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Lubomir Kavalek vs Edward W Formanek
USA op 1970  ·  French Defense: Winawer. Positional Variation (C19)  ·  1-0


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sac: 27.Nxc4 PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Apr-08-07   Fezzik: I love this game. I remember IM Donaldson recommending I study Kavalek's Rook endings and I stumbled on this gem. Even if there's some computeresque refutation, this remains one of my favorite combinations!

It ranks up with some of Tal's finest combos in terms of creativity and meeting the demands of the position to break down a stolid defense.

Apr-08-07   jmelton: I got Nxc4, but for my second move I had Qa6+ instead of Qa4. Turns out that Rybka prefers Qa6+ to Qa4, and actually gives that as the first move of the combination and Nxc4 as the second (though it transposes). So the line that holds out the longest for Black goes 27.Nxc4 dxc4 28.Qa6+ Rb7 29.Rb4 Nf6 30.Bxc6 Bxc6 31.Rxc4 Qd7 32.Qb5 Rc7 33.Rxa7 Bxb5 34.Rcxc7+ Qxc7 35.Rxc7+ and exf6 wins comfortably.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I got this one, because for my 3rd move I had 29.Qxc4 instead of Rybka's Rb4 or Ra4 which it says also wins. Qxc4 only gives enough compensation for the sacrificed piece to give equality because it doesn't activate both rooks.

Kavalek's move is actually even better than Rybka's, as analysis a few ply down the path finds White at about +5 in Rybka's estimation vs. about +2 at the same point with Rybka's line. And, as Kavalek manages to point out while still sounding quite humble, what a beautiful combination!

Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  WarmasterKron: A very pretty combination, especially 27.Nxc4!, a lovely line-opening sacrifice, but one suspects Mr Kavalek is rather too keen to blow his own trumpet. 31.Qxb8 is a fairly straightforward offer and not quite the feast of a "sacrifice" he describes it to be.
Apr-08-07   Cuellargacharna: What happens after ,30Kd7?
Happy Easter?
I know I shouldn't be here today, my ranking is less than 500. Please help me before I go nuts. I do not find a quick win for white after that. Lots of pawns, and a rook and knigt against a white queen. Thanks before hand for the much needed anticipated help.
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: Today's selection of the powerful 27. Nxc4!! attack on the weakened Queenside castled position for the daily puzzle solurion increases my understanding and appreciation of the winning combination in this game.

The combination involves two powerful suprise moves:

27. Nxc4!! is a clearance sacrifice combination to give the White squared Bishop full control of the long White diagonal.

28. Qa4! is a surprise (almost quiet) move creating unstoppable threats against the exposed queenside castled position.

Remaining moves involve mating threats and deflection/decoy moves to win material. Certainly this is a complex combination with side variations worthy of study.

<alwazir> <I think your suggestion (28...Na5) gives white more trouble. I haven't come up with anything good in that line.> See Fritz 8 analysis in my post sbove (Oct 15, 2003) for a winning continuation.

Apr-08-07   periscope: I agree with razaraham that 27. Qa6+ wins with far more efficiency than the knight move actually made, even though the latter has it's elegance.
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: <patzer2: See Fritz 8 analysis in my post above (Oct 15, 2003) for a winning continuation.> 28. Qa4 Na5 29. Qb4 Nc6.
Apr-08-07   Kings Indian: Happy easter Chessgames! Well, I'm suprised. Puzzle is rather easy today. I got it wrong, but I was not familiar with this theme. Good lesson for me (After i saw Nxc4 though, it became clear. I looked at it again and thought it would be Qa6+ after, which i think is mate in a few moves.)
Apr-08-07   THE pawn: It's hard to say you got it right when you missed the first move.
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  playground player: I don't see how this alternative can be stopped: 27. Qa6+, Kd7 28. Kb7+, and it's all over, easy as pie. Can anybody find a defense to this? I don't think so!
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  MostlyAverageJoe: <playground player: I don't see how this alternative can be stopped: 27. Qa6+, Kd7 28. Kb7+, and it's all over, easy as pie. Can anybody find a defense to this?>

Read my very first post on page 1 of the comments to this game. Or the first post by <realbrob>.

Your mistake is in the black's response to 27. Qa6+. The correct response is NOT Kd7.

Apr-08-07   HannibalSchlecter: <KampongBoy> "I would have played the cute 35. Be7 mate, but only for aesthetics!"

