Hi all!
I thought I would try out the new Blogspot set up by Phil, and post one of my own games for your comments.
So, here goes ………….! It is a Reti Accepted, and the comments stem from me or from Fritz8.
David Taylor (104) v Evan Wood (110, Chorlton) on 14-01-2009
1. Nf3 d5
2. c4 dc
3. e4 e6
4. Bxc4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Be7
6. O-O O-O
7. d4 c6
8. a3 He was obviously thinking about b5, and I initially planned to play Ba2
8. b5 (Fritz: Nbd7 better to develop the Q-side.)
It now occurred to me that his K-side was vulnerable to attack along c2 – h7, so:
9. Bd3 a5 He has no minor piece out on the Q-side – in fact he never gets a chance!
10. Qc2 Ne8 He anticipated e5 clearing the diagonal, so plans a pre-emptive f5.
11. e5 f5
12. exf6 Nxf6
13. Ne4 g6 This caused him grief later, so h6 is probably preferable.
14. Bh6 Re8
Here I worried about ….Ng4 so I played:
15. h3 But Fritz prefers the more aggressive Neg5
15. Nxe4
16. Bxe4 Bf8 Here Fritz suggests Bf6 is better for black
17. Be3 Here Fritz considers Bg5 is best; I wanted to overprotect d4.
17. Be7
Here I was considering Bxg6 but couldn’t be certain it was going to succeed so I played:
18. Ne5 However, Fritz asserts Bxg6 at once will win. Do you all agree?
18. Ra6 Rf8 would be more sensible – I wasn’t seriously going after the c6 pawn.
19. Bxg6 At last I plucked up courage to go for it!
19. Bf6 He cannot accept the sacrifice with hxg6?
20. Bxh7+ Kh8 And now he goes the wrong way! His Q is lost.
21. Nf7+ Kg7
22. Qg6+ Kf8
23. Nxd8 and he resigned with less then 1 minute remaining on his clock!
SO the point of the posting is to ask, what is the optimal timing of Bxg6?