Tyson et al,
OK, this took me a few moments to realise the cute finesse, but it’s logical
enough all things considering. It’s rather instructive that it is actually both
back ranks that have issues. Moreover, it is the same squares that the black
queen can utilise to deliver decisive blows.
Couple of things before we reveal the refutation to 27. Rxc6?
Position
White: King h1, Queen a6, Rooks b1 and c5, Pawns on a4, b2, c3, g2 and h2.
Black: King g8, Queen e7, Rook e8, Bishop f4, Knight c6, Pawns a5, f7, g7 and
h7.
So, the main variation:
25. Rd5 Bxf4
26. Rc5? Qe7!
27. Rh5
as discussed. I also pondered about the issue of clearing the black back rank
with 27... g6, but as Tyson points out, this actually only drives the white
rook back to h3, a much more secure position and it can sneak back to f3. I
didn’t see the slightly odd 30... Qd3 defending the rook on d8. But
interesting, now having seen that concept, this helped me see the solution to
the 27. Rxc6 move.
I’m not convinced about the black queen being on d3 though, for I would have
guessed the black knight would want to go there.
Playing g5 is certainly hard-core for black, but it does make sense, as the
white rook on h5 is loose and vulnerable to tactics.
I agree that it is fairly grim for white, but it certainly isn’t lost and is
white’s best chance to fight on, of course.
So, to the question of 27. Rxc6. The only candidate move that makes any kind of
sense is 27... Qh4.
That has the annoying threat of Re1+ as the white queen retreat to f1 will only
lose her and black can take her with tempo and then clear his back-rank.
28... Qxh2~ has to be dealt with first though and none of the white pieces can
retreat in time to defend the square.
28. H3 Qg3 only leads to a loss.
So, 28. G3 has to be played.
Black can simply nab this and renew the threat.
28... Bxg3.
And suddenly, white has a trick of his own to retreat to defend the h2 pawn and
stop the mate.
Critical position this:
White: King h1, Queen a6, Rooks b1 and c6, Pawns on a4, b2, c3, and h2.
Black: King g8, Queen h4, Rook e8, Bishop g3, Pawns a5, f7, g7 and h7.
Now, if we take away the mate element on h2, black’s got a cheeky fork here. As
in the other variations that have been discussed, the black queen can slide
across into e4, with a check and the rook on b1 is forked, which will drop with
check.
The rook on c6 would also be attacked, but that is defended by the white queen.
Keep that in mind,
OK, it is worth of note here that the black back rank is also weak. White now
has an idea to defend h2, cover the e4-square and put pressure on the black
back rank.
29. Qe2!
Which I saw quite quickly. Naturally, the queen can’t be taken as the lonely
rook on c6 can deliver a back-rank mate of his own.
Here, I came stuck for a while. Black doesn’t have any tricks to save his back
rank. I couldn’t figure out where to put the black rook. Wherever I put it on
the back rank, white would be able to play 30. Rc4 and hitting the black queen
and the white forces are beginning to coordinate.
So, I couldn’t move the stupid rook on e8. Then, 30... Qd3 came back to me and
whoops! Why not just defend the rook. With what? Bishop can’t do it, the queen
is needed for the pin on the H-pawn – which only leaves the king!
Amazingly, 29... Kf8! Defends the rook and actually attacks the white queen.
The king on f8 cannot be attacked. In fact, it solves all of black’s worries of
the back-rank.
OK, so the white queen has to leg-it. Plenty of spaces but h2 still needs
guarding. OH yeah, and that annoying fork on e4.
30. Qg2 is the main move. 30. Qc2 is the same and probably receives the same
response.
30. Qg2 does attack the bishop on g3. Which has to retreat as it can’t be
defended again.
HMM, no obvious good square to retreat to. F4 allows a pin with Rc4, E5 blocks
the rook, d6 and c7 aren’t possible and b8 looks pretty miserable.
Remember the white queen needs to defend the e4-square?
