4 | | | ^B | | ^P | ^P | | | |---------------------------------------| 3 | | ^P | ^P | | ^Kt| | | | |---------------------------------------| 2 | ^P | | | ^Kt| | | ^P | ^P | |---------------------------------------| 1 | ^R | | | ^Q | ^K | | | ^R | --------------------------------------- A B C D E F G H

Diag. 108

Black threatens to play K-R1 in order to play P-B4.  White’s position would then be very bad, and therefore he rightly decides to anticipate the move, even at the cost of a pawn.  In order to gain the QBP Black must waste a number of moves with the Q, and White gains time for a King’s side attack.  The pawn sacrifice is very promising indeed.

          13. ...  Q-B3
          14.  Castles QxQBP
          15.  R-B3

There seem to be many threats here, and the position is a difficult one to fathom.  After disentangling his Queen, Black tries very hard to force his P-B4.  As soon as he succeeds in this he has a won game, for the open file is available both for defence and counter-attack.

15. ...  Q-Q5 16.  K-R1 B-K3 17.  R-QB1 BxB 18.  RxB Q-Kt7

Q-B3 is impossible apart from the fact that it would block the KBP, e.g. 18. ...  Q-B3; 19.  P-K5, PxP; 20.  Kt-K4, etc.

          19.  R-QB2 Q-B3

Now the attack shown in the last note could be answered with Q-R5.

          20.  Kt-Kt4

Here P-KKt4 could be answered by Kt-Q5, e.g. 21.  P-Kt5, Q-Kt3; 22.  R-Kt3, P-B4.

20. ...  Q-Kt3 21.  R-Kt3 P-B4 22.  Kt-K5 Q-K3 23.  KtxKt KtxKt 24.  P-K5 Kt-Kt5!

This prevents the Rook from occupying the Q file which is about to be opened.

25.  R-B4          PxP
26.  Q-R1          Q-Q2!

If now QxP, Black plays R-B2 with unanswerable threats of R-K1 or Q1.

27.  Kt-B3 PxP 28.  Kt-K5 Q-K2 29.  RxKBP QR-K1 30.  Kt-B4 Q-K8ch 31.  R-B1 QxQ 32.  RxQ KtxP 33.  P-R3 P-B5 34.  R-Q3 Kt-Kt5 35.  R-Q7 P-B6! 36.  PxP RxP 37.  RxRP Kt-Q6

threatens mate in six.

          38.  R-R1 Kt-K8

mate is again threatened.

39.  Kt-Q2 RxPch 40.  K-Kt1 R-Kt6ch 41.  K-R2 R-Q6! 42.  RxKt RxKtch 43.  RxR RxR 44.  R-Q7 R-K6 45.  RxP RxP 46.  RxP P-R3 47.  R-B6

A few more moves “for fun.”