Last night, I met up with fellow chess blogger, Ivan of Getting to 2000.
He has graciously put up a photo of us as well as his report on the Sydney Chess scene. It was great getting to play a few blitz games with him before we headed off to the North Sydney chess club.
My brother-in-law, Steven, won a great game against his opponent last night. Yours truly blundered yet again (if I continue to blunder again, I might be tempted to rename this blog Blunderprone but I think the name has been taken) :)
In the final critical position,Steven produced this move below (he is White). White played the move
1. b5!?
Now.... the golden question is:
Is it possible for Black to play
1.... Be2
and then calculating after 2. Rc5 3. Bxb5 3. Rxb5 Rxc7 with chances to fight for a draw.
Once you have evaluated it, highlight between the brackets to see the answer.
[The answer is no but that's what his opponent thought.
Steven's opponent did play
1.... Be2
2. Rc5 3. Bxb5
Now comes the shocker
3. Nd5!!
and now the c7 pawn is protected, Black's bishop is under attack and even worse, White's Knight is threatening Ne7+ forking King and Rook and there is no way to salvage the Rook now after
4. Rxb5 with idea of 5. Rb8 next
A truly beautiful trap.
If you see that move, well done!]
i thought the solution was to give up the Rook to queen the pawn, e.g., 1 b5 Be2 2 b6 and now 2...Bxe4 3 b7 wins or 2...Bf3 3 Rd4-Rd8+ wins.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking in the same direction as Denis.
ReplyDelete(1. b5 Be2 2. b6 Bxc4 3. b7)
Actually we have more than two ways to skin this cat. When I saw this my eye was immediately drawn to 2.Nd5 giving up the rook and threatening the fork immediately. Objectively I think 2.b6 is the better move, though. I just looked at 2.Nd5 first because it seemed the most forcing. This is a pretty instructive position.
ReplyDeleteCan someone please put the full game up? Thanks,
ReplyDeleteAlex
it was a very interesting position and there are a myriad of ways to solve it.
ReplyDeletedenis and chesstiger certainly gave much food for thought.
thank you for your ideas!
Chess Student: White is objectively winning but must find a good continuation to ensure that he doesn't blunder.
Ozchess: I do not have the scoresheet with me and I think my brother-in-law junked it after the game outside the club.