Unity Chess Club
Jack Easton-Irina Krush Philadelphia 2018 Should White go for the queen exchange or grab on b7?
No queen exchange! The black kingside pawns are on the wrong color, and so the presence of queens gives White excellent attacking chances, due to the opposite-coloured bishops. Tactics fail to compensate for that here: 35.♕xb7 ♕xa3 36.♖xc4, when 36…♗xe3 can be met by the cool 37.♕f7, for example: 37…♕a6 (37…♗xf2+ 38.♔g2!) 38.♗e4 ♗g5 39.h4 ♗f6 40.♕g6 ♔g8 41.♖c6.
Here, White is also a pawn up and is also clearly better, but the technical task is much more difficult. With the queens on, just creating mating threats would have done it. Krush even achieved a theoretically-drawn position when White exchanged the rooks … ½-½ (71).
You may also have been tempted by sacrifices on g4, but this thematic central break against White’s Maroczy formation is just fine, especially as White’s king is still lingering in the middle. Still, the lines are not at all easy in this case.
14.g5 is complicated: 14…dxe4 15.gxf6 ♘xf3+ 16.♗xf3 (16.♔f1 ♗xf6) 16… exf3 17.fxe7 ♖xe7 18.♘e4 ♗f5, winning back material.
Unity Chess Club
Karpov – Kasparov World Championship 1985 Black to play
Black’s queen bishop lacks a good square. He equalized with the bishop tour, 1 …Bg4+! 2 f3 Bh5 and … Bg6.
Play went 3 h4 0-0 4 g4 Bg6. Then on 5 Bxg6, the irregular recapture, 5 … fxg6! followed by … Rae8 is best. This favors Black because of his play along the e- and f-files.