Can we deflect her somehow?
30... Bxh2!
And if 31. Qxh2, this allows our neat little 31... Qe4+ 32. Qg2 Qxb1+ and
black’s a pawn up and the white king is hopelessly exposed. I’d be surprised if
white can survive that.
But if not 31. Qxh2, I can’t see a good move for white. Black’s simply
threatening to retreat to b8 (it is a good square now!) and after 32. Kg1 Ba7+
and the white king is again chased out into an open board, where it will not
survive.
Neat ideas!
Cheers
Chris
From: usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mordue andrew ;(Redacted
sender "tyson.mordue" for DMARC)
Sent: 06 June 2018 18:19
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: One idea further - Part two
Chris et al
Okay, Chris has made progress here.
The game continuation was indeed.
25. Rd5 Bxf4
26. Rc5? Qe7!
This is a critical point so I'll reinforce where the pieces are:
White: King h1, Queen a6, Rooks b1 and c5, Pawns on a4, b2, c3, g2 and h2.
Black: King g8, Queen e7, Rook e8, Bishop f4, Knight c6, Pawns a5, f7, g7 and
h7.
Chris is quite right in saying that OTB White would find this very difficult.
Indeed Deep Rybka says that after 26...Qe7 Black is better to the tune of +1.92
compared to the near equality of two moves ago.
Chris is also correct in pointing out that the best move for White is 27 Rh5 -
to prevent 27...Qh4 - and originally I thought Black could gain a useful tempo
and relieve his back rank with 27...g6. However, after 28 Rh3 it transpires
that the Rook is better here than on h5. Black, after 27 Rh5, should play
27...Qe4 - guarding the Knight and hitting the b1 Rook with tempo - 28 Rf1 Ne5
29 Qb5 Rd8 30 Qb6 - all as per Chris's analysis - 30... Qd3! - this is the
difference. The White Rook is still on h5 rather than on h3 where it would have
prevented this move - 31 Qf2 and now Deep Rybka's suggestion of 31...g5! leaves
Black dominating. Still lots of interesting play but Black is entrenched in the
centre while White has been pushed to the edges. Deep Rybka still evaluates
this as +2 to Black.
Now the above line in itself would be enough to vindicate my choice of 26...Qe7
and my judgement that Black was better. In other words White's idea of
answering 25...Bxf4 with 25 Rc5 pinning has been countered by my idea of
26...Qe7 unpinning with apparent tempo. However, there are two things left to
discuss. One is White's actual reply to 26...Qe7, and the other is the main
line of my analysis.
After 26...Qe7 Simms floundered completely. There is a shock value to the text
which was apparent even in CC. He actually played 27 Rf1? which left the c5
Rook en prise. His point was 27...Qxc5 28 Rxf4 Re1+ 29 Rf1 and after the swap
of Rooks White may have reason for playing on a piece down. Black is not
obliged to play 28...Re1+ and Deep Rybka suggests 28...Qe3 judging Black to be
+2.9. However, the computer agrees with my actual move which was 27...Qh4! At
this point, punchdrunk, Simms resigned.Ironically White can play 28 Rh5 Qxh5 29
Rxf4 and only be -3.38 worse. Bad enough.
So, is that it? Actually, no. The big shocks are actually yet to come. Back to
the position after 26...Qe7. which is:
White: King h1, Queen a6, Rooks b1 andc5, Pawns on a4, b2, c3, g2 and h2.
Black: King g8, Queene7, Rook e8, Bishopf4, Knight c6, Pawns a5, f7, g7 and h7.
Just to reiterate 27 Qxc6 loses immediately to 27...Qe1+ 28 Rxe1 Rxe1 mate.
We now move to part three of this discussion. Exactly what is the refutation of
27 Rxc6? Remember 27...Qe1+ is met by the interposition 28 Qf1.
The main line is a veritable cascade of ideas. Over to you.
Happy analysing!
