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| Black has just captured on h6 |
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White is a pawn up and has an obvious plan of advancing the queenside pawn-majority to create a second queen. But the situation is complicated by White having the more-vulnerable king.
A few moves later the following position was reached.
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| White has just played 43.Qe2 to block the check - how should Black reply? |
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43...Qf5?!
My opponent may have avoided an exchange of queens because he hoped to get at my king. But after the text Stockfish15.1 and Komodo14.1 immediately flash red, and probably with good reason - actually, with several good reasons:
A) An exchange of queens brings about a rook-and-pawn ending,, and such endings often have strong drawish tendencies.
B) With queens off the board, Black's weak pawns are easier to defend.
C) The text has the specific problem that 44.Rh5 Qg6 45.Re5 allowed White to set up an ideal heavy-piece battery of queen behind rook.
The engines reckon Black should play 43...Rc8, after which White's only hope of a slight edge - Stockfish15.1 is not even sure White has such an edge - lies in 44.Re1, according to the engines. A sample line continues 44...Kf7!? 45.g4 b5 46.Kf3 Qxe2+ 47.Rxe2 Rc4, after which Black's active rook gives enough compensation for being a pawn down, according to the engines.
However, the situation is not as simple as the above may make it seem. For instance, White could meet 43...Rc8 with 44.Rd1, intending Rd2. It might seem natural to reply 44...Qxe2+?!, but the engines reckon this is wrong, presumably at least partly because White gets a more-active version of the previous line, but also because 44...Kf7 45.Rd2 can be met by 45...Qh7, when Black can successfully go back to harassing the white king, eg 46.Kg2 Rh8 with complete equality, according to the engines.
LESSON: simple-looking positions can be deceptively complicated, at least from a positional view. One of the most important things to look for is piece-activity, which can become more crucial as the number of pieces diminishes. The move ...Qf5 allowed White to become active, and that, combined with the extra pawn, decided the game.
Nice game , another possible plan from the first diagram would be to relocate the white king to a2 , then its blacks king that will be harassed by the better coordinated white pieces f5 ideas bk
ReplyDeleteYes, I can remember considering relocating the white king, but I think I rejected it for a combination of two reasons: i) I was not sure it was strictly necessary, ii) I thought relocating might involve unnecessary risks.
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