I reached the following position with black to move against Georg Meier in a recent OTB game. I was white.
Meier here played ..Ra2? allowing white an instant win, which sadly I missed in extreme time pressure and even ended up losing many moves later.
To see the win after Ra2?, you dont need an engine. I am quite embarrassed to not instantly see it during the game. It can only be an exercise to test if you are awake
The question for engines is does black have a better move and what is the evaluation? I saw a 0.0 for a while but when I played a few moves further, it lead to an advantage for white. Wondering what the best engines have to say about this position. I am hoping an advantage for white at least
This position may not be an ideal testbed for engines. It might be easy. What I find is that the engines see a variety of perpetual checks if white is willing and hence the 0.0 eval.
[d]2b5/rp3pkp/2pb3N/4rPPp/2P5/2QPp2q/1B4R1/1R4K1 b - - 1 32
muxecoid wrote:Qe5+ is difficult to spot over the board, the discovered attack on unprotected rook on a2 is far from obvious.
I disagree, I saw this almost instantly, as I suspect most players will. The line is forced, you recapture losing material or the king gets mated. What could be easier?
muxecoid wrote:Qe5+ is difficult to spot over the board, the discovered attack on unprotected rook on a2 is far from obvious.
I disagree, I saw this almost instantly, as I suspect most players will. The line is forced, you recapture losing material or the king gets mated. What could be easier?
I showed this position to a few players in the tournament. Most people were able to see it instantly without issue.
Time pressure makes it a bit harder. The fact that a strong player like Meier allows it in a classical time control game means it not 100% trivial. Incidentally, Meier told me that he saw Qe5+ immediately after he played Ra2. I would still say the problem is simple but not drop dead trivial.
Personally, I feel strange that a strong GM would play a move that loses the house. I think that if the position is sufficiently crazy, all players should be on the lookout for tactical errors. This position qualifies as crazy at least to my "naive" eyes.
To build on the comments, it can be harder to find this in time pressure but one should always be on the lookup for checks and captures especially in time pressure.
muxecoid wrote:Qe5+ is difficult to spot over the board, the discovered attack on unprotected rook on a2 is far from obvious.
I disagree, I saw this almost instantly, as I suspect most players will. The line is forced, you recapture losing material or the king gets mated. What could be easier?
I showed this position to a few players in the tournament. Most people were able to see it instantly without issue.
Time pressure makes it a bit harder. The fact that a strong player like Meier allows it in a classical time control game means it not 100% trivial. Incidentally, Meier told me that he saw Qe5+ immediately after he played Ra2. I would still say the problem is simple but not drop dead trivial.
Personally, I feel strange that a strong GM would play a move that loses the house. I think that if the position is sufficiently crazy, all players should be on the lookout for tactical errors. This position qualifies as crazy at least to my "naive" eyes.
To build on the comments, it can be harder to find this in time pressure but one should always be on the lookup for checks and captures especially in time pressure.
If you look at ever position with a set of basic principals then this should have been easy to spot. However, we are all human and we don't always follow the basic rules. You must look at all capturing possibilities. But more importantly, in all positions the players MUST look for all checks, and also give special note to pieces that are unprotected. If you move a piece to a undefended square you must be aware if there are checks. This position has all of those above mentioned criteria, therefore, alarms bells should have been ringing. But, as you said, time, pressure, the human element, gross blunders will be made.
muxecoid wrote:Qe5+ is difficult to spot over the board, the discovered attack on unprotected rook on a2 is far from obvious.
I disagree, I saw this almost instantly, as I suspect most players will. The line is forced, you recapture losing material or the king gets mated. What could be easier?
I showed this position to a few players in the tournament. Most people were able to see it instantly without issue.
Time pressure makes it a bit harder. The fact that a strong player like Meier allows it in a classical time control game means it not 100% trivial. Incidentally, Meier told me that he saw Qe5+ immediately after he played Ra2. I would still say the problem is simple but not drop dead trivial.
Personally, I feel strange that a strong GM would play a move that loses the house. I think that if the position is sufficiently crazy, all players should be on the lookout for tactical errors. This position qualifies as crazy at least to my "naive" eyes.
To build on the comments, it can be harder to find this in time pressure but one should always be on the lookup for checks and captures especially in time pressure.
If you look at ever position with a set of basic principals then this should have been easy to spot. However, we are all human and we don't always follow the basic rules. You must look at all capturing possibilities. But more importantly, in all positions the players MUST look for all checks, and also give special note to pieces that are unprotected. If you move a piece to a undefended square you must be aware if there are checks. This position has all of those above mentioned criteria, therefore, alarms bells should have been ringing. But, as you said, time, pressure, the human element, gross blunders will be made.
Good to reinforce "basic" principles. For example, during the game, it never occurred to me that the rook on a2 is an undefended or loose piece. Even though I recall Nunn writing something along the lines of loose pieces will drop. Checks, captures, and loose pieces should all form one's basic thought process. I did not entirely succeed in this game but feel that the comments here will help me do better next time even if there are challenges like time pressure. Thanks!
