|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 3 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
| Sep-29-07 | | dzechiel: White it play. "Very Difficult". Material even. White's pieces are poised to assault the castled black king. Candidate moves are: - 18 Bxh6
- 18 Nf5
- 18 Bg5
- 18 Ng6
- 18 Qg6
There are others, but they don't seem as forcing. A big concern of mine is the bishop on b3. This piece seems to be key in hold black's f-pawn in place. Should black have a chance to play ...Nxb3, our attack would likely wither. So our moves must be at least a little "forcing" to stop that move. Note also that the black queen must keep an eye on f7 to stop Bxf7+ picking up an exchange or Qxf7+ leading to mate in many variations. The more I look at it, the more I like
18 Bg5
This attacks the black queen (forcing) and is immune to capture by the queen (18...Qxg5 19 Qxf7+ Kh7 20 Qg8#) because it abandons protection of f7. It also cannot be taken by the h-pawn (18...hxg5 19 Ng6 and 20 Qh8#). What's black's response? He must maintain protection of f7 so 18...Qd7
Time to bring in fresh troops! How about
19 Rad1
Threatening the queen (who cannot move as this will abandon f7). That means 19...Bd6
So far our moves have been forcing enough. Let's try to keep the pressure on with 20 Bxh6
I hope this is right. It's not nearly as forcing as our previous moves, but it does have threats. Black has a couple of replies: - 20...gxh6
- 20...Nxb3
First, let's consider the capture. After
20...gxh6
white can play
21 Qg6+ Kh8 22 Qxh6+ Kg8 23 Qg6+ Kh8 24 Bxf7
threatening mate with 25 Qh6#. The only way I see to stop this is 24...Bf8 or 24...Qxf7, but these both give up the queen (we took the pawn with check on move 22 rather than the bishop capture in case black does want to go for this line, we have an extra pawn) and white should win easily. So I think the second line is key, let's look at
20...Nxb2
white ignores the capture and responds
21 Bxg7!
threatening 22 Qh8#. If
21...Kxg7 22 Nf5+ Kf6 (22...Kf8 or 22...Kg8 allow a queen check on g5 or h6 and mate next move) 23 Qg4+ Ke6 (23...Kg6 24 Qh6#) 24 Ng7#. Wow, this required some serious visualization. I really hope I'm right, 'cause I'm not looking any more. Time to check. |
|
| Sep-29-07 | | dzechiel: Nuts! I had the black king going the wrong way on move 21..., forgetting the f8 was available because the bishop had moved to d6. Well, now you also know what I think you should do if black had played 21...Kh8. <sigh> And tonight will be "insane". |
|
| Sep-29-07 | | LawrenceT: Why not 18...hxg5? |
|
| Sep-29-07 | | VikingII: ...hxg5 leads to Ng6, which wins, because the pawn on f7 is pinned by the white bishop on b3, and then of course Qh8 would mate. |
|
Sep-29-07
 | | fm avari viraf: It's a very intrigue position & not so easy to spot the right move at once as there are a few moves first to be checked e.g. 18.Ng6, 18.Nf5 & 18.Bxh6 but none seems to be forceful. Hence, with little more thought, I could found the Black's "Achilles Heels' f7. Therefore,18.Bg5! works since Black cannot grab it either with the Queen or with the h-pawn both leads to mate or heavy loss of material. Black has to guard his f7 so 18...Qd7 19.Rad1 Bd6 20.Bxh6 [ to rip open the fortress ] ...gxh6 21.Qg6+ Kf8 [ if ...Kh8 then 22.Bxf7  ] 22.Qf6! Nxb3? 23.Ng6+ Kg8 24.Qh8# [ if ...Kg8 then 23.Re3 ] |
