archduke_piccolo
(2332) on 16-May-07:
You are right
heinzkat ... and it serves me right for doing this late at night. 22.Rxg7ch was the move that first came to mind (against both 21...Qd2 and Qh4), but I was looking around for something more immediately decisive. Well, I was wrong there! Before discussing 22.Rxg7ch, let's look at my suggested alternatives. They both win, but not as decisively: e.g. 21.Rg6 Qd2 22.Qxh4ch Ke8 23.Rd6 Qg5(!) 24.Qxg4 hxg4 25.Rg6 and with two extra pawns, White ought to win the ending fairly comfortably. Not exactly "curtains", though, I'll admit. ***In the other line: 21.Rg6 Qh4 22.g4?! does lead to a forced mate after 22...Bg4 23.Qxb7ch Kd8 24.Rd6ch Ke8 25.Qxa8ch and once the K plays to e7 (the bishops can throw themselves on the sword to delay the inevitable), Qd8 is mate.*** Let's look then at the 22.Rxg7 lines. (a) 21.Rg6 Qd2 22.Rxg7ch Ke8 23.Rg8ch Kd7 (not 23...Ke7 24.Qh7#) 24.Bb5ch! Ke6 (also forced - 24...Kc7 25.Qc4ch; 24...Ke7 25.Re8ch etc) 25.Re8ch Be7 26.Qg6ch Kd5 26.Rd8ch! Bxd8 27.Qd6ch Ke4 28.Qxd2 Bg5 29.Qd6 and White should win without trouble. I agree I would prefer this position to the ending arising from the 22.Qxh4ch line. (b) 21.Rg6 Qh4 22.Rxg7ch Kf8 (or ...Ke8) 23.Rg8ch Ke7 24.Qh7ch Qf7 25.Qxf7# a slightly swifter quietus delivered than 22.g4 (I can't think how I overlooked this mate). Black can try to delay things by 22...Qf7 for all the good that will do: 23.Rxf7ch Kd8 24.Qd5ch Ke8 25.Rf8ch Ke7 (or ...Kxf8) 26.Qf7# or 23...Ke8 24.Qh7 Be7 25.Rxe7 Kd8 26.Rc7 and 27.Qe7# (unless it's 27.Qxd7#).
{I won't emend the annotation - except to refer the reader to this discussion: it can stand as a reminder that annotators don't always get it right, and kibitzers can alert us to things we have overlooked.}
***In answer to
gregin2chess: 21...Bf5 (White indeed would have to think about this move) 22.Qxb7ch and even if a mate isn't imminent (I haven't checked) 22...Kd8 23.Qxa8ch any 24.Rxg5 yields White a massive material plus. Instead, 22...Ke8 does lead to a quick mate: 23.Qf7ch Kd8 24.Qf8ch (better than 24.Rd6ch Bd7) 24...Kd7 (24...Kc7 25.Qd6ch is similar, but quicker) 25.Bb5ch Kc7 26.Qd6ch Kb7 (or ...Kc8) 27.Ba6#
Interactive