| Jul-15-24 | | Mayankk: Black has defended against the more obvious threat of 38 Qxg7# and hopes to march his passed d pawn forward. But White has the slightly less obvious 38 Nf8+ Kh8 39 Nxg6+ idea , picking the Black Queen and an easy win. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | Mayankk: Black spurned a likely draw offer at 33 ... Qxb3 34 Qxb3 Bf8 when it is difficult to see how any party can press for a win, although White has doubled b pawns and Black has a passed d pawn. It had probably calculated till 37 ... Qe5 and must have been surprised by 38 Nf8+. |
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Jul-15-24
 | | takebackok: May the fork be with you, easy peasy Monday, 38. Nf8+ and it's lights out asap. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | stacase: 38. Nf8+ Kh8
39. Nxg6+ Kh7
40. Nxe5
Ouch! |
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| Jul-15-24 | | mel gibson: Easy Monday - fork the Queen. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | Damenlaeuferbauer: After long pondering, my compatriot, the German GM Peter Enders, whose nickname in my country is "Der Weltmeister" ("The World Champion"), finally found the nice combination 38.Nf8+,Kh8 39.Nxg6+,Kh7 40.Nxe5 +-, winning black's queen and the game. |
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Jul-15-24
 | | chrisowen: Law its q age its z dr faith Nf8+ aac mack ae its bob banal u back gad Nf8+ did; |
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| Jul-15-24 | | TheaN: <38.Nf8+ Kh8 39.Nxg6+ +-> is kind of obvious though I can see Black missing the first move due to the pinned piece. <Mayankk: Black spurned a likely draw offer at 33 ... Qxb3 34 Qxb3 Bf8 when it is difficult to see how any party can press for a win, although White has doubled b pawns and Black has a passed d pawn.> The latter points are optical only, as in practice I'd say Black has a nasty endgame here: White has the more active King, the d-pawn is passed but practically a goner and a6 also looks shaky after White locks the queen side with b4. Black can't play 34....a5 himself as after 35.Kf3 f5 36.b4! White can forcefully exchange the doubled pawns and hunt down d4. If White plays b4, the doubled pawns are almost an asset. It <is> an even position, but the errors are on Black's end, not White's. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | Mayankk: Hi <Thean>
I could be missing something but I dont see how White can win after 33 ... Qxb3 34 cxb3 Bf8 35 b4 f5, unless Black blunders. White has to get his King near the d pawn to capture it but the d3 square is occupied by its Knight which can't move as it is defending the b4 pawn. Black seems to have time to activate his King and once his King reaches the centre of board, both sides will be happy with a draw. The thing here is that Black has a good Bishop and owns the key a3 - f8 diagonal. This compensates for his King inactivity, which anyway is just a matter of time. Black got greedy, in my view, with 33 ... Qb1 inviting Qxf7 and the eventual tactics. He would have been better served by 33 ... Qxb3. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | TheaN: <Mayankk> there is no win, so that's an easy discussion. Practically however, Black is the one with the weaknesses. Pd4 is loose, Pa6 is loose, there are a couple of entry points for the White King to go after these pawns, meanwhile the Bishop is tied to the b4 square (else an opportune b4 with Nc5 is an issue). Perhaps one example line where this shows: 33....Qxb3 34.cxb3 Bf8 35.Kf3 f5, pretty forced so far, 36.b4: I'd argue White doesn't need to play b4 early but you want to play it anyway and now Black has to think of something:
click for larger view
I'd label the natural 36....Kg7?! a small mistake. It's again not lost but Black's in a heap of single-moves after 37.Nc5! Bxc5 (if 37....a5? 38.Ne6+ +-, else Nxa6 ±) 38.bxc5, clearing the doubled. 38....Kf6 only move:
click for larger view
