In this game, I am White, Black sacrificed an exchange to lock in my Rook on a7. Black has just played32.... Qe6??
Most alert players would see that this is bad. White is winning. When you are down in material, it is always good to keep as much material on board as possible.
So we know we have to trade Queens. But what do we do from here?
Readers now can see. Black's bishop is under attack by the Rook on c1 and Black's knight is under attack by the Rook on a7. The only thing holding them up is the b7 pawn which is overloaded.
So after
33. Qxe6 Rxe6
34. Rxc6 bxc6
35. Rxa6 and White is a minor piece up and winning.
That's what I saw in the game..... but as they say, when you see a good move, there's a chance there is an even better move lurking. And here, there is one.
Can you spot it?
Answer can be found by highlighting the brackets
[33. Qxe6 Rxe6
34. Rxc6 bxc6
35. d7! Rd6 (forced)
36. Ra8+ Kh7 (forced)
37. d8Q Rxd8
38. Rxd8 and White is a whole Rook up.]
i LOVE your blog. big smiles!
ReplyDeletehello dk!
ReplyDeletethanks for the encouragement!
Nice. Although there's actually an argument for what you played being better (for a human).
ReplyDeleteHumans are imperfect calculators, especially at our level. Being a minor piece up is a big enough margin for a comfortable win, and it only requires seeing 3 moves as opposed to 6 moves deep. Less room for error.
Hi LEP,
ReplyDeleteThat is very true.
I've been working on tactics and combinations like crazy the last couple of days. I'll post one of my games on tactical shots soon.
Ooops.. forgot to add.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Humans are prone to weaknesses. I find that by thinking harder and harder at tactics, I can find more and more accurate moves, honing my positional play as well.