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Boris Spassky vs Lajos Portisch
Portisch - Spassky Candidates Quarterfinal (1980), Mexico City MEX, rd 14, May-03
Formation: King's Indian Attack (A07)  ·  1/2-1/2

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
1/2-1/2

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Mar-11-15  Howard: Remind me to go over this game sometime. It was the last game of a 14-game month, and due to bad tiebreaks for Spassky, he had to go for a win at all costs. Didn't get it...but the game certainly looks hard-fought.
Aug-25-16  RookFile: Have to give Portisch all the credit in the world. I know for sure I wouldn't have to have had black here, with the fate of the match at stake.
Jan-06-17  Howard: I think you mean "wouldn't want to have had Black here".
May-15-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: It can be quite unbelievable what a difference a single move can make. 45. Kh1.


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Play now went
45...Rxd6
46. Rxd6 Rxd6
47. Rxd6 Nf2+
48. Kg1 Nxe4
49. Qxd4+ Qxd4+
50. Rxd4 Nxg3.


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Black was the exchange down but drew.
Black played 47....Nf2+. He should have played that move one move earlier, and it would have won:
46...Nf2+!


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White has only one reasonable move:
47 Kg1. Now 47...Nxe4 has two threats: to take the rook on d6 and mate in 2 by ...Qf2+ and ...Ng3# So
48. Qxd4+ Qxd4+
49. Rxd4 Rxd4


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...and Black is a piece up.
Here is the position from the game:


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Strangely similar!

May-15-17  Howard: You mean Black missed a win here? As I recall, Informant 29 doesn't mention this at all. Remind me to look at that later today--I'm not home right now.

Would anyone else want to comment on this?

May-15-17  Retireborn: Perhaps the score we have here is wrong? All my sources give 43.Rab6 as played, which means there's still a rook on f6 which prevents <offramp>'s 46...Nxf2 - the Informator annotator (Forintos) even mentions that.
May-15-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <Rétireborn> Yes! 43. Rab6 sorts the game out. (Also necessary is the extra letter in 46. Rbd6.)
May-16-17  Howard: Yes, I just checked Informant 29 last night. Retireborn is quite correct !

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