I also would have played Be7 mate but only because I'm lazy! (moving my hand one square vs four, no brainer!)

Apr-08-07   MasterSavely: i saw the first few moves, then i got messed up a little, still, a very good easter puzzle.
Apr-08-07   mikejaqua: After I cheated and looked at the first move and capture, I realized the power of the bishop on the a1-h8 diagonal. But I did not see Qxb8 at all. So I think I can safely give myself an 'F' for the day.
Apr-08-07   TrueBlue: I saw most of the moves. (Of course, in the wrong order ;) )
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  fm avari viraf: It looks more logical to play 27.Nxc4 opening the long diagonal for the idle Bishop sitting on g2. But after that it was Kavalek's creative ideas that saw him through. Formanek who was preparing for a massive attack didn't take off. Hope in vain & die in despair.
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  playground player: <Mostly Average Joe> Aughhh! I never saw the Black Rook on the second rank! I mean, I was totally blind to it, like it wasn't there. Goes to show what a touch of flu can do to you.
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  technical draw: <goes to show you what a touch of flu can do to you> That's pretty good. I'll file it along with "the dog ate my homework"....
Apr-08-07   independentthinker: What about Qxa7 and then piling in the rooks? How does that evaluate? (I don't have any chess computers)
Apr-08-07   NakoSonorense: yohoo... i guessed the first 4-5 moves correctly, after that, i stopped and looked at the solution. xD
Apr-08-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  MostlyAverageJoe: <independentthinker: What about Qxa7 and then piling in the rooks?> How do you intend to do that? Pawn a7 has 2 attackers and 2 defenders, b6 has one defender one attacker. In this situation, using plural for 'rooks' is kinda optimistic.
Apr-09-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: A stellar finish! The white sacs and offers lead this one to a quick checkmate.
Apr-09-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  MostlyAverageJoe: <patzer2: See Fritz 8 analysis in my post above (Oct 15, 2003) for a winning continuation.>

This line: <28. Qa4 Na5 29. Qb4 Rgg8 30. Rxa5 Rc7 31. Ra6 h4 32. Bxc7 Qxc7 33. Bh3 Bh5 34. f3> has two obvious blunders by the black.

First, 29...Rgg8 loses a tempo to move the rook from an irrelevant position on g6 to even less relevant one on g8. Actually, the fact that it says "Rgg8", in a position where "Rg8" would be sufficient, seems to indicate that the position you set up for Fritz might have been incorrect.

The best responses were 29 ... Nc6 and 29 ... Bc6 (the latter slightly better). No matter, though, both were losing (I can post them later). After extended analysis by HIARCS11.1, both are scored at just over +8 for white (while Rg8 is scored at +23 for white).

The other big blunder is 31 ... h4, where Fritz moved an irrelevant pawn (in fact, admitting at this point a forced mate in 12).

The bottom line: the analysis was old, and not reviewed critically. The blunders above should be obvious without a computer.

Apr-10-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  Crowaholic: <MostlyAverageJoe>: According to the Spike engine, your line <30. Rxb8+ Kxb8 31. Qb4+ Kc8 32. Rxa7> (after 29. ..Nb8) is winning quickly. A further improvement would be:

31. Qxa7+ Kc8 32. Qa6+ Kd7 33. Qb5+ Kc8 34. Ra8#

exploiting the rook pin after Kxb8.

Apr-10-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  MostlyAverageJoe: <Crowaholic> Thanks. I never managed to find time to run a computer analysis on this variant.

Speaking of the computer analysis, here are the lines after 29 ... Nc6 and 29 ... Bc6 that HIARCS found:

(+9 for white) 29. ... Nc6 30. Qxc4 Rgg7 31. Bxc6 Bxc6 32. Qxc6+ Rc7 33. Bxc7

(+15 for white) 29. ... Bc6 30. Rxa5 Bxg2 31. Kxg2 Rgg7 32. Qxc4+ Rc7 33. Qxe6+ Qd7 34. Qg8+ Qd8 35. Qd5 Rb7 36. Rxb6 Qxb6 37. Qg8+ Qd8 38. Qe6+ Rhd7 39. Rc5+ Rc7 40. Bxc7 Qxc7 41. Rxc7+ Kxc7

I did not see anything obviously ridiculous while reviewing the above ...

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