Thursday, February 01, 2007

Missed Opportunity (?)

From a game against Expert Ernie Hong at last year's "Hot August Knights" tournament:



I looked at Nxc1 for a long time, and somehow was afraid of Qxa5; but in that case doesn't Nxd3 cause White a lot of problems?

I don't have the killer software available right now, so if somebody can shed a little light on this position with their computer or their excellent analytical skills, I'd appreciate it.

LATER, "AFTER FURTHER REVIEW": I was able to spend some more time with the position and it seems to me that after 23. ... Nxc1 24. Qxa5 Nxd3 25. ed Bxd3+ 26. Kg1, Black probably has to play Qd7, because all the beautiful tactics don't work--the White Queen guards e1.

In the game I finally played 23. ... Bxb2, which was okay, but eventually lost. Still, it was a pretty good effort, but I kept feeling later like there ought to be something in the diagram for Black.

No comments: