White to Play and Win

Pete Tamburro on Nov 21, 2008

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Grandmaster Savielly Tartakower fought in both World Wars, won many stress filled games in fifty years of tournament play and yet even such a performer in crisis situations could make mistakes under pressure.

This position is from Tartakower-Yates, Karlsbad, 1929. It is White to play. Tartakower played 28.Nh6+ followed by 29.Nxf7 and only drew. After the game, to his great dismay, he discovered a winning attack. Now it’s your turn!

Solution:

28.Bxf7+ Kh7 [28...Qxf7 29.Nh6+ wins the queen; 28...Kf8 29.Qh8+ Kxf7 30.Nh6+ Ke6 31.f5+ gxf5 32.exf5+ Kd6 33.Qd4+ Nd5 34.Qxd5 mate; 28...Kxf7 29.Nh6+ Ke6 30.f5+ gxf5 31.exf5 mate] 29.Bxe8 hxg4 30.Bxd7 Nxd7 [30...Qxd7 31.Qxd7+ Nxd7 32.hxg4] 31.hxg4 and White is three pawns up with an easily won endgame.

The complete game ran like this: Tartakower - Yates

Karlsbad, 1929, Evans Gambit Declined:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bb6 5.Bb2 d6 6.a4 a6 7.b5 axb5 8.axb5 Rxa1 9.Bxa1 Nb8 10.d4 exd4 11.Bxd4 Bxd4 12.Qxd4 Nf6 13.0–0 0–0 14.Nc3 Nbd7 15.h3 Re8 16.Ra1 h6 17.Nh4 Ne5 18.Ra8 Nfd7 19.Nf5 Nb6 20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.Bb3 d5 22.Bxd5 Qd8 23.f4 g6 24.Ne3 Ned7 25.Ng4 Qh4 26.Kh2 h5 27.g3 Qe7 28.Nh6+ Kh7 29.Nxf7 Qc5 30.Ng5+ Kh6 31.Nf7+ Kh7 32.Ng5+ Kh6 33.Nf7+ Kh7 1/2-1/2

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.