Tyson
On 06 June 2018 at 10:40 Chris Ross <c.ross@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:c.ross@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Tyson et al,
The more I look at this, the more unconvinced I’m becoming for black. I see the
tricks that he’s got, but I feel that white has more than enough to thwart
them. Once white has sorted out his untangled pieces, I think his queen-side
pawns will give him an edge.
In a correspondence game, this should mean that white has the time to sort
things out. Over-the-board, this would be incredibly difficult for white to
hold, especially so with all the forces of black swarming around his king.
So, the main line is obviously:
25. Rd5 Bxf4
26. Rc5 Qe7
With threats of back-rank on e1 and Qh4, which means the knight is immune.
White has to stop Qh4, which will allow the black queen to penetrate.
27. Rh5 seems to be the only move then.
27... Qe4 defending the knight and hitting the rook on b1 seems logical, as the
queen wants to step in front of the knight when it lands on e5 to avoid any
pins.
28. Rf1 Ne5
And black can try and get in Ng4 or Nd3, with threats on f2 and h2.
Somehow though, I just think that white should have enough to harass the black
back-rank and the rook on e8 and wherever it runs and then bring the queen
back, say to f2 or f3 and things should hold, with the h5-rook maybe coming
back to h3.
I know it is challenging, and the black minor pieces are annoying, but if white
can coordinate, he should be better.
29. Qb5 Rd8
30. Qb6 Rf8
31. Qf2 and white’s fine.
Cheers,
Chris
From: usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:usbca_chess-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mordue andrew ;(Redacted
sender "tyson.mordue" for DMARC)
Sent: 06 June 2018 09:11
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ; Stephen
Thacker <stephenthacker3@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:stephenthacker3@xxxxxxxxx> >
Subject: [usbca_chess] Re: One idea further - Part two
Hello Steve et al,
After 26 Rc5 Qe7 27 Qxc6 loses to 27...Qe1+ 28 Rxe1 Rxe1 mate. However, 26 Rc5
Qe7 and now 27 Rxc6 leaves the White Queen on a6 so after 27...Qe1+ she can
retreat with 28 Qf1 to meet the check. Note how the White Queen and b1 Rook
mutually protect each other,
On the right path but took the wrong fork.
Tyson
On 06 June 2018 at 05:32 Stephen Thacker <stephenthacker3@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:stephenthacker3@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hi, the way I see things is thus: after Rd5 why not take the f pawn in view of
Rc5 Qe7 or even Qe7 after Rd5?
Not sure white does as he has to avoid mate. Am I getting anywhere? Cheers,
Steve
From: mordue andrew (Redacted sender "tyson.mordue" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, June 4, 2018 8:11 PM
To: usbca_chess
Subject: [usbca_chess] One idea further - Part two
Hello all.
You've all had the chance over the weekend to analyse the position in
Simms-Mordue after 24 ... Bd6.
Just a reminder that the position at that point was:
White: King h1, Queen a6, Rooks b1 and d1, Pawns on a4, b2, c3, f4, g2 and h2.
Black: King g8, Queen c7, Rook e8, Bishop d6, Knight c6, Pawns a5, f7, g7 and
h7.
Instead of defending the f4 Pawn immediately with 25 g3, or postponing the
decision with 25 Re1 challenging the e-file, Simms chose to play 25 Rd5. The
idea was to deter 25...Bxf4 because of the pin 26 Rc5. However, these moves did
happen!
The point was that I had seen one idea further than my opponent. Not simply one
move because some calculation is needed. Indeed when I started to analyse in
detail I realised that several ideas were coming to fruition, for both Black
and White!
Your task, should you choose to entertain yourself, is to find what I consider
to be the main line of play afrer 26 Rc5. There are lots of variations, some of
which are of more value than others, one of which - my main line - has several
startling features.
I'd like to remind you that this was a correspondence game so I had plenty of
time to analyse variations. My opponent failed to utilise his time and lost
both quickly and abysmally. I will post again next week so take your time.
Regards,
Tyson
