What's the best move?

[AdminX]

Black's Move
[d]2kr4/1b3qpr/pn1bp1N1/1p4B1/1P1P3N/P1P1pP2/4Q1K1/R3R3 b - - 0 25

What does your engine think about this position? In this game I happened to be in the "zone", where ever that is . To be honest I found this position to be some what "unclear" to me. I felt that if black had something, then it was either now or never. I played 25. ... Rxh4! and was able to win the game. Yes, I was proud of myself for being able to pull this off. Later I wanted to know if the move was sound, so I gave the position to Rybka 2.3.2a. After reaching a ply of 18, I found that the engine still could not find my move. Can your engine find it, or was the move played unsound?

[Event "Skittle (Rated)"]
[Site "Playchess"]
[Date "2007.07.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tolinov"]
[Black "NYTed"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nbd2 e6 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bd3 a6
7. O-O Bd6 8. Qe2 cxd4 9. exd4 b5 10. b4 Bb7 11. Re1 Na7
12. Ne5 Qc7 13. Ndf3 Nc8 14. g4 h6 15. h4 Nb6 16. g5 hxg5
17. hxg5 Ne4 18. Bd2 O-O-O 19. a3 f6 20. Ng6 Rh7 21. Kg2
Qf7 22. Nfh4 fxg5 23. Bxe4 dxe4 24. Bxg5 e3+ 25. f3 Rxh4
26. Nxh4 Qh5 27. Bxd8 Kxd8 28. Rh1 Nc4 29. Rad1 Qg5+
30. Kf1 Nd2+ 31. Rxd2 exd2 32. Ng2 Bd5 33. Rh8+ Kc7 34. Ne3
Qxe3 35. Qxe3 d1=Q+ 36. Qe1 Bc4+ {0-1 White Resigns} 0-1

[royb]

Ted,

Nice game! I must admit that when I looked at the diagrammed position, I thought ...Rxh4 must be the move. I'm a hack/fish at chess though so that means very little!

However when I fed the position to Glaurung-epsilon5, it eventually came up with this analysis (:

Nc4 Rh1 Re8 Rad1 Rh5 Bxe3 e5 d5 Bxd5 Rh2 Bxf3+ Qxf3 Qxf3+ Kxf3 e4+ Kg4 Nxe3+ Kxh5 Bxh2 Rd2 Bg3 (16-ply and 232 seconds)

and scored it 2.25 centipawns in Black's favor.

After forcing ...Rxh4, it thinks that Black is better with a score of -1.29 (17 ply and 91 seconds of analysis so far). Not quite as convincing a score as ...Nc4 gets, but still quite favorable for Black.

I appears both are strong moves overall.

Roy

[AdminX]

Ted,

Nice game! I must admit that when I looked at the diagrammed position, I thought ...Rxh4 must be the move. I'm a hack/fish at chess though so that means very little!

However when I fed the position to Glaurung-epsilon5, it eventually came up with this analysis (:

Nc4 Rh1 Re8 Rad1 Rh5 Bxe3 e5 d5 Bxd5 Rh2 Bxf3+ Qxf3 Qxf3+ Kxf3 e4+ Kg4 Nxe3+ Kxh5 Bxh2 Rd2 Bg3 (16-ply and 232 seconds)

and scored it 2.25 centipawns in Black's favor.

After forcing ...Rxh4, it thinks that Black is better with a score of -1.29 (17 ply and 91 seconds of analysis so far). Not quite as convincing a score as ...Nc4 gets, but still quite favorable for Black.

I appears both are strong moves overall.

Roy

Yeah Roy,

It looks like it was not as great as it seemed at the time. Black's follow up plan 26. ... Qh5? turns out to be a "Not" so good follow up either. It was White's 27th move (Bxe8??) that turns out to be the key mistake.

Tolinov - (NYTed) Summers ,T, Blitz:15'+3"
[d]2kr4/1b3qpr/pn1bp1N1/1p4B1/1P1P3N/P1P1pP2/4Q1K1/R3R3 b - - 0 1
Analysis by Rybka 2.3.2a mp 32-bit :

1. -+ (-2.25): 25...Nc4 26.Rad1 Rh5 27.Bxe3 Qf6 28.Bf2 Rg5+ 29.Kf1 Rxg6 30.Nxg6 Bxf3 31.Qxe6+ Qxe6 32.Rxe6
2. -+ (-1.96): 25...Rh5 26.Bxe3 Qf6 27.Bf2 Rg5+ 28.Kf1 Bd5 29.Qc2 Bc4+ 30.Re2 Kb8 31.Ke1 Bxe2 32.Kxe2
3. -+ (-1.99): 25...Nd5 26.Bxe3 Ne7 27.Qd3 Rh5 28.c4 Qf6 29.c5 Nxg6 30.Qxg6 Qxh4 31.Rh1 Bh2 32.Qxe6+

(Summers, Ted Summers 17.07.2007)



Tolinov - (NYTed) Summers ,T, Blitz:15'+3"
[d]2kr4/1b3qp1/pn1bp1N1/1p4B1/1P1P3r/P1P1pP2/4Q1K1/R3R3 w - - 0 1

Analysis by Rybka 2.3.2a mp 32-bit :

1. -+ (-1.67): 26.Nxh4 Nd5 27.Kf1 Rh8 28.Qg2 Bf4 29.c4 bxc4 30.Rac1 e2+ 31.Kxe2 Bxc1 32.Rxc1 Rxh4
2. -+ (-13.11): 26.Ne5 Bxe5 27.Bxh4 Qg6+ 28.Kf1 Rf8 29.d5 Bxd5 30.Qxe3 Rxf3+ 31.Qxf3 Bxf3 32.Ra2 Bxc3
3. -+ (-14.18): 26.Ne7+ Bxe7 27.Bxh4 Bxh4 28.Qxe3 Qg6+

(Summers, Ted Summers 17.07.2007)