Wednesday 5 June 2019

Both players were lucky to draw!

Black to play
The diagrammed position comes from a club game I was watching last night (NB I have reconstructed it from memory so it may not be 100% accurate). White had sacrificed a piece for an attack that didn't work, and then lost the exchange, to go a full rook down. However Black was short of time, and so White went looking for a way out.
In the position it is Black's move, and worried about the check on c4 played 1 ... Kb7?? White then hit him with 2.Rf6 and in a panic Black played 2...d4?? However while White had been on the receiving end of some good luck, it was now Black's turn the get more than his share. White missed Qe4+! which wins pretty quickly and instead played 3.Qxd4. After 3...Qc8 White should have finished off Black with Qb6+ and Rf7, but the idea that he might win the game hadn't occurred to him. Instead he played 4.Rf7+ Qc7 5.Rxc7+ Kxc7 6.Qc5+  and then checked across the 6th rank until a draw was agreed!

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