|
Sep-29-07
 | | GoldenKnight: I saw all the major themes of the puzzle, but did not see 18.Bg5. This was really beautiful. I didn't look any further after a cursory glance convinced me that 18.Bxh6 would work also, but not as neatly (I generally spend very little time on these puzzles). |
|
| Sep-29-07 | | Madman99X: Can Black salvage anything with 20... Nxb3 ? |
|
| Sep-29-07 | | Marmot PFL: Clearly sac on h6 fails to black's Nxb3. Nf5 & Ng6 both met by Qf6 and again Nxb3. Getting late so just gave up before considering Bg5 carefully enough. Once you see it can't be captured becuse of mate in 2 the win is fairly obvious as white develops all his pieces with tempo on the black queen then Bh6 rips open the kingside. |
|
| Sep-30-07 | | Calli: a snappy game. Black could survive with 20.Bxh6 Nxb3 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Nf5+ Qxf5?! 23.exf5 Nc5 but with a poor position and threatening kingside pawns for White, |
|
| Feb-21-08 | | ughaibu: Calli: From that position, 24.Qg5 Kf8 25.f6 Re6 26.Qg7 Ke8 27.Rd6 cd6 28.Qg8 Kd7 29.Qf7 Kc6 30.b4 looks pretty much finished. |
|
| Mar-30-09 | | Akdeniz07: 13.Qd7?! |
|
| Feb-19-10 | | falso contacto: Kasparov took some pages of this book?! |
|
| Feb-23-11 | | Dr. J: <ughaibu: Calli: From that position, <20.Bxh6 Nxb3 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Nf5+ Qxf5?! 23.exf5 Nc5> 24.Qg5 Kf8 25.f6 Re6 26.Qg7 Ke8 27.Rd6 cd6 28.Qg8 Kd7 29.Qf7 Kc6 30.b4 looks pretty much finished.> Good call. That is A Blees vs J R Markus, 1991 which finished 30...Nd3 31.Qxe6 1-0 (because 31...Nxe1 32.f7 will win the other rook). |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | areknames: 20.Bxh6 and everything quickly falls apart. This has been a POTD starting a few moves earlier and 18.Bg5! was definitely much harder to spot. Brilliant stuff. |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | areknames: 18.Bg5 and 19.Rad1 were necessary to force Black to play 19...Bd6, so now 20...Nxb3 can be met by 21.Bxg7 and Black is helpless. |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | Cheapo by the Dozen: The general idea was easy to see, but as is so often the case, I made a miscalculation along the way. |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | agb2002: Black threatens hxg5 and Nxb3.
White has four pieces to attack the black king. This suggests 20.Bxh6: A) 20... gxh6 21.Qg6+
A.1) 21... Kf8 22.Qf6 Kg8 (22... Reb8 23.Ng6+ Ke8 -23... Kg8 24.Qh8#- 24.Qh8+ Bf8 25.Qxf8#) 23.Nf5 Bf8 24.Rxd7 wins. A.2) 21... Kh8 22.Bxf6 wins decisive material (22... Bf8 23.Qg8#). B) 20... Nxb3 21.Bxg7
B.1) 21... Kxg7 22.Nf5+ Qxf5 (22... Kf6 23.Qh6#; 22... Kf8 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Qg7#; 22... Kg8 23.Qg5+ and 24.Qg7#) 23.Qxf5 (23.exf5 Nc5 24.Qg5+ Kf8 25.f6 Re6 puts up some resistance) 23... Nc5 24.b4 Na4 (24... Bc8+ 25.Qg5+ and 26.bxc5) 25.Rd3 and White has the queen and two pawns for three pieces and keeps the attack. B.2) 21... f5 22.Nxf5
B.2.a) 22... Nc5 23.Qg6 Qxf5 (due to Nh6#) 24.exf5 wins decisive material. B.2.b) 22... Qe6 23.axb3 wins three pawns.
B.2.c) 22... Qxg7 23.Nxg7 Kg7 24.axb3 wins decisive material. B.3) 21... f6 22.Nf5 looks similar to B.1.
C) 20... Bxe4 21.Rxe4
C.1) 21... gxh6 22.Qxh6 wins.
