Mating with Minor Pieces: Two Bishops
Of my last few tournaments, my best result was definitely at San Sebastian, Spain in April. I tied for first there with an undefeated 7.0/9. I included one of my earlier games (against FM Angel Arribas Lopez) in an article titled "Spicing up the Exchange French."
After that game against Arribas Lopez, I had the white pieces against IM Daniel Alsina Leal. He has been consistently hovering around 2500 FIDE for a little while now, although when I first met him in 2006, he was barely over 2400 FIDE. He had gotten off to a great start in this tournament, but a bad loss to Delchev had sent him back to the pack when I faced him.
Question 1: How would you react to 15...Qb6? Would you take the pawn on e6 with 16.Nxe6, or play 16.Be3?
Question 2: How would you continue with the white pieces after 17...0-0?
Question 3: White has a choice here: go after the queen with 23.Rac1 (and allow an exchange of the e-pawns) or support his e4-pawn with 23.f3 - which would you play?
Question 4: How does White improve his position here after 25...Qb7?
Question 5: What's the fastest way to finish Black off after 30...Kh8?
Here is the entire game in one viewer:
