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ANNOTATED GAME
Buried Treasure
thejoxter (1424) vs. mark1973 (1619)
Annotated by: archduke_piccolo
(2332)
Chess opening: QGD Slav (D15), 4.Nc3
thejoxter (1424) vs. mark1973 (1619)
Annotated by: archduke_piccolo
(2332)
Chess opening: QGD Slav (D15), 4.Nc3
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38. Bxg7 |
Wins a pawn, and gains the initiative as well. Third best as it was, 37.Re1 was still good enough for an edge. | |||||||
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38... Qg5 39. Bf6 |
A fork! But Black at least can get out of this one. | |||||||
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39... Qf4+ 40. Kg1 |
I prefer Kh1 as safer, but wanting to bring the King closer to the centre, and keep it off the enemy bishop's diagonal withal, is understandable. | |||||||
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40... Rc8 |
(?) The reason why I've marked this as a mistake will appear next turn... | |||||||
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41. Bh8 |
(!?) White once again comes up with a strong move that turns out to be not the strongest. Lethal would have been 41.Re4!! This one's not really a rook sacrifice, but it's a spectacular move all he same. After 41.Re4!! Bxe4 42.Qxc8ch Kh7 43.Qh8ch Kg6 44.Qg7ch Kf5 45.fxe4ch and however he plays it, Black is forced into a hopeless endgame. | |||||||
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41... Qg5 42. Bf6 Qg3 43. Re7 |
(?!) Again, 43.Re4 was the way to go. This is a reprise of the situation at move 41. Suppose, instead of ...Bxe4, Black tried 43...Qd6? then comes 44.Rg4ch Kf8 45.Bh4!! ... (Very hard move to find, this, but it threatens mate and other ghastlinesses, such as 45...Ke8 46.Re4ch Bxe4 47.Qxc8ch etc) 45...f6 46.Rg6 winning. After this move, White finds himself having to redeploy the rook. | |||||||
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43... Rd8 44. Re1 |
(?) Actually, White could have made good use of the rook on the 7th by 44.Qb3!, again combining attack and defence. But this retreat turns out rather well. | |||||||
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44... Rc8 |
(?) As you were. The discovered attack upon the rook induces its move off the d8-square. But it was here that Black had a hidden resource that might well have saved the situation. Yes, it is a sacrifice: 44...Bxf3!! Surprisingly, White has no way of averting mate without loss of material. His best reply is to counter-sacrifice: 45.Qxf3! Qxe1ch 46.Kh2 Rd6 47.Qg4ch Kf8 48.Bc3 ... followed by 49.Bb4 recovers the exchange. Possibly White has the edge in the pawn ending after 48.Bc3 Qe6 49.Bb4 Ke7 50.Qxe6ch!? Kxe6 51.Bxd6 Kxd6 52.Kg3 - I haven't tested that... | |||||||
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45. Rd1 |
As before, 45.Re4 was the winning move. | |||||||
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45... Bd7 |
(??) But this was the losing move - or could have been. Here is the Queen sacrifice: 46.Qxc8ch!! Bxc8 47.Rd8ch Kh7 48.Rh8ch Kg6 49.Rg8ch Kxf6 50.Rxg3. With Rook and extra pawn for the bishop, White would have taken out the ending with few difficulties. | |||||||
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46. Qe5 |
(?) Not as spectacular, but this move, for good or ill, forces the Queen exchange, on account of the double attack, on Queen and bishop.. | |||||||
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46... Qxe5 47. Bxe5 Be6 |
Sensible: anchors the bishop. In the endgame that ensues, Black is thrown onto the defensive: a pawn down, and no real prospects for counter-attack. | |||||||
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48. Rd4 Rc1+ 49. Kh2 |
49.Kf2 was safe enough... | |||||||
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49... Re1 50. Rd8+ Kh7 51. Bc3 |
Retiring to a safe anchorage also. Both sides are playing this ending with circumspection. However, it will be a difficult one for White to win. His chances are really localised to the K-side, which limits his options, rather. Instead of the text, he might have tried 51.Rh8ch Kg6 52.Bf4 (attacking the h-pawn) 52...Rb1 53.Rxh6ch Kf5 54.Be3 Rxb2? and now 55.Bd4! Ra2 56.Rf6ch Kg5 57.h4ch Kxh4 58.Be3 ... (weaving a mating net; Black has but one way to escape) 58...Bg4! 59.Rxf7! Bh5 60.Rf5 Bg6 61.Re5 Rc2 62.Bf4! ... All this intricate manoeuvring leads to a forced mate - a really fine finish. Black doesn't have to play 54...Rxb2, but then he gets left with two pawns' deficit. Holding the game really does become problematic in that event. | |||||||
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51... Re2 52. Re8 Kg6 53. Rg8+ Kf5 54. Kg3 |
White cannot allow Black too easy ingress into his position, as then Black would have serious prospects of counter-play, enough, maybe, to turn the tables completely. | |||||||
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54... Bd5 55. Rh8 |
Instead, White could have carried on as he was doing and gone after the h-pawn with his King. The rook standing at g8 would have performed two useful functions: protecting the g-pawn, and cutting the Black King off from access to the g- and h-files. So: 55.Kh4 was called for: 55...Kf4 56.Rg4ch Kf5 57.Rd5 Bc6 58.g4ch and White is making progress. | |||||||
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55... Kg6 56. Rd8 Bc6 57. Rd6+ Kh7 |
Probably Black should have intervened with rook, here (57...Re6) | |||||||
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58. Bd2 Re6 |
Forced, else the h-pawn fell. | |||||||
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59. Rxe6 |
Understandably, White exchanges down into a simpler ending (simpler in this context means just fewer units on the board), seeing no way to progress with the rooks on. I'd probably keep probing with them on for a bit longer, as White's winning prospects in the pure Bishop and Pawn ending don't look too flash. The pure pawn ending might be a different story, but how do you arrange (let alone force) the exchange of bishops when they are invulnerable to each other? | |||||||
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59... fxe6 60. Kf4 Kg6 61. Kg4 |
Seizing the Opposition. However, there might have been better prospects with 61.g4 (...e5ch; 62.Kg3! h5 63.Bc3 hxg4 64.fxg4 e4 65.Kf4, say). | |||||||
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