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Victor Andreevich Vasiliev vs Alexander Tolush
"Snatching Victor from the Jaws of Defeat" (game of the day Jun-22-2008)
URS-ch sf Leningrad (1945), Leningrad URS, rd 9
Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Mackenzie Variation (C77)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jun-22-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Typical Tolush madness, coming from one of the more colorful players of the last century, and Black's 22nd is one of the more astonishing defensive resources I've ever seen. Tolush had to see his 24th move (threatening ...Rg1+!) before playing his 20th.
Jun-22-08  NewLine: I guess 22...Rxh2+ 23.Kxh2 Ng4+ 24.Kg1 Nxh6 was sufficient for a win. But Tolush was looking for some fun...
Jun-22-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: <NewLine>, doesn't 25.Bxd5+ give White a reason to fight on? A Rook and pawn for 2 pieces doesn't seem so bad, unless I'm miscounting material again.
Jun-22-08  wouldpusher: Much stronger after 22...♖xh2+ 23. ♔xh2 would be 23. ... ♕xb3! 24. ♕xf6+ ♔xf6 25. axb3 ♗f5
Jun-22-08  Trigonometrist: For the past few days,the puns have started to become longer..
Jun-22-08  lentil: 22...Rxh2+ 23 Kg1!
Jun-22-08  matingthreat: <Trigonometrist> and worse.
Jun-22-08  Extremophile: crazy game...
Jun-22-08  Trigonometrist: <matingthreat>

And ,yeah very obvious and boring..

Jun-22-08  Manic: <lentil> 22...Rxh2+ 23.Kg1 Rxh6 24.Bxd5+ Nxd5

I'm not really convinced that 22...Rxh2 was better, though it is probably winning as <wouldpusher> notes. I think Tolush's continuation was more correct.

Jun-22-08  wanabe2000: I'm amazed that this game hasn't been noticed by the "community" before today. What a way to start my day! Just ignore the pun and play.
Jun-22-08  dylam: how about: 23. Rxe6!?
then:
23... Qxe6 24. Bxe6+ Kxe6 25. Qh3+ Rg4 26. f3 .
23... Rg6+ 24. Bxd5 Rh6 25. Rxa6+ Nxd5 26. Rxh6 with an unclear position (ofcourse 26... Rxa2?? is not good because of 27. Rh5 Ke6 28. Re1+ Kd6 29. Rd1 c6 30. c4 ).
Jun-22-08  MarkThornton: <dylam: how about: 23. Rxe6!? >

I think play then goes. 23...Rxf2+ 24. Bxd5 Rxf1+ 25. Kg2 Rg1+ 26. Kf3(or Kh3) Nxd5.

Jun-22-08  dylam: <MarkThornton: <dylam: how about: 23. Rxe6!? > I think play then goes. 23...Rxf2+ 24. Bxd5 Rxf1+ 25. Kg2 Rg1+ 26. Kf3(or Kh3) Nxd5.>

I dont know...
in your line, after 25... Rg1+ it goes like that:
26. Kf3 Nxd5 27. Re5 and now:
a) 27... Rf1+ 28. Ke2 Rf2+ 29. Ke1 Rd8 30. Qe6+ .
b) 27... Rd8 28. Qe6+ .
c) 27... c6 28. Qe6+ Kg7 29. Qd7+ Kg6 30. Re6+ Nf6 31. Qd3+ Kf7 32. Rxf6+ Kxf6 33. Qc3+ with an unclear position.

Jun-22-08  NewLine: <dylam>, I afraid I have some bad news. I couldn't find anything wrong with your line, so I fed it into my silicon and ... bang! It shoot me dead with this line:

<23.Rxe6?? Rg1+! 24.Kxg1 Rg8+>

Embarassing, Isn't it?
OK, it looks like everybody here are sleepy today, so I'll just keep it quiet...

Jun-22-08  whiteshark: <22...Rxh2+> would have been a great finalization.
Jun-23-08  kevin86: Black looked dead;the queen was pinned and white was on the prowl. It took a wicked crossfire attack to seize the day.
Jun-24-08  patzer2: Tolush's Queen pseudo sacrifice with 20. Qxd4!! is a brilliant winning stroke, which I believe he visualized one if not several moves earlier. He had to see that his Queen would be pinned and "lost" after 21. Bb3. However, he looked deeper to see that he would get three pieces and a pawn and a decisive attack for the "Queen sacrifice."

P.S. Tolush was Boris Spassky's tutor and a player who often preferred tactical solutions to positional play, so I can see where Spassky got some of his tactical brilliance.

May-01-20  Predrag3141: I'd love to see the whole game. Right now it ends on move 12 after 11 … Nf6, White resigns. Must be some kind of bug in the website that truncates the game.
May-01-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Annie K.: Fixed! :)
Dec-22-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  takebackok: Thought i had it quick & easy, 22...Rxh2+ 23 Kxh2 now Ng4+ not good. So 23...Qxb3 24 Qxf6+ Kxf6 25 aXb3 Bf5 probably better for black, not winning.
Dec-22-23  mel gibson: Too tricky for me.

Stockfish 16 chooses a different ply:

22. .. Rxh2+

(22. .. Rxh2+ (1. ... Rxh2+ 2.Kxh2 Qxb3 3.Qxf6+ Kxf6 4.cxb3 Bd7 5.Rc1 Rh8+ 6.Kg3 Rh3+ 7.Kg2 Rh5 8.Rg1 Rf5 9.Rc3 Rxf2+ 10.Kg3 Rf5 11.Rgc1 Bd6+ 12.Kg2 Be6 13.R3c2 Bd5+ 14.Kg1 Ke6 15.Rd2 Bc6 ) +4.91/46 252)

score for Black +4.91 depth 46.

If I force SF to play the game ply it's stronger:

22. .. Be6

23. Bxd5 (23. Bxd5 (1.Bxd5 Bxd5 2.f3 Rag8 3.Qh3 R2g5 4.Rd1 b5 5.Rfe1 c6 6.a4 Bf2 7.Rf1 Be3 8.Rde1 Bb6 9.axb5 axb5 10.c3 Rh5 11.Qxh5+ Nxh5 12.Re5 Rh8 13.Rg5 Nf6 14.Rg2 Re8 15.Rg5 Re2 ) -5.96/44 253)

score for White -5.96 depth 44.

Dec-22-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  takebackok: Beautiful move 22...Be6!! once you see it threatens # in 3 with Rg1+ & Rg8+ & # shows again the power of rook on the 7th (2nd) rank. White is completely tied up Black Bs & pieces rule the board totally!
Dec-22-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  takebackok: After all black is up two pieces.
Dec-22-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Teyss: ...Be6!! sacking the Queen for a overwhelming attack on the King, does it ring a bell (even if in a different configuration)? D Byrne vs Fischer, 1956
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