My most beautiful move part 3

I once played a game of which the missed combination has been graved in my memory forever as it is extremely weird. I need to correct myself as it was not a combination but rather a wrong continuation of my opponent which is countered by a very non-standard refutation. Which I didn't see and I have never detected in any book about combinations or any game. The "combination" or rather the refutation is so "unique" that I never ever seen it before: letting a piece to be captured with check and not take back but stop the check by putting another piece in between, as there exists a long-term threat which is stronger than the temporarily loss of the piece.

[Event "IC3A Aalter1 vs Izscha2 2003"] [Site "?"] [Date "2003.10.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Surmont, Yves"] [Black "Callant, Geert"] [Result "*"] [ECO "B71"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "2003.??.??"] [Eventtype "match"] [Eventrounds "1"] [CurrentPosition "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. f4 Bg7 7. e5 Nfd7 8. e6 fxe6 9. Nxe6 Bxc3+? {I was flabbergasted: black is already in dire straits, but now gives his dragon-bishop!? Where is the win for white?} 10. Bd2!! {White doesn't care about the piece he just lost, but offers another one. Black was able to capture on c3 as check has a higher priority than the queen. With 10.Bd2!! white wants to see what black's intentions are. If black retreats the bishop then he loses the queen (again a matter of priorities), but can't black just take and have a piece extra? Or not? When the engine showed this move then I was shocked - the move still amazes me today as one of the most surprising moves I could have got on the board.} 10... Qb6 {The best in the circumstances.} (10... Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 Qb6 12. Qc3! {and this is the idea of the white combination: double-attack on c7, c8 and h8. Black loses at least the right of castling and the rook on a8.} 12... Rg8 13. Nc7+ (13. Qxc8+ Kf7 14. Qc3 Kxe6 15. Bc4+ d5 16. Bxd5+ Kxd5 17. O-O-O+ Ke6 18. Qc4+ Kf6 19. Qxg8 +- {and anybody would use this for his "best games"....}) 13... Kd8 14. Ne6+ Ke8 15. Qxc8+ Kf7 16. Ng5+ Kg7 17. Qc3+ e5 18. Ne6+ Kh8 19. Nc7 Nc6 20. Nxa8 Rxa8 21. O-O-O +-) 11. Bxc3 Nf6 (11... Rg8 12. Qd2 +-) 12. Qe2 (12. Bb5+ Nc6 13. Qe2 Bxe6 14. Bxf6 Rf8 15. Bg5) 12... d5 13. Qb5+ Kf7 14. Ng5+ Kf8 15. O-O-O {and white is won - the black's position lacks any harmony, white has the pair of bishops, the superior pawn-chain and a much safer position of the king.} 15... Qxb5 16. Bxb5 *

I didn't notice it in the game. The only game with this "line" in Chessbase is Piscopo (2364) - Zakharchenko (2197) played in 2012 - and so I am in good company: also the Italian international master Piscopo didn't find the move. Another move which can be categorized as invisible see part 1 and part 2. So unfortunately I played the automatic 10.bxc3 which let slip the white advantage away. Below you can replay the remainder of the game.

[Event "IC3A Aalter1 vs Izscha2 2003"] [Site "?"] [Date "2003.10.19"] [Round "2"] [White "Surmont, Yves"] [Black "Callant, Geert"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rnbqk2r/pp1np2p/3pN1p1/8/5P2/2b5/PPP3PP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 10"] [ECO "B71"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "2003.??.??"] [Eventtype "match"] [Eventrounds "1"] [CurrentPosition "rnbqk2r/pp1np2p/3pN1p1/8/5P2/2b5/PPP3PP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 10"] 10. bxc3? {I just didn't see it ... and white loses the advantage. The only game with this "line" in Chessbase is Piscopo (2364) - Zakharchenko (2197) played in 2012 - so I am in good company: also Piscopo didn't find the move.} 10... Qa5 11. Bd3?! {I want to speed up the development....} (11. Bd2 ⩲ Nf6 12. Bc4 Nc6 13. Qe2 d5 14. Bb3 Bxe6 15. Qxe6 Qc5 16. Qe3 Qxe3+ 17. Bxe3 e6 18. O-O Ne4 {1/2-1/2 (18) Piscopo,P (2364) -Zakharchenko,A (2197) Olomouc 2012}) 11... Nf6 12. Ng5 Qxc3+ 13. Bd2 Qc5 14. h3 Nc6 15. Rb1 a6 {White has no advantage anymore, but keeps trying.} 16. c3 e5 17. Qb3 Qd5 18. O-O Qxb3 (18... Qxd3 19. Qf7+ Kd8 20. Qxf6+ Kc7 21. Qxh8 Qxd2 22. Ne6+ Kb8 23. Rxb7+ Kxb7 24. Rb1+ Nb4 25. Rxb4+ Kc6) 19. Rxb3 O-O 20. Rb6 Kg7 21. fxe5 dxe5 22. Ne4 Nd5 23. Rbb1 Nf4 24. Bxf4 exf4 = 25. Nd6 b5 26. Nxc8?! (26. Be4 = Bd7 27. a4 Rab8 28. axb5 axb5 29. Nxb5 =) 26... Raxc8 27. Be4 Na5 28. Rbc1 Rce8 29. Bf3 Nc4 30. Rfd1 Rd8 31. Bb7 Rxd1+ 32. Rxd1 Rf6 33. Rd7+ Kh6 {and after the second (or third) draw-proposal of black, I finally accepted - to continue would be irresponsible.} 1/2-1/2

At the blog of Quality Chess there was recently a discussion about automatic moves. Often mistakes are made because players don't consider sufficiently alternatives. By spending more time you can find those moves was the logical remedy proposed by the author. However some readers didn't agree. Automatic moves leave extra time for other moments in the game when complex decisions need to be done. If you start to question each move so also the automatic ones then you risk time-trouble creating much bigger problems. It will be a disaster for the playing-strength to find that one unique move in one particular game in exchange for many blunders due to lack of time in dozens of other games. Still for my most beautiful move, I would've liked to make an exception.

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