Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Miss Easy Tactics! with Justin VI

[Our pedagogical series in which we look at a portion of a game I played the previous weekend in which some obvious tactic is overlooked. Readers are invited to practice their skill by seeing if they can spot what was missed.]


IM Sergio Garza v Justin Horton, Aragón Team Championship 2008, position after White's 20.Bd2-e1. Black's nineteenth captured a pawn on e5 and White had overlooked that after 20.Nxc5 Bxc5 21.Rxc5 his b2 pawn would be hanging. But now, of course, the e3 pawn is hanging.

Question 1. What happens after:

(a) 20...Qxe3+ ?
(b) 20...Nxe3 ?
Question 2. The game actually proceeded 20...c4 21.Bxc4. Now, what happens after:

(a) 21...Qxe3+ ?
(b) 21...Nxe3 ?
(The game and some comments will appear tomorrow. Quite likely there will also be remarks in the comments box today. You may take it that at least one wrong choice was made by the author and that his quest to beat an International Master remains unfulfilled.)
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8 comments:

  1. Javier FontanaWed Apr 02, 08:46:00 am 2008

    -If 21..,Qxe3+?; 22.Qxe3,Nxe3; 23.Rd7,Nc4; 24.Rb7, no 24..,Re7; 25.Bd5 winining piece.

    -If 21..,Nxe3?; 22.Bg3!,Qg5; 23.f4 winning piece.

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  2. Javier FontanaWed Apr 02, 08:55:00 am 2008

    a) If 21...Qxe3+? 22.Qxe3,Nxe3; 23.Rd7, Nc4; 24.Rb7 winning piece. No 24.Rc4,Bd5!.

    b) If 21..Nxe3? 22.Bg3,Qg5; 23.f4 winning piece.

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  3. ejhWed Apr 02, 09:18:00 am 2008

    2b (the knight/el caballo): correct/correcto.

    2a (the queen/la dama): I don't think so but I shall check with the computer this afternoon / creo que no, pero lo comprobaré con el ordenadeur por la tarde....

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  4. ejhWed Apr 02, 10:57:00 am 2008

    2b was, by the way, the course I chose, thereby throwing away a potential win against an International Master. Another potential win against...

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  5. ejhWed Apr 02, 01:23:00 pm 2008

    Confirma el ordinadeur que se equivoca Javier. (The computer confirms that Javier is in error.)

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  6. ejhWed Apr 02, 02:41:00 pm 2008

    It also leads me to wonder whether my 20...c4 doesn't deserve ! rather than !?.

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  7. Javier FontanaWed Apr 02, 11:06:00 pm 2008

    Si efectivamente. En la variante 2a)Me equivoqué al omitir la jugada 23...,Bd5!! en lugar de 23..,Nc4? y las negras acaban ganando un peón.
    Lo calculé todo en 2 minutos sin analizar en el tablero y sin chequearlo con el ordenador.
    Finalmente, de haber acertado con la variante buena parece que tenías ventaja contra Sergio.

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  8. ejhThu Apr 03, 07:39:00 am 2008

    (Javier observes that 23...Bd5! would win a pawn for Black - he only looked at it for two minutes without a board, and didn't check it on the computer. It seems, he says, that I had the advantage. Indeed I did.)

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