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White to Play

Pete Tamburro on

Published in Chess Puzzles

One of the first attacking lessons you get from a chess teacher is the idea of playing Bxf7+ against an uncastled king. The usual first lesson you get goes something like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.Nc3 h6? 5.Nxe5! Bxd8 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Nd5 mate. Sometimes, though, the position is less clear, and you have to make a decision: “Do I take on f7?” A game, Ohman-Buck, Omaha, 1932, started out this way: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bc4 Bh4+ 6.g3 fxg3 7.0–0 gxh2+ 8.Kh1 Bg3. The question for you is whether you should take on f7 with check or not? What do you think? BTW, Black should have played safer with 8…Be6.


Solution:

White’s best move in this position was 9.d4 Nf6 10.Ng5 Rf8 11.Bxf7+ Rxf7 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.Qf3 Kg8 (13...Bh4 14.Qh5+) 14.Qxg3 Ng4 15.Qf4 Qe8 16.Bd2 Be6 17.Rae1 Na6 18.Nd5 c6 19.Ne3 Nxe3 20.Rxe3 Nc7 21.Rg3 and White has a fine attacking position as well as being the exchange up. Let’s look at what happened and could have happened after White did, indeed, play the bishop check: 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Ne5+ Ke6? [A mistake. Also mistaken is 10...Ke7? 11.Nd5+ Ke6 12.Qg4+ Kxe5 13.Qxg3+ Ke6 14.Qg4+ Ke5 15.d4+ Kxd4 16.Be3+ Ke5 17.Qf4+ Ke6 18.Qf5#; HOWEVER, Black has a winning defense with 10...Ke8! 11.Nf7 (11.Qh5+ g6 12.Nxg6 Nf6 13.Qh6 (13.Rxf6 Qxf6 14.Nxh8+ Kf8) 13...Rg8 14.Nd5 Rxg6 15.Nxf6+ Qxf6 16.Rxf6 Rxh6 17.Rxh6 Bg4 18.Kg2 Be5 19.c3 h1Q+ 20.Rxh1 h5 21.d4 Bf6) 11...Qh4 12.d4 Nc6 13.Bg5 Qg4 14.Qxg4 Bxg4 15.Be3 Nf6 16.Nxh8 Kf8 17.Kg2 Bh4 18.Nd5 Bd7 19.Nxc7 Rc8 20.Nd5 Kg8 21.Nxf6+ Bxf6 22.c3 Kxh8] 11.Qg4+ Kxe5 [When figuring this line out, you have to see Black’s alternatives: 11...Ke7 12.Qxg7+ Ke6 13.Qf7+ Kxe5 14.Qd5#] 12.d4+ Kxd4 13.Be3+ [This also works quite well:13.Qd1+ Kc5 (13...Ke5 14.Qd5#) 14.Qd5+ Kb6 15.Qb3+ Kc6 16.Qb5#] 13...Kxe3 [13...Ke5 14.Bd4+ Kxd4 15.Qd1+ Kc5 16.Qd5+ Kb6 17.Qb5#] 14.Rad1 Bxg4 15.Rd3# The queen sacrifice at the end was cute. I hope you play through all the variations above because there are so many good attacking moves that could have been played and also good defensive moves you have to be aware of before you venture on Bxf7+. Chess can be complicated. This game is a good learning experience to start to understand that.

 


Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.

 

 

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