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Alexander Shabalov vs Ilia Smirin
"Not Too Shabby" (game of the day Jan-11-2014)
Manila Olympiad (1992), Manila PHI, rd 3, Jun-10
Sicilian Defense: Richter-Rauzer. Classical Variation (B64)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 3 times; par: 115 [what's this?]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jan-11-14  pcarpane: how about 38.Nf7?
Jan-11-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: It seemed like white was toying with his opponent. Why does the dancing queen (no ABBA please) do beside running up the move count?
Jan-11-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  playground player: Funny to watch the Black Queen just sitting there with her teeth in her mouth.
Jan-11-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish.
Jan-11-14  RedShield: So's the Old City in Jerusalem.
Jan-11-14  Amadori: <pcarpane: how about 38.Nf7?>

Unfortunately the knight is pinned.

Jan-11-14  MountainMatt: <FSR: Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish.>

YES!!! "Some people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is; well he's not, but guess who is? All Three Stooges!"

Jan-11-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: <MountainMatt> Glad that someone got it. :-)
Oct-01-16  kamagong24: a book containing the collection of games in this Olympiad described it as ''a highly attacking allegorical game''

i never forgot these five words ever since :)

Jan-01-22  Brenin: Happy New Year, everyone! I had 24 Rh6+ Bxh6 25 Bg6+ Kg7 (otherwise 26 Qxh6) 26 Bxe8+ Kh7 27 Bg6+ Kg7 28 Bxe4+ Kf7 29 Qxh6, which I thought was promising, but I was't convinced it was winning. OTB I would play it and hope.
Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Happy New Year all!
Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: I got it, all but the last 50 moves.
Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  takchess: Happy New Year! I like the mini windmill with the bishop and rook for a few moves .
Jan-01-22  mel gibson: I saw that straight away and I saw the windmill.

I couldn't see a route to a fast checkmate
and that is correct as per below.

Stockfish 14.1 says:

24. Rh6+

(24. Rh6+ (♖g6-h6+
♗f8xh6 ♗h5-g6+ ♔h7-g7 ♗g6xe8+ ♔g7-h7 ♗e8-g6+ ♔h7-g7 ♗g6xe4+ ♔g7-f7 ♕d2xh6 ♖d8-h8 ♗e4-g6+ ♔f7-e7 ♘c3-d5+ ♕e5xd5 ♖g1-e1+ ♔e7-d8 ♕h6xh8+ ♔d8-c7 ♕h8xa8 ♕d5-d4 ♗g6-e4 d6-d5 ♗e4xd5 ♕d4xd5 ♕a8-h8 ♗d7-f5 h4-h5 ♔c7-b6 ♕h8-e5 ♕d5xe5 ♖e1xe5 ♗f5-h7 h5-h6 ♔b6-a7 ♔c1-d2 ♔a7-b6 a2-a4 a6-a5 ♖e5-e6+ ♔b6-a7 ♖e6-e7 ♗h7-f5 ♖e7-e5 ♗f5-g6 ♔d2-c1 ♔a7-b8 ♖e5xa5 ♗g6-h7 ♖a5-g5 ♔b8-a7 ♔c1-d2 ♔a7-a6 ♖g5-e5 ♔a6-b6) +9.62/43 408)

score for White +9.62 depth 43.

Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Too drunk to solve this one. Happy New Year, everyone.
Jan-01-22  Tiggler: wow! I think I got this one. Obviously not all, by maybe enough to count. HNY.
Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  hoodrobin: Happy New Year to All!
Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  agb2002: White is a bishop down.

Black threatens Qxh5.

The rook on g6 suggests 24.Rh6+ Bxh6 25.Bg6+:

A) 25... Kh8 26.Qxh6+ Kg8 27.Qh7+ Kf8 28.Qf7#.

B) 25... Kg8 28.Qxh6

B.1) 28... Qh2 29.Qh7+ Kf8 30.Qf7#.

B.2) 28... Qg7 29.Bh7+ Kh8 (29... Kf8 30.Rxg7 Nxg7 31.Qf6+ Ke8 32.Bg6#) 30.Rxg7 Nxg7 31.Bxe4+ Kg8 32.Bd5+ Be6 (32... Kf8 33.Qf6+ Ke8 34.Qf7#) 33.Bxe6+ wins decisive material.

B.3) 28... Ng7 29.Rf1 Bf5 (due to Qh7#) 30.Qh7+ Kf8 31.Rxf5+ wins decisive material (31... Nxf5 32.Qf7#).

C) 25... Kg7 26.Bxe8+

C.1) 26... Kf8 27.Qxh6+ Kxe8 (27... Ke7 28.Bh5 followed by Rg7 looks winning) 28.Rg8+ Ke(f)7 29.Qh7+

C.1.a) 29... Kf6 30.Qg6+ Ke7 31.Nd5+ Qxd5 32.Rg7+ Kf8 33.Qf6+ and mate next.

C.1.b) 29... Ke6 30.Rg6+ Qf6 (30... Kf5 31.Qf7+ Qf6 32.Qxf6#) 31.Rxf6+ Kxf6 32.Nd5+ Ke5 (32... Ke6 33.Nc7+) 33.Nb6 must be winning.

