After having a break of over ten years from chess it is easy to convince yourself that you are something of a reformed character over the board, so I was disappointed with myself to see an old habit return, that of throwing in the towel before it’s necessary. I’ve been playing with the Lucas Program (http://www-lucaschess.rhcloud.com/) a lot recently and decided to see how far up the ladder I could go regarding the numerous engines it has. I’ve made it to Chispa 4.0.3, which has a rating of 2227 but I can’t quite beat it. After a long game which I was only slightly worse, I reached the following position (I am black so black pawns go up the board) and resigned thinking that I couldn’t stop the f-pawn. However, I missed something, can you see what it is?
What should black play here after 53 f6?
53. …Kd7 doesn’t work as 54. c6+ and a pawn will queen. I looked at most but not all knight moves available, overlooking that if black plays 53. … Na4 he can, at least, draw the game. The point is that if 54. f7 Nxc5 55 f8=Q Ne6+ (and winning), white must play 55. f8=N
I assume that after 55. …a5 black is not losing.
After such a long game where I was slightly worse for most of it, thinking I was now lost, I stopped analyzing short of seeing the counter-intuitive 53. … Na4. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
McCreadyandChess 