chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing
Eugenio Torre vs Wolfgang Unzicker
Hoogovens (1981), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 4, Jan-20
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Reshevsky Variation (E46)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

explore this opening
find similar games 1 more E Torre/Unzicker game
PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

TIP: You can get computer analysis by clicking the "ENGINE" button below the game.

PGN Viewer:  What is this?
For help with this chess viewer, please see the Olga Chess Viewer Quickstart Guide.
PREMIUM MEMBERS CAN REQUEST COMPUTER ANALYSIS [more info]

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jun-04-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Benzol: Can someone tell me why it's 'Castling' and not 'Rooking'?
Jun-04-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: Rooking sounds too sexual.
Jun-05-05  Boomie: If 21. hxg4, there is mate in 5.

21. hxg4 Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Qh4+ 23. Kg1 Bh2+ 24. Kh1 Bg3+ 25. Kg1 Qh2#

After 26...Qh4+ followed by Rxe3, white is helpless. He either gets mated or gives up boxloads of wood.

27. Kf1

(27. Ng3 Bxg3+ 28. Rxg3 Nh5 29. Ke2 Qh2+ 30. Kd1 Rxe3)

(27. Rg3 Bxg3+ 28. Nxg3 Qh2+ 29. Kf1 Rxe3)

27... Rxe3 28. Qc3

(28. f4 Rf3+ 29. Kg1 Qe1+ 30. Kh2 Ng4+ 31. Rxg4 Qxe2+ 32. Rg2 Bxf4+ 33. Kh1 Rf1+ 34. Rg1 Qh2#)

(28. Rf2 Qh1+ 29. Ng1 Nh5 30. Rg2 Rxf3+ 31. Ke1 Qxg2)

28... Bf4 29. Nxf4 Rxc3 30. Bxc3 Qxf4

Jun-05-05  Boomie: On the 21. hxg4 line, white can sac two pieces to avoid the mate.

21. hxg4 Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Qh4+ 23. Ng3 Qxg3+ 24. Ke2 Qxg2+ 25. Rf2 Qh3

Jul-28-12  backrank: 20. ... Bxg4!! is still one of my favorite moves ever. The game itself is typical for Unzicker's style: first he strengthens his position gradually, and suddenly he strikes tactically.
May-23-15  SpiritedReposte: Everything one knows since learning how to play chess would tell you the g4 pawn was very protected.

Throw in a little king safety with a batteried queen and the impossible becomes possible! What a move to find.

May-23-15  epistle: I wonder how many minutes wolfgang consumed for bxg4.
Jan-05-20  landshark: A rare Sunday full point for this shark - probably the first ever Saturday night (my time zone). Usually I'm too foggy to even solve Tuesdays on Monday night (:

On this one I saw the carnage that would follow if White recaptured the B after 20....Bxg4 - I was surprised by 21.Qc5 but decided to go move by move to see what I could do - found the Q check on h2 followed by ....Bxh3 easily enough and after 23.Rg1 just felt enough was enough - B is totally winning here.

Jan-05-20  TheBish: E Torre vs Unzicker, 1981

Black to play (20...?) "Insane"

Black has a powerful battery of queen and bishop aiming at h2, which is clearly key to the solution. The immediate check goes nowhere, but I soon noticed that if the h3 pawn were somehow eliminated, Black would have an easy win with queen checks on h2 and h4, since White would be forced to give up the knight with Ng3, else there is a mating attack (after Kg1) starting with ...Bh2+. How to remove the pawn on h3? How about deflecting it away with a sacrifice on g4?

20...Bxg4!! 21. fxg4

This is more or less forced, as the other capture leads to the aforementioned win after 21. hxg4 Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Qh4+ 23. Ng3 (or 23. Kg1 Bh2+ 24. Kh1 Bg3+, mating) 23...Qxg3+ 24. Kg1 Qh2+ 25. Kf2 Bg3+ 26. Ke2 Qxg2+. Not capturing the bishop is also problematic, not just for the loss of the pawn, but because of the dual threats of ...Bf5 and ...Bxh3 (or the queen check first).

21...Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Ne4+ 23. Kf3

Or 23. Ke1 Qxg2 and White is getting crushed, with further threats of ...Bg3+ and ...Qxh3.

23...Ng5+ 24. Kf2 Nxh3+ 25. Kf3 Ng5+ 26. Kf2 Qh4+

At this point White should resign, as he is facing mate after 27. Kg1 Bh2+ 28. Kh1 Bg3+, or further loss of material after 27. Ng3 Qxg3+, as outlined above.

Jan-05-20  mel gibson: I wasn't sure about this one.
I thought it was a sac of the Knight or Bishop on g4.

