One, Simple Mistake
01/17/2006
White to move
Ughhh.... I made a typical "goof" last week. After battling for days (ahhh, the joys of correspondence chess!) for a mere one-pawn advantage, I then throw the entire game away in the following position (see left).
I was (of course!) focused on the g4 bishop looming over my e2 rook. I have to move it.
I played the pathetic 30. Rd2 ?? instantly losing. The ol' Chessmaster 9000 reports this as a mate in 6 (30...Bf3 31. Re1 Rxe1. 32. Rd1 Rxd1. 33. g4 Rxg4. 34. Nd6+ cxd6. 35. c4 Rh1#). This is a little above my head, so I actually made things easier. After 30... Bf3, I played, 31. Re3 ??, instantly losing to 31... Rh1# (see left).
Well, what could I have done? I had to play 30. Rd2? or else I would lose the rook, right (30... Bxe2)?
WRONG!
I missed the obvious 30. Rxe8 which leads to white still having a pawn lead (30. Re8+ Rxe8. 31. Rxe8+) (see left). This brillant move takes both of white's rook out of the menacing reach of the g4 bishop.
Days of painfully accurate chess-playing.... all flushed down the toilet in a matter of seconds. Ughhhh.....
3 Comments:
I'm not sure 30.Re8 is your best move... you're still going to have to eventually deal with the black bishop on f3. I might have tried 30.Re1 and exchanged rooks there.
Fair point, and I did look at this (afterwards, of course... I can't believe the actual move I played). I let the position sit on Chessmaster 9000. It actually gave white a slight advantage with 30. Re8+. It gave the position as exactly equal with 30. Re1.
darn. that is frustrating. i like how you said that you had played the game for days, "painfully accurate[ly]." It can be painful to play accurately. :)
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