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The razor's edge

This is the position after 33...hxg4 in Forecookies - Verns2 in a team game against The Wings of Hope.  Phil has played a positionally sound system against a Sicilian, but black has broken through on the Queenside with the threat of the passed, connected b & c pawns.  Black is so eager to break things open that he plays hxg4 and allows the Knight fork: 34.Ne6+ which Phil takes.  After the natural 34...Kd6 35.Nxf8 gxh3+ Phil realizes that the pawn recapture may be poisoned, which may in fact be black's idea behind allowing the fork and loss of the exchange.  If white plays 36.Kxh3 (position below), for example:

Black seems to have a very strong attack.  One reasonable possibility is that the game continues: 36...Rxf8 37.Rxb4 Qh7+ 38.Kg2 g4 39.fxg4 Qe4+ 40.Kg3 Rg8 41.Rf6+ Kd7 42.Rf7+ Kc8 43.Rb7 (desperate) Rxg4+ and white loses.

White may well have better resources than I have found so far [if you find a winning line for white after 36.Kxh3, let us know!], but it is clear that Phil foresaw risks with 36.Kxh3... and decided that he would give up the pawn and try to consolidate his position up the exchange (rook for knight).  Why allow all this counterplay?  So Phil plays the apparently safer 36.Kh2 tucking in behind the pawn instead.
 Black now has to prove his exchange sacrifice works even against a positionally sophisticated player who doesn't just jump at pawn captures!  Under pressure, the Latvian continues 36...Rxf8 37.Rxb4 Kc5 38.Rb7... and black faces a critical position:

Black's exchange sacrifice idea required that he blast open the pawns around the white King, so he must have considered 38...g4-- and his position would have been strong had he followed through with his original strategic plan: 39.Rc7+ [39.fxg4 Nxg4+ is a disaster for white] Kd6 40.Rc6+ (giving back the sacrifice, trying to survive) Nxc6 41.dxc6 Kxc6 42.Rg1 and white doesn't find a way out.  Is there a much better defense for white?  It appears that 38...g4 was both strategically coherent and correct, while black's actual play, 38...Qd6, was weaker, and the product of his nerves faltering in the face of Phil's psychologically-savvy and positionally interesting 36.Kh2. 

Black's attack is still active, however, so white has to continue to defend ferociously. The game continued with 39.f4 gxf4 40.Rg7 f3 (ominous!) 41.Qd2 Nd3 (revealed) + 42.Kh1 ... and once again black falters. Here is the position:
:
At this critical moment, black has the counterintuitive offer of a Queen exchange, which many defending players would embrace gladly, but after 42...Qf4 43.Qxf4 Rxf4 44.Rd7 f2 45.d6 Rd4 46.Kh2 Rxd6 47.Rc7+ Rc6 black is clearly much better.  Even if white sees this and plays much more aggressively with 43.Qa5+ Kd4 44.Qxa6 Kc3 45.Qa5+ Kc2 46.Qc7 Kd2 and now white trades the Ladies: 47.Qxf4 Rxf4 48.Kh2 f2, black is still winning.

Instead, in this complex position, black instead plays 42...f2 and Phil responds with the incisive 43.Qe3+!


Following the incisive 43.Qe3+!

 I think this move is deeply insightful.  Black has been faltering very slightly, not entirely sure of himself in his attacks, not demonstrating long term consistency with his apparent plans -- and Phil has forced black to make a complex strategic decision which requires just those talents Verns2 has not demonstrated.  What should black do here?  He has 43...Kb4!! which can draw if white wants one: 44.Qd2+ Kc5 45.Qe3+ etc.  Note that after 43...Kb4!! white doesn't really have anything better than a draw.   He has to deal with the advanced pawns, and if he tries the natural 44.Rh7 ... he is in for a terrible surprise! Black drives his Queen into White's bedroom with 44.Rh7 Qxd5+ 45.Qe4 Qxe4+ 46.Kh2 Qg2#.  So if black offers a draw here, white should take it.  All that said, Black has to be perfect to win or draw -- he can just as easily lose in this razor's edge position!

Instead of 43...Kb4, black tries the natural but deficient 43...Kxd5? and Phil pounces on his mistake!  44.Rg5+! Kc6 45.Qe4+ Kb6 46.a5+ Kc7 47.Rg7+ ... and now mate will soon be forced.  Black plays on
47...Kc8 48.Qb7+ and black doesn't hang around for the denouement: 48...Kd8 Qa8+ Qb8 49.Qxb8# and here it is Black's Queen instead of White's who must throw herself in front of a mate-threatening Queen.

