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Andrei Istratescu vs Lubomir Ftacnik
World Cup (2005) (rapid), Khanty-Mansiysk RUS, rd 1, Nov-29
English Opening: Symmetrical Variation. Hedgehog Defense (A30)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 33 times; par: 24 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jun-17-06  makaveli52: <RandomVisitor> agaisnt 16...Bb5 17.Nxb5, wins a pawn without giving black any compensation, while retaining a stronger position, with double bishops and more aggressively placed pieces
Jun-17-06  RandomVisitor: <makaveli52>Yes, 16...Bb5 leaves Black with problems, but fewer problems than 16...Nxd5.

After 16...Bb5 17.Nxb5 axb5 18.Qxb5 Ra8 19.a4 Ra5 20.Qe2 b5 21.Bc3 Black is running out of options.

Jun-17-06  chessmoron: 16...Bb5...-1.38
16...Nxb5...-2.91
Jun-17-06  Fezzik: 20. Be4! is really the only hard move to find in this combination. In the starting position, White is aching to play 15.d5. He just needs to find the justification, and 19.Ng5 Qf5 20.Be4 is it.

This is a great instructional position, but I'm a bit surprised an experienced GM such as Ftacnik didn't see it. It was virtually the only dangerous idea in White's arsenal.

Jun-17-06  blingice: Ftacnik was played like a fiddle.
Jun-17-06  RandomVisitor: 14...Qc7 or 14...d5 would have been better for Black.
Jun-17-06  Tariqov: More easy than thursday's one,knew that Bb5 gets a pawn for white with no compensation for Black,so it leaves to the exchanges on d5 and it seems like Rxd5 was screaming to be played when a discovered attack comes to the Queen!Thought for a while and found out that the Queen cannot go back safely or go to a safe square when the knight moves,so i knew the queen had to get trapped.Be4 was not that hard to find,you just have to understand that the Queen is misplaced and does not have any safe squares to go,meaning it should get trapped somehow.But, this puzzle is pretty easy because there are only few variation's(and moves are forced) to calculate and d5 seems like the only move where tactics can spring out.
Jun-17-06  Demostenes: 15.d5! exd5
16.cxd5 Nxd5
17.Nxd5 Bxd5
18.Rxd5! Qxd5
19.Ng5 Qf5
20.Be4 winning the queen

I saw this line to the very end but I wonder why such a player as Ftacnik didn't take into consideration a variation which would had left him more hope:

16...Bb5!?
17.Nxb5 axb5
18.Qxb5 Nxd5
19.Nd2 Ndf6
20.Nc4 with advantage to white.

Jun-17-06  mig55: got it...
Jun-17-06  Tariqov: <domostenes>the point after 16.Bb5Nxb5 17.abQxb5 is that Black cannot get a pawn back,18.Nxd5?Rxd5 19.Qxd5Qxd7 with no compensation for Black.
Jun-17-06  Demostenes: <Tariqov> Thanks. I considered the variation given by you, but finally I came to conclusion that it would be safer just to put constant pressure on the weak queenside pawns (while all the black pieces occupy rather passive positions) rather than taking risk of the one rook - two knights exchange. Such exchange would obviously give white the material advantage, but the practice shows that it is not easy to convert it into a victory.
Jun-17-06  monad: <RandomVisitor: 14...Qc7 or 14...d5 would have been better for Black.>

Yeah, I was thinking that. But leaving it on Rybka till 20 ply, it didn't seem to make too much of a difference.

Maybe putting the Queen on the a8 - h1 diagonal in the first place, on move 14, wasn't the wisest choice.

I chose 15.d5 (after coffee ;-) right off, but only because the board looked so cluttered. Couldn't see it paying off until I saw the move list.

Very nice puzzle.

Jun-17-06  dakgootje: For some reason i have some problems with calculating today, thus i missed Rxd5, the essence of the puzzle. Got the moves before it, but wanted to make an attack on blacks king work
Jun-17-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Octavia: Very nice puzzle.
Jun-17-06  TheBB: Strange. d5 springs out at you from the very instant you see the position. I didn't try to solve the puzzle though, discouraged because it's saturday, althogh I would probably have played d5 given the position in a game.
Jun-17-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  kwgurge: 14...Rfe8 then 16...Bb5 17.Nxb5, axb5 18.Qxb5, Rxa2 keeps material even and gives black counterplay on the a file.
Jun-17-06  Alex S.: That's one of the best elegant combinations I've ever seen. I got the opening move, which doesn't count as a solve; I didn't see the Queen Trap.
Jun-17-06  kevin86: Surprise!! A series of exchanges and a queen is trapped! A lot easier to figure out than yesterday's curveball-alas,I did neither:(
Jun-17-06  EmperorAtahualpa: Sadly missed this great combo...

This game is Fantacnik!

Jun-17-06  Boomie: Black's 14th move is an example of brain lock. "Let's see. d5 is protected by 4 pieces and attacked by only 3, so I can ignore it." Black must play d5 himself to return the game to the comfortable boredom which is the hallmark of the Symmetrical English.

14...d5 15. cxd5 ♘xd5 16. ♘xd5 ♗xd5 17. dxc5 ♘xc5=

Jun-17-06  jackmandoo: I'm in a firefight right now in Basra, although while changing magazines in my M16A2 I checked out this puzzle and pretty much got it immediatly.
Jun-17-06  EXIDE: White,s knight at f3 was pinned and the only move I could come up with was Pd5 to releive the situation. I missed trapping the Queen however.
Jun-17-06  backyard pawn: Istratescu shows his talents for trapping queens in this miniature as well: Istratescu vs I Frosinos, 2001
Mar-26-08  mistreaver: Very nice game, as Neil Mcdonald says in his book good example of tactics supporting strategy (as with playing h4 white tought black would open the center because of the threat that occured in the game) and a warning that we shouldn't get overconfident
Jul-05-12  LoveThatJoker: Guess-the-Move Final Score:

A Istratescu vs Ftacnik, 2005.
YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF ISTRATESCU.
Your score: 32 (par = 23)

LTJ

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