2009-04-06

Pleasure and pain

It's a great pleasure to find an interesting sacrifice during a game, but even a greater pain to miss its finishing touch. Here is one example from the Finnish Team Championship, 2nd division.

Jyrki Heikkinen (1898) — Tapani Tähkävuori (2102), Helsinki, Finland, January 1998

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 Nf6 6.Bg5 d6 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Bc4 Be7

Invitation to attack.

9.Qh5 O-O 10.a4 a6 11.Ra3! axb5

I had pictured a couple of moves before that White should be winning here.

12.Rg3+?

But not like this.

12...Kh8 13.Bxf7 Rxf7 14.Qxf7 Qf8 (0-1 in 36)

The killer move I failed to see was 12.g4!, which gives White a clear advantage: Rybka suggests 12...d5 13.Rh3 Bb4+ 14.c3 Re8 15.Bxd5 Be6 16.Bxe6 Rxe6 17.axb5 Nd4 18.Qxh7+ Kf8 19.Qh8+ Ke7 20.Qxd8+ Rxd8 21.cxb4 (+1.6).

No comments: