I have recently played this game, and I lost it after being a minor piece down, and my opponent playing solidly after that. The critical turning point of the game was the following sequence of moves, starting from the critical position:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe my mistake could have been avoided with the following complicated sequence of moves:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what are your thoughts?

It looks like 2.c6+? is the weak move.  Perhaps best is 2.b6! Qc6 3.Ra5 threatening 4.Bb5, pinning the Queen and King and winning the Queen.

The given solution looks too long and complicated.

I think the following is simpler and more direct, although it's only a basic analysis! (there are variations in the move order, but I'm not sure how to make them obvious!)

billwall wrote: It looks like 2.c6+? is the weak move.  Perhaps best is 2.b6! Qc6 3.Ra5 threatening 4.Bb5, pinning the Queen and King and winning the Queen.

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 Great suggestion Bill, thanks! I agree 2. c6+? was a weak move, it was made under a time constraint and for some reason I missed 2. ... ke8. I think that is very accurate play that you suggested, more so than the lines that I suggested.

 

RobertMumford wrote:

The given solution looks too long and complicated.

I think the following is simpler and more direct, although it's only a basic analysis! (there are variations in the move order, but I'm not sure how to make them obvious!)

 

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 Thanks Robert! I think black can capture back the queen with 1. ... Nxc7 and after that Black can leave the knight on that square, because as soon as white captures it, it will just even out the game, and release the immense pressure on Black's position.

gmatt wrote:

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 Thanks Robert! I think black can capture back the queen with 1. ... Nxc7 and after that Black can leave the knight on that square, because as soon as white captures it, it will just even out the game, and release the immense pressure on Black's position.

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Gmatt, I covered that as a sub-line, it looked like a win for white, but I'm not sure how to make it appear. If you look at the move-list it is shown. I think Nxc7 is the critical line, and should probably be promoted!