Stockfish 10 agrees with the first move of the text:

20...Bxg4

(20. .. Bxg4 (♗c8xg4 ♔g1-f2 ♗g4xh3 ♗g2xh3 ♕d6-h2+ ♔f2-e1 ♕h2xh3 ♕c2-d3 ♘f6-h5 ♘e2-g1 ♕h3-h2 ♔e1-d1 ♖a8-a2 ♕d3-c3 ♕h2-g2 ♖f1-e1 ♗c7-g3 ♖b1-b2 ♖a2xb2 ♕c3xb2 ♕g2xb2 ♗c1xb2 ♗g3xe1 ♔d1xe1 ♖e8xe3+ ♔e1-d2 ♖e3-b3 ♗b2-c3 ♘h5-g3 ♔d2-c2 ♖b3-a3 ♔c2-b2 ♖a3-a8 ♔b2-c2 ♖a8-a2+ ♗c3-b2 f7-f5 ♔c2-b3 ♖a2-a8 ♘g1-h3 ♔g8-f7 ♘h3-f2 g6-g5) +7.56/35 160)

score for Black +7.56 depth 35

Jan-05-20  Walter Glattke: 21.-hxg4 22.Qh2+ 23.Kf2 Qh4+ (24.Kg1 Bh2+ 25.Kh1 Bg3+ 26.Kg1 Qh2#) 24.Ng3 Qxg3+ 25.Ke2 Qxg2+ 26.Rf2 N+P … 21.Qc5 … 26.-Qh4+ (last move) 27.Kf1 Rxe3 3P
Jan-05-20  agb2002: The dark squares around the white king are too weak. This detail suggests 20... Bxg4:

A) 21.hxg4 Qh2+ 22.Kf2 Qh4+ 23.Ng3 (23.Kg1 Bh2+ 24.Kh1 Bg3+ and mate in two) 23... Qxg3+ 24.Kg1 (24.Ke2 Qxg2+ wins) 24... Qh2+ 25.Kf2 Bg3+ 26.Ke2 Qxg2+ wins.

B) 21.fxg4 Qh2+ 22.Kf2 Ne4+ 23.Kf3 (23.Ke1 Qxg2 looks winning) 23... Ng5+ 24.Kf2 Nxh3+ 25.Kf3 Ng5+ 26.Kf2 Qh4+ as in A.

C) 21.Nf4 Bf5

C.1) 22.Nd3 Qh2+ 23.Kf2 Bg3+ 24.Ke2 Qxg2+ wins.

C.2) 22.e4 dxe4 23.fxe4 Nxe4 wins a second pawn with an overwhelming position.

Jan-05-20  King.Arthur.Brazil: I failed to find the answer, although had analyzed moves like: 20...♘e4, 20...♗f5, 20...♘xg4, and 20...♗xg5 I didn't feel safe about any. following the game, I saw that directly after 21.fxg4 for example. 21... ♕h2+ 22. ♔f2 ♘e4+ 23. ♔f3 f5 24. g5 ♘xg5+... or 23.♔e1 ♕cg2 where Black has good position for attack. While for 21. hxg4 a possible sequence would be: 21... ♕h2+ 22. ♔f2 ♕h4+ 23. ♔g1 ♗h2+ 24. ♔h1 ♖xe3 25. ♗xe3 ♗f4+ 26. ♔g1 ♗xe3+ 27. ♖f2 ♕xf2+ 28. ♔h1 ♕h4+ 29. ♗h3 ♕xh3#. But this is not forced.

The Eu- "genious" answer remove the ♕ from defence is bad. It could be played: ("bad players don't resist to give checks") 21.♕c5 ♕h2+ 22.♔f2 ♗xh3 23.♖g1. Up to now, I found the line!

Studying 23...♖e4 threats 24...♖g4. If 24. fxe4 ♘xe4+ gets the ♕ at c5. Another sequence could be 24.♕c2 ♖g4 25. fxg4 ♘xg4+ 26. ♔f1 ♗xg2+ 27. ♖xg2 ♕h1+ 28. ♖g1 ♕f3+ 29. ♔e1 ♕f2+ 30. ♔d1 ♘h2... The move 23...♖a2 24.♖b2 ♖xb2 25.♗xb2 is used to deviate the ♗ from defence also. I proposed 25...♘e4 Didn't see the direct exchange combination too (see line "B").

After 26... ♕h4+
A- 27.♔g1?? ♕e1#, B- 27.♘g3 ♗xg3+ 28. ♖xg3 ♘h5 earns the ♖ C- 27.{Kf1 Rxe3 28.f4 (28. Ng1?? Re1#, 28.Ng3? Bxb3) 28... Rf3+ 29. Kg1 Qe1+ 30. Kh2 Rf1 31. Ng1 Bxf4+ 32. Kh3 Qe3+ 33. Kh4 g5+ 34. Rxg5 Bxg5#

D- 27. ♘g3 ♗xg3+ 28. ♔g1 (or ♔f1}) ♖xe3 with the threat of 29.♖e1# and ♖xf3 and attack continues.

E-27. ♘g3 ♗xg3+ 28. ♔e2} ♕h3 and the white ♖ is losen too with 29. ♖xg3 ♕xg3, because 29. ♖g1? ♕h2+ (30.♔f1?? ♕f2#) or 29.♔f1?? ♖xe3 30. ♗c3 (or ♕c1) then ♕h1+ 31. ♖g1 ♕xf3# . Now it is easy...

