I played 27 ... Be4, winning his queen. My opponent didn't resign and it took me 30 more minutes to win the game. After the game a guy from my club showed me a missed mate in 4 on move 27 :
27 ... h3+ whatever white tries, he will be mated.
So I won the game, but I didn't finish him off in the most efficient way. I had to play 14 more moves (exchanging rooks & missing a few more matting possibilities) until he resigned.
So it's true after all : when you see a good move, look for a better one !
4 comments:
Ah, no worries. Get those tactics down and the mates will follow. Holding onto your material advantage is a learning experience in and of itself, especially if you opponent tries some tricks which I'm sure they did. Congrats.
Efficiency comes later. A point is a point... looking at the diagram before scrolling down.. and my "knight senses" were tingling around h3+. The seeds of tactical destruction were evident. The Pin, the unsafe king, not enough defenders, limited movement etc. Learning how to employ all those and recognize it OTB comes over time. Meanwhile...a point is a point.
I agree with blunderprone: while computers find the most efficient mates, I prefer, when I have an advantage, to play very defensively, safely, and convert into an easy win in the endgame. Anand is quoted in one of his commentaries as saying "There is probably a clever mate in here somewhere," but not taking the time to look for it. He just ground out the win.
Plus, going for the clever mate can sometimes backfire. Only Fritz and Kasparov can see 14 moves ahead.
I agree, a point is a point. But on the other hand, every extra move I have to play introduces an extra possibility to blunder...
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