Tuesday, 15 June 2010

Winning with the Hack

Here is one of the decisive last round games from the 2010 NSW Open Under 1600. Both players were on 5/6 and a win for either would potentially put them in a tie for first place (as indeed happened). While some players might approach the game with a degree of caution, waiting to see the state of the other important games, Matthew Bennett decided to decide the game quickly with a double piece sacrifice. Of course if his opponent had spotted the best defensive moves it may have been decided in his opponents favour, but fortune favoured the brave this time.

Stahnke,Axel - Bennett,Matthew [A85]
NSW Open Minor, 14.06.2010

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 d5 5.Nf3 c6 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Ne4 9.0-0 0-0 10.Ne2 Nd7 11.Ne1 Rf6 (D)
12.f3 Bxh2+? 13.Kxh2 Rh6+ 14.Kg1 Qh4 15.fxe4 Qh2+ 16.Kf2 fxe4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Qxe4? Nf6 19.Qf4?? Ng4+ 20.Kf3 Rf6 21.Ng3 Rxf4+ 22.exf4 Qh6 23.Rh1 Qd6 24.Ne2 Qd5+ 25.Kg3 Qe4 26.Nc3 Qxd4 27.Nf3 Qf2+ 28.Kh3 Ne3+ 29.Kh2 Qxg2# 0-1

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those were not very kind notes to the game - it was an excellent attack, winning by force as you can see if you use a good computer.

Anonymous said...

12.Bxh2+ is a winning move.

Anonymous said...

12.Bxh2+ leads to +1.35 for white according to Shredder.

Anonymous said...

12. Bxh2+ is a lemon. White is better after 17. Ng1 (he played the so-so 17. Bxe4 instead).

Anonymous said...

Bxh2 had to be considered. I haven't done any analysis, but the entry of the rook and queen and the firm grip on centre means that Bxh2 looks promising. Its interesting that some people claim a forced win and some others don't both using computers. Peter

Anonymous said...

I shouldn't have played Qh2 check straight away, instead I should've just taken e4 back straight away and when he recaptures he can no longer take back e4 with the queen. Ian Rogers told me after the game that Bxh2 was a critical and winning move.

Cheers,

Matt Bennett