Feb-13-05

ray keene : this is a very intersting game-has anyone checked with a computer to see if white missed anything?

Feb-13-05

Chessical : <ray keene> Fritz would have preferred <19.Bxe4!?> to O'Kelly de Galway's 19.Nxe4: <19.Bxe4!?> Bxd4 20.Bxh7+ ( <20.Qxh7+> Kf8 21.Bd3 Bxe3 22.fxe3 Qe5 is considered inferior) 20...Kf8 21.Rf3 Bf6, with advantage to O'Kelly

Jul-08-05 fgh : Very interesting attack. But it's really strange that black has left his king absolutely unprotected.

Jul-08-05 farrooj : Well, black must have calculated that there is no danger. (but I think it's very hard to calculate that kind of defense)

Jul-09-05

OlimpBase : there's no win here for White but still it should have won Best Game Prize at the Varna Olympiad had it only been awarded!

Aug-08-06 thatsmate : Interesting! Perhaps Galway forgot his f-pawn was pinned- if it wasn't, it would have been a perfect attack.

Jan-11-08 Arbitrarily0 : Correct me if I'm wrong, but much better seems 25. Rh5! ---

If Black plays 25...Ke4 then

25. Rh5 Ke4

26. Bd3+ Kf4 (only move)

27. Rh4# 1-0

---

If Black plays 25...f5 then

25. Rh5 f5

26. Bd1 a5 (any move loses)

27. g3# 1-0

---

The question is, is there a better move for black on 25 after 25. Rh5?

Jan-11-08 Manic : What about 25.Rh5 Qxc2 ? I don't see anything for white after that. The bishop can't move because of 26...Qxf2+. If 26.g3+ then 26...Ke4 and now if 27.Bd1+ Kd3 28.Bxc2 Kxc2 and black is still up in material.

Jan-12-08

Chessical : <25.Rh5> Bxf2! 26.Kxf2 Qxc2, and White's attack has fallen apart.

Jan-16-08 Manic : <Chessical> What's wrong with the immediate 25...Qxc2 after 25.Rh5? I don't see why it is necessary to sacrifice the bishop for no reason first.

Jan-16-08

Chessical : <Manic> 25.Rh5 <Qxc2> is weaker as White gains time for a counterattack against Black's vulnerable King, e.g. <26.g3+> Ke4 27.Rh4+ Ke5 (not <27...Kf5?> 28.Bg4+ Kg6 29.Bh5+ and mates.) 28.Bd3+ ,and White still has a fighting chance. Sacrificing the B on <f2> gives White no time for counterplay, and forces his King onto the second rank, after which taking the pawn on <c2> is much more effective.

Jan-17-08 Manic : <Chessical> OK, thanks. I missed 27.Rh4+

Feb-22-15

Phony Benoni : One paradox of chess is that keeping your pieces in the center can be dangerous because they can get hurt there. Controlling the center to use it as a super-highway to zoom to all corners of the board, fine. But actually occupying a central square can leave a piece vulnerable to the opponent's long-range snipers, as well as upitty pawns. Today, it's White's bishop on d4 that gets into a bit of trouble. To be sure, it has a jolly nice view of Black's king, but it's also hanging loose. When Black institutes a little counter play in the center, it drops as we get to this position:

click for larger view Now it appears that the queen sacrifice leads to a draw, though there should be attempts on both sides to change that. But another question is whether the sacrifice is White's best course. His attacking pieces look lovely, but Black's dark-squared bishop now has no rival and his central pawns must not be disregarded. I suspect it's arguable.

Feb-22-15

An Englishman : Good Evening: Interesting observations, <Phony Benoni> . Based upon what you write, perhaps White had to sacrifice his Queen to avoid falling into an inferior position?

Feb-22-15

offramp : Another pun could be <Wild Goose Chase> . O'Kelly was descended from a wild goose.

Feb-22-15 Ratt Boy : I was yelling at ol' Alberic: Why not 24.f3, ♔f4 25.♖h4#? Took awhile to realize that, of course, f3 has the minor flaw of not being, you know, LEGAL.

Feb-22-15 schnarre : ...The pun seems apt for the game!

Feb-22-15

AylerKupp : For some reason after 27.Bd3 Stockfish 6 at d=30 prefers 27...Bxf2+ instead of 27...Kg4. And after 27...Kg4 28.Be2, also at d=30, it still prefers 28...Bxf2+. Since either ...Kg4 or ...Bxf2+ lead to the same result, I'm puzzled why Stockfish would prefer ...Bxf2+ which should lead to a lower intermediate evaluation due to the reduction in Black's material advantage, even though the final result is the same. Oh well. And unfortunately after 27.g3+ (my first patzer-like thought) Black's king escapes with 27...Ke5 and 28...Ke6, so White's choices at this point are limited. So I tried going back to the position after 20.Qxh7+ Kxh7, but the best Stockfish could come up with at d=33 was the game continuation through 25.Bd3, and anything else loses decisively. It then went back to its seemingly favorite move and secured the draw for Black by 25...Bxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Kg4 27.Be2+ Kf4 28.Bd3. I still don't know why it wants to interpose ...Bxf2+ instead of directly playing ...Kg4 in response to Be2+. In response to <Phony Benoni> 's observation that it appears (apparently true) that the queen sacrifice leads to a draw, I backed up a move to the position after 19...Bxd4, just before the queen sacrifice. Stockfish agrees with <Phony Benoni> that Black's position is superior up to d=22 when it evaluates the position at [-0.95] after 20.Ng5, but then it finds 20.Qxh7+ and the resulting draw and that is its choice as White's best move from that point forward. So, continuing to slide backwards, what is White's best after 18...Bf6? Here at d=33 Stockfish considers that White has a very slight advantage, [+0.28], after 19.Bxe4 (at lower search depths it evaluated 19.Rxe4 as White's best move, but at d=33 it only evaluated it at [0.00] after 18...dxe4 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Be4 f5 ...) So was 18.Qh5 White's inaccuracy? After all, what is the queen doing on h5 that it can't do from h3? But after 17...Ne4 Stockfish considered White's best move to be 17.Qh5 by a small margin over 17.Nxe4 at d=33, evaluating it at [+0.43] vs. [+0.04]. And Stockfish considered 17...Bf6 as Black's best response to 17.Qh5. So it seems that both players played the best moves as far as Stockfish was concerned and, if White had anything better than a draw, he had to deviate earlier.