A puzzle solved

Three years ago, when a report on the Bunratty Masters 2006 was posted here, I asked how on earth White could have recovered from the diagrammed position, where Black has just played 31… Qh3 (How?, February 28, 2017).

Van Voorthuijsen – Kane, Bunratty Masters 2006
32. ?

The ICU games archive gave “…” at the end, indicating that some moves were omitted, and the result was 1-0. Since Komodo 9.3 evaluates the position above at around -28, this must be close to an all time record for recovery from a lost position, and I wondered how it could have happened.

I was delighted to find on Wednesday that Peewee van Voorthuijsen had commented on the original post, with the continuation of the game, for which many thanks.

The time limit was a flat all moves in 90 minutes, and both players must have been short of time, Black catastrophically so. A few moves earlier, White had been better (see second diagram), and now with 27. Rd1 would have a clear advantage, e.g., 27… Qe5!? (27… Rxd1? 28. Rxd1 and White is winning) 28. Bxe4 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Bxe4 30. Rd4 Bf3 31. Qc7 Qxc7 32. Nxc7 Rc8 33. Rc4 Bd5 34. Rc5 Bxa2, with a safe pawn plus. Instead, presumably with the clock playing a role, he went astray via 27. Bxe4? Bxe4 28. Nc3??. Here 28. Nf4!? is the move, with interesting play. After the move played, Black was winning, and after 28… Bf3 29. Qc5 Qe6 30. Kf1 Rbd8 31. Ke1 Qh3, the first diagrammed position was reached.

The simplest win was 32. Qb5 Qxh2 33. Qf1 Bg2, and this is where Komodo 9.3’s lopsided evaluation comes from. Once Black missed this via 32… Qg2?, the evaluation dropped to -7. After several missed wins, including a mate in 2, he seems to have lost on time.

[Click to replay the full game.]

All in all, it’s probably a good thing that the old no-increment days are no more. But there’s no doubt it led to some dramatic finishes.

A revised report has been uploaded.