| May-13-07 |
| THE pawn: Would I have found that over the board? no.
Did I get it as a puzzle? no.
What's my name? a pazter.
Well, I did find Nxe6 fxe6 exd6 but I thought about bxe6 instead of that whole follow up. |
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May-13-07
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| patzer2: White plays the demolition of pawn structure move 15. Nxe6!!, sacrficing the Knight for two pawns and a lasting initiative to mobilize his pieces to chase the uncastled King while also harassing the Queen to gain additional tempo. Did White see all the way to mate after this move? Perhaps so, but I doubt it. I suspect it was either a prepared opening novelty or was played as a true demolition sacrifice to give White an attacking initiative that Black would find extremely difficult (and more likely impossible) to survive. Those familiar with the Cochrane Gambit in the Petroff Defense will appreciate the possibilities involved in such a sacrficial attack (Knight for two pawns and an attacking initiative). |
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May-13-07
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| patzer2: One high level Cochrane Gambit game was Topalov vs Kramnik, 1999. Notice how difficult black's task is defending despite being a "piece up" but two pawns down. |
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May-13-07
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| JG27Pyth: Beautiful sac... I found Nxe6 on feel (funny how one can sense that's the spot) but didn't get the continuation right... could I get Nxe6 over the board? not in a million zillion years... and a good thing too, cuz I wouldn't get the continuation right! One question... granted, black is already in a fatal mess by 20...Qc5, nevertheless, wouldn't 20...Qxb2 have been a better move? Am I missing some tactics on that? (haven't put the position in the computer). |
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| May-13-07 |
| TrueBlue: got the first 3 moves. After that, white can exploit it's position in several ways ... |
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| May-13-07 |
| TrueBlue: and lining up the rooks and the queen on the e files is exactly what I was thinking of doing |
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May-13-07
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| al wazir: I didn't see any of this except the moves Nxe6 and exd6. How does white proceed after 20...Nf4 ? |
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May-13-07
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| Marmot PFL: Found the initial combination quickly, but some of the follow up moves were very hard. I can't know how much of white's play was calculated and how much intuition, or home preparation (Alburt very often played Alekhine's defence). The tactics to divert the black queen were very nice. I got only as far as seeing that 16...Bxd6 would lose and decided that white's position was promising enough to justify the sacrifice. Incidentally I used to play this for black and always played 5...e6 intead of c6 as bringing the queen out so early never seemed worthwhile. |
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May-13-07
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| Marmot PFL: On 20...Nf4 I think white has 21.Qe7+ Bxe7 22.de7+ Ke8 23.Rxd4 Kxe7 24.Rxf4 ba5 25.Rf7+ and black looks helpless with white's other rook coming into the attack and none of black's remaining pieces developed. |
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| May-13-07 |
| brainof7: i saw all the moves reqired to break it up, and i knew that with the pawn on that square that the bishops white diagnol coupled with the rooks/queens stacked attack on the e file would be mate. I also found that if Bxd6 (is thsi variation move 16, but there are different orders you could put some of the moves in) it would still be easy with Qxe6. Didn't get the whole continuation (too lazy) but i knew the general plan. |
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| May-13-07 |
| Paladin88doug: I felt that Nxe6 was going to be the move, because in a position like this with open lines and dxe6 in the forthcoming, plus a king still in the center...well, you can pretty much guess where I am coming from. But I would have not been able to calculate all of this attack! Probably in speed chess I would have intuitively played Nxe6 for the initiative and prayed that I pulled it off! lol |
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May-13-07
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| Crowaholic: I came up with 15. exd6 Bxd6 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. Qxe6+ Be7 18. Rfe1 Qc7 19. Rac1! threatening Bg5 and Bxd5. Spike 1.1 gives this a +3.31 score at depth 15. However, as was already mentioned, Black can give a pawn with 15. ..Bxg5 16. Bxg5 and White doesn't seem to have much of an attack. Spike thinks White has only an advantage of 0.3 at depth 14. I should therefore have tried a different move order before peeking at the solution... |
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May-13-07
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| Crowaholic: <Marmot PFL: On 20...Nf4 I think white has 21.Qe7+ Bxe7 22.de7+ Ke8 23.Rxd4 Kxe7 24.Rxf4> 23. ..Ng6 seems better than Kxe7. |
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May-13-07
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| Marmot PFL: <23. ..Ng6 seems better than Kxe7.> It is, Kxe7 is a blunder leading to rapid mate, but Ng6 24.Bc3 leaves black in a hopeless mess anyway. He can't take e7 so his rooks are out of play while white has Rd6 with threats on c6 and g7 just to start with. |
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| May-13-07 |
| LawrenceT: I have never liked Alekhine's Defense!!! Not that I could beat Alburt, but his king's knight and his queen jumped around too much. By the end of the game, Alburt has two pieces utilized compared to all of Makarichev's remaining pieces!! |
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May-14-07
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| kevin86: This week's theme seems to have been to martial rooks and queens along a file to attack the opposing king. Today was a special case in that the attack was against a uncastled king. |
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May-14-07
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| fm avari viraf: The only way to keep the pressure going is to sac Nxe6 so that Black's King is caught in the center & rest of his pieces will remain back rank watching the battle. White beautifully conducted the rest of the game with great vigour & style. |
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| Aug-03-07 |
| Zorilla: Why doesn't black take ... 14 QxP? I cant see why. |
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| Nov-17-07 |
| zealouspawn: i think it's becuase then the white rook can shift to the b file and chase the queen away, after which it will get on black's 7th rank |
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Nov-17-08
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| Dr.Zoidberg: nice way to play a game... |
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Jan-11-09
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| Phony Benoni: 15.Nxe6 is an instinctive sort of sacrifice, and not hard to find. It's the slow-motion Bb3-d1-g4 maneuver that really impresses me, especially when Black can't find a saving defense despite having all day. |
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| Jan-11-09 |
| Jim Bartle: I sure hope Makarichev made the knight sacrifice with intuition, not calcuation. I can't even conceive of seeing far enough ahead for that bishop maneuver. |
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sac: 15.Nxe6