C.2) 21... Nxb3 22.Rg4 g6 (22... f6 23.Rxg7+ Qxg7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.Nf5+ Kf8 26.Qh7 Re7 27.Nxe7 Bxe7 28.Qh8+ wins) 23.Nxg6 looks winning. |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | agb2002: Actually, the subline 23.exf5 Nc5 24.Qg5+ Kf8 25.f6 Re6 in my line B.1 is far stronger than 23.Qxf5 since after 26.Qg7+ Ke8 27.Rxd6 cxd6 28.Qg8+ Kd7 29.Qxf7+ Kc6 30.b4 Black is totally crushed. |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | GlennOliver: The alternate defence, 22. ... Re6, falls to the Knight mate - 22. Qf6 Re6 23. Qh8+ Ke7 24. Nf5# |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | saturn2: There are too many enemies for the black king. I looked at 20. Bxh6 20...gxh6 21. Qg6+ Kf8 22. Qxh6+ Ke7 23. Nf5+ Kd-
8 24. Nxd6 cxd6 25. Rxd6 material plus
20...Nxb3 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 (forced) 22. Nf5+ Qxf5 (Kf8 23. Qh8#) 23. exf5 Nc5 24. Qg5+ Kf8 25. f6 |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | malt: Have 20.B:h6 N:b3
(20...gh6 21.Qg6+ Kf8 22.Qf6 Kg8 23.Nf5 )
21.B:g7! K:g7 22.Nf5+ wins
(22...Kf6 23.Qh6# )
(22...Kf8 23.Qh6+ and # )
(22...Kg8 23.Qg5+ and # )
22...Q:f5 23.ef5 |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | PawnSac: < I3illieJoe: 23.Nf5 would have been the best move, but oh well...who cares black is lost anyway > yea.. it's mate in 7 with 23.Nf5 Qxf5 24.Bxf7+ Kf8 25.exf5 Be7 26.Qg6 Bh4 27.Rd7 Bxf2+ 28.Kxf2 Bd5 29.Qxh6+ or mate in 9 with 23. Re3 Bxe4 24. Rxd6 cxd6 25. Qxh6 Qg4 26. Rxe4 Qxe4 27. Ng6 Qh4 28. Nxh4 Re6 29. Ng6 Rxg6 30. Qxg6+ Kh8 31. Bxf7 Rg8 32. Qxg8# (or Qh6#) but you're right, it really doesn't matter because black resigns after either first move! it's obvious heavy material loss and who would play it out?! as for white's choice of Nf5 or Re3, it's usually either personal preference as to method, OR which he sees clearest. I've played games in which after an opponent's blunder i instantly saw a mate in 5 and played it accordingly. then in post game analysis a mate in 4 was uncovered, and i never saw it. The point is.. once you see a forced and irresistible mate, who's gonna sit at the board for another 20 min looking for a shorter one? What's the point? It's game over! Time-wise, the shortest mate was in 5. When an artist paints a picture, he selects the colors his imagination dictates. Chess is art, and beauty, and why we all love it so much! a brilliant game by Geller |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | 20MovesAhead: a super-super GM trounces a super- GM |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | parisattack: Their ratings and performances were very close. Geller had quite a few WC heads and his play might be considered more inspiring. I interviewed GM Portisch in 1972 for the college newspaper. He gave a simul on the way to the Church's tournament. He was very nice, accommodating. Clearly, this is not one of Portisch's secrets in the Ruy Lopez. |
|
| Nov-28-19 | | RandomVisitor: Maybe black should wait before playing 9...h6
click for larger viewStockfish_19111923_x64_modern:
<55/80 5:46:14 +0.13 9...Re8 10.Ng5 Rf8 11.d4 Bb7 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Nbd2 Bf8 14.Bc2 h6> 15.d5 Nb8 16.b3 c6 17.c4 Nbd7 18.Nf1 a5 19.Ne3 a4 20.Ba3 Qc7 21.Qd3 axb3 22.axb3 bxc4 23.bxc4 cxd5 24.cxd5 Ba6 25.Qd2 Rec8 26.Rec1 Nc5 27.Qd1 Bb5 28.Nd2 Nfd7 29.Bb3 g6 30.Bc4 Bxc4 31.Nexc4 Be7 32.Qf3 Bg5 33.Ne3 Nb6 34.Ndc4 Nxc4 35.Rxc4 Ra4 36.Rxa4 Nxa4 37.Bb4 Nc5 38.Bxc5 |
|
 |
|
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 3 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Kibitzing
sac: 20.Bxh6