Saturday, 24 October 2015

Another non-trap claims a victim

One of the regular complaints about Correspondence Chess is that 'everyone uses a computer'. Now this is of course not true (the 'everyone' bit that is), but the use of engines is reasonably common, at the international level.
However there are times when clearly this is not the case, as shown in the following game. It is from a recent ICCF event, although I have removed the names of the players as the game in question is not publicly visible yet .
At first glance Black has walked into a trap, with 11. ... Ke7 leads to 12.Qxd8+ Kxd8 13.Rd1+ Ke7 14.Nxa8 with a clear advantage. I assume Black saw this and resigned. However if Black is brave and plays 11. ... Qxc7 12.Bxc7 bxa1(Q) 13.Qxa1 Black has a RBNP for a Q and is not that badly off. I again assume that Black just did not look at this line, indicating an all too human failing of not looking at *all* checks and captures!

White - Black [A33]
ICCF

Start positionPrevious MoveNext MoveEnd positionPlay movesStop playing
1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Ndb5 d5 7. e4 d4 8. e5 Nxe5 9. Bf4 dxc3 10. Bxe5 cxb2 11. Nc7+ 1-0

2 comments:

Scott Stringer said...

RNp not RBp.

Shaun Press said...

Post corrected. Thanks for spotting my mistake.