Chess Game of the Day: Italian Game

 

One of my online chess games. White takes a pawn advantage, Black evens, then achieves a winning position, bungles it but wins on time (1+2 bullet game). Some annotations below . . .

8. …Be7 (8. …cxd5?? 9. Qxa8)

10. Ba4 White is up a pawn but Black is fine.

13. …Qxe3+ In hindsight, I like 13. …Nxb3 better. The actual move I think gives White a small edge,

29. Rf2? (29. f4 is a better way to block the Black bishop.)

39. c5? (39. Rc5 puts more pressure on the Black pawns.)

40. Kf2? (40. Kg2 looks better.)

40. …Rb2+? (Not as good as 40. …g4.)

43. …fxg4 Black has a winning position.

45. …h3?? Black wins with either 45. …Kh7 or 45. …Rc1+.

White had 23 seconds left here but just ran out the clock. It seems counterintuitive but White can draw even two pawns down here with any rook move that doesn’t actually lose the rook.

For example, 46.Rb8 Rxc7 47.Rb4 Rc1+ 48.Kh2 Rc2+ 49.Kh1 and Black has no way to force a win.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *