Wednesday 5 December 2018

Worst Game Ever?

ROUND five at the Benidorm U2000 saw me play one of my worst ever games.
I quickly got a huge advantage out of the opening, mainly thanks to prep. Indeed, Stockfish9 reckons I had a winning advantage as early as move 10, but I gradually lost the thread.
My last chance came after White had made his 30th move in Jaime Esquerdo Nogueroles (1781) - Spanton (1940)
Oblivious to White's main threat, I saved the exchange by counterattacking with 30...Re3??
There followed 31.Qh2, which wins on the spot. I played on for a few moves by sacing my queen for totally inadequate compensation, but a stronger player might well have resigned.
Instead I had the simple 30...Bf7, which also saves the exchange while leaving Black able to protect h6. Black is then slightly better thanks to White's out-of-play queen's rook.
Note that the tricky 31.Rxh6!? works brilliantly against 31...Kxh6?? as White has 32.Qh2+ Kg7 33.Qh7#. But Black is better after 31...Rh8 as White is still hampered by his offside queen's rook.

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