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Larsen's Slip

Larsen's Slip

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p

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24 Aug 07
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14 Apr 10
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Black To Move

Larsen had played a nice game up to this point, but here he does something quite brilliant.


20. ... Rc5! FORCING white to win the exchange!



Play followed 21.Bxc5 dxc5



What has black achieved? He has total control of the dark squares. White's king is also very exposed after moving all of the pawns around him. Black would like to invade with say Qe5 or Qg3 and Qf2. Then, the white king could find itself in serious trouble.


White played 22.Rd5.



Here Larsen played 22. ... e6, but this may not be correct.
22. ... Qg3 seems to be the best way to keep Black's (!) advantage.

This is quite an excellent exchange sacrifice in any regard. If you look at the position on move 20, you would never imagine that anything remotely interesting would go on in the position.

22. ... e6 23.Qxc5! Qg3 was how the actual game continued.



Then 24.Rg5 Qf4+ (another brilliant idea that just doesn't quite work ... 24. ... Bh6 would cut black's losses but doesn't appear very appetizing.) 25. Kc2 f5



The rook is trapped out of play, and black is preparing to become very active against white's king (Rd8).

26.exf5 exf5 27.Rd1?

27.Qxa5! makes it hard for black to proceed.



(Rd8 is prevented, and black can't really make progress)

27.Rd1



allows 27. ... Qxh4

Larsen instead tried 27. ... b6.



which was met by 28.Qe7? (28.Qd6 wins! 28. ... Qxh4 29.Qg3!) Qxh4 29.Rd7??



Here, black has a nice win.

(See the actual game below)



This is a very interesting game with more than a couple flashes of brilliance from Larsen. 20. ... Rc5, for example, was actually the best move on the board!

Note: Around move 32, Larsen is trying to lure the white king to a dark square, so that he can take on g5 WITH check. By the time he achieves this, he has something a little better. 🙂

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

* Special thanks, once again, to Greenpawn.

Marinkatomb
wotagr8game

tbc

Joined
18 Feb 04
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61941
Clock
16 Apr 10
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Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
[fen]5rk1/1pq1ppbp/2rp2p1/pQ6/P1P1P2P/1P2BP2/6P1/2KR3R[/fen]

Black To Move

Larsen had played a nice game up to this point, but here he does something quite brilliant.


20. ... Rc5! FORCING white to win the exchange!

[fen]5rk1/1pq1ppbp/3p2p1/pQr5/P1P1P2P/1P2BP2/6P1/2KR3R[/fen]

Play followed 21.Bxc5 dxc5

[fen]5rk1/1pq1ppbp/6p1 ...[text shortened]... u enjoyed it as much as I did.

* Special thanks, once again, to Greenpawn.
Wow that was really interesting, thanks for that. I can't halp feeling that black had a simpler win though. From the original position, ..Bh6 looks like it wins the black bishop. WHite has to move the Queen as the black bishop no longer prevents ..Rc5 on the following move (winning the Queen). White cannot defend the Queen and the bishop on the same move (unless i'm missing something, which i probably am...)

p

Joined
24 Aug 07
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48477
Clock
16 Apr 10
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Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Wow that was really interesting, thanks for that. I can't halp feeling that black had a simpler win though. From the original position, ..Bh6 looks like it wins the black bishop. WHite has to move the Queen as the black bishop no longer prevents ..Rc5 on the following move (winning the Queen). White cannot defend the Queen and the bishop on the same move (unless i'm missing something, which i probably am...)
That was a pretty good idea, that I overlooked!

After 20. ...Bh6 21.Bxh6 is white's only move!

The computer continues 21. ... Rc5 22.Qxc5 Qxc5 23.Bxf8 Kxf8.



White has two rooks for the queen and a slight (around a pawn's worth of) advantage.

He plays Kc2 and Rd2 and covers all his weaknesses.

20. ... Bh6 was a really nice idea that just doesn't quite work. Put the rook on d8 instead of f8, and it's a definite win. 🙂

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