Peter Scheeren vs Jonathan Speelman (1983)

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Peter Scheeren vs Jonathan Speelman
Hoogovens (1983), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 11, Jan-27
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation. Bishop Attack Classical Defense (E48) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 4 · Later Kibitzing>
Jul-15-09		lzromeu: I waste long time trying combinatios after h4 and blind this. Great pawn's mate

Jul-15-09		jfshade: Great! Wednesdays can befuddle me, but I saw the pretty mate resulting from Qg4 Bxg4 after a few minutes. How else could black reply? Getting the Queen to the back rank is a loser, and the mate after 47 ... h5 48 Qf5+ Bxf5 is forced.

Jul-15-09		YouRang: <Terry McCracken: Did anyone look at (48..h5 49. Qf5+!)? > No, but I'm willing to pretend that I would have figured it out if black had played 48...h5. :-)

Jul-15-09		gofer: <Terry McCracken: Did anyone look at (48..h5 49. Qf5+!)?> I think that 48 Qf5+ doesn't help white much (as you wrote mate is quite a long way off...). Also white can ignore the h5 pawn for a move and concentrate on the d7 exchange and if black tries to take the queen he is mated! 47 ... h5 48 Rxd7 Option 1 48 ... hxg4 49 Rg7+ Kh6/Kh5 50 Rh7+ Kg6 51 Rag7# Option 2 48 ... Rxd7 49 Qxd7 Qxd7 50 Rxd7 ... Option 3 48 ... Qxd7 49 Qxd7 Rxd7 50 Rxd7 ... both end up with white a rook up and in exactly the same position where they are clearly winning... ...mate may take another 10-15 moves, but its coming...

Jul-15-09		cracknik: Took me about 5 seconds to see the first move and then I saw the mate shortly after. Pretty easy because there wasn't much else to look at.

Jul-15-09		muralman: Three out of three. Monday was a give away. Tuesday took some deep thought, but when the combination became clear, it was a natural. Today's was really cool, but fairly transparent. The non player.

Jul-15-09		WhiteRook48: 47 Qg4 wins after 47...Bxg4 48 Rg7+

Jul-15-09		jfshade: <jfshade> ...and the mate after 47 ... h5 48 Qf5+ Bxf5 is forced. well, no... oops

Jul-15-09		ZUGZWANG67: The possibility of a mating attack at g7 enhances the fact that the black bishop is just as defended as attacked. Thus, 47.Qg4 should win a piece, because 47. ...Bxg4 48.Rg7+ Kh5 49.fxg4+ Kh4 50.g3+ is mate. click for larger view Time to check (GULP !).

Jul-15-09		YouRang: <gofer> Yes, it generally doesn't matter so much how quickly you can mate. It's more practical to consider how quickly you can make it obvious that mate is inevitable. Your lines do it pretty quickly. :-)

Jul-15-09		Eduardo Leon: <47. Qg4!> Black gets mated or loses the bishop in all variations. a. <47. ... Bxg4 48. Rg7+ Kh5 49. h(f)xg4+ Kh4 50. g3#> b. <47. ... h5 48. Rxd7 hxg4 49. Rg7+ Kh6(5) 50. Rh7+ Kg6 51. Rag7#> c. <47. ... f5 48. exf5+ Kf6 49. Qh5!>

Jul-15-09		Terry McCracken: < gofer: <Terry McCracken: Did anyone look at (48..h5 49. Qf5+!)?> I think that 48 Qf5+ doesn't help white much.> It's the best move. It forces mate the in 16 moves, the shortest route.

Jul-15-09		Kasputin: Nice. White plays 47. Qg4. Black can't take the queen with bishop because 48. Rg7+ starts a forced mate sequence (including white moves such as hxg4 and g3#). Moves like ...h5 simply delay things (White responds 48. Qf5+). Also Black cannot derail things with desperado moves like ...Rxe4 (white simply captures the rook) or find any success with moves like ...Rd2 (white's king looks safe enough). And failing all that white will simply capture and win the bishop with the white rook and regardless of how willing black is or isn't to trade down any remaining pieces, black's king still looks very precarious.

