Interesting position for material imbalance: a rook is stronger than two bishops here. Houdini 3 is having difficulties with this position: it couldn't find the best move within half an hour on my core duo. Latest Stockfish finds it easily.
[D]r1bq1rk1/pp3pbp/2p3p1/8/5Pn1/2N1P2P/PPQ1B1P1/R1B2RK1 b - - 0 15
The game is available here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044002
Test Position: Gudmundsson - Fischer, Reykjavik (1960)
Moderators: hgm, Rebel, chrisw
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MMoisan
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:42 am
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MMoisan
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:42 am
Re: Test Position: Gudmundsson - Fischer, Reykjavik (1960)
Sorry, I just realized that there is no winning move here. 15... Bf5 16. Qd1 keeps it approximately equal. 
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BeyondCritics
- Posts: 396
- Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 2:48 pm
- Full name: Oliver Roese
Re: Test Position: Gudmundsson - Fischer, Reykjavik (1960)
Hi Marc,
i have looked at the game you had shown. Nice attacking game of Fisher, but unfortunately i don't think that has something to do with material imbalance.
Consider:
[d]4r1k1/pp3p1p/2p3p1/5P2/5P2/2PB2KP/P1Q3P1/R1B1r1q1 w - - 7 24
This is a critical position after the sacrifice. Lets look at it with stockfish. White played 24.Rb1? and lost immedeatly. The only move would have been 24.Kh4! and then stockfish would follow up with 24...Qc5! 25.Rb1(curiously the only sensible move now) 25.Qd6!? with a big plus for black. But if you look at the lines, it is all about the attack on the white king.
If you would allow white to regroup and to put his pieces to sensible places and would still conclude you are stronger, then it would make sense to talk about inherent strength of the rook. This is not the case here, it is about attacking the white king.
i have looked at the game you had shown. Nice attacking game of Fisher, but unfortunately i don't think that has something to do with material imbalance.
Consider:
[d]4r1k1/pp3p1p/2p3p1/5P2/5P2/2PB2KP/P1Q3P1/R1B1r1q1 w - - 7 24
This is a critical position after the sacrifice. Lets look at it with stockfish. White played 24.Rb1? and lost immedeatly. The only move would have been 24.Kh4! and then stockfish would follow up with 24...Qc5! 25.Rb1(curiously the only sensible move now) 25.Qd6!? with a big plus for black. But if you look at the lines, it is all about the attack on the white king.
If you would allow white to regroup and to put his pieces to sensible places and would still conclude you are stronger, then it would make sense to talk about inherent strength of the rook. This is not the case here, it is about attacking the white king.