Quote:
Originally Posted by Superfraggle
Thanks for the warning about the pawns, but I just got absolutely schooled by their queen, bishop, and rook play!
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The game between Superfraggle and the mysterious 72UCI is worth a look if you have some time to kill:
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/...549?tab=review
Two very strong players, so no surprise that Superfraggle starts with his trusty London system opening (d4 and Bf4), or that 72UCI knows the critical response (d5, c5, Nc6).
The game then took a super interesting (to me, but I am kind of a nerd) turn, with black fianchettoing the dark square bishop but white finding a nice outpost for its own bishop on e5, which should in theory completely nerf black’s bishop on g7. But the game went on and was roughly even—white declined the bishop trade and opted for a long-term positional strategy with the bishop back on g3.
The critical moment, I think, was around move 20. Black had just played 17 …Rd3, piling up attackers on white’s knight on d2. After 19. Rf2 (defending the knight), Bh6 (creating a battery and adding an attacker on d2), white played 20. Qe2, setting up a back tank attack, with the idea of gaining a tempo with Qe8+.
Unfortunately, stockfish says Qe2 is inaccurate—it allows Rxd2, leading to a series of exchanges, after which Black is apparently better. Stockfish says that white needed to find Qf1, which is not straightforward. You still give up the knight on d2, but now the exchanges lead to a position where (with the bishop on d5) white has an annoying checkmating attack on the f7 square. Not easy to find at all—can’t even say I fully understand it now.
Next, on move 24, 72UCI played the brilliant 24. … Rd8!!
Now… I don’t know how to embed the image of the position at that point—maybe someone more tech savvy can assist. But Rd8 is a pretty incredible move. It “looks impossible” — the rook is technically hanging (white’s queen is on b5, looking right at it). Except it turns out the rook really cannot be taken because after Bxd5, Qxg2 is mate, and that creates impossible problems for white to deal with. White played on, but that sequence proved to be decisive.
Highly recommend people check out the whole game—very high level game from two very strong players!