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.
13. Ne5!? Ne5 14. de Qd1 15. Rd1 Nd7 16.Bf4. I think white better here( without the knight).??
ReplyDeleteInteresting variant, good post)
Alexey: after 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe4 Qxd1 15.Rxd1 Nd7 16.Bf4... I agree that black is under a lot of pressure, with a horrible dark-squared Bishop, and a Rook on the h file that will be very slow to get into the game. Obviously, black has to play 16...Kc7 for any hope. Play may continue 17.Rd2 Rd8 18.Rad1 c5 19.f3 h5 and I don't see how either side really advances. White holds Black hostage, but without a clear means of attacking without liberating Black's pieces, White is not able to do much. Meanwhile, I think Black can slowly unwind his pieces. So I think I might actually prefer Black here. But your point is well taken.
ReplyDeleteGame finished. Were I a brave man, I would have continued for the practice with all those pieces against a Queen and a batch of pawns, but I took the draw.
ReplyDeleteMy opponent kindly offered unsolicited commentary at the end of the game. Here it is: 40. c6 Bf8 41.Qd8 Kf7 42.Qc7+ Kg6 43. Qd8 Kf7 or Bb4 (a3) draw. 40. Qxa7?? g4! 41. Qa8 Rd3! 42.g3 Rd2+ 43.Kg1 Kh7!! 44.hxg4 Bg6 45.Qc8 Ne4 -+ or 42.Kg1 g3! 43.Kf1 Rxd4 44.c6 Kh7!! -+ Kingbang (László Hovanecz)
ReplyDelete