hgpitre wrote:I was playing through a few games and I have really enjoyed the contest between Michael Lee and Andy May, two great young players. As a fan of the exchange sac, even when it is bad, I spent quite a bit of time there. I also don't have a Fritz quality to analyze with me, but I have a little program assistance nevertheless. When you make the sac it is extremely important to make the remaining pieces as strong a possible, but we try to do that always.. Anyway I ask you, if Andy May had played 27.. Qd6 instead of Ne4 would he have had a better fate than in the game? The difference is between improving the position of the Q versus temporarily improving the position of the N.. Maybe someone with Fritz or Ryba will be able to do this easily. Please share it here if you have the time.. Thanks.
In closing, I want to encourage Andy to keep up the fight.. and congrats to Michael for a great result in the state championship.
That really is a strong exchange sacrifice. I think Black has plenty of compensation with either 27. ...Ne4 or 27. ...Qd6, but sticking with the game choice, Black is nearly winning after 27. ...Ne4 28. Be3 Ng6! The threat is ...Nh4+ and ...Qxh3. The two choices that defend the h-pawn are 29. Bg4 and 29. Rh1.
The first is hit with (29. Bg4) 29. ...Nh4+ 30. Kg1 Qd6, and White is in dire straights: 31. Qe2 h5! 32. Bxh5 Qg3+ 33. Kf1 Qxh3+ 34. Ke1 Qh1+ 35. Qf1 Ng2+ 36. Ke2 Ng3+, for example, though there are a few branches to examine.
The second looks pretty bad, too, with lines like 29. Rh1 Qd6 30. Bc1 (what else?) 30. ...Nh4+ 31. Kg1 Qg6+ 32. Bg4 (forced) 32. ...h5.
Okay, now the engine check.
Fritz 7 more or less agrees with the first line above. It definitely likes 28. ...Ng6. It says 29. Bg4 is best, and offers 32. Bf4! Qxf4 33. Be6+ when White may escape into a bad but slightly less certain R vs 2 minors ending. I didn't see that at all, though I don't think it saves the game for White. The combination of ...Qd6 and ...h5 hitting the g4-bishop seems to show up in several lines. There are many other complications, but apparently Black can handle them. After 29. ...Nh4+, it prefers 30. Kf1, but 30. ...Qf7+ 31. Kg1 h5 looks strong. If the king runs the other way, 31. Ke1 Ng2+ 32. Ke2 (32. Kd1 Nxe3+ 33. Qxe3 Qf1+) 32. ...Ng3+ 33. Kd1, and now the engine finds the surprising 33. ...Qf1+ 34. Qxf1 Nxe3+, which will leave Black with a material advantage, though his two knights will be a little tangled up for awhile.
In the second line (29. Rh1), Fritz just gives Black something like +4 right away. It doesn't choose 30. Bc1, but doesn't offer anything that looks like an improvement. It does find something even more convincing for Black, playing 31. ...Bb6 (or 31. ...Qf6), with the idea of simply attacking and capturing the d4-pawn: 32. Bg4 Qe5! This is all +6 or +7 for Black, so I don't think we really need to worry about which is more accurate.