Plain-ish recapture vs. speculative queen foray

hunterknox View Profile

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13 Aug '11 19:05

hunterknox View Profile

Hopeless romantic

Joined: 01 Oct '06
Moves: 41291

13 Aug '11 19:05

White to play in the following position:

Black has just captured on e4. Notice black's threat to the h2 pawn, which may-or-may-not be a problem.

White's options are:

Recapture with the queen on e4, after which Nf6 would shore up things for black and force white to find a useful spot for his queen. Any other move by black and white has some interesting options.

... or ...

Forget about the recapture and go for a speculative queen foray with Qxf7+, followed by Kd1, Qxg6, Re1 and further pressure from white on the kingside

What would you do and why?

Full game:

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Elmyr
Joined
05 Jun '11
Moves
521
13 Aug '11 20:14
There's nothing speculative about Qxf7. It's a very forcing line and there's really no excuse for missing it here.

EVENT July 2011 Mini Banded Threesomes II 1700"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "31
Invert Board PGN Headers Comments
[Event "July 2011 Mini Banded Threesomes II 1700"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "31"] {"2011. 08. [Round "1"] [White "hunterknox"] [Black "Marko Krale"] [WhiteRating "1637"] [BlackRating "1637"] [WhiteElo "1637"] [BlackElo "1637"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "8617053"]} 1. d4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Qxf3 c6 6. Be3 h6 7. Bc4 e6 8. Nge2 Bd6 9. O-O Qc7 10. Kh1 Nbd7 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Qxf7+ Kd8 {Forced.} 13. Qxg7 Re8 {Forced.} 14. Qg6 {Attacking the knight which has nowhere to go. Ng5 we just capture on h6 and it's a better variation than we see here.} Ndf6 {Nd7-f6 or Ne4-f6, doesn't matter which because... } 15. Rxf6 Nxf6 16. Qxf6+ {You're winning 2 pieces for a rook. Add to that an extra pawn or 2, a king stuck in the middle, and a lead in development and I'd say white is doing pretty good.} 0-1

If you want to improve in chess these are the kinds of variations you should really try and focus on (3-5 move forcing lines). There are hundreds of these lines in every game. Captures, recaptures, checks, threats. Keep it simple but calculate all of them through to the end.
hunterknox
Hopeless romantic
The sticks
Joined
01 Oct '06
Moves
41291
13 Aug '11 21:58
Interesting line. Is it that clear cut? I'm already down a knight and after Qe7 Qxh6 black's king can move to c7 and black will have connected rooks to punt the queen away soon enough.
Elmyr
Joined
05 Jun '11
Moves
521
13 Aug '11 22:45
No it's not clear cut. White would be better, black would be worse, but there would be a long road ahead. If I had the choice between my final position and the line you gave though:

EVENT July 2011 Mini Banded Threesomes II 1700"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "24
Invert Board PGN Headers Comments
[Event "July 2011 Mini Banded Threesomes II 1700"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "24"] {"2011. 08. [Round "1"] [White "hunterknox"] [Black "Marko Krale"] [WhiteRating "1637"] [BlackRating "1637"] [WhiteElo "1637"] [BlackElo "1637"] [Result "1-0"] [GameId "8617053"]} 1. d4 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3 5. Qxf3 c6 6. Be3 h6 7. Bc4 e6 8. Nge2 Bd6 9. O-O Qc7 10. Kh1 Nbd7 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Qxe4 Nf6 0-1

There's really nothing to discuss. White's down a pawn for nothing in the above position. Only black could be better IMO.
queenabber
Joined
22 Oct '10
Moves
1975
16 Aug '11 09:49
Originally posted by Elmyr
There's nothing speculative about Qxf7. It's a very forcing line and there's really no excuse for missing it here.

[pgn][Event "July 2011 Mini Banded Threesomes II 1700"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Result "0-1"] [PlyCount "31"] {"2011. 08. [Round "1"] [White "hunterknox"] [Black "Marko Krale"] [WhiteRating "1637"] [B ...[text shortened]... t simple but calculate all of them through to the end.
white might be able to improve by playing Q takes h6 instead of Qg6....
a lot of pressure

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Plain-ish recapture vs. speculative queen foray