Sunday, November 14, 2010

Chess can be a cruel game

You can play like a genius for 84 moves, and throw it all away in time pressure:

Grischuk-Nakamura, Tal Memorial 2010
(finished just a few minutes ago)
Black to play and win

There are two reasonable ways to threaten mate on g3: 84....Qe1 and 84...Qf3.  Both moves have problems: after 84...Qe1, White can try to set up a stalemate defense by allowing ...Qxg3 and running the king to h1.  After 84...Qf3, 85.Nxe5+ seems to force a draw: or does it?

Which move would you choose?

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