C.2) 26... Kh7 27.Bg6+ Kg7 (else as above) 28.Bxe4+ Kf7 (28... Kf8 29.Qxh6+ is more favorable to White than C.1 because the bishop is still on the board) 29.Qxh6

C.2.a) 29... Bf5 30.Bxf5 (30.Bd5+ also looks winning) 30... Qxf5 31.Rg7+ Ke8 (31... Kf8 32.Qh8#) 32.Qh8+ Qf8 33.Qh5+ Qf7 34.Qxf7#.

C.2.b) 29... Be6 30.Qh7+ Ke8 (30... Kf6 31.Qg7#; 30... Kf8 31.Rf1+ wins) 31.Bg6+ Kf8 32.Rf1+ wins.

C.2.c) 29... Bc6 30.Qh7+ and mate soon.

C.3) 26... Kf6 27.Qxh6+ Ke7 28.Rg7+ Qxg7 29.Qxg7+ Ke6 (29... Kxe8 30.Nd5 and 31.Qe7#) 30.Bf7+ Ke7 (30... Kf5 31.Qg5#) 31.Nd5#.

Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  agb2002: Happy New Year to everyone!
Jan-01-22  TheaN: I'm not really in the mood on New Years Day to write out a complete analysis of a Saturday puzzle, but the concept of this one is what matters more, I think.

After <24.Rxh6+ Bxh6 25.Bg6+> Black is dealing with all kinds of bleh; directly throwing Bh6 by moving the king away seems to be disaster, so <25....Kg7>.

Now White can pick up Ne8 for free <26.Bxe8+> being only the exchange behind, and Black <still> has to deal with the loose bishop. After <26....Kh7> else Qxh6 can the major pieces invade <27.Bg6+ Kg7>.

White repeats the position with no knight on e8, now <28.Bxe4 ± to +-> forces the king away from the bishop, so White picks up B+N+2P:R which should be enough.

Jan-01-22  TheaN: Actually, after 28.Bxe4 it's very clearly +- as it's +8. Worth a mention is the alternative 26....Kf8 attacking Be8, but of course 27.Qxh6+ Kxe8 28.Rg8+ Ke7 29.Rg7+ +- is rather simple for White. I don't think this Saturday is that tough, really.
Jan-01-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  chrisowen: Niggle mack out Rh6+ gotcha glock aoc jock afford puffin niggle mack outs tarquin its quilt jacks its basin bar roy its z pad its whiff huffle pivot game its c zen thoroughfare evict jocks its v i kindly its whup its vis aisles sails its if vinty huffle heffs its hi fluff hoody ho awooga jig cat hobbles vin da affable pet eeyore it again c quack dr good is live its hag ko woofy black i boa its take jz edit bluff its v happy aid cuffed its boogie v its off key vis o blush bid cib bud jog one its cranberry cream muffle its c ala its c lid blocks bobble v its shogi enough denced its cd fx helgi its v ai x deck hire its bad v its calf flog have its bald its v bad lick ebb dr mob v it fired it v rale x and ball sov ha it liaison o no mrs in Rh6+ duh?
Jan-01-22  Stefan Lukke: I had no idea before seeing this game what a chancer Shabalov was/is haha 😀. The fact is that it's easier to attack rather than defend. Nice game but a bit loose as a 'puzzle'.
Jan-01-22  King.Arthur.Brazil: I get the initial moves, although I first saw 26. â™—e4+ which let Black with a defensive ♘. So, I quickly understand that 26. â™—xe8+ is mandatory. The detail is that if Black play 26... â™”f7 or 26... â™”f8, White captures 27.♕xh6+ winning the â™— with a 'tempo' (extra move) for attack. I made an error with 33.â™–e4? forgetting the answer 33... ♕h6 with exchange of the ♕, which is the same answer for 33.â™—xb7?. Therefore, the 33.♘e4! is an essencial move to continue the game, due to avoid this exchange with 34.♘g5, however this ♘ became naturally pinned. I saw the â™– sacrifice, but I saw other continuation too: 37. ♕xa6 â™–xe7 38. ♕b7+ â™”d8. Here, don't play 39. ♕b8+ â™—c8 which leads to disaster. The move is 39. ♕xb6+, (see Diag.) because 39... â™”c8 40. â™—b7+ â™”b8 41. â™—a6+ â™”a8 42. ♕b7#. Then, Black must answer 39... â™”e8 following 40. ♕b8+ â™—c8 41. ♕xc8# ending this game brilliantely. Diagram:


click for larger view

The sad thing is that Black is not forced to capture 37..♖xe7 Maybe, 37... ♔d8 38. ♖xd7+ with the same line of the game... Afterwards I must say that White has a very strong point to win this game: the several checks it did, is to win the Blacks pawn without giving him any chance to escape. Maybe, Black could try to force white give him perpetual check, by not trying to win the game and repeating moves. For example: 42... ♔f6 as pointed by computer. <kevin86> Look that White could capture 53.♕xa6, but in that case, the Black ♔ would be in (e5), which allowed some ♕ move 53...♕b5. So, White several checks intended to force the Black ♔ to e7, where such ♕ move is avoided.

Jan-03-22  eaglewing: While 42. ... Ke5 was already criticized, I dislike especially 43. ... Qf8. Instead, why not Rd8? Maybe I overlook something, but following Rd8 (or even with Kf4 instead of 42. ... Ke5) the King might be able to escape via f4 due to possibly threaten to eat h4 (and Ng5). The Queen on h6 protects at least Pb6 and either binds Ng5 or gives a free move due to check Kc1, if Ne6+ (or Nh3+) and the black King leaves f4. Contrary, what does Of8 does positively I'm not seeing?
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