Again White has a choice, Ke2 or b4. After 39.Ke2, 39....a5! = is the only move that draws but it's rather simple to spot considering you <need> some counterplay on the queen side to have enough moves in the race. After 40.Kd3 Ke5 41.c6 Kd6 42.Kxd4 Kxc6 43.Ke5 Kb5= and Black's barely in time in the race. More complicated is 39.b4!. Now the only drawing move is 39....g5! =: the point is that White created a defended passer so the only thing Black can do is simplify so much on the king side that once the queen side and center trades off White no longer has a win: posting all lines would be seriously too much to cover, but for example 40.Ke2 f4! = is also necessary (anything else loses). To me, these lines aren't natural at all so it's easy for Black to slip up. And all of this arose from the natural continuation and Black activating his King on move 36! If he doesn't, White has Ke2-d2-c2-b3-c4 or Ke2-Nc5-Kd3, all posing issues otherwise. So no, there is no win, but there are definitely setups White can try, meanwhile Black's defending and relying on some only-moves. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | TheaN: Not withstanding that 33....Qb1? 34.Nf4 (better than Nc5 as it prevents Kg8) ± is a gross mistake and 34....a5?? 35.Qxf7 +- is just lost. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: Happy Mondays: 38. Nf8+ Kh8 39. Nxg6+ Kh7 40. Nxe5 and captures enemy's ♕... I love it! |
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| Jul-15-24 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: Hi, <TheaN> I read your considerations to <Mayankk> (hi, too) and you showed B mistakes (like< Kg7?>). Therefore, the line could be: <33...Qxb3 34. cxb3 Bf8 35. b4?! f5 36. Kf3 Kg8> (less bad). Now, if W tries to approach: 37. Kf4?! Bd6+ 38. (38. Ne5?? d3) Kf3 Kf7 39. Nc5 a5 40. Nb3 Bxb4 41. Nxd4 Kf6, it seems draw. On <37. Ke2> Bd6 <38. Nc5 a5 >(W has no intermediary check). 39. Nb3 Bxb4 40. Nxd4 a4 B has not the weak P on d4, W has not the doubled ♙ on b3-4, the position seems tied. My point is, if both players know their weak moves and tried to play their best, the draw could be attained. But, this is a good test for our friend FisHouse, isn't it <Mel Gibson>. What do you say? The king also sees B playing different: 32...Qxc2 33. Qb3 Qe2 34. Nf4 Qe4+ 35. Qf3 Qc2 36. Qd3 Qxb2 37. Qxa6 Be5 38. Qa7 Kg7 39. Nd3 Qb5 40. Qe7 Bf6 41. Qe4 Qa5... In this line, B refuses to exchange ♕ activate his ♗, keeping a safe position. W has not the same attack as before, again the position seems drawn. |
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| Jul-15-24 | | TheaN: <King.Arthur.Brazil> no need for <mg> to intervene, the lines I posted above are computer-assisted. Which honestly underlines my point even more that in practice that endgame is probably 70% draw/30% White/0% Black: it <IS> not a win for White but there's absolutely no reason for White to accept the draw right away. |
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| Jul-16-24 | | Mayankk: Hi <Thean>
Thanks for the detailed reply.
Yes, as <KAB> noted, Kg7 is a mistake, for the simple reason that with a Knight looming, you dont want to put your pieces on the same colored squares. I will even call it a minor blunder, which is what makes the position a lot worse for Black. 33 ... Qxb3 34 cxb3 Bf8 35 Kf3 f5 36 b4 Kg8 Now 37 Nc5 seems tempting but it actually leads to a dead equal position after 37 ... a5 38 Ne6 Bxb4 39 Nxd4 Kf7. So yes, mistakes aside, there are not many opportunities for White to press further. |
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| Jul-28-24 | | FM David H. Levin: On the alternative continuation 33...Qxb3 34. cxb3 Bf8 35. Kf3 f5, 
click for larger viewI've been looking at 36. Ke2.
36. Ke2 Kg7 37. Nf4 Kf6 38. Kd3 <If now 38...g5 <To impede White from playing Nd3... after his king vacates that square.>, then 39. Ne2 Bc5 40. Nxd4 Ke5 <With a skewer along the a7/g1 diagonal, but...> 41. f4+! gxf4 42. gxf4+, and if 42...Kxf4, then 43. Ne6+ and 44. Nxc5.> 38...Bc5 39. Kc4 Ba7 40. Nd3 <White defers trying to win the d-pawn, which limits Black's mobility.> 40...Ke6 41. f3 <Controlling the e4-square in anticipation of a later ...Kd5.> 41...Kd6 
click for larger view42. Nb4 a5 43. Nd3 Bb6 44. b4 axb4 45. Nxb4
click for larger viewBlack is at a crossroads. Here's what might happen if Black is passive. 45...Ba7 46. Nd3 Bb6 47. b4 Ba7 48. Nf4 <To provoke Black's next so that White's king could potentially reach an undefended Black kingside pawn more quickly.> 48...g5 49. Nd3 Bb6 50. Nc5, 
click for larger viewand the d-pawn is in trouble.
Returning to the position after 45. Nxb4,
click for larger viewBlack might instead advance the kingside pawns, both to induce simplification and to divert White's f3-pawn (so as to weaken White's control of the e4-square). 45...h5 46. Nd3 g5 47. b4 g4 48. hxg4 fxg4 <To prompt another pawn exchange, being that 49. f4 would subject White to the lingering possibility of ...h4.> 49. fxg4 hxg4, 
click for larger viewand a draw seems assured. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 28.Rxe5