Jan-05-20  thegoodanarchist: I found 20...Bxg4. However I couldn’t figure out what to do after 21.hxg4
Jan-05-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  chrisowen: <thegoodanarchist> wolfgang's green?
Jan-05-20  Cheapo by the Dozen: I didn't see the ... Qh4+ idea at all, so naturally I didn't get very far with the puzzle.
Jan-05-20  botvinnik64: 1981 - here we are, almost 40 years later, and Torre is still playing chess, representing The Philippines in the Olympics for a record number of times. He got wiped out here by another player we should not forget - Unzicker. A nice, albeit not terribly difficult puzzle (for Sunday, at least).
Jan-05-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: The only question I had was whether to take with the ♗ or the ♘, and the answer was easy: 20...Bxg4, because of 21. hxg4 (21. fxg4 Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Ne4+ 23. Ke1 Qxg2) Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Qh4+ 23. Kg1 Bh2+ 24. Kh1 Bg3+ 25. Kg1 Qh2#.

After 21. Qc5 (which I didn't foresee) Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Bxh3 23. Rg1, 23...Nh5 looks like a good alternative to the move played: 24. Kf1 Bxg2+ 25. Rxg2 Qh1+ 26. Ng1 Ng3+ 27. Kf2 Ra2+ 28. Rb2 Rxb2+ 29. Bxb2 Nf5 30. Bc1 Nxe3 31. Bxe3 Rxe3 32. Kxe3 Qxg2 leaves black three pawns up.

Jan-05-20  WorstPlayerEver: Fine line is not very hard:

20... Bxg4 21. hxg4 Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Qh4+ 23. Ng3 Qxg3+ 24. Ke2

-----

But the second line was much tougher. The 21. Qc5 line went way above my head.

I had 21. fxg4 Qh2+ 22. Kf2 Ne4+ which is correct and easy winning, but I did not look at 21. Qc5

SF line gives the same 21. Qc5 line, but I had:

24. Bb2 Nh5 25. Qc3 Bg3+ 26. Nxg3 Nxg3 (27. Nxg3 Nxg3+ 28. Kf2 [I had 28... Rf6] Bxg2 29. Rxg2 Ne4+) 27. Qd3 (here I had 27... Nf5, which is winning but SF played a weird Rook move) Re6 28. b5 Nh1+ 29. Kf1

Now I bet you have never seen so many pieces stacked up in a corner of the board. It really pleased me that I questioned 24. Bb2 as well. Because the diagram shows how weird things can get in chess:


click for larger view

29... cxb5 30. Qd2 Ng3+ 31. Kf2

All in all I think I missed 50% of these lines. Which is not a bad score I think ;)

The game is certainly worth a thorough approach IMO. Had much fun with it. White obviously was in an awkward position, but to find the best moves is a completely different story.

Jan-05-20  WorstPlayerEver: PS I forgot to add that the last line is still a problem after 31. Kf2

31... Rf6 32. Qc2 Bg4 33. Rgf1 Rxf3+


click for larger view

34. Ke1 and now it's mate-in-7

Jan-05-20  metroXmagnum85X: I still dont understand why the bishop isnt captured. Can somebody please explain?
Jan-05-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Bishoprick: In answer to Benzol's question: Rooking someone is to cheat him. Question answered?
Jan-09-20  thegoodanarchist: <chrisowen: <thegoodanarchist> wolfgang's green?>

Sorry, <chrisowen>, I have no clue what you are talking about (as usual).

Jan-09-20  thegoodanarchist: <metroXmagnum85X: I still dont understand why the bishop isnt captured. Can somebody please explain?>

You should read through the comments. at least 2 different people already explained it, before you asked.

Jan-12-20  searchforbobby1: Hey Chrisowens,

What language is that?

search thread:   
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific game only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

This game is type: CLASSICAL. Please report incorrect or missing information by submitting a correction slip to help us improve the quality of our content.

<This page contains Editor Notes. Click here to read them.>

Featured in the Following Game Collections[what is this?]
Great Finishes
by williscreek
20...Bxg4!!
from Weakened Castled Position by patzer2
good tactic
by hartkoka
Round Four, Game #24
from Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1981 by suenteus po 147
20. ...Bxg4!! An optical illusion!
from Inspiring Games! by SpiritedReposte
20...? (Saturday, June 4)
from Puzzle of the Day 2005 by Phony Benoni
20...? (June 4, 2005)
from Saturday Puzzles, 2004-2010 by Phony Benoni
20. ... Bxg4!!
from Beautiful moves by backrank
Great Positional Sacrifices
by Easy Point
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Reshevsky Variation (E46) 0-1 20...?
from Indians Past Nimzo-, Bogo-, Anti-Fredthebear by fredthebear
20...Bxg4!!
from Weakened Castled Position by Jaredfchess
0ZeR0's Favorite Games Volume 3
by 0ZeR0
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Reshevsky Variation (E46) 0-1 20...?
from 4 -ER Others said so Cicero by fredthebear
20...? (Saturday, June 4)
from POTD Nimzo Indian 1 by takchess
20...Bxg4!!
from Weakened Castled Position by trh6upsz

Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2023, Chessgames Services LLC