2013 Championship

Saturday, March 27, 2010

A Fighting Draw!!



Owens vs Weldin with Black to move.(El Tapatio 3, 3/26/10)
There followed:23.....Bxe4!, 24.Nxd4! Rxg2! 25.Nf3! Bxf3 26.Qxd3 Rxg3+ 27.Kh2 Rg2+
28. Kh1 Drawn

11 comments:

Nick said...

How about 23 ..Qd7(hitting the h3 pawn). Should pick up white's dark squared bishop... White has to protect the e4 pawn with 24 Nc3 or 24 ..Bxe4 25 Bxe4 will allow 25 ..Qxh3

Ernie said...

I don't know how much time both players had, which IS a significant factor. But looking at the position for about 20 minutes, it appears Jerry has an advantage thanks to the advanced pawn on e3. My first thought was 23...Qd7, simply maintaining an edge. White needs to do something about his hanging bishop. 24.Bxh6 Bxh6 doesn't look good for white. 24.Be3 Re2 25.Bg1 Bxe4 26.Bxe4 Qh3+ 27.Bh2 Qxh2#. If 24.Rd1 Bxe4! as Nick points out.

White has a very difficult position. The game line is definitely sharp and interesting!

Jerry said...

The restaurant had reached a level at least double of what we had experienced in the past and the music was at it's highest volume setting. Johnny was sitting with hands over both ears and I was (as always) short on time and having concentration problems. When I saw that the line chosen led to at least a perpetual I went for it.

Nick said...

24 Bxh6 Bxh6?? (I believe 24 ..Bxe4! wins almost immediately). I'd like to see the full game if you can post it.

Ernie said...

Nick...You are right, 24...Bxe4! is much better. I wasn't saying 24...Bxh6 is best, but that white is still on the hook. Therefore I stopped looking at that line.

Anonymous said...

I would have brought the white queen into play after 23...Qd7 24. Qd1...Bxe4 25. Qg1

Ernie said...

Hey Stephanie! Welcome to the discussion! I looked at your line (without Fritz) and 25...Rxg2 looks completely crushing. For instance, 26.Qxg2 Qxh3+ 27.Kg1 Qxg2#.

Of course, we all have time to analyze this thing out but Jerry had to play this on the clock! He actually lived it! :-) Thanks to Jerry for the very interesting position that seems to be generating a lot of discussion.

Anonymous said...

Ernie, you are correct of course...I was just telling you what I would do and we all know that's not always the best thing. LOL

Jerry said...

Ok guys. I finally got a quiet moment to set up a board and take a look. Unlike everyone else I looked at the position after 28.Kh1. I had believed during the game that the Queen sac was right and my intuition was correct! 28...e4 appears to win easily in all variations; a move I almost made on the board. I didn't use a computer so I may be wrong; but I doubt it. No excuses; I allowed myself to become distracted by the noise level and could only think about getting things over with. It isn't the first won game I've let slip away and I'm sure it won't be my last.

Ernie said...

Jerry, you are correct that 28...e4 is winning and best (as Fritz confirms). Before I fired up Fritz, I was suspicious about move 25 because it seemed to lose a tempo. It does give back a piece so the queen can capture on d3, but is not the best defensive move. As I suspected, 25.Re1! is best. According to Fritz, this is the ONLY move white has to avoid giving black an advantage and in fact gives white a BIG advantage! 25.Nf3 loses in all lines. So the original 23...Bxe4 loses, but is still very difficult for white to play correctly in such a short time control.

Jerry said...

Ernie, you/Fritz are right. Lucky for me Johnny didn't find the ONLY move to save the game for him. All in all I recon a draw was appropriate.
All things considered I'd probably play it again against a flesh and blood opponent.

Thanks to all who commented!!