MY round four game featured sharp play, reaching the following position after 13 moves.
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| Black has just played 13...b4 in Spanton (1946) - Wolfgang Polster (2128) |
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Both sides have four pieces in play: White - queen, two bishops and knight; Black - queen, rook, bishop and knight.
But there are two major negative differences, or imbalances.
White's is that both bishops are en prise, while Black's is that the king is still in the centre of the board.
Only concrete analysis can reveal which imbalance is the more significant, and it might be thought the position is so sharp there can only be one correct continuation.
In fact White has at least the upper hand after both 14.Nxe5 and the game's 14.Ng5, the latter perhaps being marginally the better of the two moves.
Black replied with 14...Qxe2? (14...Qg6 is an improvement), after which came 15.Qxc6+ Bd7 16.Qd5 Be6 17.Qb5+ Bd7 (all three White moves took advantage of the position of the black king by either giving check or threatening mate), when White was a pawn up, and, more importantly, still had a strong attack.
The game finished 18.Qxb4 f6 19.Bxe5!? Qg4 20.Rfe1 1-0
LESSON: king safety tops all other considerations.
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