Sunday, May 30, 2010

Real-life tactics (or, when good combinations go wrong)

I have yet to beat Andrew Karklins.  On Saturday, I botched my best opportunity to date:

A. Karklins - Brock, 2010 Chicago Open
White to play
Although I was feeling optimistic here, I'm struggling for equality if Karklins shuts down my bishop with the natural 24.c5.  Instead, he erred with another natural looking move, 24.Re3?

I found the first move of the (probably winning) combination but went wrong in the complications (there are several cute points, one of which Karklins used to turn a probable loss into a well-deserved win).

See if you can do better than me!  Use your brain, not the computer!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I see ...Ne5, threatening ...Ng4 which hits h2 and e3. If dxe5 then ...Qxh2+ Kxh2 Rh4#

Anonymous said...

1...Ne5 2.Nxe4.

Bill Brock said...

1.Re3? Ne5! 2.Nxe4!? and now what?

Unknown said...

1.Re3 Ne5 2.Nxe4 Ng4

3.g3 would lose to ...Rfxe4 4.gxh4 Rxe1+ 5.Kg2 Ne3+. 4.Rxe4 instead runs into ...Nf2+.

3.Rh3 is not possible because of back rank issues after ...Rfxe4.

I wonder if Anonymous had a defense in mind I don't see.

Bill Brock said...

I am glad that this position is not trivial! White has a shot after 2...Ng4? (The best reply to that shot is not trivial!)

And what's Black's best move after 2.Nxe4!? (Both Mr. Karklins and I missed it in our brief post-game discussion.)

Bill Brock said...

Hint: you are right to note that White has back rank issues.

You have also spotted an important defensive resource for White: the g3 fork.