What a battle!  Phil scores another point for The King Stompers.  Well done.

Early Sacrifice Attack in the Nd2 Caro-Kann

This is the position in Kingbang (2085) - Lemma (2014) after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 Qc7 7. N1f3 h6 8. Ne6!? ... White, a good expert on the team XClass (one of the top three teams at Chesshere, and therefore one of our two chief rivals) decided to play a brutal and speculative piece sacrifice against my Caro Kann.  It is not a dubious move, as masters have employed it, including GM Zelcic (2500+) of Croatia.  But it is a somewhat insulting move, as GMs never seem to play it against each other, but only against weaker players.  In one notable game, GM Zelcic played this idea against the Slovenian expert Hinko Krumpac (2110) and Krumpac tried to decline the sacrifice with 8...Qd6 ... and lost.  

I had just drawn a game with Kingbang (the Hungarian, Hovanecz Laszlo) so I felt he should have to prove his gambit was sound against me, so I took the piece with 8...fxe6, throwing down the gauntlet!

Fireworks followed.  9. Bg6+ 9.5. Kd8 10. O-O b6 11. Re1 Qd6 12. c4 Bb7 13. Bf7 g5 14. Rxe6 Qc7 15. Qc2 Bg7 16. Bd2 Nf8 17. Re2 e6 18. Bxe6 Nxe6 Rxe6 Re8 20. Rxe8+ 20.5. Kxe8 21. Re1+ Kf8 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Bc3 Bc8 24. Re3 Qd6 25. Qg6 Re7. I have been struggling to hold the extra material, keep my King safe, and slowly make room for my pieces while trading as much wood as possible.






So far, so good.  But remember the joke about the guy who jumps off a 100 story building.  Somebody sticks his head out the window of the 50th story and says, "So, how's it going?"  His answer: "So far, so good." I still had to hit the ground and I wasn't yet sure I was safe.  It just shows how tricky the piece sacrifice on the 8th move really is: almost 20 moves later and black is still struggling to consolidate.  I have had to give back two pawns for the Knight and I am still far from finding calm seas!

The game continued: 26. h3 Kg8 27. c5 Qc7 28. Bb4 ... and of course I did not want to invite his bishop into the game so I played 28...b5 to lock him out.  At that point he played the interesting tactic: 29.Ba5!?...



This is actually where the game stands at the time of this writing, so don't give me any advice until I let you know the game is complete.  Here is my thinking:

29...Qxa5 may at first seem foolish, but it may be right.  Following 29...Qxa5 I face 30.Nxc6 ... forking the Queen and Rook.  30...Qc7 trying to come home to defend is terrible, as 31.Rxe7 is crushing.  But I have the very, very interesting 30...Qe1+!? 31.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 32.Kh2 ... and I have a B + R for the Queen and am actually playing with a R + 2 B for the Q  because of the earlier sacrifice.

Further, I have 32...Re6!? hitting the white N and protecting the black N.  If white mistakenly plays the interesting 33.Ne5 or the more pedestrian 33.Nxa7, I have 33...Nf4+ revealing an attack on his Queen. White may have to abandon his Knight, as well!

{The game has proceeded since this draft.  We have in fact played as predicted: 29...Qxa5 30.Nxc6 ... followed by my surprise 30...Qe1+ 31.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 32.Kh2 Re6 33.Qd3 Rxc6.}

But even then, my game is neither won nor clear.  I will have a Rook and 3(!) minor pieces for a Queen and four extra pawns.  It will still be a complicated endgame.

A most interesting, tactical game so far!

The game drags on illustrating how extraordinarily rich and complex chess can be!  This is the position after  34. Qxb5 Bd7 35. Qb8+ Be8 36. b4 Re6 37. Qa8 Re2.  I am playing a rook and three pieces v a Queen and four pawns.  It's pretty hard to come up with a winning plan while suppressing counterplay - which can be quite dangerous with all those connected pawns supporting by their Queen!  I am not actually sure if I should even be playing for a win or a draw!  Keep in mind that White sacrificed a piece on move 8 and here it is on move 38 and it is still unclear.



The game continued: 38. b5 Rxf2 39. a4 Rd2 40. c6  and my opponent offered a draw.  I was sure I could sacrifice a couple of pieces for the advancing pawns, but a rook and piece versus Queen is not ideal.  I had no plan for eliminating the promotion threats completely with the sacrifice of only one piece, so I accepted the draw.  It turns out that one can get away with a piece sacrifice on move 8 and still have threats 30 moves later - at least against an opponent of my skill.