Jul-15-09		Samagonka: I've learnt a lot from the puzzle and the comments today. One lesson: when you think you got the best move, try again and you might find a better one!

Jul-15-09		Kasputin: <Eduardo Leon: b. 47. ... h5 48. Rxd7 hxg4 49. Rg7+ Kh6(5) 50. Rh7+ Kg6 51. Rag7#> Didn't think of that. I was thinking more of moving the queen to f5 because if the bishop captures then Rg7+, then Rh7+, and then R(a)g7 is mate. But hey, whatever works works.

Jul-15-09		goodevans: Got 47. Qg4 pretty quickly and almost as quickly decided that 47. ... f5 was black's best defence. I never really got beyond a vague feeling that things were pretty hopeless for black after 47. Qg4 f5 48. exf5+ Kf6 49. Qh5, which is disappointing for a Wednesday as I would usually expect to see things to a complete finish this early in the week.

Jul-15-09		ZUGZWANG67: <<Terry McCracken>: Did anyone look at (48..h5 49. Qf5+!)? 47. Qg4 h5 48. Qf5+ Bxf5 49. Rg7+ Kh6 50. exf5 Rd7 51. Raxd7 Qxd7 52. Rxd7 g4 53. fxg4 Kg5 54. Rg7+ Kf4 55. gxh5 Kxf5 56. h6 e4 57. h7 Ke5 58. h8=Q e3 59. Re7+ Kd4 60. Qd8+ Kc4 61. Rc7+ Kb4 62. Qb8+ Ka3 63. Ra7 Mate> I think that instead of 48.Qf5+, I would likely play the more OTB 48. Rxd7, when 48. ...Rxd7 49.Qxd7 wins. The idea is that in case of 48. ...hxg4(?), White has 49.Rg7 and mate to follow. click for larger view Peace !

Jul-15-09		ZUGZWANG67: Oops ! Someone <Gofer> already made an excellent analysis of 47. ...h5 before me. Sorry about that. That' s the problem when you solve at 3-4 PM... :) Peace !

Jul-15-09		goodevans: Now that I've had a go at shoving a few pieces around the board I've a clearer understanding of why 47. Qg4 f5 48. exf5+ Kf6 49. Qh5 is hopeless for black. 49. ... Kg7 allows 50. Qg6+ etc so the 50.Qxh6+ can't be stopped, and with his bishop rooted to blocking the 7th rank and his Q and R tied down to its defence, he can't really do anything. For example, 49 ... e4 (threatening 50 ... Qe5+) 50 Qxh6+ Ke5 51 Qg7+ wins at least the rook.

Jul-15-09		ruzon: All the squares are covered, and the move sequence is critical. Nice puzzle today.

Jul-15-09		outplayer: I saw all the line till 49.hxg4 which I thought were mate. The combination would fail without the g2-pawn.

Jul-15-09		shadowfold: I solved this one fairly quickly - I'm surprised that Black did not see the mate after <49. ...Bxg4??>. Speelman could have abandoned that unfortunate light-squared bishop and forestalled checkmate. Of course, White would still have had a winning advantage.

Jul-15-09		ZUGZWANG67: For me the most interesting reply by Black is 47. ...f5, when one has to see that the BK can not maintain the defense of the black bishop after 48.exf5+ Bxf5. click for larger view This is the kind of calculation that I have most problem with. That is so because I find complicated to foresee before 47.Qg4 is played that the BK won' t succeed in keeping the BB on the board (49.Rg7+ Kf6 50.Rf7+ Ke6). And in fact, that a quite surprising to see how the WR's, while gaining the necessary tempos at the expense of the defender BK, arrive and succeed in outweighting BB's defense, namely, that same BK. Lovely.

Jul-15-09		Zkid: <shadowfold> When you're at this level of players, it's practically hopeless to be down a rook. In fact, even the exchange down is fairly worthy of resignation. I think Bxg4 was just him accepting his unfortuante fate.

Aug-09-09		Eduardo Leon: I would have liked to see <47. Qg4 f5 48. exf5+ Kf6 49. Qh5 Be8 50. Qf7+>

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