game more drawish. White doesn’t want a
draw, so he tries to resist simplifications.
12 Qe1
Here was another quandary for me. The
natural approach now is 12...fxe5 13 Nxe5
Nd4, when I have the d4 square and a threat
to fork queen and rook with 14...Nxc2.
However, White can ignore the threat and
approach the black king with 14 Bh5!,
when 14...Nxc2 loses to 15 Qg3!:
a) 15...Nxa2 allows 16 Nf7 Bd4 (or 16...g6
17 Nh6 mate) 17 Bxd4 Qxd4 18 Nh6+ Kh8
19 Rxf8 mate
b) 15...Nd4 (15...Bd4 is similar) is met by
16 Rxf8+, when all recaptures fail. 16...
Qxf8 allows 17 Bf7+ Kh8 18 Ng6+! hxg6
19 Qh4 mate, while 16...Bxf8 17 Bf7+
Kh8 18 Bc4! forces the queen to desert the
protection of the knight on d4 in order to
save her own life.
Instead, I decided to take a leaf out of
White’s book. I wound up the pressure.
12...Qd5 13 exf6
Now it is White who loses patience.
13...Bxf6 14 Bxf6 Rxf6 15 Qc3
15 c3 followed by 16 d4 looks better, but
this is not bad.
15...Be6 16 a4
He wants to centralise his a1 rook without
losing the a-pawn.
16...Raf8 (see diagram)
White stands OK if he can develop a
reasonable plan. He could play 17 d4, or 17
Rb1 followed by 17 Rb5. White decides to
hit the black queen with Bf3, grabbing the
long light-squared diagonal, so he retreats
his knight. The only problem is that Black
is allowed a move in the mean time, and it
happens to be a very strong one.
17 Nd2? Nd4!
Completely natural, but also completely
decisive.
18 Bf3
The least challenging of all the available
defences. However, after 18 Rae1 Qe5! hits
e2 and threatens a check with the knight to
win the queen. Then 19 Kh1 allows 19...
Rxf1+ 20 Rxf1 (20 Nxf1 Qxe2! wins at
once) 20...Qxe2 21 Rxf8+ Kxf8 22 Qxd4
Qe1+ 23 Qg1 Qxd2 with an extra piece. 18
Bd1 is only slightly different: 18...Qe5! 19
Qb4 Qe3+ 20 Kh1 Rxf1+ and mate next
move.
The best defence is 18 Bh5!?, but 18...c5
cements the knight and leaves the bishop
with nowhere to go. After 19 Rxf6 Rxf6,
White’s best is 20 Ne4 Qxh5 21 Nxf6+
gxf6, when Black has a material advantage
and should win easily enough. 20 Bd1 is
less good because 20...Qg5! threatens 21...
Qe3+ mating, and 21 Nc4 loses brilliantly
to 21...Qh4! 22 g3 Rf1+!! 23 Kxf1 Qf6+
(onto the same diagonal as the white queen)
and all main replies lose the white queen to
a knight check.
White goes ahead with his idea, hoping
that the d4 knight will exchange itself, but
it finds far more lucrative employment.
18...Rxf3! 0–1
White cannot recapture due to the knight
fork on e2.
11