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Dragoljub Minic vs Karoly Honfi
Yugoslavia - Hungary (1966), Vrnjacka Banja YUG, rd 2, Mar-05
Spanish Game: Open Variations. Howell Attack (C81)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Sep-30-08  VooDooMoves: Relatively easy, especially if you have played through the game <Adams-Torre, New Orleans 1920> The idea is to deflect the black queen away from the defence of d8 so that white can mate. Since white only needs the two rooks it becomes obvious that the white queen can be sacrificed to accomplish this goal.

Candidate: 23. Qa7

A) 23. Qa7 and now

A1). 23...Rxa7 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. Rxd8#

A2) 23...Qxa7 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Rxd8#

A3) 23...Qd7 25. Rxd7

A3.1) 25...Rxd7 26. Qxa8+ Rd8 27 Qxd8#

A3.2)25...Rxa7 26. Rxd8#

A4)23...Qc8 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. h3 and white is up queen vs rook. Since black isn't immediately mated this would be black's best defence.

A5) 23...Rdc8 24. Qxc7 Rxc7 25. Rd8+ Rxd8 26. Rxd8#

WHEW!

Sep-30-08  whiteshark: <23.Qa7!> and Black is going to lose his Queen to avoid the immediate mate.
Sep-30-08  kirchhoff: After 23. Qa7 Qc8 it looks like 24. Qxa8 leaves white a clear rook up. This is cleaner than 24. Rxd8+ going into a Queen versus rook endgame (though black is lost regardless).
Sep-30-08  newzild: 23.Qa7 in about 2 seconds.

Alekhine beat Cabablanca with a similar move once, I think. Or maybe it was somebody else.

2/2 this week.

Sep-30-08  Marco65: <kirchhoff: After 23. Qa7 Qc8 it looks like 24. Qxa8 leaves white a clear rook up> it's even more than that, Black has to lose other material not to get mated. E.g. 24...Rf8 25.Qxc8 and black can't take back the queen, or 24...g6 25.Rxd8+ etc
Sep-30-08  newzild: ...ah, I see from the comments below that the game I was thinking of was <Adams-Torre, New Orleans 1920>
Sep-30-08  zb2cr: <Gilmoy>,

Enjoyed your "The Laws of the Rook".

Now these are the laws of the Rook
And many and mighty are they.

Sep-30-08  kirchhoff: <Marco65>: You're right. Just for clarity, I was responding to <VooDooMoves> who said that 23...Qc8 was Black's best defense, and maybe he is correct in that black is not immediately mated, but it appears that white ends up ahead by a queen and a rook up after 24. Qxa8. Thanks for the reply.
Sep-30-08  ravel5184: Well, I've finally finished Game Collection: Chessgames.com Puzzles 2008.09.01-2008.09.30. Happy Sep 30!
Sep-30-08  ravel5184: <avidfan> Qf3! <The Queen does have a square!> (Chess, Tactics and Strategy by G. Burgess)
Sep-30-08  stardust762: <ravel5184: Well, I've finally finished Game Collection: Chessgames.com Puzzles 2008.09.01-2008.09.30. Happy Sep 30!>

Nice work, Ravel5184!

Sep-30-08  Marmot PFL: Qa7 clearly surprised black, and it shows how important it is to give the king an escape, usually by playing something like h6 at some point.
Sep-30-08  agb2002: The black back rank looks weak.

A) 23.Qa7
A.1) 23... R(or Q)xa7 24.Rxd8+ and mate next move.
A.2) 23... Ra(or d)c8 24.Qxc7 winning.
A.3) 23... Qc8 24.Qxa8
A.3.a) 24... Qxa8 25.Rxd8+ and mate next move.
A.3.b) 24... Rxd5 25.Qxc8+ and mate next move.

Time to post and check.

Sep-30-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  chrisowen: With 18.Rd1 Honfi stares down a back rank mate. It only took minutes spotting that 23.Qa7 does the job succinctly.
Sep-30-08  johnlspouge: Tuesday (Easy): Minic vs K Honfi, 1966 (23.?)

White to play and win.

Material: Even. Both Kg8 and Kg1 are vulnerable to back-rank mates. White has a battery Rd1 and Rd5 facing Rd8, which requires the support of both Qc7 and Ra8. Thus, Qc7 and Ra8 might become over-burdened. The White Qe3 requires activation.

Candidates (23.): Qa7

23.Qa7 (threatening 24.Qxc7, 24.Rxd8+, and 24.Qxa8+)

Black cannot defend against all threats. In most variations, the back-rank weakness is immediately fatal. The subtlest variation is probably

23…Rxd5+ 24.Qxa8+ Qd8 [or Rd8] 25.Qxd8+ Rxd8 26.Rxd8#

and it is as subtle as a sledgehammer.

Sep-30-08  The Rocket: This shows how much problem you can get with backrank problems, I usually get critized for playing h3 as white after bringing out my pieces because my rivals feel I lose a tempo but I see that most chess engines like Fritz also play these type of moves in the openings.

The winning move is maybe not worth much comment... pretty easy

Sep-30-08  desiobu: missed this and chose Qc5 for white because i didn't consider black's Qf8 down the line.
Sep-30-08  beenthere240: Shows the wisdom of giving king some air with 22...g6. White still has a winning game with an extra pawn and a dominating position, but at least he won't lose on a backrow mates.
Sep-30-08  euripides: 23.Qc5 can be met by 23...Rxd5 as well as 23...Qxc5, but 23...Qxc5 actually wins as the queenside pawns win the K+P ending.
Sep-30-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  TheDestruktor: The question here is not how many players would find 23.Qa7 with white.

The question is how many would avoid playing 22...cxb3 with black, because they saw 23.Qa7.

I know I wouldn't.

Sep-30-08  benjinathan: There is somkething seriously wrong with my game. Two days in a row Ihave looked directly at the winning move, considered it, and rejected it. I have noticed the same thing OTB the last 2 or 3 games I played...really dumb calculation errors. Maye be I need a chess vacation.
Sep-30-08  DarthStapler: Took me a while to get it, I was about to give up but then I saw it
Sep-30-08  braimondi: I think this guy can't be a 2390 rated...
Sep-30-08  YouRang: A little harder than I thought upon my first impression.

The move I jumped at almost immediately was 23.Qc5 -- deflect queen & go for back rank mate. Right?

Fortunately, I had a tiny feeling that this was "too easy", and after a moment I noticed that after 23...Qxc5, the black queen can defend the 8th rank at f8.

I knew I had the right idea, but the wrong square, and after a while I convinced my self that 23.Qa7 was the ticket.

You gotta appreciate it when the winning move is to plop your unprotected queen on a square where it can be taken two ways. :-)

Sep-30-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  playground player: 23.e6--It may be a bad move, but at least it's MY bad move. No one else even considered it.
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