Looking at this situation, one is struck by the activity of White's pieces compared with Black's. If he can play really energetically and get some threats together, he might - with a strong measure of luck - turn this thing around. It's hard to know what to suggest, however...

Slightly weakening though it be, I would have chosen 11...f6, forcing the bishop to move again. Pinning the knight at c3, Black ought to be ready to exchange there, reducing material overall, and thereby [a] depriving White of attacking resources, and [b] adding value to Black's material advantage (i.e. the same margin with material reduced increases the advantage).

l-d-j@ after 13... Qxg5? 14. hxg5!

I think l-d-j had the position set up wrong on his board! It turns out White's Knight move was quite a good one, as if Black were to play 12...Bxg5 13.hxg5 Ng4 14.e5! suddenly Black King is under attack. If to protect h7 Black were now to play 14...g6 then White can try [A] 15.Nf6ch Nxf6 (forced, else White will checkmate Black's King) 16.exf6 after which White will arrange to bring his idle rook at a1 across to the h-file; or [B] 15.Nh2 h5! 16.Nxg4 hxg4 17.Nf6ch hoping for 17...Kg7 18.Rh7#! However a resolute Black will give up his Queen: 17... Qxf6!! 18.exf6 gxh3 19.gxh3. A rook ahead still - only a small reduction in his material advantage - Black should win from here, but from White's point of view, that would be beside the point. By conjuring up this sort of counterplay, he would have been asking Black some searching questions, throwing obstacles in his path, frustrating him, and having some fun besides. The game is lost for White already; he can't lose any worse!

But you could have won a piece here with 12...Bxg5. If he takes back with 13.Nxg5 you can take that knight with 13...Qxg5. Black could take your pawn on c7 then with 14.Nxc7 but you can save your rook with 14...Rb8 and then you're simply a queen up. Edit: Ion and blitzkov are right.

12...c6?? was of course a blunder that loses a piece for nothing, and has the potential to shed a whole rook.

At the cost of the Queen? After 13...Qxe7?? Black would have fetched up a piece down, after being a Queen for Knight ahead! The only other reasonable move was 13...Qa5ch, and this led straight to a draw: 14.Bb4! (14.b4 isn't quite so good) ...Qd8! 15.Be7! Why? _______________________________________ First off, White would be happy to repeat: although he is winning material, he will remain slightly behind. Second, if Black tries to dodge the draw (13...Qa5ch 14.Bb4 ..., he has only 14...Qa4? available, whereat this will happen to him: 15.Nf6ch!! (spectacular stuff!) gxf6 16. Rg3ch Kh8 17.Bxf8. The Knight on h6 is a goner, White has a draw in his pocket if he wants to bale, but has good reason to go for the win.

No, if you had played that he could have take nyour queen with his knight (14.Nxe7). You could not save both of your pieces.

As it transpires, White could have done a whole lot better (and Black should have played 13...Qa5ch!). I'll give 14.Bxf8 the '?!' notation - 'dubious'. White would have obtained a clearly winning game by the amazing 14.Nf6ch!! This was what Grandmaster Tarrasch meant when he said that, having found a good move, look for a better one. 14.Bxf8 is good, and clearly White's intention, but 14.Nf6ch is something special. Black has the choice between saving his Queen (14...gxf6 15.Rg6ch Ng4 (makes no difference) 16.Rxg4 Kh8 17.Bxf6 checkmate!) OR saving his King (14...Kh8 15.Nxe8 Rxe8 16.Bg5 and White comes out of the dogfight a whole piece to the good!

Better was 14...cxd5, because now he can attack your queen and rook at the same time so he wins one of them.

14. ... QxB looks better still, just giving the queen more squares to escape along.

In my view l-d-j has the right of it, as there is something deeper in the position that keeps Black the advantage after 14...cxd5, namely: 15.Bg5 (say) dxe4, forking Knight and Bishop. Black would have retained at least some of his very considerable earlier advantage.

At this point White has two Rooks and a Knight for the Queen - quite a material advantage. But the tactical melee isn't yet over...

(?!) Comprehensible, but not quite right. Better was 16...d5! This threatens ...dxe4, forking Bishop and Knight, whilst at the same time discovering the c8-Bishop's attack upon the Rook at h3. With this tactical shot, Black would have at least kept himself on roughly even terms with White.

(!) Good defence. Although Black picks up two pawns, White's game overall remains solid whilst retaining a slight material edge.

More solid was 18...Rd1, as Black was going to take the c-pawn anyhow.

How are you going to capture the knight before it checks your king? It's impossible unless you get two moves at once. This does make the check a bad move (because the knight can't get out), but the comment here doesn't make any sense.

copy that

Although oddly worded, I understood the annotator to mean that in a sense he was laying a snare for White to fall into should he play the check.