Chess

William Hartston
Wednesday 11 February 1998 19:02 EST
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Black to play and win. The position comes from a game in the latest round of the 4NCL, which was played in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago. Neil McDonald, playing Black, found the best way to cope with White's threat of mate on g7 - he forced mate himself first: 1...Nf1+! 2.Kh1 Qh2+! and White resigned. 3.Nxh2 Ng3 is mate.

Here are the full moves of the game. When White played 18.b5, he must have missed Black's reply which forced the win of a pawn. 19.bxc6 Qxf2+ 20.Kh2 Bxf3 leaves White doubly pinned and unable to recapture on f3, while 20.Kh1 Bxf3 makes 21.gxf3 legal, but allows mate on g1. Black's 27...Qf8 encouraged White to dream of playing Nd4 and Nf5, but his 28.Nd4? allowed the winning combination that followed.

White: Andrew Dyce

Black: Neil McDonald

1 e4 e6 17 Bxa1 h6

2 d3 d5 18 b5 Qc5

3 Nd2 Nf6 19 d4 Nxd4

4 Ngf3 Nc6 20 Nxd4 exd4

5 c3 a5 21 Nb3 Qd6

6 Be2 e5 22 c4 Qb4

7 0-0 Be7 23 Rb1 d3

8 Re1 0-0 24 Bxd3 dxc4

9 Qc2 Re8 25 Bxc4 Nxe4

10 b3 Bg4 26 Qb2 Bxf2+

11 h3 Bh5 27 Kh1 Qf8

12 a3 Bc5 28 Nd4 Ng3+

13 Bb2 Bb6 29 Kh2 Qd6

14 Bf1 Qd6 30 Nf3 Nf1+

15 b4 axb4 31 Kh1 Qh2+

16 axb4 Rxa1 32 White resigned

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