Thursday 24 December 2020

Sac rook, get rook

 I have just finished another stint as an online arbiter, this time for the 2020 World Youth and Cadets. When mentioning this someone the other day, they asked me who were the winners. "No idea" was my very honest reply. In fact this is quite common for me, especially in events where I am not the chief arbiter.

The main reason is that I am focussed on my role supervising players, and less on the tournament results. However, I do get to see some interesting games in greater detail than I would if I was busy collecting results etc, including this one from the 3rd place playoff of the Under 10's Championship. 

White gets a strong attack against the Sicilian, and decides to sacrifice a rook to expose the king. Black looks like he is faced with mate, but is able to sac one of his rooks to force the exchange of queens, at which time it is almost equal. However White has an extra pawn on the kingside and this turns out to be the decisive feature. 


Mrinmoy,Rajkhowa (1547) - Woodward,Andy (1975) [B90]
FIDE World Youth Rapid Champ - Finals - (12.2), 19.12.2020


No comments: