Sunday, 18 February 2018

Berlin Shocker

PLAYED in the revived Northumbria Masters, held in an upstairs function room at The Chillingham pub, Newcastle.
My score of +1=3-5 was enough to shed 25.8 Fide elo.
I had a stinking cold, complete with hacking cough; but, then again, I was not the only one under the weather.
The most memorable moment, at least for me, was when I was on the end of a shocking finish in a Berlin Wall.
White to play his 25th move in Robin Nandi (1815) - Spanton (1901)
At first glance, Black's position may not look too bad. True, White has the better pawn-majority, but Black's active bishop-pair gives some compensation.
Indeed, after a "normal" move such as 25.Kf4, analysis engines reckon White's advantage is fairly small (but real enough).
Instead, RN uncorked 25.Nf6+!, after which a strong player would have resigned immediately.

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