Some correspondence games

[FriedmannC]

Recently I played some correspondence games under the nickname Walhallathunder and some interesting positions occured during some of the games. I would like to share these games and to ask you what your engines think about the key moves mentioned bellow, as my computer is not so fast.

[Event "alexandhiscros's group tournaments Open Challenge - Board 4"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.05.10"]
[White "Walhallathunder"]
[Black "ChinLim"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2173"]
[BlackElo "1768"]
[TimeControl "1 in 3 days"]
[Termination "Walhallathunder won by resignation"]

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 Bf5 6.c4 Nb6 7.Nc3 e6 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 Bb4 10.h5 Be4
11.f3 Bc6 12.h6 g6 13.Be3 f6 14.Nxg6 hxg6 15.Qc2 Kf7 16.O-O-O Bxf3 17.Bd3 Bxh1 18.Rxh1 f5 19.gxf5 exf5 20.Bxf5 gxf5
21.Qxf5+ Qf6 22.Qh5+ Ke6 23.Qg4+ Ke7 24.Bg5 1-0
Which of your engines sees 14.Nxg6? I went for this move as I noticed each engine wanted to exchange the knights, and the position seemed to have hidden tactics

[Event "1st Masters Tournament: Group A: (Justice) - (New Jersey Chess Team) - Board 2"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.05.20"]
[White "Walhallathunder"]
[Black "Mullanaphy"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2200"]
[BlackElo "1968"]
[TimeControl "1 in 3 days"]
[Termination "Walhallathunder won by checkmate"]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 c6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.fxe5 cxd5 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Na4 Bxf3 8.Bb5+ Nc6 9.Qxf3 Bd4 10.c3 Bxe5
11.O-O f6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Qh5+ Kf8 14.Be3 Nge7 15.Rxf6+ gxf6 16.Bh6+ Kg8 17.Rf1 Qe8 18.Qg4+ Qg6 19.Qe6+ Qf7 20.Qxd6 f5
21.Rf3 Ng6 22.Nc5 Rd8 23.Qg3 a6 24.Bd3 Nce7 25.Nxb7 Rf8 26.Nd6 Qe6 27.Bxf8 Kxf8 28.Nxf5 Qb6 29.Nxe7+ Kxe7 30.Qg5+ Kd7
31.Rf7+ Kc8 32.Qxd5 Kb8 33.Be4 Kc8 34.Qa8+ Qb8 35.Qc6+ Kd8 36.Qd7# 1-0
The move 15.Rxf6+ isn't in the engine's option.....

[Event "comeon then - Board 2"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2012.05.13"]
[White "Walhallathunder"]
[Black "rev786"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2171"]
[BlackElo "1664"]
[TimeControl "1 in 1 day"]
[Termination "Walhallathunder won by checkmate"]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Nc3 d6 7.exd6 cxd6 8.Bd3 h6 9.O-O O-O 10.Bf4 a6
11.Rc1 d5 12.c5 N6d7 13.Bb1 Nf6 14.Qd3 b6 15.Be5 g6 16.Nh4 Qe8 17.cxb6 Nbd7 18.Bf4 g5 19.Nxd5 exd5 20.Nf5 gxf4 21.Nxh6+ Kg7 22.Nf5+ Kg8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Qh3 Nxb6 25.Qh6 Nh5 26.Nxe7+ Qxe7 27.Qh7# 1-0
The engines don't see 16.Nh4 and 18.Bf4

I ask if someone could post diagrams for each position.
Thank you!

[jdart]

[d] rn1qk2r/ppp4p/1nb1pppP/4N3/1bPP2P1/2N1BP2/PP6/R2QKB1R w KQkq -

[d] r2q1k1r/pp2n1pp/2nb1p2/1B1p3Q/N2P4/2P1B3/PP4PP/R4RK1 w - -

[d] rnbq1rk1/4bp2/pp2pnpp/2PpB3/3P4/2NQ1N2/PP3PPP/1BR2RK1 w - -

[FriedmannC]

Thank you!

[jdart]

Some brief comments:

#1: This is very complex. It is not clear to me that Nxg6 is good, but I haven't done a super deep search. Nxc6 is =.

#2: Rxf6! is best. Nice move.

#3: Houdini thinks 18. Bc7 is winning, while after 18. Bf4, Black should play .. Nh5. White then can try Nxg6, but it's not clear to me there is a winning attack. (I am referring here to the move 18 position, below).

[d] r1b1qrk1/3nbp2/pP2pnpp/3pB3/3P3N/2NQ4/PP3PPP/1BR2RK1 w - -

[FriedmannC]

In the first game, after I noticed the knights exchange would lead to perfect equal game I wanted to play very sharp, feeling that the knight sacrifice would set fireworks to the position. If I had lost the game eventually, I wouldn't have regretted for making that sacrifice as the resulting position was full of tactics. I checked with every engine: Rybka 3 Dynamic, Deep Junior 12.5.0.3, Deep Junior 10.1!! (Stronger at tactics than Deep Junior 12), Critter 0.9, Vitruvius 1 HEM, Houdini 2.c and Deep Hiarcs 13.2. They were all pointing the knights exchange. Only running the above engines on some big powerfull hardware could bring light to that key position.
In the second game I thought that sacrificing a rook cosidering his exposed king would be an alternative, leading to some dangerous attack for white. Still, the engines didn't point at all for the rook sacrifice.....
In the third game I must admit that I wanted to concentrate 100 % on attacking the king, so I thought to set a trap to my opponent by making the move 18. Bg4 - with the idea 18... g5?? and the combination resulted was great! I know I didn't play the right move, maybe if my opponent had played the correct move after 18. Bg4, the game would have ended in draw.
Best regards,
Catalin