Beat the Masters 25A: All the right notes
July 1988, Position E
White to play
Gobet - Wirthensohn, Bern 1988
Contributions to the comments box are welcome. I’ll reply with what the Masters have to say about their choice to anybody who suggests a move.
Scroll down to see some commentary from me and the Masters’ feedback.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
ERIC MORECAMBE:
[Plays Grieg’s Piano Concerto by Grieg. Badly.]
ANDREW PREVIEW:
You’re playing all the wrong notes.
ERIC MORECAMBE:
I’m playing all the right notes. But not necessarily in the right order.
When I first began studying Beat the Masters positions, I used to write down what I was thinking but I didn’t start keeping track of the time I’d been thinking until much later.
So I don’t know how long I spent looking at today’s position, but I would imagine it was at least half an hour. I do know that I didn’t find either of the moves given 10 points. I know that I looked at 1 Qg6 (5 points) and decided it failed to ... Qg5. I know that I rejected 1 Nf4 and 1 Rd7 (both worth 1 point).
I also know that the very first thing I looked at was 1 Rxg7 Kxg7, 2 Qg4+ which I rejected on the grounds that 2 … Qg5 is again -+ since after 3 Qxc8 White gets mated.
Chess, eh? Endlessly amusing.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
POINTS
10: Qg4, Nf6
5: Qg6
1: Nf4, Rd7, h3
MASTERS
Qg4: Plaskett, Flear, P. Littlewood, Norwood, Conquest, Levitt, Pein, J. Littlewood, Martin, Botterill, Horner, S. Arkell, Novag Super Expert
Nf6: Howell
SOURCE
1 Nf6 Gobet - Wirthensohn, Bern 1988
As Angus mentioned in the comments box to yesterday's position post, 1 Qg4 (i.e. without first playing 1 Rxg7) is devastating. Black has no ... Qg5 in reply because 2 Qxc8 is now check because the Black king is still on h8.
ReplyDeleteSo 10 points for Angus. Close but no cigar for me.
HOWELL was the only panelist not to opt for 1 Qg4 but even he thought it was winning. He just thought 1 Nf6 (the game move) was even better. Your engine will tell you why he was wrong.
HOWELL on 1 Qg4:
"1 ... Qg8, 2 Rxg7 Qf8!, 3 Rf7 Qxf7, 4 Qxc8+ Kh7 and White has some minor problems to solve, but 4 h3 Ne5, 5 Qxc5 Nxd3, 6 Qd4 should be a comfortable win."