
Leif Erlend Johannessen vs Angelos Vouldis
Athens Acropolis GM (2003), ?, rd 1
King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation. Classical System Neo-Classsical Line (E99)  ·  0-1



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Kibitzer's Corner
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Sep-05-06  ianD: 32.axb6? what was he thinking??
Sep-05-06  EmperorAtahualpa: Yup, spotted this one! Not too difficult, about right for a Tuesday.
Sep-05-06  Mendrys: It's hard to see what the idea behind 32. axb6 was. Too bad as he just refuted blacks sacrifice on move 26 only to throw it all away with a nonsense move. I lost many a game like this one, having a totally winning position only to throw it away trying to get cute.
Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: How could White have won the game? Why did he lose? The answer is in White's 32nd move. It's not hard to figure out.

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For (32?), find White's best move and worst possible move.

Solution: See <Random Visitor>'s first post (best move) and game continuation (worst move).

Sep-05-06  mikejaqua: >if KxR black mates in a couple of moves & if RxR, Rxa1+ and white loses the queen.<

OK. I don't get this one. Someone please explain the above assertion.

Sep-05-06  Veryrusty: If 33. Kxg2, Rg8+ is persuasive.
Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: <mikejaqua> After 32. Rxg2 Rxa1+, White must interpose and give up the Queen to get out of check (diagram below).

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White to move (33?) after 32. Rxg2 Rxa1+.

After 32. Kxg2 Rg8+ 33. Kf1, it's mate in two for Black

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Black to move (33...?) and mate in two.

Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: Of course Johannessen himself was on the receiving end of a gift blunder in the game Beliavsky vs L E Johannessen, 2002.
Sep-05-06  Castle In The Sky: I got the move, but did not see the full mating solution-a half point for me.
Sep-05-06  alphee: As said earlier it's an easy one! It seems that Ra8xa2 also works: remove the Bg2's guard first.
Sep-05-06  YouRang: I found the answer pretty quickly, but this puzzle seems familiar. I think it might have been a daily puzzle once before.
Sep-05-06  YouRang: <jahhaj: KID question. Is it OK for White to take the g pawn on move 18? Doesn't seem to me that Black gets much for the pawn.> Good question.

Obviously, 18. Bxb4 drew the bishop away from the defense of g3, allowing 18...g3, which weakened the White kingside a bit, which was later broken apart by a bishop sac, which led to the winning attack.

So, Black's compensation for the pawn was subtle, but apparently he got more out of the deal than White. :-)

Sep-05-06  Chess Lou Zer: Must confess, didn't get it. But then look at my name!
Premium Chessgames Member
  jahhaj: <YouRang> I see now that 18.fxg4 is well answered by 18...Nf6 hitting both e and g pawns. So the key point behind 17...g4 was that White's knight is no longer defending the e pawn.
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: It's funny,but with black a piece down I was looking for a perpetual check-say at e1 and h4. I had failed to see that after the text,white had to face mate or the loss of his queen.

The rook at a2 is overworked:forced to defend g2 and shield the rook at a1. In addition,the pawns AND white's queen hem in the white king to the first and second ranks. Mate would soon follow Kxg2.

Sep-05-06  InspiredByMorphy: Is 28.Be2 a playable option for white?
Premium Chessgames Member
  jahhaj: <InspiredByMorphy> I don't think so, White loses pretty quickly to 28...Qd7 and if 29.Kh2 then 29...Rg8 30...Rg3 wins.

28.Bxg2 was OK apparently, it was 32.axb6 that was the mistake.

Sep-05-06  dzechiel: Saw this one at a glance. The rook on a2 is overloaded protecting both g2 and a1.
Sep-05-06  NateDawg: Fairly simple puzzle once you notice that the White Rook at a2 is overloaded (defending the Bishop and Rook at a1), and find the mate for Black after ♔xg2.

If White plays 33. ♔xg2 he loses to 33...♖g8+ 34. ♔f1 ♕h1+ 35. ♔e2 ♖g2#, while 33. ♖xg2 loses to 33...♖xa1+ 34. ♕f1 ♖xf1+ 35. ♔xf1 ♕h1+ 36. ♔f2 ♕c1! 37. bxc7 ♕e3+ 38. ♔f1 ♕xf3+ 39. ♖f2 (39. ♔e1 and 39. ♔g1 allow Black to force mate more quickly) ♕h1+ 40. ♔e2 ♕xe4+ 41. ♔d1 f3 and Black has mate in 11.

Sep-05-06  Knight13: Half point doesn't count. You don't sac a rook in a real-time game when you don't see the continuation for a win.
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <Knight13: Half point doesn't count. You don't sac a rook in a real-time game when you don't see the continuation for a win.>

Of course you do. Or you may not, but quite a lot of other people do. Even Kasparov's famous rook sac against Topalov (Wijk aan Zee 1999) was played with the draw in hand - ie he knew he had a good chance of finding a win, but could also be sure of not losing.

If you have to see a clear 'continuation for a win' then it barely merits being called a sacrifice at all.

Sep-05-06  scorpius: Too easy ;)
Sep-05-06  Knight13: <Domdaniel> I think you know what I meant. What I meant by continuation for a win is that "you don't sac a rook and end up gaining nothing from it" meaning "you don't sac if you're not sure."
Sep-05-06  aldehyde: I think that it was all white's blunder to play 32. axb. it was so much visible as a bad move, infact disasterous move. or else it was a clear white's game after. anyway, i would have gone with a queen exchange & played later on safely.
Sep-06-06  mikejaqua: <patzer2> Thanks.
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