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The power of minor pieces

The power of minor pieces

Only Chess

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I sacrificed my queen for rook and knight, with only positional compensation, in the attached game, after overlooking a simple knight move by my opponent. However he never recovered from his lack of development and I won a very proud game in the end! (And it makes up for my ignominious defeat in our other match...)

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Good game. I never flinched at giving up the Old Lady for
a Rook and bit plus play OTB.

In these situations with the Queen the only active piece the defender
has to look at ways of giving her back for a couple of pieces.
This usually does not cross their minds till it's too late.

Bravo!

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23...Kg8 instead of ...Ke8 would have caused you grief. Then 24. Nfg5 f6! looks good. So 23...Kg8; 24. Nhg5 and you have lost both tempi and momentum.

An immediate 23 Ng5 was better. (If 23...Qxf6; 24 Nh7+ wins the Q)

Never mind though. The best GM wins are rarely flawless

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Originally posted by atticus2
23...Kg8 instead of ...Ke8 would have caused you grief. Then 24. Nfg5 f6! looks good. So 23...Kg8; 24. Nhg5 and you have lost both tempi and momentum.

An immediate 23 Ng5 was better. (If 23...Qxf6; 24 Nh7+ wins the Q)

Never mind though. The best GM wins are rarely flawless
After 23...Kg8 I was planning 24. fxg6 fxg6 25. Nfg5 followed by either Bh3-e6 or doubling rooks on the f-file. Not quite sure what would have followed 24... f6 here though.

23. Ng5 is nice - I looked at it - but wasn't sure how to make progress after ...Kg7

I think there are many more flaws in the the game though...!

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Originally posted by atticus2
23...Kg8 instead of ...Ke8 would have caused you grief. Then 24. Nfg5 f6! looks good. So 23...Kg8; 24. Nhg5 and you have lost both tempi and momentum.

An immediate 23 Ng5 was better. (If 23...Qxf6; 24 Nh7+ wins the Q)

Never mind though. The best GM wins are rarely flawless
An interesting game.

If 23.....Kg8
then 24 fg fg ( 24.....Be4 is well answered by 25 gf)
25 Nhg5 is still interesting as unravelling isn't easy for black


later on in the game black's b5 is an instructive error as it helps white create another passed pawn. I can't make up my mind if an immediate Kc7 would result in a tenable ending for black: what is anyone else's thoughts on this?