Or did White have better? For instance, after 36...Qd6+:

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37.f3 eventually hangs the bishop on e3. However, going back gets nowhere and 37.Kh2/g3 gives Black 37...Qd6+ and 38...Qxf8.

Actually, this could be called <The Curse of the a-pawn>. If it were off the board, this would be the position before Black's 36th move:

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(Diagram)

37.f3 eventually hangs the bishop on e3."

OMG I'm supposed to be at work! Hang on its Sat .... don't scare me like that

Sac R to f8 but Black will be a wet blanket to recapture not with his R as I like him to but with his K.

Q sac is more serious. It can lead to doubling of my Rs on the 8th.

<33. Qxe6 Rxe6 34. Rd8+ Kh7 35. Rf8> This free move invites counterattack. The best to Black's hand is;

<35...Qd1+ 36. Kg2 Qd5+ 37. f3> to get here;

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Mate threat at bh8 invites desperado moves;

<37...Rd8 38 Rcxd8 Qxd8 39. Rxd8 Rxe3>

The very first thing the experienced player notices about this position is the exposed black king, and the fact that the blocked, doubled pawns on the g-file have the makings of a tomb for his majesty.

I immediately want to play

33 Qxe6+ Rxe6

pulling the black rook off of the weak back rank. Now white can follow up with

34 Rc8+ Kh2

Of course blocking with either rook is pointless.

35 Rff8

Now the threat is 36 Rh6#. The black king cannot run and the rooks cannot be stopped. Black's only hope is to go after the white king and hope that his attack comes through first, or that he might obtain a perpetual check.

35...Qd1+ 36 Kg2 Qd5+ 37 f3 Rd8

Black has to give back the material. After the exchanges, it looks like white will emerge with a won rook and pawn endgame.

I really thought that white would give checkmate on h8 when starting this combination.

3...Qd1+ 4.Kg2 Rd8 should hold, so apparently the whole line is wrong.

time to start over.

So that provokes the thought of 33. Qxe6+ Rxe6 34. Rc8+ Kh7 35. Rf8 GOOT...

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We are giving black a free move, like a magician offering a deck of cards. "Pick a move, any move you like, don't let me see it." And waiting quietly in the wings is the threat of Rh8#. Murder most foul in a darkened alleway.

Remind you of a song? How about this?

In the Avenues and Alleyways
while you sleep there's a whole world coming alive
Able and his brother, fighting one another
in and out of every dive
The Avenues and Alleyways
where the strong and the quick alone can survive
Look around the jungle
see the rough and tumble
Listen to a squealer cry
Then a little later
in the morning paper
Read about the way he died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4U...

What a shirt! No? Only me then. Again.

But then a little warning bell starts ringing in your head. The problem with GOOTs is that black might be able to do something annoying with that free move. And we do indeed have 35..Qd1+ 36. K (somewhere) Rd8. With a little bit of triangulation, black has engineered a block on the back rank.

Insert rude word of your choice here. The GOOT doesn't work. Maybe it's a spoiler and we have to look at something like 33. h4 instead? Then we can at least have the pleasure of dodging a bullet but it's a shame that the queen sac doesn't work. It's like taking home a beautiful stranger and finding that "she" is packing rather more in the plumbing department than her outward appearance would give you cause to expect. The one occasion when a game of snap is not welcome.

Then you look a little closer. Okay, so black does spoil the mate but he has to chuck a lot of material to do so. Let's count up the bits... aha, maybe the queen sac does work after all.

The game line finds another wrinkle. By adding in 36...Qd5+ black forces f3, which in turn limits the material deficit by making the Be3 weak. And white cannot really avoid f3 because a king move allows black a perpetual check. Clever defence by black.