In the fourth round of the Santa Cruz Cup I played my best game yet (which isn’t saying much). I’m now sitting in very good shape, with a 4-0 start including wins over my two highest-rated opponents. However, there’s a lot of chess remaining. Ratings don’t mean that much when everybody is bunched up within 100 or 150 points.
I won the game primarily because of a nice tactical shot (see below) that came just when it seemed as if the game might be turning in my opponent’s favor. I played a clean game with no mistakes, except right before the time control, where Fritz finds an elegant win that I missed. Here are the two most interesting positions of the game.
Dana Mackenzie – Dan Burkhard, White to move.
Dan had just played 22. … Nb6-c8, a superficially very attractive move because it threatens to bring the knight to e4. However, White seizes the advantage with a tactical idea based on the undefended position of his rook on c7. Can you find it?
Mackenzie – Burkhard, White to move.
Black has just played 37. … Ke7-d6, hoping to play … Ke5 removing the defender of White’s advanced pawn on e5. In this position I settled for 38. Rxd4+? Ke5 39. Ke3 and now Dan gave me an early Christmas present with 39. … Bxf3?? 40. Nd3+! resigns. However, he could still have put up a fight with 39. … Rg3 40. Nd5 Kxe6 41. Kf4. White will probably win eventually, but he’s still go some work to do.
Instead of 38. Rxd4, Fritz finds a beautiful forced win for White, based on some tricky knight maneuvers. Can you see it?
Answer to first problem: I played 23. f5! The main point is 23. … gf? 24. Qg3+, winning the unprotected rook on c7. Another important point is that if Black tries to set up a pin on the f-file with 23. … Qh4 (or any other Queen move), White can break the pin with 24. Nf4!, threatening a knight fork on e6. Finally, if 23. … ef 24. Qxd5+ (24. Nf4 is also good), White has a dominating position.
Answer to second problem: The move I missed was 38. Ne2! This is a pretty straightforward move, but what comes after it is really cool. Black must play 38. … Kxe6, because otherwise he will be two pawns down with no compensation. Then comes 39. Nxd4+ Ke5 40. f4+! (the key move!) and Black’s king has no good squares:
a) 40. … Kf6 41. Nxc6 bc 42. Rd6+ and White mops up all the queenside pawns;
b) 40. … Kxf4 41. Ne6+ wins the rook;
c) 40. … Ke4 41. Ne6! threatens 42. Rd4 mate! Note also that Black’s king interferes with the bishop, so that 41. … Rg2+ is impossible. Instead Black’s only defense is 41. … Rd7, but now White wins with another fork, 42. Nc5+.
What an amazing line! With only a couple minutes left before the time control, I didn’t even come close to finding this. It would have been a great way to finish off the game.
