Two Knights' Defense: Fritz

Did White miss a win here?

Here is a test of one of the key main lines of the TKD, the Fritz [300'30 game in 1] (Against the 5...Na5 variation, White is better after: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5ch c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.Qf3, 8...Qc7, 8...h6, 8...Bb7, and 8...cxb5; however, after 8...Be7 and 8...Rb8, it is equal.)

4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4 6.c3 b5 7.Bf1 Nxd5 8.cxd4 Qxg5 9.Bxb5ch Kd8 10.O-O Rb8 [the usual try here is Bb7 11.Qf3 Rb8 12.dxe5! Ne3 13.Qh3 Qxg2+ 14.Qxg2 Nxg2 15.d4 Nh4 16.Bg5+ Be7 17.Bxh4! +/-] 11.Bc6 exd4 12.d3 Qf5 13.Re1 Bd6 14.Nd2 Rb6 15.Bxd5 Qxd5 16.Nc4

Now White prevents Black from getting the Bishop pair which can be used to provoke weaknesses on the Kingside; White is better. Ra6 17.Nxd6 cxd6? (Why not Qxd6 here? Why doesn't the computer recognize how weak the d-pawns are? Houdini spent over 10 minutes on this move.)

18.Qe2 Bd7 19.Qe7ch Kc8 20.Qh4 Re8 (White should not have been able to simply so easily; clearly Black's practical play up to here must be improved. What Houdini doesn't realize is that I have the draw “in hand” and can now try to find the win.) 21.Rxe8 Bxe8 22.b3

Rc6 23.Bb2 Rc2 24.Bxd4 g5! (Houdini earns its nickname; it sees that a Rook on the seventh is worth a pawn and just simplifies into a BOC ending) 25.Qe4 Qxe4 26.dxe4

Draw offer declined---Kb7 27.Rd1! The simplest pathway to a draw. Rxa2 28.Bf6 Ra3 29.Bxg5 Rxb3 30.Be7 Bb5? (The start of a dubious plan) 31.Bxd6 (Draw offer declined) Rd3? (What Houdini doesn't realize is that it's passed pawn is the wrong color while my potentially passed h-pawn is the right color; Houdini obviously (?) knows how to draw this---it is getting out to Depth = 33) 32.Rxd3 Bxd3 33.f3 Kc6 34.Be7 Kb5? (Playing for the loss) 35.Kf2 a5

36.g4 (Houdini's evaluation suddenly shot to +1.45; then it saw it had to return to the Kingside and dropped the evaluation to +1.00) Kc6 37.Ke3 Bc2 38.h4 Kd7 39.Ba3 a4 40.g5 (+1.58) Ke6 41.Bf8 Bd1 42.h5 f6 43.g6 hxg6 44.h6 a3 45.Bxa3 Kf7 46.Bb2 Bb3 47.h7 Kg7 48.h8Q+ Kxh8 49.Bxf6+ 1/2-1/2

f you would like to see the thoughts of a correspondence master on this subject, see http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-Knights-A-Chess-Killing-Machine-with-an-Emphasis-on-4-Ng5-/271319251507?ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123