The Gamble
There seem to be two schools of thought in chess: those who believe that you should never sacrifice unless you are absolutely sure you have compensation and those who believe that just because you cannot calculate all the possiblities in a position doesn't mean that you shouldn't play a move that's risky but appears to be called for in that situation. Here's a position from tonight's club game. My opponent is rated only 1147, but he gained over 200 rating points in his last tournament, so his true strength is hard to determine.
White to move
I spent nearly 10 minutes analyzing this position in this g/45 Round 1 game of my club's December tournament. Unable to fully calculate the consequences of the move, I felt nonetheless that I had adequate compensation from the sacrifice 1. Nxe5. Was the sacrifice sound?
White to moveI spent nearly 10 minutes analyzing this position in this g/45 Round 1 game of my club's December tournament. Unable to fully calculate the consequences of the move, I felt nonetheless that I had adequate compensation from the sacrifice 1. Nxe5. Was the sacrifice sound?
posted by CelticDeath at 9:54 PM
8 Comments:
After he retakes with his bishop you can either choose to take his bishop or protect your hanging piece. Either way you are a piece down. Since you don't have any dynamic attacking potential, I don't see a point to it. What would have been better is bishop to h6 first. Now you can sac the knight because you threaten a queen check followed by mate. In order to protect against that he needs to move his knight to e7 which allows your knight to escape with a free pawn. What were you planning to do after you sac orginally.
It's true that Bh6 is a better move. However, sacking the knight doesn't result in being material down (although I also don't have an advantage either) even with best play by Black.. Fritz judges the position as =, but only if Black finds the correct defense (which he wasn't able to do in the game).
wowza, this is tough.
I see that Qh5 needs to be played.
If Bishop takes N, I think the only thing to do is another sac, Bxf7, Kxf7, Qh5+....
if...
1. Kf1 Qh6+
2. Kg8 mates (Ke7 wins queen)
I'm at work and just got busy or else I'd write it out, but I think BxN wins for white, I think its a valid sac. But NxN, dxe and materiel will be even.
I'm probably wrong. And if I am I blame it on my job.
hey does that mean I'm right? :)
DPJ, sacking the bishop on f7 isn't necessary. It's performing a valuable function where it's at.
Nxe5 Nxe5
dxe5 fxg5
And I think its at worst = for black. But then I'm not pocket fritz.
Personally I would have played Bh6 as has been suggested. In a position like this you have a static advantage. His king defense has been penetrated keep the peices on the board and eventaully it will cost him. Making a sac without being able to see the end result just takes some of the dynamics out of the position.
1. Nxe5 Nxe5 2. dxe5 fxg5 3. exd6 followed by Qh5 looks positionally won for White.
Fritz prefers recapturing with the bishop (which is what my opp did - I tell ya the kid has potential).
So, here is what Fritz says is the best defense:
1. Nxe5 Bxe5 2. Bh6! f5 3. Qh5 Nxd4! and with 4. Bxf7+ we will have a dynamically imbalanced, but equal position.
As it turns out, my opp blundered with 3. ... Re7?? and quickly lost:
4. Qg5+ Kh8 5. dxe5 Qg8 6. Qf6+ Qg7 7. Qxg7#
The complete game was 16 moves, making it one of my fastest checkmates ever.
I was completely off, but blame it on work. (and CT-Art for making me see combos everywhere) ;)
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