- Reader's submission defensive tactic

Bxf2 nets the Queen but White has the two menacing pawns one of which will surely be queened. It is still an uphill for Black with Queen and Knight vs. a rook and an extra pawn

Reply

Yancey Ward says:

March 26, 2013 at 4:28 pm

I was playing white in this game, and my opponent retreated the bishop to f6 and I played Qb3 and started marching the a-pawn forward to win the game pretty easily. However, at the time, I thought he/she should have tried the bishop sacrifice, and later, I went back to the position to analyze it, and I think black missed the draw (maybe win, but I doubt it):

1. …..Bf2
2. Rf2

I will cover the alternatives later- one of which looks losing to me (Kh1) and the other looks drawish (Kf2). Continuing:

2. …..e3! (what else?)
3. Rf1

I will cover this line first since it looks the least logical for white:

3. …..e2 (forks queen and rook)
4. Qd2 ef1Q
5. Kf1 Rf5

Here, if black tries Re2, white can take at d3 followed by liquidation capture of the e2 rook by the king, and white will have the knight and two passers on the queenside vs the remaining black rook- surely lost for black in the given configuration of the pieces. Continuing:

6. Kg1 Re2

Here, I am not completely sure black can’t play R back to d5, but white can make it complicated by putting the king on f2, g3, and f4 in some lines in response to the checks on those files. The position is simply too complex for me to fully analyze. Continuing from 6. …Re2 above:

7. Qd1

Of course, 7.Qd3 allows Re1#. More interesting is the attempt of 7.Qb4: [7.Qb4 d2! 8.Ne7 Kh8! (8. …Re7? 9.Qd2 leaves white with the upper hand) 9.Qd2 Rd2 10.Nf5 Ra2! and this should be won for black as the knight cannot any longer defend both passers and itself from the rook.] Continuing from 7.Qd1 above:

7. …..Rff2

I am not going to analyze the alternatives here, but I did look at them and they simply don’t look as clear to me to advantage black. Here, 7. …Rf2 gives black the simple draw by repetition. Continuing:

8. Qd3 Rg2 and black has a clean draw.

Due to length, I will continue in my next comment by returning the white’s move at move 3.

Reply

Yancey Ward says:

March 26, 2013 at 4:58 pm

In my previous comment, I covered the following line:

1. …..Bf2
2. Rf2 e3
3. Rf1 e2

And I think I showed that black can obtain a draw at the very least, and maybe there are lines there in which black could have won the game, though nothing stood out to me as doing so. Now, with 3.Rf1, white set the line by inducing 3. …e2. The question is, did white miss a better line? I don’t think so, but I am not 100% sure. White could have attacked the rook at d5 along with f7 with the queen. From the top:

1. …..Bf2
2. Rf2 e3
3. Qf3 ef2 (Rd7 4.Nd4 unclear)
4. Kf2

And now it looks like white must his queen for a rook, but unfortunately for black, white can meet 4. …Rf6 with 5.Nd7+ netting both rooks for the queen. So, black must protect the unguarded rook at d5. All I can see are the moves Rd7 and Rdd6 since Red6 loses to the same Ne7+, while a move like Rc5/g5 just drops the needed d-pawn. Continuing:

4. …..Rdd6

Or [4. …Rd7 5.a5 d2 6.Qd1 Rf6 7.Ke2 (or 7.Kg1 Re6 8.Kf2=) 7. …Re6=]. Continuing:

5. a5 d2
6. Qd1 Rf6
7. Kg1

If 7.Ke2, black just continues to check from e6 with the same rook. Continuing:

7. …..Rfe6
8. Kf2 Rf6=

Finally, at move 3, I don’t see a real difference if white tries 3.Kf1:

3. Kf1 ef2

Dangerous is for black to try e2+: [ 3. …e2+ 4.Re2 de2 5.Qe2 Re2 6.Ke2 and white has the upper hand, and a likely win since black’s rook has no immediate way to win one of the white passers.] Continuing:

4. Kf2 d2
5. g3 Rf6 should also draw for black.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Reader’s submission defensive tactic

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