Last night's game was interesting. I was Black, I played an extra rated game against the guy I beat a few weeks ago. We ended up transposing into a line of the QGD and were in theory up to move 14! I don't recall the exact order of moves, but there are a lot of move orders to get to the position. I'm somewhat pleased with how I played the opening - perhaps I did not do it ideally, but I ended up in theory at the end of it, so I didn't botch it completely. Toward the end, however, I made a critical mistake. Fortunately, he did not notice.
White to play and win:
I had just played Re3-d3. I thought Qg5 didn't work (it did) because of h4 - I missed Qe7. He played Nxg3 instead of the winning move. I missed it, too! Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten into this position. From there, though, the game is easy for Black.
Sure Rd3 then Rf8+ followed by Qb4+ and Nxg3 is a win, but to see that one has to look further because if black was to get his bishop to d5 supported by c6 and retain two pawns on the queen side, then it will be hard for white to win. However black cannot consolidate blacks pieces are uncoordinated and vulnerable to double attack because of his open king. This shows
ReplyDelete1. black cannot reply to Qb4+ with Ke8 because after Nxg3 Rxg3 Qe1+ picks up the rook.
2. Now try Qb4+ Kf7 then Ng3 Rg3 Qd6 threatens the rook and Qc7+ picking up the bishop.
3. Finally Qb4+ Kg8 seems bad but forced. Then again Ng3 Rg3 Qd6 threatening the rook and Qd8+ with capturing the bishop.
Don't expect a 1200 player to see all that.
I confess to being lazy and not continuing a rigorous analysis after Qb4+ in my post-mortem. I assumed that things would just work out from there no matter where the King moved, but it is dangerous to be lazy like that! I'm far more disconcerted that I did not consider the line *at all* when I was evaluating Re3-d3.
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