 |
| I have just played 9...Nb8-c6 |
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
I have previously faced 10.Qh4?!, when play after 10...h6 should favour Black, although the remarkable 11.Rad1!? complicates matters.
I also knew 10.Qa4 is a possibility, but the game saw 10.Qf4!?, which does not appear in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database.
Over the board I did not know Qf4 was a novelty, but I knew it was at least unusual, and I felt it should probably be refutable.
I was almost certainly wrong about the last point - the move is liked by Stockfish17 and Dragon1.
However, I was working with that assumption, and naturally I wanted to make 10...h6 work.
I assumed retreating the bishop would be wrong, but first I tried to calculate what would happen if Black captured on h6.
After 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Qxh6 it seemed to me White had promising play against my king, and indeed that is correct.
What I completely missed is that 11.Bxh6? fails to 11...Nh5!, when the white queen has to leave the kingside, allowing what is now the winning 12...gxh6.
My assumption that 11.Bh4!? loses was also wrong, as 11...g5? 12.Bxg5! hxg5 13.Qxg5+ Kh8 14.Qh6+ Kg8 15.Ng5 etc wins for White.
After 10...h6 White's best is probably 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.0-0, with what the engines regard as an equal position.
LESSON: when faced with a novelty, or at least an apparent-novelty, to which there is the possibility of a sharp response, success cannot be hoped for without spending the time needed to get basic calculations right.
No comments:
Post a Comment